Inmates wrongly paid £31m benefits

The Department for Work and Pensions was criticised after it emerged benefits wrongly paid to prisoners had not been clawed back
17 December 2012

More than £18 million in benefits wrongly paid to prisoners for the past four years has not been clawed back, figures reveal.

A freedom of information request by the Mail on Sunday found that between 2007 and 2011, overpayments as a result of "customers being in prison" were made worth £31.7 million.

But the Department for Work and Pensions figures said only £13.1 million was recovered - a shortfall of £18.6 million, or £4.65 million per year.

The newspaper said the problem had first been reported to Government officials in 1994 but it was not until February this year a new centralised system to cross reference files with the Ministry of Justice was created.

Tory MP Philip Davies condemned the figures and told the MoS: "The fact prisoners are receiving benefits after committing crimes is so ludicrous it beggars belief.

"You'd think they would be the one group of people who wouldn't be able to rip off the taxpayer in their situation."

A DWP spokeswoman said: "Prisoners are not entitled to benefits and we always seek to recover any overpayments.

"A more efficient system was brought in earlier this year to ensure that we are quickly informed when a benefit claimant is sent to prison and we can stop benefit payments immediately."

The system was changed in February at the urging of Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith.

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