DWP could owe thousands back to Brits who claim benefits after big blunder

The Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) could be forced to pay-out thousands to benefit claimants in Britain after their housing benefit was underpaid.

The DWP's error caused people to receive less housing benefit than they were entitled to. It relates to a separate issue where the Employment Support Allowance (ESA) was underpaid to some claimants when they were moved over from older benefits.

This fault could therefore affect Brits who moved to ESA - a benefit designed to help people who are ill or disabled worth up to £74.70 a week - from Incapacity Benefit, Severe Disability Allowance or Income Support from 2011 onwards.

READ MORE: New laws coming into force from April that everyone who rents or lets a home needs to know

The DWP has identified around 22,500 cases of people who may have received less housing benefit than they were entitled to between 2011 and 2019 due to the ESA error, the Mirror reports.

The government says it has already reviewed around 600,000 cases since 2016.

It has made 118,000 arrears payments to those who were identified as having been underpaid ESA, totalling £613million. The money being awarded to affected benefit claimants is what they should have been paid in the first place.

On average ESA claimants are owed £5,000 but some on a severe disability premium could be owed £11,500 each. One woman received almost £20,000 in backpay and also successfully won compensation for the error on top after taking her case to the Ombudsman.

For example, some claimants missed out on premiums like the enhanced disability premium, which is worth up to £24.60 per week. The DWP says it is now working with councils to identify those who could be due underpaid housing benefit as well, and councils will be