The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has published new guidance detailing how banks and financial institutions will monitor benefit claimants under the Eligibility Verification Measure (EVM). The system is part of the UK Government's crackdown on welfare fraud and error, initially targeting Universal Credit, Pension Credit, and Employment and Support Allowance (ESA).
Under the EVM, banks may be required to flag accounts that meet specific eligibility indicators, such as savings exceeding £16,000 for Universal Credit or signs of prolonged absence abroad. The DWP stressed that checks aim to identify incorrect payments caused by fraud, claimant error, or official error, and to prevent large overpayments that later need repayment.
Strict legal limits apply to what banks can share. Financial institutions are prohibited from sharing transaction information, meaning the DWP cannot see what claimants buy or their spending habits. Banks also cannot share “special category data” such as political opinions, religious beliefs, ethnicity, or health information. The DWP is also banned from requesting banks to search for named claimants.
Instead, banks will apply eligibility criteria across their systems and return only limited information where accounts match the indicators. This may include account details, names, dates of birth, and confirmation that savings exceeded a threshold or evidence of consistent use outside the UK. The DWP emphasised that information returned does not automatically imply wrongdoing, and no benefit decisions will be made solely on this data.
The system will undergo a “Test and Learn” rollout phase involving a small number of financial institutions before wider expansion. During this period, the DWP will assess accuracy and safeguards. The DWP estimates benefit fraud and error resulted in £9.6 billion of overpayments in the 2025/26 financial year.
