Overview

• The Public Authorities (Fraud, Error and Recovery) Bill returns to the House of Lords seeking powers for the DWP to compel banks to flag account indicators linked to benefit eligibility.
• Around 1.36 million Pension Credit recipients would be in scope, with multiple reports stating the focus is on Pension Credit rather than the State Pension itself.
• Banks would be prohibited from notifying customers and would share limited data for screening by a Cabinet Office AI system, with the DWP saying a human will make any decision affecting entitlement.
• Ministers say the measures will recover money lost to fraud and error, citing expected savings of £1.5 billion over five years and £9.6 billion by 2030 based on OBR estimates.
• Civil‑liberties groups and banking bodies warn about privacy risks, direct‑recovery powers and operational challenges, with UK Finance cautioning about potential harm to vulnerable customers.