Under the Labour Party’s proposed Fraud, Error, and Debt Bill, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is poised to gain extensive powers aimed at tackling the right-wing myth of benefit fraud. This bill, currently being deliberated in Parliament, introduces significant changes in how the DWP will handle allegations of fraud among benefit claimants, including those on schemes such as Personal Independence Payments (PIP).
DWP powers over ‘fraud’: what’s happening?
The proposed legislation would compel banks and other financial institutions to cooperate with the government by sharing specific data to assist in identifying potential fraud cases.
However, the DWP has stated that it will not have direct access to individuals’ bank accounts, nor will it share personal information with third parties. A spokesperson emphasised that the steps taken are solely aimed at safeguarding public funds.
They argued that the bill is projected to save taxpayers £1.5 billion over the next five years as part of broader plans aimed at reducing welfare expenditure.
Critics of the bill have raised concerns about its intrusiveness and potential for misuse. Jasleen Chaggar from Big Brother Watch highlighted that the reach of surveillance does not stop with benefit claimants:
Even if you are a benefits recipient, you can appoint an individual, a parent, a guardian, an appointed person or your landlord, to receive the benefit on your behalf, so those people will also be pulled into the net of surveillance.
This sentiment underlines fears that the legislation could infringe upon the privacy of not only those receiving benefits but also their appointed representatives. Moreover, it also feeds into the idea that DWP benefit fraud is a major problem – when actually, it isn’t.
A right-wing fairytale
As the Canary has consistently reported, benefit fraud is largely non-existent. For instance, the Canary’s Steve Topple has previously underscored how a sizeable proportion of the DWP’s fraud estimates are not in fact from actual claimants at all. Instead, Topple has detailed how:
much of the £8.3bn the DWP promotes as fraud (and that the media dutifully laps up) is just based on assumptions and guesswork.
Then, take Personal Independence Payment (PIP). The Canary’s Rachel Charlton-Dailey recently pointed out that the government’s own data found that cases of PIP fraud were next-to-nothing at just 0.1%. Funnily enough, as Charlton-Dailey also highlighted, the DWP were a little quiet on this:
When they made a massive stab-vested song and dance about DWP fraud decreasing in 2023, you have to wonder why they aren’t shouting from the rooftops that PIP fraud is now at 0%. The only conclusion to be reached is that low-or-no DWP benefit fraud doesn’t fit their narrative of how much disabled people are wasting taxpayers money. So nothing to see here.
Unfortunately then, it never actually matters that the proportion of fraud in the benefits system is infinitesimally small. Government’s will continue to push the idea that it is a major problem.
More punitive measures from the DWP
In the wake of public scrutiny, the DWP has been adamant that their strategies will not overreach. DWP minister Andrew Western assured that while there will be mechanisms in place for data collection by banks to verify eligibility criteria, the DWP would not receive sensitive personal spending information.
“No benefit entitlement decision will be made solely because of the data obtained under EVM,” he clarified, emphasising that human agents will still make final determinations regarding benefit eligibility.
This insistence on protecting claimant privacy comes amidst growing tensions and mistrust towards the DWP, as many see these new measures as part of a larger narrative targeting the most vulnerable in society. The DWP’s focus on tighter fraud prevention continues to raise eyebrows, particularly among those who argue that the measures could lead to unwarranted scrutiny and discomfort for benefit claimants.
As legislators consider the implications of the Fraud, Error and Debt Bill, the ongoing discussion reveals a deep divide in attitudes toward benefit systems in the UK. While the government asserts these measures are necessary for fiscal responsibility, others have pointed out that the approach is intentionally further demonising disabled and non-working people.
With millions of individuals relying on benefits in the UK, the stakes are undeniably high, both for the government in terms of public trust and for claimants trying to secure their rightful support.
Featured image via the Canary
