DWP handed 'two' more worrying powers alongside new bank account checks

The Department for Work and Pensions will target people on benefits with new powers - as it tries to claw back money and trace fraud in THREE different ways. A new Bill from the new Labour Party government gives the DWP powers including bank account checks, searches and seizures, and finally, debt recovery.

The Fraud, Error and Debt Bill has been brought forward to tackle fraud in social security system and the new laws to give DWP more powers to catch fraudsters faster and prevent customers from getting into debt sooner, Labour has said.

The Bill is set to include measures to protect vulnerable customers and ensure support goes to those who need it most. The government said: "We will also bring forward a Code of Practice which will be consulted on during the passage of the Bill to provide further assurance on the safe use of the powers.

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"This legislation delivers on the government’s manifesto commitment to safeguard taxpayers’ money and demonstrates the government’s commitment to not tolerate fraud, error or waste anywhere in public services, including the social security system.

"Further details on the scope of the legislation will be set out when the Bill is introduced." Dr Tom Fisher, senior researcher at Privacy International, said: “This type of surveillance of bank accounts is going to be a terrifying prospect for anyone claiming benefits. Rather than targeting the powers of the state, and the DWP in particular, using a blanket approach means that every single person claiming benefits will feel insecure."

The expert went on and said: “Through this intrusive move, the DWP is moving away from its own guidance, which stipulated that requesting information from banks was ‘a power of last resort’ and only exercisable on a case-by-case basis, where there were reasonable grounds to suspect fraud.”