DWP to get direct access to bank accounts to tackle fraud - with £4.5bn to be clawed back
by Robert Rowlands · ChronicleLiveChancellor Rachel Reeves has unveiled new powers for the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to directly access bank accounts in a bid to clamp down on benefit fraud. In her Budget announcement, she revealed that an estimated £4.5 billion would be recouped through fresh measures aimed at tackling fraudulent claims, often orchestrated by criminal gangs.
The Chancellor is set to bolster DWP's counter-fraud teams and, while addressing MPs, stated that the new powers would allow 'direct access to bank accounts'. However, details on how these plans will be implemented remain undisclosed.
In addition to the crackdown on benefit fraud, Reeves announced a series of other measures, including compensation for victims of two significant 'scandals'. She has pledged £11.8 billion in the Budget to compensate those affected by the infected blood scandal and a further £1.8 billion for victims of the Post Office Horizon scandal.
Ms Reeves criticised the previous government for not budgeting for known upcoming costs, emphasising the importance of funding these vital compensation schemes. She told MPs: "The previous government also failed to budget for costs which they knew would materialise. That includes funding for vital compensation schemes for victims of two terrible injustices: the infected blood scandal and the Post Office Horizon scandal."
"The Leader of the Opposition rightly made an unequivocal apology for the injustice of the infected blood scandal on behalf of the British state, but he did not budget for the costs of compensation. Today, for the very first time, we will provide specific funding to compensate those infected and those affected, in full with £11.8 billion in this Budget.", reports Wales Online.
"I am also today setting aside £1.8 billion to compensate victims of the Post Office Horizon scandal, redress that is long overdue for the pain and injustice that they have suffered."
She pledged to stabilise the public finances and rejuvenate public services as she addressed MPs in the House of Commons regarding the previous administration's £22billion shortfall in public finances. She announced a detailed breakdown of this 'black hole', which Rachel Reeves claimed demonstrated "hundreds of unfunded pressures on the public finances".
The Chancellor informed MPs that the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) has conducted a fresh review related to the spring budget forecast. "They say that the previous government, and I quote, 'did not provide the OBR with all the available information to them' and that had they known about these 'undisclosed spending pressures that have since come to light' then their spring budget forecast for spending would have been, and, I quote again, 'materially different'."
In a trailblazing moment, she expressed her pride in becoming the first female to hold such a position. During her opening speech, she announced: "While this is the first Budget in more than 14 years to be delivered by a Labour Chancellor, it is the first Budget in our country's history to be delivered by a woman."
"I am deeply proud to be Britain's first-ever female Chancellor of the Exchequer. To girls and young women everywhere, I say: Let there be no ceiling on your ambition, your hopes or your dreams. And along with the pride that I feel standing here today there is also a responsibility to pass on a fairer society and a stronger economy to the next generation of women."
She then went on to criticise the Conservatives, saying: "Their austerity broke the National Health Service. Their Brexit deal harmed British businesses. And their mini-budget left families paying the price with higher mortgages. The British people have inherited their failure. A black hole in the public finances, public services on their knees, a decade of low growth and the worst parliament for living standards in modern history."
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