"DWP announces new 2,500-strong team for bank account benefits crackdown"

"DWP announces new 2,500-strong team for bank account benefits crackdown"

https://www.examinerlive.co.uk/news/cost-of-living/dwp-announces-new-2500-strong-29164450


'The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has unveiled a new 2,500-strong team tasked with scrutinising Universal Credit claims, potentially accessing bank account information to detect fraud. The DWP stated that its efforts have saved £1.3 billion from fraud and error over the past year.

In the last 12 months, anti-fraud and error operations have included busting a £53.9 million Universal Credit scam, dubbed as Britain's largest-ever benefit fraud case. The DWP announced today its ambition to save £9 billion in the next four years.

As part of this plan, it is hiring 2,500 investigators to verify millions of Universal Credit claims. Furthermore, the Data Protection and Digital Information Bill currently under consideration in Parliament will aid the Department, in collaboration with third parties like banks, to pinpoint claims indicating potential fraud and error.

The legislation will also empower DWP staff to conduct home raids and make arrests.

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is set to collaborate with banks to scrutinise the accounts of individuals suspected of fraud, examining their savings as well as their financial transactions. A new civil penalty will be introduced to penalise fraudsters, alongside a £70 million investment in advanced data analytics, reports Wales Online.

The DWP has stated: "These measures will mean those who wish to exploit the natural compassion and generosity of the British people will have nowhere to hide."

The DWP anticipates that the legislation enabling banks to share information with investigators will help reclaim an additional £600 million. This announcement follows the Prime Minister's recent unveiling of major welfare system reforms, which included a forthcoming bill aimed at directly confronting benefit fraud.

The DWP is preparing to bring forward legislation that would align its investigative powers with those of HMRC, including arrest authority, search and seizure by warrant, and enhanced powers to gather information swiftly to ascertain the validity of fraud claims.

Work and Pensions Secretary Mel Stride commented: "We are scaling up the fight against those stealing from the taxpayer, building on our success in stopping £18 billion going into the wrong hands in 2022-23."

Stride further emphasised the government's commitment, saying, "With new legal powers, better data and thousands of additional staff, our comprehensive plan ensures we have the necessary tools to tackle the scourge of benefit fraud."

The DWP is expanding its efforts by recruiting over 2,500 external agents temporarily as part of the Targeted Case Review to help identify inaccuracies in Universal Credit claims. This, combined with DWP's own internal agents involved in the review, will bring the total workforce to nearly 6,000 individuals.

Furthermore, the DWP is considering a new civil penalty to deter fraudsters, potentially widening the range of cases that can incur a penalty when not prosecuted by the courts, and increasing the value of the civil penalty. In addition to this, the DWP plans to implement changes to Universal Credit, including new semi-automated checks on self-employed income, new online prompts for claimants to reconfirm their circumstances (such as cohabitation with a partner), and enhanced checks on capital when people apply for the benefit to ensure eligibility.

These measures will be supported by sophisticated data analytics, utilising machine learning, to identify and prevent fraudulent claims. However, final decisions on approving or rejecting any claim will continue to be made by a DWP staff member.

The scheme is being introduced as fraud now accounts for nearly 40% of all crime, with just over a quarter of respondents to the 2022 British Social Attitudes Survey indicating that it's either 'Not Wrong' or only 'A Bit Wrong' for an unemployed benefit claimant to fail to report £3,000 from a casual job. As of Monday, universal credit claimants working less than 18 hours a week will be required to seek additional work.

In a major overhaul of the welfare system, the Government is increasing the administrative earnings threshold from the equivalent of 15 hours to 18 hours at the national living wage for an individual claimant. This means those working less than half of a full-time week will need to meet more frequently with their work coach to increase their earnings, says the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).

Rishi Sunak's strategies to address the UK's so-called 'sick note culture' through a series of welfare reforms have been criticised as 'cruel' and part of a 'continuing onslaught' on the vulnerable.

Stephen Evans, chief executive of Learning and Work Institute, commented: "Many disabled people want to work, but don't get enough help to do so either from employers or from the government. Focusing on the sign-off process for sick notes will miss the point without more root and branch reform to widen support, said Stephen Evans, chief executive of Learning and Work Institute."

"Only one in ten out-of-work disabled people get help to find work each year, but two in ten want to work. We need to tackle the employment support gap, help employers to better support people with health conditions and disabilities and look at how they design jobs and recruit, and improve health and other support for disabled people."'