Benefit cheats could lose driving licences in anti-fraud drive | Global News Avenue

Convicted welfare cheats could have their driving licenses revoked if they fail to pay back taxpayers under a government plan to crack down on fraud.

Those who repeatedly cheat the system and rack up debts of £1,000 or more could be slapped with a driving ban of up to two years.

Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall said the legislation would mean “fraudsters who cheat and evade the system will face greater consequences”.

The plans also include new powers to force banks to hand over account information about benefit claimants to aid targeted investigations, echoing plans announced by the previous Conservative government.

But it is likely to face strong opposition from banks and privacy activists.

The draft law will also give the Public Sector Fraud Authority more powers, giving it more time to investigate complex fraud cases that have occurred during the pandemic.

Current laws mean that, in the most serious cases, repeat welfare fraud can result in a prison sentence.

Employment minister Alison McGovern told BBC Breakfast: “It’s not right to steal money from social care – it’s money we all may rely on, whether it’s for our country Pensions still prevent our children from growing up in poverty.

“At a time when the NHS is in dire need of funding… we cannot allow any money in social care to be lost to fraud.”

Ministers estimate that greater access to banking data could save taxpayers £1.6 billion over five years by helping DWP investigators identify suspicious claims more effectively.

But campaign groups warned this would infringe on claimants’ financial privacy rights and could lead to legitimate claimants being erroneously investigated.

In a letter to Kendall in September, directors of Big Brother Watch and Age UK described the plans as “massive financial surveillance powers” which they said would “represent a serious and disproportionate intrusion into the nation’s privacy” “.

Currently, the department can only request such financial information if there is reason to suspect fraud, and then only in individual cases.

The previous government argued that broader powers to obtain bank information in bulk would help investigators uncover previously undetected cases of fraud.

But a bill proposed by the Conservatives to implement the scheme failed to pass parliament before the July election.

Under the scheme, financial institutions will be required to send information to the DWP about bank accounts that receive welfare payments, indicating a “potential risk” of fraud or error, or face fines for non-compliance.

An official assessment of the law says the system will be “fully automated, run within existing banking systems” and be rolled out gradually from 2027.

At the time, Labor criticized the Tory legislation for being “poorly described”, while Tory ministers argued that broad powers were needed to ensure they would apply to all types of banks in the future, including newer, online-only providers. account.

Helen Whately, the Conservative shadow work and pensions secretary, said the government’s bill was a “continuation” of the work started by the previous government and that Labor “must do more to deal with rising welfare budgets”.

Since entering government, Labor has pledged to share only “very limited information” with the department under its equivalence plan, but has yet to detail how its system will work.

DWP minister Andrew Western confirmed last year that this would include cases where claimants were “residing abroad” without notifying the department, but the timing has yet to be determined.

The account may also be flagged if it holds more than £16,000 (which is the usual savings limit for claiming Universal Credit).

Unlike the Conservative plan, the government said the new powers would not be used to target state pension payments.

Ministers have sought to appease critics by stressing that the DWP does not have “access” to bank accounts.

But campaigners told the BBC they believed this was “misleading” as the measures would give the DWP the power to direct banks to obtain information on its behalf.