They will also get a new authority to make airlines and ferry companies reveal where you have been travelling
The Department for Work and Pensions is to get the power to take money directly from people's bank accounts and pay packets as part of a new crackdown on benefit fraud The DWP will also have the power to tell companies such as airlines to hand over information about customers - so investigators can work out how claimants are spending their money.
Writing in The Telegraph, Liz Kendall, the Work and Pensions Secretary 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. 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.
The new powers will also mean the DWP, which can already get information from banks, energy companies and employers, will be handed the authority to compel private businesses to give up information. That will mean the DWP will be able to track things such as where and when you have been on holiday through flight and ferry data.
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