A bill currently working its way through Parliament could have huge implications for anyone in receipt of a state benefit – and that will include the state pension.

Anyone who has watched the film “Minority Report” will know that it portrays a time when a specialised police department can predict which people are likely to commit a crime, and arrests them before they get a chance to do so.

The sweeping changes that will come in if the UK’s new data protection and digital information bill is passed in its current form does feel a bit like another big leap towards that dystopian future.

The DWP may currently only request access to people’s bank records on a case-by-case basis if there is evidence to suspect fraud – like other criminal investigations. This new law gives them access to any claimants’ bank account details without cause.

The DWP intend to put the bank accounts of nine million benefit claimants under continuous surveillance, while retaining the right to monitor the accounts of 22.4 million people on any kind of state benefit – including child benefit and the state pension. In other words, all of us at some point in our lives.

Just to make it clear, over 12.6 million state pensioners (plus all of those to come) will have no financial privacy if and when this bill passes, despite the fact that state pension fraud (by the Government’s own admission) is negligible, and it is not even means tested.

Government Ministers have stated that there is no intention to use these powers at present; so why, ask critics (including some in their own party) include state pensioners in the bill in the first place?

While no one would argue we need to stamp out benefit fraud, which is costing taxpayers a whopping £8bn a year, this really feels like overreach. Your views? Email us at: support@retireeasy.co.uk

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