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DWP could start checking bank accounts in major cash crackdown - Liverpool Echo
- On April 29, 2025, the House of Commons passed new legislation granting the Department for Work and Pensions enhanced powers to detect and address benefit fraud.
- The Bill seeks to tackle multibillion-pound benefit fraud through measures including compelling banks to share selected financial data and enabling direct fund recovery from offenders' accounts.
- Critics raised concerns about privacy, mass surveillance risks for over nine million benefit recipients, and potential wrongful suspicion similar to past Horizon scandals involving banks.
- The government claims the new powers, called the Eligibility Verification Measure, would save £940 million over five years while upholding privacy safeguards and legal compliance under the Human Rights Act.
- The Bill now progresses to the House of Lords and could significantly increase DWP's ability to prevent and recover incorrect payments, despite ongoing debate about proportionality and privacy.
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13 Articles
13 Articles
DWP snooping powers to check claimants' bank accounts passes key hurdle
MPs have approved the Public Authorities (Fraud, Error and Recovery) Bill at third reading - meaning they are now one step closer to being able to carry out the "biggest ever crackdown on fraud against the public purse"
·Leicester, United Kingdom
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Coverage Details
Total News Sources13
Leaning Left2Leaning Right2Center5Last UpdatedBias Distribution56% Center
Bias Distribution
- 56% of the sources are Center
56% Center
L 22%
C 56%
R 22%
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