The Department for Work & Pensions (DWP) annual accounts for 2025-26 revealed the amount of fraudulent activity related to benefit payments totalled £9.9bn.

One way the DWP measures fraud is in ‘overpayments’, based on the overpayment figures shown in the annual report, benefit overpayments were 3.2% of total benefit expenditure measured for fraud and error, sitting at £9.9bn.

Compared to last year, the overall overpayment rate fell from 3.3% to 3.2%, but the cash value rose from £9.4bn to £9.9bn, due to the DWP paying out more benefits in 2025-26 than in 2024-25.

Figures showed that universal credit continued to account for the largest level of overpayments for any benefit at 8.5%, costing £6.7bn, although this was down from 9.5%, equal to £6.2bn the year prior.