The Department for Work and Pensions has issued its first Eligibility Verification Notice, starting a new way for it to identify benefit claims that may need to be checked. The notice is part of the Eligibility Verification Measure, a power created by the Public Authorities (Fraud, Error and Recovery) Act 2025.
The change concerns selected accounts receiving Universal Credit, Pension Credit or New Style Employment and Support Allowance. It is intended to help identify possible incorrect payments connected with undeclared capital or time spent abroad beyond the limits allowed by benefit rules.
For claimants, the important distinction is between a bank check and a benefit decision. A match against an eligibility indicator is not a finding of fraud or wrongdoing. It does not, on its own, alter someone’s entitlement. It is a prompt for the department to consider whether further checks are needed.
How the new notice works
An Eligibility Verification Notice is sent to a bank or another financial institution. It sets out eligibility indicators, which are criteria based on the rules for the relevant benefits. The institution checks accounts that receive the specified payments and returns limited information only when an account meets one of those indicators.
The first use of the measure begins with a test-and-learn phase. That means the department will assess how the systems work, the quality of the data, the operational effect and the outcome for customers before any wider expansion. The approach is designed to allow problems to be identified before the measure is used at greater scale.
Eligibility checks may involve more than the single account into which a benefit is paid. The framework can cover linked accounts and joint accounts, because benefit rules can take account of money held across a person’s finances. An account can also be identified where it belongs to someone other than the claimant, such as a person receiving a payment on another’s behalf. Where returned information is found not to relate directly to the claimant, it must not be used by operational teams and must be destroyed in line with the department’s information management policy.
What banks can and cannot provide
The measure does not give the department access to online banking or a live view of an account. Financial institutions cannot provide full bank statements, details of how a person spends money, sensitive personal information such as political opinions or religious beliefs, or specific transaction locations.
When an eligibility indicator is met, the limited information that may be returned includes the names of account holders, account and sort-code details, information about money held in relevant accounts, and the date of a transaction that took place in another country. This is intended to help establish whether a further enquiry is appropriate, rather than to provide a complete picture of a person’s finances.
The restriction matters because a bank balance can need explanation. Benefit rules can include disregards and personal circumstances that cannot be established from a single data point. The department must therefore consider all relevant information before making a decision about entitlement or payment.
A flag is not a verdict
If a check indicates that a claim may need attention, trained staff will review the case through established processes. The claimant may be asked questions or invited to provide further information. Contact may be made through an online journal, by letter, telephone or text, depending on the type of claim and the contact details available.
A person can still be entitled to their benefit after a review. Equally, a review may find that an amount needs to be corrected. Any decision is to be made by staff rather than automatically by the bank check. Someone who disagrees with a decision about their benefit can ask for a mandatory reconsideration.
The new power is expected to save £1.2 billion by 2030/31, mainly by detecting incorrect payments earlier and reducing the risk of overpayments building up. That is an estimate, not money already recovered. The measure forms part of a wider effort to reduce fraud, error and debt in the benefits system.
Oversight as the rollout begins
The legislation limits the benefits covered, the purpose for which information may be used and the categories of information that financial institutions are not allowed to share. The measure is also governed by a statutory code of practice covering data handling, safeguards and complaints.
An independent reviewer is due to examine how the power is used and to produce annual reports for Parliament. Those safeguards will be especially important during the early phase, when the practical effect of the new checks on claimants and financial institutions becomes clearer.
For now, the first notice marks the beginning of a limited rollout rather than a blanket review of everyone’s bank account. The central test will be whether the measure can identify potential errors accurately while preserving proper review, privacy and fair treatment for people who rely on benefits.
