The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has vowed to reassure benefit claimants that it is cracking down on fraud. New measures will allow investigators to check bank accounts and determine whether benefit recipients are misleading about their assets. This also includes savings that can lead to loss of claims. Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Mel Stride MP told Parliament that the new powers would only be used if there were "obvious signs of fraud or error". This comes after the Privacy and Digital Information Act was amended in November 2023, allowing authorities to check the accounts of people receiving government support such as social security and the national pension. Mr Stride was questioned last month month by Tory MP Nigel Mills about how the powers would be used. He asked whether every State Pensioner's bank account would be searched, as some people have suggested. The DWP said that while there had been a "great deal of scaremongering" over the new measures, it confirmed that it would only be used in cases of suspected fraud or error, and not otherwise. The Mirror reports that the DWP boss said: "There has been a great deal of scaremongering about what exactly these powers are about. "I can make it categorically clear from the Dispatch Box that these powers are there to make sure that, in instances where there is a clear signal of fraud or error, my department is able to take action. In the absence of that, it will not." The new powers were first outlined back in May 2022's policy paper; Fighting Fraud in the Welfare System - and will cover the whole benefits system, from Universal Credit to Personal Independence Payment (PIP). The DWP announced that it would be dubbed 'Third Party Data Gathering' and it would initially focus on collecting data from banks and building societies. The measure will allow DWP investigators to see whether benefit claimants are misleading them about money that they have - like savings which could prevent them from claiming Universal Credit. The DWP also shared examples of how the policy will work in its initial paper. Chancellor Jeremy Hunt confirmed in the Autumn Statement last month that these powers will go ahead - but no official date has been set out by the Government pertaining to when they will come into play.