People on State Pension or DWP benefits could see bank account monitored for fraud under new Tory plans
dailyrecord.co.ukEarlier this week the Conservative Party confirmed in its manifesto that if elected as the next UK Government, it will press ahead with welfare reforms which include a new Fraud Bill.
This will be in addition to the Data Protection and Digital Information Bill which was announced last year and due to the General Election has not progressed beyond the second reading in the House of Lords to the Committee Stage.
The Fraud Bill will give the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) powers similar to HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) so that benefit fraud will be treated in the same way as tax fraud.
The manifesto says this will include “new powers to identify, investigate and pursue fraudsters”. Since 2019, under the Tory government, some £7.7 billion of taxpayers money has been saved through measures taken to tackle fraud in the benefits system, but levels of fraud have more than doubled since the start of the pandemic.
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