Member

There was mention made of waiving official error, which can happen. The Committee has in the past mentioned the document Managing Public Money, which recognises that errors occur in public organisations and sets out guidance on the recovery of money that has been overpaid. That includes the ability to consult the Treasury about, for example, a collective overpayment waiver, where a group of individuals has been affected by the same issue and the Treasury can be consulted before individuals are notified of any overpayment. Any collective waiver such as that has to be considered on its own merits and must be defensible in the public interest or as value for money.