Please be aware: this article deals with the DWP seeking new powers which some claimants may find distressing to contemplate.
As the DWP steers a bill to give it access to 9 million claimants’ bank accounts through parliament, it is already pushing for additional powers of arrest, search and seizure. In effect, the DWP is aiming to have its own anti-fraud police force and to be able to impose huge fines without going to court. But should such plans go ahead?
Lessons from recent history
The current Post Office scandal is clear evidence of what happens when such powers are misused and there are some worrying parallels between the behaviour of the Post Office and the DWP, as we noted earlier this month in Post Office Horizon software originally aimed at claimants
And there is no doubt that the DWP are serious about getting these powers.
In a May 2022 report entitled ‘Fighting Fraud in the Welfare System’ the DWP said that “we plan to create new powers so our officers will be able to undertake arrests and apply to search and seize evidence in criminal investigations, when parliamentary time allows. This will enable them to act in a timely fashion, without always having to rely on police resources.”
And last year we reported on a survey which the DWP claimed proved that the majority of the public want them to have such powers.
The DWP say that these powers will be used against “serious and organised fraud”, but how long would it take them to decide that allegedly fraudulent PIP, ESA or UC claims by individuals constitute “serious” fraud?
It is important to note that in the same May 2022 report the DWP used exactly the same phrase “when parliamentary time allows” in relation to creating legislation that would force third parties, including banks, to hand over data to them.
The following year those provisions were slipped into a bill going through parliament and they are now at committee stage in the House of Lords. There appears to be no serious attempt to prevent them going through.
So a DWP police force is a genuine possibility and the same technique of adding the provisions to an existing bill in order to allow it may be used again.
Huge fines
The same document also explains that the DWP want powers that allow them to introduce a new type of “civil penalty”, whereby they can impose very large fines on claimants they suspect of fraud, without needing to meet the burden of proof required in criminal courts or even to actually take the claimant to court.
The fine will be based on a percentage of the amount the DWP believe, but cannot necessarily prove beyond reasonable doubt, the claimant has been overpaid. It will be in addition to the claimant having to repay all of the alleged overpayment.
Your experiences
When concrete plans to introduce such powers are produced, it’s vital that claimants and the bodies that represent them are not caught unprepared and without evidence about what the results might be.
Crucially, we need to know whether the DWP is open, transparent, subject to effective scrutiny and has an ethos of abiding by the rules and regulations that govern its conduct
So, we’d like to know if you have always been treated fairly by the DWP or if you have you been left feeling helpless in the face of an organisation that makes rules, but doesn’t necessarily follow them itself?
For example:
- Have you tried to report a change of circumstances by phone and been unable to get through?
- Have you reported a change of circumstances in writing and received no acknowledgement?
- Have you sent the DWP documents by recorded delivery, but they have denied receiving them?
- Have you been threatened with legal action if you didn’t repay money without it ever being proved that you owed it?
- Have you been told you must withdraw a claim for a benefit immediately or face prosecution for fraud, even though you know you have done nothing wrong?
- Have you been interviewed under caution without being able to have anyone with you?
- Have you been offered a deal by the DWP whereby you have to agree immediately to accept an award of a disability benefit that is lower than you think you should get or have the offer withdrawn and have to go to appeal instead?
- Have you been treated in any other way that suggests the DWP cannot be counted on to follow rules and regulations and treat claimants fairly?
Let us know about your experiences in the comments section below, or use our feedback form if you prefer. We may publish your feedback, but we will not identify you in any way.
