Labour plan to take cash from benefit cheats' accounts is 'unprecedented intrusion', civil liberties campaigner warns
19 January 2025, 11:40 | Updated: 19 January 2025, 12:02
A Labour plan to take money directly from benefit fraudsters' bank accounts amounts to an "unprecedented intrusion", a civil liberties campaigner has warned.
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Silkie Carlo, Director of British civil liberties NGO Big Brother Watch - told LBC's Paul Brand that the Labour government's plans to afford the DWP more powers to access benefit claimants' bank accounts is a "step too far".
"For the government to sidestep fair hearings in courts and to create powers to take money directly from our bank accounts should be treated with extreme caution.
"We're talking about many people who are living on the poverty line who are navigating a very complicated system, and there's no reason that this group of people should have fewer rights than the rest of the population."
Ms Carlo expressed her concerns that it forms part of a "wider plan" by the Labour government to "turn the welfare system" into a "digital surveillance system".
Referencing what she described as "unusual powers", Ms Carlo said the change to the welfare system "creates unprecedented intrusion into people's financial lives".
In response to Paul Brand's comment that it's not a "new concept" for the government to seize money that individuals have earned via "illegal means", Ms Carlo said: "We're not talking about fugitives, we're talking about benefit recipients, many of whom will be carers or have serious illnesses or are pensioners".
"We're talking about the welfare system and we know how often this system gets things wrong," adds Ms Carlo.
She agreed that anyone engaging in deliberate illegal activity "should feel the full force of the law" but stated her concerns that benefit claimants may become "easy targets for the government" amid the "extreme powers".
"If you start with benefits claimants and the government being able to spy on the population's bank accounts on the premise of welfare, and dip into our bank accounts to take money out, where else does that go and where will it end?"
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The Department for Work and Pensions has announced that new planned powers will mean that money can be reclaimed from people who have committed fraud and are not on benefits or PAYE.
Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall has said that legislation will "make sure" that people who "seek to cheat" the system are held accountable.
The powers will be used as a last resort, the Government says, and will allow the ability to recover debt from people who have the means but have refused to pay money back.
The DWP has said that there will be safeguarding and oversight measures introduced and staff will receive training on the use of any new powers.
Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Liz Kendall, said: "This Government will not tolerate fraud and waste in the welfare system as we make it fit for the 21st century as part of our plan for change.
"The public expects this of us, and we are delivering for them.
"People who seek to cheat the system should know, our new powers will help us to catch you out and make sure you are held accountable.
"We will also introduce new powers to minimise overpayments to benefit claimants so that hardworking families up and down the country know their money is being protected."
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The Conservatives have claimed the announcement is the Government trying to "distract" from negative headlines.
Helen Whately MP, shadow work and pensions secretary, said: "The Chancellor is clearly desperate to find any savings ahead of what may in fact be a mini-budget because she needs to repair the damage she has inflicted with her disastrous budget last year."
