Department for Work and Pensions underpays benefit claimants by £2.6bn

However estimated value of overpayments sits at £8.6bn for 2021/22 financial year

Benefit claimants were underpaid to the tune of £2.6bn last year, new figures show.

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) said 1.2 per cent of total benefit expenditure was underpaid due to fraud and error in the financial year to April 2022.

Over the same period, the estimated value of overpayments was £8.6bn, some 4 per cent of the total benefit expenditure. That results in a net overpayment of £6bn.