Yahoo News DWP to ban benefit fraudsters from driving if they fail to hand back payments
Benefit cheats will be banned from driving if they fail to hand back the cash they've scammed from the system. The Depeartment for Work and Pensions says the move will form part of a massive new clampdown on fraud.
The new Public Authorities (Fraud, Error & Recovery) Bill is expected to save the Department £1.5 billion over the next five years. Labour says it's the biggest fraud crackdown in a generation.
The Bill is to be introduced in Parliament today (January 22). It forms part of wider government plans to save more than £8.6 billion over five years.
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Benefit scammers face being disqualified from driving for periods of up to two years if they repeatedly fail to repay the money they were not entitled to receive. The DWP says it will be able to apply to the court to suspend fraudsters from driving, provided the debt is £1,000 or over and frequent requests to repay it have been ignored.
DWP's serious organised crime investigators are also expected to be handed powers to apply to a court for search warrants. It means that for the first time, they will be able to support police and search premises and seize items such as computers and smartphones as evidence.
Labour says it has inherited a "broken welfare system" in which fraud and error cost the taxpayer around £10 billion a year. Since the pandemic, a total of £35 billion in benefits has been incorrectly paid to people who were not entitled to the money, it said.
The latest move comes as the Government prepares to set out its 'Plan for Change' to overhaul health and disability benefits. New reforms are to be published this spring to reduce soaring expenditure and offer better support to people so that they can move into work.
The DWP says the measures in the Bill will be "underpinned by a principle of fairness and proportionality - the priority is always to negotiate affordable and sustainable repayment plans, with these powers to be used as a last resort."
Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall said: "We are turning off the tap to criminals who cheat the system and steal law-abiding taxpayers' money. This means greater consequences for fraudsters who cheat and evade the system, including as a last resort in the most serious cases removing their driving licence.
"Backed up by new and important safeguards including reporting mechanisms and independent oversight to ensure the powers are used proportionately and safely.
"People need to have confidence the Government is opening all available doors to tackle fraud and eliminate waste, as we continue the most ambitious programme for government in a generation – with a laser-like focus on outcomes which will make the biggest difference to their lives as part of our Plan for Change."
Other powers will recover money directly from the bank accounts of those who are not on benefits or in PAYE employment if they owe the DWP and refuse to pay up, despite having the means to do so. The DWP will be able to request bank statements to prove people have sufficient funds to repay what they owe.
Latest figures from 2024 show that benefit overpayments due to fraud were £7.4 billion in the 2023-2024 financial year, compared with £6.3 billion the year before. The majority of the fraud was committed within Universal Credit, where there was fraud worth £5.66 billion.
Failing to declare income from paid employment remained the biggest reason for Universal Credit fraud, followed by not providing the required evidence for a claim and, thirdly, not reporting levels of savings that exceeded the £16,000 entitlement limit.
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