Getty ImagesConvicted benefits cheats who fail to pay back the taxpayer could be stripped of their driving licences, under government plans to crack down on fraud.Those who repeatedly cheat the system and have debts of £1,000 or more could be punished with a driving ban of up to two years.Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall said the legislation would mean “greater consequences for fraudsters who cheat and evade the system”.The plans also include new powers to force banks to hand over account information about benefit claimants to help target investigations, echoing a scheme announced by the previous Conservative government.But this is likely to face strong opposition from the banks and privacy campaigners.The draft law would also give more powers to the Public Sector Fraud Authority, giving it more time to investigate complex cases of fraud that took place during the pandemic.Current laws mean that repeat benefit cheats can already be imprisoned in the most serious cases.Speaking to BBC Breakfast, Employment Minister Alison McGovern said: “It’s not ok to steal from social security – this is money we all might rely on, whether for our state pensions or to stop our kids growing up in poverty.”At this time when the NHS is crying out for money… we cannot allow any money to be lost from social security through fraud.”Ministers have estimated greater access to banking data could save taxpayers £1.6bn over five years, by helping DWP investigators identify suspect claims more effectively.But campaign groups have warned that it will invade claimants’ right to financial privacy, and could lead to legitimate claimants being wrongly investigated.In a letter to Kendall in September, the directors of Big Brother Watch and Age UK described the plans as “mass financial surveillance powers” which they said would “represent a severe and disproportionate intrusion into the nation’s privacy”.Tory bill failedCurrently, the department can only request such financial information where it has reason to suspect fraud, and only in individual cases.The previous government argued broader powers to obtain banking information in bulk would help investigators catch previously undiscovered fraud cases.But a Tory bill to deliver the scheme failed to make it through Parliament before July’s election.Under that plan, financial institutions would have been required to send information to the DWP about bank accounts receiving benefit payments that indicated a “potential risk” of fraud or error, or face fines for not complying.An official assessm …
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[mwai_chat context=”Let’s have a discussion about this article:nnGetty ImagesConvicted benefits cheats who fail to pay back the taxpayer could be stripped of their driving licences, under government plans to crack down on fraud.Those who repeatedly cheat the system and have debts of £1,000 or more could be punished with a driving ban of up to two years.Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall said the legislation would mean “greater consequences for fraudsters who cheat and evade the system”.The plans also include new powers to force banks to hand over account information about benefit claimants to help target investigations, echoing a scheme announced by the previous Conservative government.But this is likely to face strong opposition from the banks and privacy campaigners.The draft law would also give more powers to the Public Sector Fraud Authority, giving it more time to investigate complex cases of fraud that took place during the pandemic.Current laws mean that repeat benefit cheats can already be imprisoned in the most serious cases.Speaking to BBC Breakfast, Employment Minister Alison McGovern said: “It’s not ok to steal from social security – this is money we all might rely on, whether for our state pensions or to stop our kids growing up in poverty.”At this time when the NHS is crying out for money… we cannot allow any money to be lost from social security through fraud.”Ministers have estimated greater access to banking data could save taxpayers £1.6bn over five years, by helping DWP investigators identify suspect claims more effectively.But campaign groups have warned that it will invade claimants’ right to financial privacy, and could lead to legitimate claimants being wrongly investigated.In a letter to Kendall in September, the directors of Big Brother Watch and Age UK described the plans as “mass financial surveillance powers” which they said would “represent a severe and disproportionate intrusion into the nation’s privacy”.Tory bill failedCurrently, the department can only request such financial information where it has reason to suspect fraud, and only in individual cases.The previous government argued broader powers to obtain banking information in bulk would help investigators catch previously undiscovered fraud cases.But a Tory bill to deliver the scheme failed to make it through Parliament before July’s election.Under that plan, financial institutions would have been required to send information to the DWP about bank accounts receiving benefit payments that indicated a “potential risk” of fraud or error, or face fines for not complying.An official assessm …nnDiscussion:nn” ai_name=”RocketNews AI: ” start_sentence=”Can I tell you more about this article?” text_input_placeholder=”Type ‘Yes'”]
