Unemployed? Prepare for spying on your spending habits.

[Papa_Smurf]

Found a story on the Telegraph newspaper website, the goverment is going to crack down on benefit fraud by using Experian, the credit reference agency, to spy on the spending habits of the unemployed.

 

"Claimants spending large sums on gardening, DIY and foreign holidays may come under scrutiny."

 

I wonder how long until the goverment starts spying on the spending habits of those who work? Click on the link below for the full story.

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/7935823/Bounty-hunters-to-cut-benefit-fraud-by-1bn.html

[Papa_Smurf]

The problem I can see with this is once the valuable information has been collected they may start selling it to 3rd parties. Just as the DVLA sells information about car owners.

 

Even if there hasn't been any wrong doing by the unemployed they may find 3rd parties ( DCA's ) buying this info about spending habits.

[cerberusalert]

Since when did CRAs show what was spent? All it shows it what credit facilities someone may or may not have and any defaulted payments.

[rebel11]

Apparently the DWP makes errors which cost £1.5bn, the amount of fraud amounts to £1.6bn which is actually 1% of total benefits payments. Thats what the BBC say.

[Surfer01]

I can see another ATOS scenario developing whereby you will get automatically defaulted no matter even if you have no arms and legs just so that they can get their commission as they are a business there to make money. I can see thousands of appeals happening thus negating the savings. Time will tell.

[cerberusalert]

The move means the firms will have access to the Government's records on housing benefit, incapacity and unemployment benefit claimants.

Experian, the credit ratings agency, is expected to start working with the Department for Work and Pensions within weeks.

As well as it being reported in the Torygraph it's in the Daily Hate too; http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1301745/David-Cameron-declares-war-welfare-cheats-cost-billions.html

 

It's a dream come true for the CRAs and DCAs all that's needed now is them being able to access medical records and the HMRC and they've hit the jackpot. The finance industry must be in a state of orgasmic euphoria with this news. ;(

[cerberusalert]

Just imagine peoples names change addresses etc, information is only supposed to be kept on a credit file for six years yet one thing that never changes in a persons lifetime is their NI number and anyone with knowledge of that and access to those records will be able to gain everything they wish to know and more... as far back as when the NI number was first allocated. All previous addresses, names whether they've been imprisoned/sectioned, previous and present employment & seemingly the only way to prevent this at this time is not to claim any State Benefits.

[FCC]

plus a good poke around your bank account/s. The scumbags are back in power. Invest now in cardboard boxes and rope manufacturers.

[Papa_Smurf]

Since when did CRAs show what was spent? All it shows it what credit facilities someone may or may not have and any defaulted payments.

 

I lifted the following quote from the telegraph story.

 

"Claimants spending large sums on gardening, DIY and foreign holidays may come under scrutiny."

 

That seems to imply that the total amount spent will be looked at. I don't know anymore about this story apart from what I've read on the telegraph website. But I agree with you cerberusalert on what the CRA's can do currently.

[Surfer01]

If you pay for things in cash, i.e. gardening and DIY how will they know? We fall into that catergory to an extent but it is my wife that does all the gardening and DIY around the house. Surely this is an invasion of privacy and contary to the Human Rights Act. A convicted felon will have more privacy than someone who is unemployed, disabled and cannot work.

I agree about clamping down on benefit fraud but they do need to draw a very distinct line somewhere!

[Mrs E Blackadder]

Well, doesn't it all just go to show that this government listens to no-one and is totally and utterly out of touch.

 

David Cameron knows nothing about the real world and if he seriously thinks that CRAs and DCAs are the sort of organisations that hold accurate information about people then he needs a brain transplant.

 

Why doesn't he invest a few minutes of his own time finding out what these organisations can be like, all he needs to do is get on the internet and have a look at a couple of sites like this to see the other side of the coin.

[middenmess]

Just imagine peoples names change addresses etc, information is only supposed to be kept on a credit file for six years yet one thing that never changes in a persons lifetime is their NI number and anyone with knowledge of that and access to those records will be able to gain everything they wish to know and more... as far back as when the NI number was first allocated. All previous addresses, names whether they've been imprisoned/sectioned, previous and present employment & seemingly the only way to prevent this at this time is not to claim any State Benefits.

 

and just wait for the inevitable ''Experian records left on train/left in taxi/stolen from car scenario'' or an employee selling off a couple of disks!

[Mrs E Blackadder]

Big Brother is on his way

[middenmess]

Big Brother is on his way

 

 

Been with us for a while now--just becoming easier to spot nowadays!

[Mrs E Blackadder]

Didn't expect him to look like David Cameron though!

[middenmess]

Didn't expect him to look like David Cameron though!

 

 

An apt personification in my opinion--- it's always easier to deny and extract money from the less fortunate members of our society than it would be to reclaim those obscene bonuses from his well heeled buddies in the Banks etc..

