Benefit shambles costs taxpayer £51m a week in errors and fraud

Cheating and bungling in the benefits system has cost the taxpayer £5.3billion in just two years.

Statistics published yesterday revealed nearly £51million a week was overpaid to social security claimants because of error and fraud.

The huge sum was wrongly shelled out to millions by blundering officials, mistakes by claimants or simply stolen by fraudsters.

Underpayments made in the same period total a further £2billion, according to the Department for Work and Pensions.

The figures make a mockery of Government pledges to crack down on the amount of money squandered because of fraud and error.

They do not include £5billion wrongly paid in child and family tax credits since 2003.

Critics warned it would be virtually impossible for the Government to claw back the missing £5.3billion - enough to pay for some 200,000 nurses.

The overpayments, representing about 2.2 per cent of benefit spending, cover a range of handouts - including Income Support, Jobseekers Allowance, Housing Benefit and Pension Credit.

The figures show £2.7billion was estimated to have been lost in 2006-2007, compared to £2.6billion the previous year.

Fraud has increased from £600million to £800million. Customer error accounts for £1billion, while official errors make up £900million.

A spokesman for the Taxpayers' Alliance said: "The benefits system is so complicated that not only are officials prone to make mistakes, but it is difficult to spot when morally bankrupt people pull a fast one."