Benefits blunders cost taxpayers £1.9million
A BENEFIT claimant who was overpaid £144,000 in error is paying it back at £5.80 a week.
At that rate clearing the debt will take 477 years.
The case is one of 10 big benefit blunders that have cost taxpayers a total of £1.9million.
The Department for Work and Pensions says most of the money was paid out accidentally when wrong details were given and the errors weren’t noticed.
A third of the total was due to fraud by claimants.
In the worst case £317,000 was pocketed, £120,000 through fraud and the rest due to an error.
The DWP says this debt is being repaid through a £20-a-week deduction from benefits although a new plan is being drawn up.
An estimated £3.2billion in benefits, or £60million a week, is wrongly paid out due to fraud and errors.
A DWP spokesman said overpayments are recovered by deductions from benefit payments at the maximum rate allowed by Social Security regulations.
Two fraudsters who claimed £183,000 and £173,000 are not paying back a penny. They are in prison.
The spokesman added: “We can now recover stolen money direct from a benefit cheat’s pay packet and take fraudsters to court.”