[patrickq1]

And the insurance industry will love this as well as the banks, time for a protest me thinks our civil liberties are being eroded on a rapid downhill slope, time to write to our MPs

[Surfer01]

Don't become unemployed otherwise you are going to be labelled as a fraudster! After all there are 100s of thousands or even millions of jobs available in the UK as of today. Cameron is making doubly sure that the Tories never get into power again.

[Mrs E Blackadder]

Cameron is making doubly sure that the Tories never get into power again.

 

No big loss there then...

 

 

Don't they realise that all these cut backs will lead to job losses which, surely, will lead to more people on benefits? Then again, I'm sure that will all these CRAs and DCAs being allowed an input into a world they do not know (and should not be allowed to know) anything about, they will find lots of reasons not to pay the rising ranks of unemployed anything in benefits. This is because it will be entirely their fault that they are now unemployed and they should go and get a job. Trouble is there aren't jobs for them. Hey ho, the cycle continues.

[Surfer01]

I can understand that the Tories need to tackle the huge deficit legacy left to us by Labour who lived up to the reputation as the "spend and spend some mkore" party, but the Tories are now tackling the most vulnerable peole in society. Surely a better option is not to give away billions to every begging third world country that is never going to repay its debt due to mis-management of funds and a tendancy to line the pockets of those that are governing that country. Why are we giving millions to Pakistan and India when both of them have nuclear capability? Maybe we should start off with all the benfits that MPs get and slash that by 75%. If you lived in Birmingham and worked in London, will the state pay for your residence in London? Why do they need a house when a flat will suffice? They VOLUNTEERED to do the job so they should accept that they will incur expenses out of theri own pocket after all they get a darn good salary and a really great pension package. Cameron should remember that charity starts at home and he shoudl clean up the house first.

[cerberusalert]

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has warned the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) that it should tread carefully when it begins to use credit reference agency reports in assessing benefit claims.

http://www.itpro.co.uk/625987/ico-warns-dwp-to-honour-data-protection-laws

[Mrs E Blackadder]

The government are quick enough to tackle the issue of benefit fraud. Fair enough. But I don't see them rushing to tackle the issue of finding out about those people who are entitled to benefits but don't know they are. If all those people suddenly began claiming what they are entitled to, and they stopped everyone who is commiting benefit fraud, the amount would probably equal out and the government wouldn't save anything!

[TheLion]

This topic makes me laugh. It always comes up when the government wants to divert attention from a topic they don't like, it happened when the MP expenses scandal raised its ugly head. Trouble is people listen to it and jump on the bandwagon, they don't seem to understand that their tax pays for alot of other stuff, how many consider that their tax contributes to stray rounds and bombs responsible for friendly fire and civilian deaths during war? The food and medical attention that convicted rapists, peadophiles etc receive in prison? The list goes on... It's just easier to brand the unemployed, and also now, the low earner as some kind of ****, perhaps society in general is becomming more hateful, or should I say, fearfull. Fear after all, like religion as Marx points can be used to manipulate society by governments, we are a society of fear, afraid of flu's, people with beards and backpacks, people in social housing and the unemployed. Perhaps in the near future the government will force all of the unemployed to wear yellow stars and move into work camps, maybe that would satisfy some of the scummy media attention that this topic has attracted. Note that I am not religious, I am an ex-servicemen, I do work part-time...so be afraid (perhaps I should start repenting for the sins of not having a full-time job due to ill health), I do have a beard and own a backpack.

[middenmess]

I can understand that the Tories need to tackle the huge deficit legacy left to us by Labour who lived up to the reputation as the "spend and spend some mkore" party, but the Tories are now tackling the most vulnerable peole in society. Surely a better option is not to give away billions to every begging third world country that is never going to repay its debt due to mis-management of funds and a tendancy to line the pockets of those that are governing that country. Why are we giving millions to Pakistan and India when both of them have nuclear capability? Maybe we should start off with all the benfits that MPs get and slash that by 75%. If you lived in Birmingham and worked in London, will the state pay for your residence in London? Why do they need a house when a flat will suffice? They VOLUNTEERED to do the job so they should accept that they will incur expenses out of theri own pocket after all they get a darn good salary and a really great pension package. Cameron should remember that charity starts at home and he shoudl clean up the house first.

 

Good ideas but unrealistic and will never happen.

 

The less well off and vulnerable are easier targets and complain less.

 

Cameron and his ilk might well have good intentions but are and always will be far removed from the real world that most of us have to live in

 

It will always be 'us' and 'them'

 

Having 250,000 members of this site shows that this section of society gets 'put upon' more often than 'they' do.

[Surfer01]

I am an ex-servicemen, I do work part-time...so be afraid (perhaps I should start repenting for the sins of not having a full-time job due to ill health), I do have a beard and own a backpack.

You are in serious poo poo now being and ex-serviceman, disabled and having a beard and a backpack. You will be targetted and will have to wear a large flasing yellow neon sign so that you cna be identified as one of the scrounging "criminals" in Cameron's society.