29 December 2023 , 09:36
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The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has clarified which bank accounts it will be checking in a crackdown on fraud.
When speaking to parliament earlier this month, the DWP boss reassured claimants that the new powers will only be used where there is a "clear signal of fraud or error ". It emerged last month that changes to the Data Protection and Digital Information Bill will allow officials to check the accounts of anyone receiving government help - so people claiming benefits and state pension.
Mel Stride MP, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, was questioned in the parliament this month over the new measures with Conservative MP Nigel Mills, a member of the cross-party Work and Pensions Committee, asking for confirmation that the powers would only be used where fraud is suspected. He questioned whether every state pensioner's bank account would be searched, as some people have suggested.
The DWP explained the extent of these new powers. He noted that there had been a "great deal of scaremongering" over the new measures. However, he confirmed they would only be used in cases of suspected "clear signal of fraud or error ", and not otherwise.
He said: "There has been a great deal of scaremongering about what exactly these powers are about. I can make it categorically clear from the Dispatch Box that these powers are there to make sure that, in instances where there is a clear signal of fraud or error, my department is able to take action. In the absence of that, it will not."
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The new measures were first outlined in the May 2022 policy paper "Fighting Fraud in the Welfare System". The powers will cover the whole benefits system including Universal Credit, Personal Independance Payment (PIP) and state pension. The DWP says it would be called "Third Party Data Gathering" and initially it would focus on collecting certain data from banks and building societies.
The measure would allow DWP investigators to see whether benefit claimants are misleading them about money they have, such as savings which could make them ineligible to claim Universal Credit. The DWP shared examples of how the policy would work in its initial paper. The Chancellor confirmed in the Autumn Statement last month that these new DWP powers are set to go ahead. However, no official date has been given by the Government as to when the new powers will come into play.
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