DWP handed new powers to change people who claim benefits payslips

The new Labour Party government will hand DWP staff the power to take money directly out of bank accounts and wage slips as part of a crackdown on benefit fraud.

The Department for Work and Pensions is being handed new powers to change people's payslips. The new Labour Party government will hand DWP staff the power to take money directly out of bank accounts and wage slips as part of a crackdown on benefit fraud.

Liz Kendall, the Work and Pensions Secretary, said it was “absurd” that her department’s powers had become so outdated, with inspectors struggling to “keep pace” with complex methods employed by fraudsters.

Writing in 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.

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“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.” But on Saturday evening privacy campaigners warned the new powers would be a “blank cheque” to force companies to “snoop” on “the country’s poorest citizens”.

Silkie Carlo, director of Big Brother Watch, said: “This blank cheque to force private companies to snoop and report on the country’s poorest citizens to the state is intrusive, excessive and will create a culture of fear among millions of people claiming benefits.

“For a Labour government to introduce tough investigatory powers more typical of a counter-terror context to Britain’s welfare system is an alarming attack on privacy and yet another assault on the poor.”

But Ms Kendall said benefit fraud investigators must be given “the tools they need to fight”. Ms Kendall went on and added: “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."