This week has seen yet another episode in a lengthening line of questionable statistics about overpayments in the benefits system.

Yesterday we showed how a report on the cost of overpayments in disability living allowance ignored that the fact that the sum was outweighed by errors leading to underpayment.

It seems a trend is emerging.

Not only here on Full Fact, but also at Channel 4 News, and Left Foot Forward, doubts have been raised about the way the numbers have been reported in stories concerning benefits.

A quick browse through the Full Fact site shows just how much of a live issue welfare payments have been this summer, but with statistics proving contentious at every step of the way.

Some of the reports have used stats that left national statisticians baffled as to their origin, other figures have appeared without any press release from the department, while at the same time numbers more than a month old, have reappeared as news.
 
So what is going on? Some papers approach welfare stories much like those on immigration and will gladly seize on any startling statistics - particularly in the August news wilderness, when reporters are forced to take a Bear Grylls approach to gathering stories.

If the Left Foot Forward findings are anything to go by, it suggests that some hacks are almost as dependent on Government handouts as the workless households they report on.

But the fact we’re in silly season does not itself explain the propensity for stories about the welfare state to include misleading or inaccurate information.

The Department for Work and Pensions is apparently aware of the reports, since several have included quotes from Employment Minister Chris Grayling.  This has raised suspicions amongst some commentators.

Last week Left Foot Forward, granted no friends of the Government, went so far as to speculate that ministers were “insisting that officials put a party-political spin on what should be a straightforward release of statistical information.”

The other answer is of course is that contentious statistics are part and parcel of the welfare debate. With the spending review around the corner and benefit payments on the chopping block, a focus on what is currently being spent is unsurprising.

Indeed in recent weeks it has not just been government ministers or (relatively) supportive newspapers, whose claims have fallen foul of scrutiny.

Full Fact has found Labour politicians David Miliband, and Lord Knight exaggerating the progress Labour made on tackling the cost of welfare, but often such remarks have been made in response to the statistics which have already made the news.

This is not to suggest anything sinister is taking place, more to flag up a state of affairs, where both ministers and media seem comfortable acquiescing in reports based on statistics that require closer scrutiny.