UK spying bank accounts: Eligibility Verification Measure
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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This bill is still going through Parliament. If passed, it would allow DWP to request basic bank details such as your name, account type, whether the account is open, and how much money is in it. They would not see your spending, shopping, or transactions.
If a check flags something like savings over sixteen thousand pounds, banks would share those specific details with DWP. It is a targeted check, not blanket access.
These checks would only apply to means tested benefits like Universal Credit, Pension Credit, and income based ESA. They do not apply to PIP, DLA, or the standard State Pension, as those are not means tested. If you only receive those, this bill will not affect you.
The government has published a factsheet see link below.
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oh, thank you very much. Very helpful.
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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
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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
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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
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DWP would only request information from banks the claimant has already declared. They won’t contact every bank in the UK or search the entire banking system.
Any checks must be targeted and based on existing account details already provided by the claimant.
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Hi, just checking something. I get Contributions based ESA (No income related). Does this mean that these checks wouldn't apply to me? Thanks
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Thanks very much. Is savings all they are looking at? There is s lot of missleading information online. Thanks
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But none of this applies to Contribution based only?
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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.
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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.
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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 IMO1
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