Horsham’s MP wants to hear from you! John Milne to scrutinise government’s controversial fraud bill with new bank spying powers
The Public Authorities (Fraud, Error and Recovery) Bill has reached committee stage in Parliament. As a member of the committee, John Milne MP is able to scrutinise the legislation and put forward amendments. Mr Milne is looking to talk to Horsham residents who experienced errors in benefits payments or who have been impacted by COVID fraud.
John Milne MP said: “Part of my role on this committee is to learn from local residents and understand whether the measures in this bill are proportionate. My office is keen to represent benefits claimants who have been unfairly punished by the system – perhaps they were underpaid or overpaid benefits or had to wait weeks without receiving support. We’d also like to talk to health workers impacted by substandard PPE over the pandemic, or other COVID related issues. I’d like to hear your direct experiences.”
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Hide AdJohn Milne MP is asking Horsham residents to share their experiences if they have:
- been affected by benefit overpayments or underpayments
- experienced issues with Carer’s Allowance overpayments
- had benefits incorrectly stopped for a period
- worked in the healthcare sector during COVID and experienced issues with substandard PPE.
Please contact John Milne's office with your stories by Monday 10th March 2025 by emailing [email protected] or calling 01403 788706. Contributions after this date are very welcome for future committee sessions.
John Milne MP added: “This bill grants extensive new powers, particularly the ability to monitor bank accounts and enter premises. We need to be very careful they don’t disproportionately impact vulnerable people, instead of the fraudsters they’re supposed to catch. Government sometimes gets things horribly wrong, as in the Carer’s Allowance overpayment scandal which pushed carers into serious debt due to DWP mistakes. Tackling fraud is vital, but we must make sure we don’t end up catching thousands of innocent people in the net.”