Vocal Voices

The state will be granted powers to take money directly out of bank accounts and wage slips as part of a crackdown on benefit fraud. Liz Kendall, the Work and Pensions Secretary, said it was “absurd” that her department’s powers had become so outdated, with inspectors struggling to “keep pace” with complex methods employed by fraudsters. She cited a recent case where a Bulgarian fraudster conned the British taxpayer out of £2.2 million over four years in an audacious scam which involved flying fellow Bulgarians into Britain and shuttling them to Jobcentres to pose as benefit claimants, before flying them home again.

Well this sounds all fine and dandy. But imo it isn't. Note how they are trying to sell the idea by quoting a case of "foreign" benefit cheats.
It is wrong on many levels.
In this country we supposedly have a right to justice. Get accused of a crime, go to court and a verdict is passed. It's called due process.
Not here though.
Under the new laws, investigators would be handed the power to deduct the money directly from their bank account or pay slip. They would also be allowed to seize assets from a deceased person’s estate.

What they are doing is trying to establish a precendent - that it is perfectly OK for the state to take money directly from your bank account.
Once that principle is established, what will it be applied to next? Speeding fines? Tax returns?

It is the thin end of a very sinister wedge.

As I understand it, the CMS has already got the power to raid the bank accounts of fathers they consider 'owe' money. They are not too concerned if they haven't calculated the amount correctly. They decide what is owed and then they take it. They are always right, apparently.

Meds, I didn't know that.
I am reasonably certain that it will be much quicker for the government to take your money than it will be for the citizen to get it back, should it have been wrongly taken.

Ah, cue the blue-rinsers and monocles choking on their lobster bisque and melba toast even though it was their, Sunhat's, government which brought in the laws this April, see here: dated 13 May 2024.

Had the Cons still been in power the Telegraph, Mail, Express and ERG types would be cheering from the rooftops, but with Labour in power it must be bad, eh?

The government has always had powers to take back monies for benefit overpayments and fraud either in fines or direct reductions, this simply speeds up the process. It is not as some news outlets are making it out to be.

As for the CMS, they can be cut out of the loop if parents act responsibly. I know it to be true because it is what me and the ex did. We made our own arrangements and that is open to all divorcees. If they cannot or will not cooperate then it has to go to arbitration = CMS. They do have a choice.

BTW the Child Support Act was also a Conservative policy brought in in 1993.