The UK government is considering revoking the driving licences of convicted benefit cheats who fail to pay back the taxpayer. The move comes as part of a wide-ranging legislative crackdown on benefit fraud. Under the proposed new law, fraudsters who repeatedly cheat the system and have debts of £1,000 or over could be banned from driving for up to two years. Liz Kendall, the UK’s Work and Pensions Secretary, said the legislation would mean “greater consequences for fraudsters who cheat and evade the system”.
As well as powers to ban fraudulent claimants from driving, the government’s plans include provisions for forcing banks to provide information about benefit claimants’ accounts to assist in investigations. Campaign groups and privacy rights activists have criticised the proposals, describing them as an invasion of financial privacy. The government has estimated that the increased access to banking data could save taxpayers £1.6bn ($2.2bn) over the next five years by identifying suspect claims more efficiently.
The draft legislation proposes giving more time to investigate complex fraud cases which took place during the pandemic to the Public Sector Fraud Authority. Current laws permit the imprisonment of repeat benefit cheats in the most egregious cases. Repeat offenders can already be jailed, but fraudsters who fail to pay back the taxpayer may soon face a driving ban.
Previously, the UK government argued that obtaining banking information in bulk was necessary to catch undiscovered fraud cases. An official assessment of the law said the system would be “fully automated, running within existing banking systems” and be rolled out gradually from 2027. A Tory bill to deliver the scheme failed to make it through Parliament before July’s election. At the time, critics of the bill said the powers were “poorly delineated
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