melonf

Plans for mass surveillance of UK bank accounts of those claiming benefits (maybe including state pensions) have been in the BBC news again after the government have added the idea to suspend the driving licence of benefit cheats. The news item includes a few statements about the new law proposal that will concern UK expats living in Thailand whilst maintaining a UK based address for their pension (so as to avoid the disgraceful UK policy of not increasing pensions for inflation for many of not most pensioners living abroad). The BBC report includes: "The plans include new powers to force banks to hand over account information about benefit claimants to help target investigations, echoing a scheme announced by the previous Conservative government. An official assessment of the law said the system would be "fully automated, running within existing banking systems" and be rolled out gradually from 2027. Labour has pledged that only "very limited information" will be shared with the department under its equivalent plan, but is yet to set out in detail how its system will work. DWP minister Andrew Western confirmed last year this will include cases where claimants are "living abroad" without notifying the department, although a timeframe for this has yet to be specified. Accounts could also be flagged if they are holding more than £16,000, the usual savings limit for being able to claim Universal Credit. In a change from Tory plans, the government has said the new powers will not be used to target payments of the state pension. Ministers have sought to reassure critics by emphasising that the DWP will not have powers to "access" bank accounts. But campaigners have told the BBC they believe this is a "misdirection", as the measures would give DWP the power to instruct banks to access the information on its behalf".

I applied for a UK family settlement visa for my long time Thai wife (with straightforward evidence easily meeting the requirements) and paid for the priority service. The visa was returned by courier exactly 2 weeks after the biometrics appointment at Trendy. I was impressed, but maybe its quiet times in the visa decision centre.