{"id":220993,"date":"2025-01-22T03:16:37","date_gmt":"2025-01-22T03:16:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/01\/22\/bank-account-snooping-and-driving-bans-planned-in-government-crackdown-on-benefit-fraudsters\/"},"modified":"2025-01-22T03:16:37","modified_gmt":"2025-01-22T03:16:37","slug":"bank-account-snooping-and-driving-bans-planned-in-government-crackdown-on-benefit-fraudsters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/01\/22\/bank-account-snooping-and-driving-bans-planned-in-government-crackdown-on-benefit-fraudsters\/","title":{"rendered":"Bank account snooping and driving bans planned in government crackdown on benefit fraudsters"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Bank<\/div>\n
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Benefit fraudsters could be banned from driving and subject to bank account snooping if they fail to pay back the taxpayer, under a new government crackdown.<\/p>\n

In an effort to curb welfare fraud, the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) has launched what has been dubbed the biggest fraud crackdown in a generation.<\/p>\n

The Public Authorities (Fraud, Error and Recovery) Bill would introduce new measures, including allowing the government to recover money directly from fraudsters’ bank accounts.<\/p>\n

It is due to be introduced to parliament on Wednesday and the DWP estimates it could help save the taxpayer \u00a31.5bn over the next five years.<\/p>\n

According to government figures, around \u00a38.6bn was lost to fraud and error overpayments in the financial year ending in April 2024.<\/p>\n

Gang member convicted of ‘industrial scale’ \u00a350m benefit fraud<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Once the bill is made law, benefit cheats could be banned from driving for up to two years if they refuse to pay back the money they owe.<\/p>\n

Courts could also suspend their driving licences following an application if they have debts of \u00a31,000 or more and repayment requests are ignored.<\/p>\n

The DWP will also have the power to get bank statements from people who it believes have enough cash to pay back the debts but are refusing to do so.<\/p>\n

“We are turning off the tap to criminals who cheat the system and steal law-abiding taxpayers’ money,” Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall said.<\/p>\n

Read more from Sky News:<\/strong>
Southport attack a sign ‘country faces new threat’<\/a>
Dangerous winds to hit UK this week<\/a>
Village blocked in by 80ft mound of rubbish<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

She added: “This means greater consequences for fraudsters who cheat and evade the system, including as a last resort in the most serious cases removing their driving licence.<\/p>\n

“Backed up by new and important safeguards including reporting mechanisms and independent oversight to ensure the powers are used proportionately and safely.<\/p>\n

“People need to have confidence the government is opening all available doors to tackle fraud and eliminate waste, as we continue the most ambitious programme for government in a generation – with a laser-like focus on outcomes which will make the biggest difference to their lives as part of our Plan for Change.”<\/p>\n

There was a significant spike in fraud and error-related benefit overpayments during the COVID pandemic.<\/p>\n

Rates nearly doubled from the financial year ending April 2021 to their peak in 2023 at around 4% of the total amount of benefit paid by the department.<\/p>\n

The incoming bill will grant more powers to tackle this COVID-era fraud.<\/p>\n

Helen Whately, the shadow work and pensions secretary, claimed the laws were a “continuation” of Conservative efforts.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

She added: “But having knowingly appointed a convicted fraudster to his cabinet, Keir Starmer cannot be trusted to get tough on fraud.”<\/p>\n

Ms Whately was referring to former transport secretary Louise Haigh, who was forced to resign <\/strong><\/a>from the cabinet after it was revealed that in 2013 she had lied to police over a work phone she had said was stolen in a mugging.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n


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Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Benefit fraudsters could be banned from driving and subject to bank account snooping if they fail to pay back the taxpayer, under a new government crackdown. In an effort to curb welfare fraud, the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) has launched what has been dubbed the biggest fraud crackdown in a generation. The Public […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":220994,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/e3.365dm.com\/25\/01\/1920x1080\/skynews-driving-licence_6807045.jpg?20250122024618","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[603],"tags":[3335,673,14829,8633,1343,6455,35716,3954,8439,100062],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220993"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=220993"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220993\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":220995,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220993\/revisions\/220995"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/220994"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=220993"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=220993"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=220993"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}