Recommendation 26

The Department has powers that allow it to ask for the information that it needs when it is doing an individual compliance investigation, but it does not have legal access to the same level of information for the controls it uses to prevent and detect fraud and error. The Department told us it is currently working cross-government with Departments such as Cabinet Office and HMRC to understand whether there are gaps between the powers which it has and the powers which it needs.53 45 Q 24 46 Q 17; ‘Self-reported’ earnings for Universal Credit is income from employment where the Department is not able to receive real time information from HM Revenue and Customs that it can use in its award calculation. Therefore, claimants are required to self-report these earnings. 47 DWP ARAC 2019–20, page 192 48 Q 17 49 Q 30 50 Qq 17, 29 51 Q 29 52 Q17; DWP ARAC 2019–20, page 73 53 Qq 29, 30 Department for Work and Pensions Accounts 2019–20 15 3 Debt Rising debt levels