Member News
There needs to be greater co-ordination between different welfare benefits if Whitehall is to achieve better value for money, according to a study.
A report from the National Audit Office revealed the government spent £87bn on means-tested benefits, 13 per cent of total public expenditure.
The auditors said government departments must learn from past experience and share good practice, looking at past designs of means tests.
The NAO said that in some cases, means-tested benefits create disincentives to work and in others the bureaucracy puts people off claiming.
It also said means testing makes the administration of benefits more complex and is associated with higher costs as well as increased rates of fraud and error.
The report said: "There is a lack of co-ordination of, and overall accountability for, means testing across government. Departments are responsible for their own means-tested benefits and their impacts, but because means-tested benefits interact with each other it is important that there is co-ordination.
"For example, no one body has responsibility for looking at how the impact of university fees will be influenced by wider means testing. This is important as some households could be financially worse off if they work more and their child is no longer eligible for a bursary to help towards tuition fees."
Amyas Morse, head of the NAO, said: "As government prepares for the introduction of major proposed reforms in several programmes, it is vital that departments seek to understand some of the impacts of means testing that we have identified. They must then share this knowledge in order to learn from past experiences, so that risk to the taxpayer is minimised and benefits get to those who need them."
Margaret Hodge, chairman of the public accounts committee, said it would follow up the report to further consider how "better value for money can be secured by looking at the benefit traps".
She said: "For the poorest families in Britain means-tested benefits account for a third of their income. Getting this right is a hugely important issues."
"We will consider the impact of means-tested benefits on individuals both in claiming their benefits and in dealing with the complex interaction of benefits. For instance, in 2008/09, 67 per cent of pensioners entitled to pension credit were not receiving it."
Dods Parliamentary Communications Ltd
Have your say...
Please enter your comments below.