Millions of Universal Credit claims are to be investigated by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), it has emerged. Two million claimants will form part of the Targeted Case Review initiative, The Mirror reports.
The review will check claimants are legitimately entitled to payments and looks to see if they are on the right amounts. The review was announced last year by the DWP as part of the Government's plan to tackle fraud in the benefit system.
The update came after the Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Jonathan Ashworth asked DWP what steps it was taking to reduce benefit underpayments due to official error recently.
In a written reply, the DWP's minister of state for disabled people, health and work said the Government department was "committed to identifying errors and rectifying them as quickly as possible". He wrote: "The Government is fully committed to ensuring that historical errors made by successive governments are addressed as quickly as possible and where these are identified, ensure that appropriate action is taken to rectify the claim."
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The minister then explained the ongoing review of Universal Credit confirming that two million existing Universal Credit cases would be looked at in the next five years. He said: "The department's Quality Framework means we constantly check the accuracy of agents' work, which helps identify any additional training requirements. It also means we can update training material and instructions as required.
"Alongside the department’s quality checking regime, our Targeted Case Review initiative will review two million UC (Universal Credit) cases over the next five years, checking entitlement and helping ensure people are receiving the right amount of benefit." The latest figures show around 5.8 million people across the UK currently receive Universal Credit from the DWP.
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