DWP slammed because it dishes out £500m in profit funds to lifeless individuals

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has paid out £500 million in benefits to dead people over four years, with only a fraction of that being recovered, new figures have shown

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has dished out a massive £500 million in benefits to dead people. And worryingly, the department is unable to recover millions from overpayments of state pension and Pension Credit to dead claimants.

Records reveal that since the 2019-20 fiscal year, approximately £512 million was mistakenly paid out, with this past year alone seeing £159 million go unclaimed. This astonishing figure emerged following a Parliamentary Question posed by Reform MP Rupert Lowe, who revealed that, in the last five years, pension payments totalling £512m were made to individuals who had died—of which a mere £255m has been recovered.

Speaking to The Telegraph, Mr Lowe criticised the current system. He said it does not legally require beneficiaries’ families to return the wrongly disbursed funds, calling for a systemic overhaul.

He argues: “This is a shocking waste that underlines the contempt with which the Government treats taxpayers’ money. Why is it tolerated?”

Mr Lowe is now calling for stricter measures. He said: “Why is the return of this money not enforceable?

“This is wide open to fraud and abuse. It needs to be clamped down on as part of a wider Government effort to slash down on misspending.”

He added: “We must keep pushing for transparent data to uncover the true extent of the waste”, reports the Express. A call for reform by Great Yarmouth’s MP, Andrew Western, was addressed by the DWP’s parliamentary under-secretary who underscored.

The latter said: “Direct Payments made into an account after the death of a customer represent only around 0.1% of total annual expenditure on pensions.” Elaborating further, he said: “Although these are treated as non-recoverable and are not enforceable by law, we can request the money back as a voluntary payment.

“So far, we have recovered around half of the overpayments, to avoid this becoming a long-term cost to the taxpayer.”

The current regulations necessitate that deaths be registered within five days of the event or discovery in England and Wales, with Scotland allocated eight days. Nonetheless, recipients’ last state pension payments from the DWP often include amounts for time beyond their death due to system inefficiencies.

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