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gov.uk FOI Public Access The Freedom of Information Act 2000 provides public access to information held by public authorities. It does this in two ways: • public authorities are obliged to publish certain information about their activities • members of the public are entitled to request information from public authorities Recorded Information The Act covers any recorded information that is held by a public authority in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, and by UK-wide public authorities based in Scotland. Information held by Scottish public authorities is covered by Scotland’s own Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002. Public authorities include government departments, local authorities, the NHS, state schools and police forces. However, the Act does not ne...

123RF During the pandemic, fraud and error have reached record levels, with a reported £8.4 billion overpaid in the last financial year. Crackdown The Department for Work and Pensions is checking bank accounts and social media posts in a crackdown on benefits fraud. There are 23 million people on DWP pay-outs including 12.4 million claiming State Pension, almost six million on Universal Credit, 2.9 million on Housing Benefit, 2.7 million on Personal Independence Payment (PIP), and 1.8 million on Employment and Support Allowance (ESA). Fraud and error But during the pandemic, fraud and error in the UK benefits system have reached record levels, with a reported £8.4 billion overpaid in the last financial year. The DWP estimates that 3.9% of benefits spending was overpai...