Overview

• The Public Authorities (Fraud, Error and Recovery) Bill aims to save taxpayers £1.5 billion over five years by addressing welfare fraud and errors.
• From 2026, the DWP will enforce measures such as Eligibility Verification, allowing banks and airlines to flag potentially fraudulent benefit claims under strict data-sharing limits.
• New powers include recovering funds directly from bank accounts, imposing driving bans of up to two years for persistent fraudsters, and conducting search and seizure operations.
• Safeguards include a 'test and learn' approach to ensure proportional use of powers, oversight mechanisms, and penalties for financial institutions that overshare data.
• The Bill extends fraud recovery capabilities to other public bodies like the NHS counter-fraud authority to combat fraud across sectors.