The Department for Work and Pensions has started new DWP bank checks by issuing its first Eligibility Verification Notice to a bank under the Eligibility Verification Measure. The move begins a limited test-and-learn phase for selected accounts receiving Universal Credit, Pension Credit or New Style Employment and Support Allowance.
The notice gives the department a way to identify benefit claims that may need further checks, but a match against an eligibility indicator is not a finding of fraud or wrongdoing. It also does not, by itself, alter entitlement.
Eligibility Verification Measure
The Eligibility Verification Measure was created by the Public Authorities (Fraud, Error and Recovery) Act 2025. Under that framework, an Eligibility Verification Notice is sent to a bank or another financial institution, which checks the relevant accounts and returns limited information only when an account meets one of the indicators.
The information can include 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. The department says the measure is designed to help identify possible incorrect payments linked to undeclared capital or time spent abroad beyond the limits allowed by benefit rules.
Selected accounts and linked accounts
The checks can extend beyond the single account into which a benefit is paid. The framework can cover linked accounts and joint accounts, and it can also identify an account held by someone other than the claimant, including where a payment is received on another person’s behalf.
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 under the measure.
What happens after a match
If a check suggests 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 by online journal, letter, telephone or text, depending on the type of claim.
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. For claimants in the first phase, the practical change is that selected accounts can now be screened before any decision is made, while a flagged account still needs review before anything changes for payment or entitlement.
