Driving licence at risk for benefit claimants under DWP’s major benefit fraud crackdown

The DWP is launching a major crackdown on benefit fraud, introducing powers to revoke driving licences and monitor bank accounts to recover owed funds.

Benefit claimants could face having their driving licences revoked under sweeping new powers granted to the DWP .. The department is set to receive these powers in an effort to compel claimants to engage with them.. It forms part of a wide-ranging crackdown on benefit fraud.. Officials are hopeful that the prospect of being banned from driving will persuade fraudsters to repay what they owe.. Far-reaching new powers are to be handed to the DWP

in a bid to combat benefit fraud and claw back billions squandered each year, reports Birmingham Live .. Banks will also be compelled to share details of certain claimants’ accounts to establish whether they are genuinely entitled to what they are receiving.. Where individuals fail to engage or repay what they owe, the DWP will have the authority to temporarily strip them of their driving licence.. Officials stated this would serve as a last resort

in the most serious cases “where individuals have persistently and deliberately evaded repayment of debt”.. The stringent measures will be directed at households claiming Universal Credit , Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) and Pension Credit.. Campaigners have raised privacy concerns, fearing the Government is overstepping the mark in its pursuit of fraudsters.. The DWP said in an update: “Money owed to DWP can now be recovered from an individual’s bank account by issuing a direct

deduction order to their bank for repayment.. “In the most serious cases where individuals have persistently and deliberately evaded repayment of debt, DWP can apply to the court to temporarily disqualify an individual from holding a driving licence where the court is satisfied that the debtor had the means to repay and did not without good reason.”

DWP, benefit fraud, driving licence, Universal Credit, welfare, government policy