UK Paid $1 Billion in Benefits to Dead People – Telegraph
UK's Department for Work and Pensions paid £850 million to deceased individuals over 4 years due to administrative errors, with less than half recovered.
The UK's Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) wasted millions of pounds due to delayed death notifications and administrative errors, according to an investigation by The Telegraph. Over the past four years, the DWP paid out approximately £850 million (over $1.1 billion) in benefits to dead people, making around 2.6 million erroneous payments to deceased claimants. These errors reportedly stemmed from death notifications arriving too late to stop automated payouts or being processed just as a payment was about to be sent.
Official figures show that total benefit overpayments in 2025 alone reached £9.5 billion ($12.6 billion), with the vast majority due to fraud or claimant mistakes. The newly revealed £850 million figure represents official administrative error related specifically to deceased recipients. Less than half of that sum has been recovered, adding to the UK's spiraling welfare bill, which already costs British taxpayers roughly £300 billion ($398 billion) each year.
The Telegraph noted that the cost of recovering the money in some cases may exceed the amount overpaid, which typically runs to just a few hundred pounds per claim. The DWP has said it will only pursue recovery when it is "reasonable and cost effective." The scandal has sparked sharp criticism from opposition politicians and taxpayer advocates. Lee Anderson, work and pensions spokesman for Reform UK, called it "an absolutely appalling scandal" that proves both Labour and the Conservatives "cannot be trusted with the public's money."
Shimeon Lee of the TaxPayers' Alliance said the figures show a department that "has lost its grip on basic administration." A DWP spokesman defended the department, noting that a 'Tell us Once' service exists to notify government agencies of a death in one step and ensure benefits only go to those entitled to them. The revelations come amid broader criticism of Prime Minister Keir Starmer and the Labour government's welfare policies and spending on other fronts such as accommodating boat migrants.
