DWP plan to check bank accounts of benefit claimants, Digi Mart USA News: The UK Government has reportedly abandoned plans to snoop on welfare claimants’ bank accounts to check for fraud, according to a report in the Telegraph newspaper, as relayed by Surrey Live. Chancellor John Healey has scrapped the plan, which would have allowed Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) officials to see the savings of people applying for universal credit.
Under universal credit rules, people with more than £16,000 in savings are ineligible to claim unemployment benefits. Rachel Reeves had announced the plans when she was chancellor, and claimed they would save £200 million a year in benefit fraud.
The Government has replaced the counter-fraud proposals with a new scheme in which banks will conduct checks on welfare claimants’ accounts after they have received universal credit, and then report back to ministers, the Telegraph said. The newspaper suggested the change could lead to higher levels of fraud going undetected, costing £5m this year and £10m next year.
The Telegraph also reported that the Government plans to allow energy companies to examine their customers’ incomes, tax records and property valuations.
A DWP spokesman said: “This Government is determined to crack down on fraud and error and protect taxpayers’ money. The previous Open Banking proposal relied on claimant consent and could not be used in every Universal Credit claim.
We are instead introducing the Eligibility Verification Measure (EVM), which will require banks and financial institutions to provide information where accounts meet specified criteria, giving DWP a more consistent way to identify incorrect payments and tackle fraud and error.
“This is just one part of a comprehensive programme to tackle fraud, error and debt and EVM is expected to save £1.2bn by 2030-31.”
