DWP confirms when benefit claimant bank accounts | U.Ok.Finance News
Banks will likely be pressured to scrutinise hundreds of thousands of accounts from April 2026 in a complete crackdown geared toward exposing advantages cheats. The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has confirmed the beginning date for powers it’s describing as “the biggest fraud crackdown in a generation”.The new framework, established below the Public Authorities (Fraud, Error and Recovery) Bill, will allow banks to spotlight accounts that seem to violate benefit laws, corresponding to sustaining more than the £16,000 financial savings threshold for Universal Credit. Officials is not going to view detailed transactions, however will obtain notifications if accounts set off considerations.The DWP maintains the programme will protect taxpayers £1.5 billion over 5 years following losses from advantages fraud and error reaching a file £7.4 billion final yr.A reality sheet issued by ministers stated: “Any information shared through the Eligibility Verification Measure will not be shared on the presumption or suspicion that anyone is guilty of any offence.”It maintained the division is not going to possess direct entry to people’s bank particulars however banks will likely be required to ahead alerts.Simultaneously, the laws grants the Government strong new powers to reclaim money from fraudsters, together with seizing funds instantly from bank accounts and, in situations of persistent refusal to repay, prohibiting offenders from driving for up to 2 years. The measures have been revealed as Labour’s Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall launched a scathing assault on the prevailing system.She declared: “The social security system that we inherited from the Conservatives is failing the very people that it is supposed to help and is holding our country back.”The details communicate for themselves. One in 10 people of working age at the moment are claiming a illness or incapacity benefit. Almost a million younger people are usually not in training, employment or coaching – one in eight of all our younger people.”However, critics have raised concerns that the proposals risk introducing “mass financial surveillance” of claimants and could unfairly penalise vulnerable households.Whilst the DWP maintains the emphasis is on targeting fraudsters who cost honest taxpayers billions, campaigners contend the changes represent a worrying shift towards banks operating as monitors over personal finances.Silkie Carlo, director of Big Brother Watch, declared: “These powers are a catastrophe for financial privateness and the presumption of innocence… This is a fully unprecedented regime of intrusive generalised financial surveillance throughout the population.”
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