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The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) will have the power to check the bank accounts of millions of pensioners and benefit claimants under new government powers, it has been announced.
This is part of new benefit fraud rules, with powers created by the Public Authorities (Fraud, Error and Recovery) Bill.
According to DWP, the department will share “eligibility indicators” with banks and other financial institutions.
These will be based on “benefit eligibility rules and help institutions identify accounts that may need to be checked by DWP”. It is planned to help ensure people receive the benefits they are entitled to.
Financial institutions will then check the information they hold on accounts receiving certain DWP benefit payments.
They will tell DWP when a personal account into which a relevant benefit is paid meets an eligibility indicator. This includes linked accounts.
The account may belong to either a claimant or a non-claimant.
What information will be shared?
Where an eligibility indicator is met, financial institutions will only share limited information with DWP for two reasons:
- To help identify incorrect benefit payments
- To check benefit entitlement.
They may share:
- the names of all account holders
- details of any accounts you hold, including linked accounts and joint accounts
- sort codes, if the accounts have these
- information about how much money is in the relevant accounts
- the date of transactions that took place in another country
It is important to note that DWP cannot log into your online banking or see your account in real time.
Banks and other financial institutions cannot share:
- how you spend your money
- sensitive personal information about your background, such as political opinions or religious beliefs
Banks and other financial institutions can be fined if they do share this information.
How DWP collects and uses your information:
- DWP will only use the data to help check benefit entitlement, help identify incorrect payments and support any enquiries into those payments, if needed
- DWP cannot ask for information that breaks data protection laws
- where information is shared with DWP that is not directly relevant to a benefit claimant, it will be destroyed in line with DWP’s Information Management Policy
- DWP will not share your personal information with banks or other financial institutions
An independent reviewer will check that DWP, banks and other financial institutions have followed the law, amongst other things. Its reports will be presented to Parliament.