The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP<\/strong>) is set to gain new powers to check the bank accounts<\/strong> of benefit claimants as part of a government crackdown on fraud and errors. Under the proposed Public Authorities (Fraud, Error and Recovery) Bill, banks and building societies will be required to monitor account balances<\/strong> to identify individuals with savings above the eligibility threshold for income-based benefits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This move is expected to help reduce fraudulent claims<\/strong>, which the government estimates cost taxpayers around \u00a310 billion a year<\/strong>. However, the policy has raised concerns about privacy, accuracy, and potential hardship for legitimate claimants who may not realise they have breached the savings limit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Currently, individuals are responsible for declaring their savings<\/strong> to the DWP <\/a>if they exceed a certain amount. Savings over \u00a36,000<\/strong> can lead to deductions in benefits, while those over \u00a316,000<\/strong> usually mean ineligibility for Universal Credit<\/a><\/strong> and other income-based support.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n“I want to stress to the House that, under our eligibility verification measure, the DWP will not be able to access people’s bank accounts or look at what they are spending. We will not share any personal information with banks.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
This means that while account balances<\/strong> will be monitored, details of transactions will not<\/strong> be scrutinised. Final decisions on benefit eligibility will be made by human caseworkers<\/strong>, not an automated system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What Happens If You Exceed the Savings Limit?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
For those receiving Universal Credit<\/strong>, any savings over \u00a36,000<\/strong> will result in a deduction of \u00a34.35<\/strong> for every \u00a3250<\/strong> in additional savings. If total savings exceed \u00a316,000<\/strong>, the claimant will usually be disqualified<\/strong> from receiving Universal Credit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For example:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n
- A claimant with \u00a36,300<\/strong> in savings would face a \u00a38.70 reduction<\/strong> in their benefits.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- If savings reached \u00a310,000<\/strong>, the deduction would be \u00a369.60 per month<\/strong>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Anyone exceeding \u00a316,000<\/strong> would lose their eligibility<\/strong> entirely.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
However, some exceptions<\/strong> apply. Those transitioning from Tax Credits<\/strong> to Universal Credit<\/strong> may still be eligible for support for up to one year<\/strong>, even if their savings exceed the threshold.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Government\u2019s Justification for the Policy<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
The government argues that the new monitoring system<\/strong> is necessary to prevent fraud <\/a>and ensure that benefits are only received by those who truly need them. Fraudulent claims and administrative errors are estimated to cost the UK billions<\/strong> each year, straining public resources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n“We know that people lead busy lives and sometimes genuine mistakes happen. The measure will help there too, by finding and putting errors right quickly, preventing people from building up large debts that they then need to repay.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
By identifying potential overpayments early<\/strong>, the government hopes to prevent claimants from accumulating debt<\/strong> due to benefits they were never entitled to receive.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The DWP is set to gain new powers to check bank accounts and identify claimants with savings over \u00a316,000, potentially affecting their eligibility for Universal Credit and other benefits. Under the proposed Fraud Bill, banks will be required to flag accounts exceeding savings limits, aiming to reduce fraud and errors. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":100476,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-104643","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy","generate-columns","tablet-grid-50","mobile-grid-100","grid-parent","grid-33","no-featured-image-padding"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104643","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=104643"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104643\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":104644,"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104643\/revisions\/104644"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/100476"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=104643"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=104643"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=104643"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}