The UK’s Labour government has announced the Fraud, Error, and Debt Bill to tackle fraud by requiring financial institutions to share data that indicate potential benefit overpayments.
The Bill will reportedly save £1.6 billion in the next five years in fraud prevention.
The new law will give more power to the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) to combat fraud in the social security system. The DWP will now be powered for search and seizure of suspected fraud activity, and to recover debts from those who are able to pay the money back but have not done so.
The new powers of the DWP will be kept in check by a Code of Practice to prevent misuse.
However, the Bill is facing controversy from the British public, some of whom are dubbing it the “snooper’s charter”. The Bill resembles another legislation introduced by the previous government, the Data Protection and Digital Information Bill, that also empowered welfare officials to claim data from users’ bank accounts. There are concerns about data privacy and the impact on older and disabled claimants.
The DWP commented: “Staff will be trained to the highest standards on the appropriate use of any new powers, and we will introduce new oversight and reporting mechanisms, to monitor these new powers. DWP will not have access to people’s bank accounts and will not share their personal information with third parties.
“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.”