Pensioner scared of DWP

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maria107

Still no letters from DWP on looking at bank accounts.

I get Pension credit and PIP (not mobility part)

With all my bills and food general costs

pplus living expenses my bank account is under a thousand when bills and food are paid

Not sure if l should worry

Maria

Amalegra

I would try not to worry. The DWP say that banks will use certain algorithms to produce lists of those in receipt of certain benefits such as Retirement pension (which isn’t really a ‘benefit’ as we’ve paid into it!) and certain other means tested ones, eg Universal Credit where such things as large amounts of savings, regular large payments being paid in and regular withdrawals from abroad are flagged up. This may indicate fraudulent activity and will hopefully pick up organised fraud on a large scale such as the £55 million scam perpetrated by a gang who used proxies from abroad to set up false claims. They don’t have the time or resources to scan individual bank accounts on a whim and unless they have good grounds to suspect fraud they won’t do so as I doubt they have the remit. In fact the DWP and its predecessors, the old DHSS and Department of Employment have ALWAYS had these powers in the case of suspected fraud. It’s more in the news now, following this new directive to involve banks in a general sweep to combat large scale fraud which shot up massively during and after COVID when rules for claiming were somewhat relaxed. I am concerned, of course, but soothe my anxieties by reassuring myself that if you are doing nothing wrong, it is unlikely that they will come after you! Besides which, I am not of the demographic they would be most interested in! I worked for both the DHSS and Dept of Employment many years ago and while they have morphed into the somewhat different DWP, I can’t think that the mindset with regard to who and what they are looking for will be too different, as the problems regarding fraud remain the same, just on a larger scale these days! Please don’t worry too much.