Labour bank spying bill will bring ‘unprecedented surveillance,’ charities warn
The government’s controversial ‘bank spying’ bill has called on ministers to overhaul plans, while many leading campaign groups and charities have warned it threatens to create “unprecedented levels of mass surveillance across the population”.
Labour’s new Fraud, Errors and Debt Bill is currently in its final stages in the House of Lords and will become law later this year. It forms a central part of the Department for Work and Pensions’ (DWP) plans to crack down on benefit fraud and gives the department new powers to request information from claimants’ bank accounts and deduct funds directly from them.
An open letter to new work and pensions minister Pat McFadden, led by civil liberties campaign group Big Brother Watch, called for significant changes to the bill.
It warns the measures threaten to have a “significant humanitarian impact” that will be felt disproportionately by disabled people, older people, carers and those living in poverty.
Signatories including Age UK, Citizens Advice South Warwickshire and Disability Rights UK write that there are “widespread concerns” about algorithmic fraud detection software incorrectly identifying benefit claimants for investigation and subjecting them to a lengthy and intrusive process.
Welfare rights groups harshly criticized the measures, saying they amounted to unfair discrimination against welfare claimants.
Mikey Erhardt, Disability Rights UK Policy Lead, said: “It is quite shocking that the government is willing to give new powers to a department like the DWP, which is known for failing to protect disabled people, to introduce ‘algorithms’ to scan large numbers of accounts at once.
“Across society, we are just beginning to confront the damage caused by the delegation of significant parts of government to unproven, undemocratic technology. But the government seems content to repeat this with the bill.”
Sue, from Manchester, told Big Brother Watch about her experience having to clear her name after being incorrectly flagged by the DWP, which accused her of having multiple undeclared bank accounts.
He said: “No banks responded to the DWP so I had to get letters from each of these banks to clear my name. The mental pain this caused me was excruciating and almost destroyed me.”
The letter states that the bill, along with its debt recovery powers, could lead to “disastrous consequences” as it opens up the possibility of unfair deductions from the plaintiff’s bank account.
The key power that will enable the DWP to require banks to share financial information with their representatives is called the Eligibility Verification Measure (EVN). This means that when the department sends a notice to a bank or financial institution, it must comply with the request. The DWP confirmed this will not include details of transactions.
Information that the institution may be asked to share includes information about the account holder, including their name and date of birth. Representatives may also ask for the bank account’s sort code and account number, as well as details about how the account meets eligibility.
Ministers say the government has introduced these powers so it can determine whether a person is eligible for help based on their financial situation.
For example, having savings of over £16,000 will generally not make someone eligible for Universal Credit, except in certain limited circumstances.
The measures will be implemented over 12 months in a phased approach, initially working with a smaller number of banks.
The DWP’s secretary of state, Baroness Maeve Sherlock, said earlier this year that the department would issue between 5,000 and 20,000 Direct Deduction Orders each year. Estimates are based on use by HMRC and the Childcare Service, both of which can currently use electricity.
The open letter calls on Mr McFadden and Baroness Sherlock to support amendments in the House of Lords to remove the EVN measure from the bill and prevent the DWP from being able to force banks to disclose benefit claimants’ bank statements.
Jasleen Chaggar, head of legal and policy at Big Brother Watch, said: “Scanning the bank accounts of the entire population to help the DWP govern itself is a sledgehammer used to crack nuts and the blows will not fall evenly.
“Disabled people, carers, the elderly, single parents and people on low incomes are much more likely to be falsely flagged, dragged into intrusive investigations and forced into stressful, time-consuming applications.
“It is not too late for the government to abandon its hard-line approach and accept the truth: these forces will not stop serious fraudsters but will risk recreating a horizon-wide scandal for some of the most marginalized members of our society.”
A DWP spokesman said: “All powers in the Fraud, Errors and Remedies Bill are underpinned by the principle of fairness and proportionality, with numerous safeguards and independent checks.
“In cases of fraud and error, decisions affecting benefit entitlement will always be made by a human and DWP will not be able to access benefit claimants’ bank accounts.
“We have a duty to taxpayers and this bill will save £1.5bn over the next five years, which OBR estimates together with wider reforms will save £9.6bn by 2030.”
