DWP says one benefit is 'safe' from bank account checks

The Department for Work and Pensions has revealed the one benefit SAFE from bank account checks. The DWP has confirmed it is being granted new powers from the new Labour Party government which will allow it to take money from payslips and accounts.

But DWP minister Liz Kendall has said state pensioners are SAFE. Benefit fraud investigators will soon be able to recover debts of those who have overclaimed - directly from their bank accounts - under new powers from the Labour government.

Officials have previously blamed an 'increasing propensity' for deceit across British society for the continued increase of scams since Covid. Ms Kendall has vowed to update her department's 20-year old powers branding their current investigatory capacities as 'absurd'.

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The DWP will be granted new powers to lift money directly out of the pockets of benefit fraudsters, as the government vows to crackdown on welfare scams. DWP officials were revealed to have assumed there will be a 5 per cent increase in fraud each year.

£9.7billion of taxpayers' cash was overpaid in benefits - due to fraud and error - during 2023-24, which accounted for 3.7 per cent of total benefit expenditure. This compared to £8.3billion and 3.6 per cent in 2022-23, as the rate of benefit overpayments continued to remain well above levels from before Covid.

In a letter to the Telegraph, Ms Kendall said: "We're in an absurd situation where DWP's powers have not been updated for 20 years, meaning fraudsters have new ways of taking public money, and we need to keep pace with them."

Ms Kendall went on and told the national newspaper this weekend: "My team are still, in 2024, sending letters to gather evidence for those suspected of welfare fraud, slowing them down to snail's pace when they could be shutting down serious fraud cases."