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| Benefit errors cost £60 a
second, says MP |
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Over the last five years, benefit errors by customers and officials cost taxpayers £9 billion |
South Norfolk South Norfolk MP Richard Bacon has calculated that, over the last five years, mistakes in benefit payments at the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) have cost taxpayers over £9 billion. Mr Bacon said: “Mr Bacon, a member of the Commons public accounts committee, said today: “Over the last five years, benefit errors by customers and officials cost taxpayers £9 billion”. |
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“The department needs to look at how it can make the system easier to understand and do more to help its customers and officials to cut the number of mistakes that are made”. Mr Bacon was speaking as the Commons public accounts committee published its progress report on tackling benefit fraud. The report finds that the cost of errors in the benefit system rose from £1 billion to £1.9 billion over the five-year period between 2001-02 and 2006-07. The total cost of errors between 2001-02 and 2006-07 is £9.1 billion, costing an average of £1.8 billion per year. Alternatively, this can be expressed as a cost of £4.93 million per day, £205,479 per hour, £3,424 per minute or £58 a second between 2001-02 and 2006-07.
8 July 2008 See also: 
PAC REPORT:
Progress in tackling benefit fraud
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