Mistake in payment of employment and support allowance could cost up to £500m to correctTens of thousands of disability and sickness benefit claimants may have been underpaid and it could cost up to £500m to correct the error. The Department for Work and Pensions confirmed it had identified errors in the payment of employment and support allowance (ESA) that could affect 75,000 people who transferred to it from incapacity benefits. The department has contacted about 1,000 of the people who could be affected so far, according to the BBC, and has begun making repayments. “We’ve already contacted some of the people affected and are making repayments. Anyone potentially affected will be contacted by the department.”The government is under pressure to reform universal credit, with critics complaining that some claimants have to wait six weeks or more for payments, pushing them into debt and rent arrears.

Source: The Guardian November 17, 2017 22:52 UTC