DWP’s anti-fraud plan not yet approved

[TimeLord]

Not great news but I thought that I would share it. Not sure when they spoke about it or will vote on it, but again i hope it's targeted at fraud and not innocent people causing them further distress to already bad enough situations.

The plans would see DWP civil servants given the power to carry out arrests and search people’s homes, while work and pensions secretary Therese Coffey also announced reviews into more than two million existing universal credit claims over the next five years.

DWP alongside Coffey’s announcement show parliament will be asked to approve new powers that would allow DWP officers to carry out arrests, execute search warrants and seize evidence.

Ministers will also seek powers to access data from banks and other organisations “on a larger scale”; and to allow DWP to access information from a wider range of organisations.

DWP will appoint an extra 1,400 staff to counter-fraud teams, who will carry out interviews and investigations, as well as “enhanced checking of high-risk claims before they enter payment”, while aiming to disrupt “criminal activity from serious and organised crime”.

Coffey also announced “targeted” case reviews of more than two million universal credit claims over the next five years – including “suspicious cases” that entered the system during the pandemic – through a new “2,000-strong team”.

And she wants parliament to approve new civil fines that DWP will be able to “impose” for cases of fraud that it decides not to prosecute “for whatever reason”, although the department will only have to prove these cases on a balance of probabilities, rather than having to prove them beyond reasonable doubt if it took them through the criminal courts.

Link below

http://www.gov.uk/government/news/ne...ayer-2-billion

[gus607]

Well if you aren't on the fiddle then there is nothing to fear.

[TimeLord]

Lots of people are just reported maliciously by other people and that's when it goes wrong, you don't just have to be a criminal to fall into the process but innocent people will fall fail of the system and process it happens now. But there was a lot of pandemic claims that should not have been claimed on Universal credit loans etc.