Overview
- The Public Authorities (Fraud, Error and Accountability) Bill has cleared both Houses and is in final procedural steps before becoming law.
- Ministers will be able to request a limited set of banking data through an eligibility verification measure to help identify incorrect benefit payments.
- Peers’ bid to require the independent reviewer to assess costs, impacts on vulnerable people, and any effects on access to banking was voted down in the Commons.
- MPs warned of algorithmic ‘mass fishing’, citing that scanning 10 million accounts with a 1% error rate could wrongly trigger about 100,000 investigations.
- DWP minister Andrew Western said decisions will involve human oversight, the data does not imply wrongdoing, and no one should be de-banked because of these checks, while banks have flagged potential compliance burdens.