Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall (Image: Getty)
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is to get the power to take money directly from people's bank accounts and pay packets as part of a new crackdown on benefit fraud The DWP will also have the power to tell companies such as airlines to hand over information about customers - so investigators can work out how claimants are spending their money.
UK taxpayers lost ￡7.3billion to benefit fraud last year - and the DWP is to get new powers to cut that figure by investigating anyone believed to be making false claims, and clawing the money back.
Writing in The Telegraph, Liz Kendall, the Work and Pensions Secretary said: "We're in an absurd situation where DWP's powers have not been updated for 20 years, meaning fraudsters have new ways of taking public money, and we need to keep pace with them. My team are still, in 2024, sending letters to gather evidence for those suspected of welfare fraud, slowing them down to snail's pace when they could be shutting down serious fraud cases."
At present, if the DWP wants to get money back from people who have been overpaid benefits it has to take them to court. The new powers will let the Government take the money directly from wages and bank accounts. If those who have falsely claimed have died, the DWP will be able to take money from their estates.
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The new powers will also mean the DWP, which can already get information from banks, energy companies and employers, will be handed the authority to compel private businesses to give up information. That will mean the DWP will be able to track things such as where and when you have been on holiday through flight and ferry data.
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Silkie Carlo, director of Big Brother Watch, told The Telegraph: "This blank cheque to force private companies to snoop and report on the country's poorest citizens to the state is intrusive, excessive and will create a culture of fear among millions of people claiming benefits.
The government's Fraud, Error and Debt Bill is an enhanced version of one created by the previous Government.