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<p>The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has two different financial penalties
that can be imposed. The first is the Civil Penalty. Where our enquiries show that
a claimant has failed to provide accurate information as part of their benefit claim
or in connection with an award of benefit, they have not taken reasonable steps to
correct the error and their action has resulted in an overpayment of over £65, DWP
currently charges a £50 Civil Penalty.</p><table><tbody><tr><td><p><strong>Financial
Year</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Monetary value of Civil Penalties</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2014/2015</p></td><td><p>£216,450</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2015/2016</p></td><td><p>£356,550</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2016/2017</p></td><td><p>£463,200</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2017/2018</p></td><td><p>£427,750</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2018
YTD</p></td><td><p>£330,400</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p /><p>The Second type of
financial penalty is the Administrative Penalty, which may be offered to a person
as an alternative to prosecution. Currently the minimum amount of the Administrative
Penalty is £350 or 50% of the recoverable overpayment, whichever is greater, up to
a maximum of £5,000.</p><p> </p><p>It is not possible to provide the total value of
administrative penalties imposed by DWP in the last 5 years as this information is
not readily available and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.</p>
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