New souped-up powers from the Department of Work and Pensions
(DWP), which will allow DWP to recover money directly from the
bank accounts of fraudsters who can repay but are wilfully gaming
the system in order not to, passed an important stage in the
House of Commons as it had its Third Reading.
The Public Authorities (Fraud, Error, and Recovery) Bill, which
could put these measures into law, will help DWP to catch
fraudsters, prevent overpayments and protect taxpayer's money.
The Bill will save the taxpayer £1.5 billion over the next five
years and is part of wider plans set out in the Autumn budget and
Spring Statement to save £9.6 billion by 2030. This means
taxpayer's money can be invested in public services as part of
the government's Plan for Change.
Minister for Transformation, said:
Enhancing our powers is essential to fulfilling our commitment to
the public, as they will enable us to address the unacceptable
levels of fraud and error we've inherited and better protect
public funds.
By strengthening our ability to catch criminals and prevent
overpayments, we can keep up with the evolving nature of welfare
fraud while reducing the risk of people falling further into
debt, ensuring that more resources are directed towards improving
the lives of people across the country.
The new legislation comes as the government is dealing with the
broken welfare system it inherited, with out-of-control levels of
fraud and error costing the taxpayer around £10 billion a year –
with a total of £35 billion of taxpayers' money incorrectly paid
to those not entitled to the money since the pandemic.
The Bill will also give powers to the DWP to get data from banks
and other financial institutions to help verify the eligibility
of those who receive certain benefits to make sure they are
getting the correct payments – this will help to stop people
falling further into debt because of incorrect payments and help
the DWP spot fraudulent claims.
No personal information will be shared by DWP to support
financial institutions in the identification of these accounts,
and DWP will not have access to people's bank accounts in
verifying eligibility and will not be able to see where people
are spending their money.
Protections are central to the Bill, making sure there is
proportionate and effective use of the powers, and that DWP is
protecting vulnerable customers. For example, people will only be
disqualified from driving as a last resort when they don't rely
on their car for work or for caring responsibilities and where
they continually avoid repayment. Staff will be trained to the
highest standards on the appropriate use of new powers, and we
will introduce new oversight and reporting mechanisms.
On top of the Bill measures, the Chancellor announced in the
Spring Statement a further commitment to recruit over 500
additional DWP fraud and error staff who will make better use of
government data to correct errors in benefit claims, as well as
increasing checks on potential Universal Credit claimants by
introducing more ways to verify the amount of savings they hold,
as well as their earnings and expenses.
The Cabinet Office's Public Sector Fraud Authority will also be
given more powers under the legislation, allowing the
department's investigators to detect and recover fraud in other
departments and bodies across the public sector.
Minister in the Cabinet Office, said:
This Bill will save taxpayers' money. People are currently
getting away with stealing vast sums of cash because our
investigators don't have the powers they need to detect and
recover fraud across the public sector.
We're giving our investigators new powers to tackle fraud
wherever they find it - as well as doubling the time available to
bring pandemic fraudsters to justice.
An additional new measure will see the time limit for civil
claims against Covid fraud doubled from six to twelve years. This
step change in the ability to fight fraud committed during the
pandemic will give the Covid Corruption Commissioner and the
Public Sector Fraud Authority more time to investigate complex
cases and apply their new powers retrospectively - including the
ability to raid properties and retrieve money from Covid
fraudsters' bank accounts.
The Bill measures will now progress to the House of Lords to be
debated further.
Additional Information
- The Fraud, Error and Recovery Bill forms part of wider
government plans to save a total of £8.6bn over 5 years in the
biggest welfare fraud and error budget package in recent history.
- Since the pandemic, a total of £35 billion of taxpayers'
money has been incorrectly paid to those not entitled to DWP
benefits.
