People on State Pension could see bank accounts monitored by DWP under new plans
dailyrecord.co.ukMinisters have faced questions about whether new data powers could be used to look at the bank accounts of older people in receipt of the State Pension.
Conservative former minister David Davis claimed that measures aimed at tackling fraud in the benefit system within the Data Protection and Digital Information Bill would allow the state to “put people under surveillance without prior suspicion”.The Bill seeks to create a new data rights regime for the UK after its exit from the European Union.
But MPs across the Commons raised the alarm about newly introduced proposals, which would allow the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to view benefit claimants’ bank accounts for “social security purposes”.Sir Stephen Timms, the Labour chair of the Work and Pensions Select Committee, suggested its remit would go further, allowing ministers to view the banking details of any State Pension recipients, whose payments are administered by the DWP.Culture minister Sir John Whittingdale told the Commons that it was “not the case the DWP intends to focus on the state pension”.
He added: “It is specifically about means-related benefit claimants, to ensure they are eligible for the benefits they are currently claiming.
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