The government is lacking ambition on tackling fraud and error in the benefits system, accoridng to a report.

In a report published yesterday, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) said the government had overpaid benefit claimants by £4.6bn due to fraud and error and underpaid claimants by £1.6bn.

Inside Housing reported:

“The committee, chaired by Labour MP Meg Hillier, while both departments had made some progress since 2010, they had shown a “paucity of ambition” in tackling the problem.

“High levels of benefits and tax credits fraud and error remain unacceptable,” the committee, chaired by Labour MP Meg Hillier, said.

Ms Hillier said legitimate claimants had “missed out on vital support”, while overpayments were costing every UK household around £200 a year.

She said it was “alarming” that despite the issuing of tens of thousands in fines, the DWP was “unable to produce any evidence of the effect this approach has had – for good or ill – on people’s behaviour”.

She urged government departments to set “firm targets” for fraud error reduction “with a clear focus on making best use of the public pound”.”