New update on calls to stop DWP checking State Pension or benefits bank accounts (2024)

Two online petitions opposing new amendments to the Data Protection and Digital Information Bill which would enable the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to access the bank accounts of any person in receipt of a benefit payment provided by the UK Government, including millions of older people receiving State Pension payments, have passed the 10,000 signature threshold requirements. Both petitions are now entitled to a written response from the UK Government.

Under current rules, the DWP is able to request bank account holders’ bank transaction details on a case-by-case basis if there is reasonable grounds to suspect fraud. However, this new power would allow the DWP to access the personal data of benefit claimants by requiring the third party served with a notice, such as a bank or building society, to conduct mass monitoring without suspicion of fraudulent activity.

The ‘Do not introduce regular bank account checks for benefit claimants’ petition, says that the proposed new changes to the Bill takes “too aggressive an approach towards benefit claimants” and is “undermining their rights”.

The petition created by Wendy Scott has received more than 17,130 signatures of support and states: “Most benefit claimants are not fraudsters, and we believe Ministers are taking too aggressive an approach towards benefit claimants, in a way which denies freedom and rights of privacy, and seems to treat all benefit claimants like fraudsters.

“We believe the Government's approach to benefit claimants is undermining their rights. It is now time for those rights to be upheld and preserved. Unless a person is suspected of fraudulent or criminal activities, their privacy of bank accounts and financial standing should be protected.

“It is totally unacceptable for a Government department to infringe and deny these freedoms regardless of whether the individual is a benefit claimant or not.”

At 10o,000 signatures, the petition would be considered for debate in Parliament by the Petitions Committee - you can view it online here.

The second petition, also posted on the petitions-parliament website, specifically targets the new powers to check the bank accounts of those in receipt of the State Pension.

The ‘Do not let the Government access information on pensioners' bank accounts’ petition , has been created by Garry Graham and received more than 10,580 signatures of support.

The petition states: “Clause 128 and schedule 11 of the Data Protection and Digital Information Bill would, if agreed by Parliament, allow the Government to receive certain information on the bank accounts of people in receipt of the state pension.

“This potential intrusion must be stopped. Parliament should only give Government the powers that it needs to fulfil its duties.

“We believe there is no need for the Government to have the power to snoop on the bank accounts of pensioners.”

At 10o,000 signatures, the petition would be considered for debate in Parliament by the Petitions Committee - you can view it online here.

A third petition, ‘Stop the Government from spying on all of our bank accounts’, created by the charity, Big Brother Watch, has received over 34,380 signatures of support.

In a new briefing published by the charity in response to the proposed amendments, it said: “Big Brother Watch believes that the Data Protection and Digital Information Bill (DPDI Bill) threatens to greatly weaken the existing data protection framework and is not fit for purpose.

“The Bill must be majorly revised in the course of its passage through parliament or revoked in order to protect the individual and collective privacy rights of the British public, safeguard the rule of law, and uphold key rights to equality and non-discrimination.”

You can view the petition on the 38Degrees website here.

In December, the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Mel Stride MP, clarified the scope of proposed new powers to check bank accounts for fraud and error, in particular, those belonging to more than 12 million people claiming their State Pension.

The DWP boss told Parliament on December 18 that there had been a “great deal of scaremongering” about the scope of the new powers and clarified that they will only be used where there is a “clear signal of fraud or error ” and in the “absence of that, it will not”.

Mr Stride’s comments came after Conservative MP Nigel Mills - also a member of the cross-party Work and Pensions Committee - asked: “On the new powers to search through bank accounts to look for fraudulent transactions, can he confirm that the Government will seek to use them only where fraud is suspected and will not, as some people have suggested, search every State Pensioner’s bank account to look for something that almost certainly will not be there?”

The Secretary of State responded: “There has been a great deal of scaremongering about what exactly these powers are about.

“I can make it categorically clear from the Dispatch Box that these powers are there to make sure that, in instances where there is a clear signal of fraud or error, my Department is able to take action. In the absence of that, it will not.”

In 2022-23, fraud and error in the benefits system fell by 10 per cent and the DWP is investing a further £900 million next year to prevent £2.4 billion of fraud and error by 2024-25. The majority of fraud and error is found in the Universal Credit system.

More than 20m people across Great Britain are claiming State Pension or benefits from the DWP to help with the additional costs of day-to-day living. But the UK Government has been clear that it will crack down on those exploiting the benefits system as they are stealing from those who most need help.

During the next financial year (2024/25), the DWP has announced that it will measure a sample of claims from six specific benefits as part of its fraud and error exercise for 2024.

DWP fraud and error review financial year ending 2024

The DWP will be measuring the following benefits for fraud and error:

• Universal Credit
• Housing Benefit (pension age cases)
• Pension Credit
• State Pension
• Personal Independence Payment (PIP)
• Disability Living Allowance (DLA)

In a recent update on GOV.UK, the DWP also announced that the State Pension measurement will include claims administered through the ‘Get Your State Pension online' service in the financial year ending 2024.

This will also see the measurement of Disability Living Allowance (DLA) for the first time since the financial year ending 2005, which concludes its response to a consultation that ran in summer, 2018. The DWP intends to publish the fraud and error report for the financial year ending 2024 in May of the same year.

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