Equal treatment arrears are payable to married women in a number of instalments. Payments on account were made to all claimants in July/August 1995. These were calculated by reference to data held on computer file in relation to payments made in 1992/93 under the restricted equal treatment provisions introduced in June 1992. Subsequent payments were made following detailed review of individual claims. The overpayments came to light during the course of this review.
The overpayments arose as a result of departmental errors and were not as a result of any fraud on the part of the claimants. While every effort was made to avoid overpayments nonetheless they must be seen in the context of the huge task of paying arrears to 70,000 married women on claims made as far back as 1984. At that time schemes administered by the Department were not computerised to the extent they now are with the result that comprehensive details of claims were not available in all cases. In the context of overall expenditure on equal treatment arrears — currently £244.6 million — the amount overpaid could not be considered as significant.
As regards the recovery of equal treatment overpayments the position is that a number of legal issues were considered with the Attorney General's office. The recovery of the overpayments is currently being reviewed by my Department on the basis of the advice recently obtained from that office. Any further action will depend on the outcome of that review.