Monitoring UK bank accounts for benefits fraud would be huge blow to privacy'

Disability rights, poverty, pensioner, and privacy groups expressed strong opposition to plans for mass surveillance of bank accounts to crack down on welfare fraud, highlighting privacy intrusions.

In a letter to Liz Kendall, these groups warned that scanning bank accounts for suspicious behavior would severely intrude into privacy, affecting vulnerable individuals.

Keir Starmer proposed a fraud, error, and debt bill aimed at making banks share data on account holders to identify indications of potential benefit overpayments.

The government justifies the need for sharing claimants' data with banks to combat sophisticated welfare fraud, projecting potential savings of 1.6bn over five years.

Read at www.theguardian.com