BENEFITS BOOST FOR THOUSANDS

180,000 Brits are owed £5,000 each after having their benefits underpaid by bungling officials

The DWP was forced to admit that it will have to pay out nearly £1billion in additional Employment Support Allowance

THOUSANDS of Brits are due a massive payout after they were denied benefits they were owed, ministers admitted today.

The Government will pay an average of £5,000 to 180,000 disabled or ill claimants who were short-changed for years.

The Department for Work and Pensions announced it faces a bill of nearly £1billion for the blunder - three times as much as previously thought.

It is the latest embarrassment for the department which is already under fire over the rollout of Universal Credit.

Earlier this year, the DWP admitted it had underpaid thousands of claimants of Employment Support Allowance, which is intended for those too ill to work.

Officials claimed 70,000 people were affected, with a total estimated cost of £340million.

But today they published an update which shows the numbers involved are much higher than previously thought.

A total of 180,000 claimants are owed an average of £5,000 each, with some due to be paid as much as £20,000.

The overall bill to the taxpayer will be £970million, most of which will be paid out over the next two years.

Just 10 per cent of those affected have been paid the benefits they are owed.

Civil servants are in the process of contacting the other 160,000 claimants and hope to be finished by next April.

They are prioritising the most serious cases including those of people who are now terminally ill.

Labour MP Neil Coyle blasted: "Another criminal let-down of thousands of disabled people by a callous Government and a chaotic DWP."

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