UK spying bank accounts: Eligibility Verification Measure

alexroda
alexroda Online Community Member Posts: 377 Trailblazing

hi

With the upcoming new bill giving the government more surveillance on welfare claimants, I’ve been trying to find any exact info on what are they proposing. Without much luck as some of it it’s very vague.


does anyone have any links on it, detailed law of the proposals etc, like:


Eligibility Verification Measure listing, what exactly does that cover?


eligibility indicators, which are?


the only info and the one the MPs keep referring to is the capital limit of £16,000 check. But some outlets are suggesting that they will be able to check how are you spending your money for PIP or DLA. Which does not make sense cause as far as I know these bank checks will be for those on UC, Pension Credit or ESA only.

Thank you

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  • alexroda
    alexroda Online Community Member Posts: 377 Trailblazing
  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User] Posts: 1,170 Championing
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  • michael57
    michael57 Online Community Member Posts: 2,675 Championing

    i would of thought if a claimant failed to declare bank accounts held in other banks when signing the commitments would be a breach of the rules and fraudulent if more than £16.000 and not declared we have all seen on the scope site people falling in this trap read the rules for getting uc its in black and white for all to see and read if the minority try to cheat the system you cant complain when treated like children

  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User] Posts: 1,170 Championing
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  • michael57
    michael57 Online Community Member Posts: 2,675 Championing

    and yet people still do get uc with £16,000 or more undeclared and then moan when caught out i myself am all for the bank checks

  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User] Posts: 1,170 Championing
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  • michael57
    michael57 Online Community Member Posts: 2,675 Championing

    you misunderstand couple of grand is not immoral or breaking the uc rules as well you know over the limit is regardless of what the mps have or do that was not the question

  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User] Posts: 1,170 Championing
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  • [Deleted User]
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  • FAFB
    FAFB Online Community Member Posts: 22 Listener

    Hi, just checking something. I get Contributions based ESA (No income related). Does this mean that these checks wouldn't apply to me? Thanks

  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User] Posts: 1,170 Championing
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  • FAFB
    FAFB Online Community Member Posts: 22 Listener

    Thanks very much. Is savings all they are looking at? There is s lot of missleading information online. Thanks

  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User] Posts: 1,170 Championing
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  • FAFB
    FAFB Online Community Member Posts: 22 Listener

    But none of this applies to Contribution based only?

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  • alexroda
    alexroda Online Community Member Posts: 377 Trailblazing

    that’s not quite the case as per following on the link shared by @MW123


    An Eligibility Verification Notice can only request information about accounts in receipt of the specified benefits set out in legislation. These are Universal Credit, Pension Credit and Employment and Support Allowance. If the Secretary of State wishes to expand the range of benefits covered, it will require a debate and approval by Parliament. This is except for the State Pension which is excluded from being added by the legislation.

    So they can in theory check all benefits except pensions.

  • alexroda
    alexroda Online Community Member Posts: 377 Trailblazing

    theres also the following:


    • penalties for wrongdoing – Banks and other financial institutions can be issued penalty notices for non-compliance with Eligibility Verification Notices. This includes if they fail to respond within the timeframe or if they share information that must not be shared under the measure (such as transaction information and special category data).

    So, potentially a bank could share your spending habits “by mistake” with DWP and be fined for it.
    now, it doesn’t say how much will the fine be and who would be receiving the fine money.

    Cause, if my bank were to share data about me that should not have, I expect that fine payment to be substantial and to be made to me.

    Sounds all a bit strange to me.

  • alexroda
    alexroda Online Community Member Posts: 377 Trailblazing

    I also don’t understand why ESA is mentioned if it were only to affect those on IRESA, cause that benefit is disappearing in April 2026


    we need further clarification on what the government is planning on doing IMO

  • FAFB
    FAFB Online Community Member Posts: 22 Listener

    Thanks. Something i can't work out is they say this will save around 300 million per year but the total loss is something like 9.5 billion per year. I read something on gov uk saying that for UC alone the loss to capital fraud was something like 1.1 for last year. Is it just me or is this new law only going to recover a fraction of what was lost? Just my thoughts. Could be rubbish

  • alexroda
    alexroda Online Community Member Posts: 377 Trailblazing

    thank you, however I still haven’t seen any official document from the government corroborating what you have written as the document in their website for instance, specifically mentions pension being outside the law, but it fails to mention all other benefits, PIP, DLA, CBESA, etc implying that those benefits are within the realm of the law proposed.

    If what you are saying is true, they would have also stated that this law only applies to UC and IRESA.