Social Security Benefits: Debts
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent estimate his Department has made of the value of outstanding benefit debt owed to the Department.
Answered by Andrew Western
DWP’s overarching policy is that debts should be recovered as quickly and cost effectively as possible without causing financial hardship to customers. To support this, the Department sets limits to how much can be deducted and a “deductions priority order” determines the order in which different deductions must be taken. This means certain other debts, may be prioritised before benefit overpayments.
The Department routinely publishes information on debt levels, including debt stock, debt categorisation and debt write-offs, in its Annual Report and Accounts, which is available on GOV.UK. The 2025-26 report can be accessed here.
We are unable to provide information relating to the average time taken to recover a debt as the cost to calculate this would be disproportionate.
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