DWP to check 1.4m pensioners' bank accounts in new fraud crackdown

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The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has announced that it will be able to check the bank accounts of pensioners to crack down on benefit fraud - but not all of them



More than a million pensioners are set to face Labour's stringent fraud checks. While Labour has clarified that the State Pension will not be subject to its new Eligibility Verification Measure within the new Public Authorities (Fraud, Error and Recovery) Bill, Pension Credit will be one of the first benefits scrutinised.

Being on the State Pension, whether solely or alongside other private or workplace pensions, will mean individuals are not subject to bank balance monitoring. However, no such exemption exists for Pension Credit recipients due to its means-tested nature, which considers income and savings. People receiving Pension Credit can have up to £10,000 in savings before it impacts their payments.

Andrew Western, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transformation in the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), assured MPs: "The State Pension will be explicitly excluded, and it will be focused initially on three benefits only: Universal Credit, Pension Credit and Employment and Support Allowance."

Benefit fraud and error statistics reveal a significant increase in Pension Credit overpayments for the financial year 2023-2024, amounting to £520 million, with £210 million attributed to fraud. This is a substantial jump from the previous year's £330 million in overpayments, which included £120 million due to fraud. The DWP has acknowledged this rise as "statistically significant."

The DWP has stated that the two primary reasons for overpayments in Pension Credit are failure to declare financial assets and staying abroad longer than permitted. When calculating Pension Credit entitlement, the DWP disregards the first £10,000 of capital.

For every £500 above £10,000, £1 is deducted from a recipient's weekly Pension Credit. For instance, if you have savings of £11,000, your weekly Pension Credit will be reduced by £2.

Statistics reveal that approximately 1.4 million people, including 130,000 in the West Midlands, receive Pension Credit. Of these, 1.2 million use Pension Credit to supplement a low State Pension, 42,000 only receive Pension Credit and don't qualify for any State Pension at all, while the remaining 115,000 receive Pension Credit along with other benefits such as Carer's Allowance, Attendance Allowance, and Housing Benefit.

An estimated 760,000 people are thought to be eligible for Pension Credit but are not claiming it. The Government, local councils, charities, and welfare campaigners are all urging people to apply.

Pension Credit boosts weekly income to a minimum of £218.15 for single pensioners and £332.95 for couples. For those who reached the State Pension age before April 6, 2016, the income thresholds are higher at £260.68 per week for single pensioners and £380.55 per week for couples.

A successful claim could potentially unlock additional benefits, including Housing Benefit for renters, Council Tax Support to decrease or eliminate your bill, and free NHS dental treatment, glasses, and transport costs for hospital appointments. Additional assistance with heating costs through the Warm Home Discount Scheme and Winter Fuel Payment could also be available, along with a free TV licence for those aged 75 and over.

Labour's latest efforts to tackle benefit fraud follow their claims that overpayments in the social security system are costing taxpayers approximately £10 billion annually. Since the pandemic began, an estimated £35 billion has been wrongly paid to individuals not entitled to the funds.

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Being on the State Pension, whether solely or alongside other private or workplace pensions, will mean individuals are not subject to bank balance monitoring.

For now!

It's only a matter of time before government snooping is extended to ALL pensioners with (I suspect) those claiming rent and council tax rebates being next in line.

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‘It is not just benefits claimants who will be targeted,’ MPs told



The DWP has been warned against “intrusive” measures which could permit agents to spy on “everybody’s bank accounts” when new legislation passes.

Labour’s new Fraud, Error and Debt Bill is currently making its way through parliament, and is set to come into force later this year. It forms a central part of DWP plans to crackdown on benefit fraud, with new powers for the department to request information from claimants’ bank accounts.

The bill will revive a similar plan that was introduced by the Conservative government but placed in limbo but held back due to the general election. It will require banks to comply with government requests to share data to identify benefit fraud.

But “it is not just benefits claimants who will be targeted,” Jasleen Chaggar, legal and policy officer at Big Brother Watch told MPs at the bill’s committee stage, “it is everyone’s accounts, including yours and mine.”

“Even if you are a benefits recipient, you can appoint an individual—a parent, a guardian, an appointed person or your landlord—to receive the benefit on your behalf, so those people will also be pulled into the net of surveillance,” she explained.

The new powers have been introduced as part of a raft of measures Labour say will form the “biggest fraud crackdown in a generation.” The party adds that, combined, the plans will save £1.5 billion over the next five years.

The bill will be bolstered by safeguarding measures to protect vulnerable customers, the DWP says, adding that staff will be trained to use new powers appropriately. The department has also pledged to introduce new oversight mechanisms to monitor how the powers are being used.

But several experts have taken issue with the ‘eligibility verification powers’ brought forward in the bill. This will give DWP the power to require banks to provide data to help identify when an applicant is not meeting the eligibility criteria for a benefit they have applied for.

For instance, to be eligible for Universal Credit, an applicant must have no more than £16,000 in savings, except in exceptional circumstances. Initially, the measure will focus on Universal Credit, Pension Credit and Employment and Support Allowance, for which levels of incorrect payments are highest.

Speaking at a separate committee session, director of public policy and strategic engagement at Cifas, Helena Wood, called the powers “very new and incredibly intrusive.” She added that they could become a “blanket, phishing-style power” which would usually be confined for use in civil or criminal investigations.

“I think that part of the Bill requires a little more thought and proportionality pulling up front,” she said, reiterating calls of others for a code of practice to be brought forward.

Defending the decision to not publish the code until after the bill Andrew Western DWP minister for transformation told the session that “we are simply not able to bring forward a final code of practice,” adding that “it would not be possible to do that without knowing what is in the Bill.”

Conservative MP Mike Wood argued that the approach was similar to “King Henry VIII” powers, where bills contain clauses that allows ministers to change the legislation without needing to go through parliament.