UK Government set to extend powers for benefit fraud investigators

From the cradle to the grave... Wes Streeting will be our weight watcher, Liz Kendall our bank watcher, While the Von Bumbles will remove any warmth from the lives of millions of old people and the security of millions of young people... Homo Superior walks among us...

Surprise surprise!!! Reeves husband top dog at DWP. Go after the little people nothing on tax fraud clampdown. Maybe tha serves their purpose?

Time we voted for anyone but LABOUR...that should be the campaign!!!

Stop!! Go after the Millionaire and Billionaire tax dodgers!

Utterly reprehensible. Anyone accused of breaking the law should at the very least be subject to due process. The DWP has long been known as being unfit to police itself and anyone would know if they are aware of how it has operated for the last 20 years, and particularly under the last unsavoury bunch in government, and now apparently under this one. Witholding reports that are likely to show the department under a bad light, such as its actions being at least partially responsible for at least 300,000 premature deaths and the mistreatement of seriously sick and disabled people where those who have been forced through the Work Capability Assessment and been found 'fit for work' which has subsequently been reversed upon appeal to a tribunal, Now these draconian proposals which will result in the DWP being both judge and jury are not only unacceptable, they could well result in serious human rights abuses when, inevitably, (because the DWP is far from infallible) completely innocent people will be found 'fraudulent' with no legal recourse, or if possible, extremely difficult. Even the notion that there is serious fraud in the DWP system is hard to justify, and while every once in a while someone is rightly convicted of defrauding the system, it is an exception, not the rule. Fraud isn't even really such a huge issue. but the DWP's own errors are. Under the old system of Jobseeker's Allowance, and errors on the part of the DWP could be corrected, but the money could not be forcibly reclaimed, and that is the way it should remain. Why should someone who has been honest in making their claim be responsible for the errors made by the DWP? Ditto with Council Tax Reduction and Housing Benefit. If the DWP wants to avoid losing money in that situation it should make damn sure it has got things correct. I'm also pretty sure that excluding state pensioners from the proposals is just for optics, a kind of divide and rule, as well as being yet another attempt to slur the poor and unemployed, just like the utterly vile Tories did from 2010 onwards. As a state pensioner, I stand in solidarity with my fellow benefit claimants. It seems we are now dealing with an utterly vile Labour Party, and we should adjust our opinions accordingly. In Cymru we need to remember these assaults on ordinary people when it comes to the way we vote in the Senedd elections in 2026. It won't change much, but it could send out a powerful message if Labour is knocked out of power in Cymru.

The trouble is the DWP are so understaffed they do not check overpayments properly. The chances of them getting this right in all cases is zero. Trying to challenge a decision by the DWP takes months if not years. So what happens when they make a mistake and take thousands wrongfully of vulnerable people? Labour seems to be governing on behalf of the Daily Mail. If they are concerned about taxpayers how about clawing back excess profits from dodgy PFI's? How about shutting down tax havens? How about stopping multinationals moving profits around to dodge tax in the UK? There are many ways to save money, but picking on the most vulnerable is the first on the list. Why? Are the corporate freebies influencing their judgement ?

Tax fraud and avoidance/evasion by the rich is estimated to outstrip benefit fraud many times over. However, as per usual the alleged government finds it easier to punch down than punch up.