Evidence suggests that the amounts claimants owe from benefit overpayments, benefit advances and Tax Credits are all likely to increase further in 2020–21. The Department temporarily suspended most debt recovery in March 2020 and reintroduced the recovery of new overpayments in late September.55 With recovery action paused and a surge in new claims at a time when fraud and error controls had been relaxed, it is very likely amounts owed from benefit overpayments will have risen. The amounts du...

Evidence suggests that the amounts claimants owe from benefit overpayments, benefit advances and Tax Credits are all likely to increase further in 2020–21. The Department temporarily suspended most debt recovery in March 2020 and reintroduced the recovery of new overpayments in late September.55 With recovery action paused and a surge in new claims at a time when fraud and error controls had been relaxed, it is very likely amounts owed from benefit overpayments will have risen. The amounts due from benefit advances is expected to increase as the Department reports that ‘from 1 March 2020 to 26 May 2020, 1,185,240 advance payments were issued’ Type: conclusion | Number: 28 | Response status: not_addressed Government response: The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: July 2021 6.2 The department can recover debt in various ways, including directly from benefits, from earnings via a Direct Earnings Attachments, or ultimately, from a debtor’s