Labour has revived Conservative plans to force benefit claimants to forgo their right to privacy and open up their bank accounts as part of plans to crack down on fraud in the welfare system.
One measure in the newly introduced Public Authorities (Fraud, Error and Recovery) Bill would demand banks have access to the data of claimants, and hand over the details of any who do not meet the eligibility criteria.
Privacy campaign groups have slammed the announced plans, with Jasleen Chaggar, Legal and Policy Officer at Big Brother Watch, stating:
“These chilling plans for unprecedented financial intrusion would require benefits claimants to lay their lives bare to the state in order to access support to which they are entitled.
“Mandatory open banking would give DWP civil servants constant access to the bank statements of welfare recipients, revealing deeply private information about their movements, associations, political donations, sexual preferences and religious beliefs.
“This government appears hellbent on creating a two-tier society in which those who dare to seek help from the state are treated as suspects-by-default and required to sacrifice their privacy.
“The government must abandon these plans and recognise that the receipt of state money does not justify stripping disabled people, carers, the elderly, single parents and the poorest in society of their rights and dignity.”
The Times – Benefits claimants may have to open up bank accounts to government