Government will treat elderly 'like criminals' under new law

• Plans would allow the Government access to bank accounts to unearth fraud 

Controversial powers to allow the Government to access the public’s bank accounts in order to unearth fraud are opposed by a majority of Britons, according to new polling.

Ten million pensioners will be among those whose personal accounts will be secretly scanned to check for welfare fraud under plans that have been described by senior politicians as ‘a snoopers’ charter’.

A poll by YouGov, commissioned by the campaign group Big Brother Watch, has found that 56 per cent of voters oppose the plans, while 44 per cent regard the infringement of privacy as a fair price to pay for detecting fraud.

The powers have been added to a Data Bill going through Parliament that would legally force banks, building societies and other organisations to secretly scan all bank accounts to look for indicators of welfare fraud and error.

This would include the accounts of those receiving the state pension and welfare payments, such as mothers who receive children’s benefits directly.

Nigel Farage has said ‘everyone across the political spectrum, Left and Right, should be outraged by this attack on financial privacy’

The powers have been added to a Data Bill going through Parliament that would legally force banks, building societies and other organisations to secretly scan all bank accounts to look for indicators of welfare fraud and error (stock photo)

It would also cover all of the accounts held by landlords who receive their tenants’ housing benefit directly.

Reform UK founder Nigel Farage, who launched a successful campaign against the NatWest group for ‘debanking’ him over his political beliefs, said ‘everyone across the political spectrum, Left and Right, should be outraged by this attack on financial privacy’.

Former Brexit secretary David Davis said: ‘Under the proposals, everyone in receipt of money from the Government’s Department for Work and Pensions will be of special interest, including the 10million who receive the state pension. The idea that pensioners should be caught up in the net of this giant financial fishing exercise is completely absurd.

‘Short of tracking our every movement, there could be no more invasive way for the state to monitor us than keeping tabs on our spending habits.’

Silkie Carlo, director of Big Brother Watch, described the move as ‘dangerously authoritarian’. She said it would treat millions of innocent pensioners, disabled people, parents and carers ‘like criminals’, intrude on the wider population’s financial privacy and reverse the ‘British presumption of innocence’.

Former Brexit secretary David Davis said: ‘Short of tracking our every movement, there could be no more invasive way for the state to monitor us than keeping tabs on our spending habits’

Ms Carlo added that the ‘mass algorithmic surveillance’ of the public risked a miscarriage of justice similar to that which occurred to staff working for the Post Office, and was likely to recoup only 3 per cent of the annual amount lost to fraud.

A Government spokesman said: ‘These changes do not allow direct access to any bank accounts.

‘Instead, third parties will be required to share data with us only when it signals potential fraud or error, and DWP will not be able to see how claimants or pensioners spend their money.’

The spokesman added: ‘We have a duty to treat taxpayers’ money responsibly, which is why we are cracking down on fraud.

‘This is backed up by our £900 million Fraud Plan, which will bolster our counter-fraud operations and root out those who steal from the most vulnerable.’

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