Guidance

Changes made to DWP statistics since April 2025

Updated 29 May 2025

To continue to meet user needs we regularly review our releases to look at the existing content, as well as opportunities from new data and new or emerging user requirements.

Read about Changes made to DWP statistics between April 2020 and March 2025.

皇冠体育app changes delivered since April 2025 across our releases are set out in 2 themes:

Employment Support Schemes

Work and Health Programme

罢丑别听Work and Health Programme (WHP)聽predominantly helps disabled people, as well as the long-term unemployed and certain other priority groups (known as early access groups) to enter into and stay in work.

From November 2018, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has released Official Statistics 补产辞耻迟听WHP. 皇冠体育appse provide information on a regular basis about the number of:

  • referrals to鈥�WHP
  • starts to鈥�WHP
  • job outcomes

Changes delivered since April 2025:

  • pioneer statistics - 12-month measures for first earnings from employment and job outcomes measures were published from May 2025

Spending, Fraud and Error

Fraud and error in the benefit system

DWP聽pays benefits to over 20 million people. It is necessary to estimate how much money the department incorrectly pays, either through over or under payment. 皇冠体育app overpayments or underpayments can occur for a number of reasons such as:

  • claimant error
  • official error
  • a consequence of fraud

This annual publication presents estimates of the rates of these over and underpayments as well as their respective causes (fraud and error). Benefits measured as part of聽DWP鈥檚听fraud and error analysis听颈苍肠濒耻诲别:

  • Universal Credit (UC)
  • Housing Benefit (HB)
  • Employment and Support Allowance (ESA)
  • Pension Credit (PC)
  • Personal Independence Payment (PIP)
  • Jobseeker鈥檚 Allowance (JSA)

Changes delivered since April 2025:

  • changes in May 2025 publication:
    • change to how we deal with Living Together overpayment cases where both claimant and alleged partner are benefit claimants
    • change to the proxy measure we use for Winter Fuel Payment (WFP) Fraud and Error (F&E) due to the change in聽WFP聽eligibility rules
    • change to New Case Factors
    • change to causal Link Non-Residency Fraud Adjustment
    • change to Error Code Framework Adjustments

Unfulfilled Eligibility in the benefit system

To get welfare benefits people need to meet certain eligibility criteria and the amount of money they receive depends on their circumstances. Sometimes people tell us the wrong information or do not tell us when their circumstances change. Reporting accurate information and providing evidence may change the amount of benefit people are eligible for and in some circumstances, they may be eligible for more money. However, we cannot calculate the correct amount unless people tell us accurately about their circumstances. This means that people are not eligible for increases in the amount of money they receive until we have the correct information.

皇冠体育app publication Unfulfilled eligibility in the benefit system estimates how much extra money benefit claimants could be getting if they told us accurately about their circumstances. 皇冠体育appse people are already getting some money on a certain benefit but may not be getting all the money they could be eligible for on this benefit 鈥� we call this unfulfilled eligibility.

Changes delivered since April 2025:

  • changes in May 2025 publication:
    • change to New Case Factors
    • change to how we deal with Living Together unfulfilled eligibility where both claimant and alleged partner are benefit claimants
    • change to Error Code Framework Adjustments