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18/11/2005
Watchdog criticises benefits system
The UK’s benefit system has been criticised for being too complex and vulnerable to fraud and error, the government-spending watchdog has reported.
The National Audit Office report said that the benefits system had been made overly complex because of years of changes in legislation.
An estimated £2.6 billion had been lost over the past year, due to fraud and human error, the report found.
The report said that there was “almost universal agreement” that complexity existed in the benefits system and the NAO said that it was “perhaps one of the most important issues impacting on the performance of the department”.
Sir John Bourn, Head of the NAO, called for the Department of Work and Pensions to develop a strategy to tackle the problem. He said: “There is a balance to be struck between a system, which is detailed enough to respond to needs and yet straightforward enough to be run efficiently.”
The Department for Work and Pensions pays more than £100 billion per year in social security benefits and pensions, with around 30 million people in the UK receiving at least one benefit or pension.
Conservative Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary Sir Malcolm Rifkind said a radical shake-up of Britain’s benefits system was needed. He said: “At the moment, the system is collapsing under the weight of its own complexity.
"We urgently need to simplify the system and reverse the spreading net of means testing that Labour has created.”
The NAO identified seven key principles that to improve the benefits system, including designing new benefits, sharing information, avoiding duplication and using technology to protect claimants from complexity.
(KMcA)
The National Audit Office report said that the benefits system had been made overly complex because of years of changes in legislation.
An estimated £2.6 billion had been lost over the past year, due to fraud and human error, the report found.
The report said that there was “almost universal agreement” that complexity existed in the benefits system and the NAO said that it was “perhaps one of the most important issues impacting on the performance of the department”.
Sir John Bourn, Head of the NAO, called for the Department of Work and Pensions to develop a strategy to tackle the problem. He said: “There is a balance to be struck between a system, which is detailed enough to respond to needs and yet straightforward enough to be run efficiently.”
The Department for Work and Pensions pays more than £100 billion per year in social security benefits and pensions, with around 30 million people in the UK receiving at least one benefit or pension.
Conservative Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary Sir Malcolm Rifkind said a radical shake-up of Britain’s benefits system was needed. He said: “At the moment, the system is collapsing under the weight of its own complexity.
"We urgently need to simplify the system and reverse the spreading net of means testing that Labour has created.”
The NAO identified seven key principles that to improve the benefits system, including designing new benefits, sharing information, avoiding duplication and using technology to protect claimants from complexity.
(KMcA)
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