The UK governments new government’s new Public Authorities Fraud, Error and Recovery Bill , is is the most terrifying piece of legislature since the UK governments recent move to decriminalize abortion until just moments before birth. Likely, though, you know absolutely nothing about either of these two sneaky new Acts. This being the case, let me paint you a picture of what the UK Public Authorities Fraud, Error and Recovery Bill means for you.
Imagine the scene. The year is 2026, you’ve recently broken up with your partner, your finances are stretched thinner than someone on their third dose of Ozempic, and your you’re late for work. To make matters worse, your car won’t start. There is nothing mechanically wrong with your car, though. Rather, a smart kill switch in your vehicle has been activated by the Department of Work and Pensions, because they suspect you of being a benefit fraudster. – Oh, and your bank account is frozen too.
Big Brother Is Finally Having The the Red Carpet Rolled Out
To call the Public Authorities Fraud, Error and Recovery Bill draconian or Orwellian, is an understatement. It’s basic goal is to prevent benefit and tax fraud. However, to do so, it allows the UK government to trample over any expectations you might have to anything like a right to privacy where your finances are concerned.
At any time, the new bill allows the UK government to request up to three months of statements from your bank without you knowing. This can be done without a court order or any police involvement. If government agents can then identify evidence of benefit overpayments or tax being due on any money or assets you own, they can then issue a direct deduction order. This is where money will be taken from your account to reimburse the government accordingly.
If you happen to own a joint account, the government can even use direct deduction orders to confiscate cash, even if your partner is the one the government suspects of wrongdoing. Better yet, if the government suspects you of owing them £1,000 or more, they can invalidate your driver’s license, making it impossible for you to drive. On this note, also, it’s probably just a coincidence that all car manufacturers in the U.S. in 2026 (and soon in Europe too) will be mandated to include kill switches into all new car engines that governments can use to disable vehicles remotely.
What The Public Authorities Fraud, Error and Recovery Bill Means for You
What The Public Authorities Fraud, Error and Recovery Bill means for the average Brit is simple. You should be afraid, very afraid.
On paper, you might work as a barista in a local coffee shop, earning minimum wage. As such, you might be eligible for some form of benefit or tax credit. What happens, though, when the DWP takes a look at your past three months of bank statements, only to see that you’ve been depositing cash from tips into your savings account? Or what if you’ve you’ve recently done a spring clean that saw you sell a bunch of stuff on eBay?
In the eyes of the government, you aren’t declaring all your income. Let’s remember also, that with access to your bank statements, the DWP can see exactly what you are spending your money on each month. Are you being more frivolous with your cash than the government might expect the average single mother to be? Alternatively, have you recently made a donation to a GoFundMe page supporting people in Palestine? If so, say hello to being on a terrorist watch list.
Like It or Not, You’re You’re Guilty Until Proven Innocent
What is most striking about the UK’s new Public Authorities Fraud, Error and Recovery Bill, is that direct deductions will be taken from UK bank accounts the UK government suspects of holding fraudulently acquired funds, before account holders are able to question or petition such orders. This means that even if the DWP makes a mistake when secretly going over your bank statements, you will have to petition decisions after the government confiscates your cash.
Needless to say, fighting the UK governments decisions will likely be difficult if you can’t pull together the funds necessary to hire a lawyer due to all your money already being in the DWP’s coffers.
It is also worth noting that you will have just 28 days to convince the government they have made a mistake.
The Public Authorities Fraud, Error and Recovery Bill and The the Recent Horizon Scandal
Do you have nothing to hide? Are you a fine, upstanding Brit who can answer for every last penny in your savings account? If so, that’s fantastic. Let’s remember, though, that governments themselves are far from savvy when it comes to accounting or keeping their own books in order.
Between 1999 and 2015, for example, The the UK Post Office prosecuted more than 900 postmasters (Post Office managers) in court for fraud after money was found routinely going missing from Post Office accounts. Since then, at least four postmasters have committed suicide, several have spent time in prison, and several more have been forced to cover Post Office losses out of their own pockets.
The problem here? There was no fraud. All accounting irregularities have since been poven to be due to bugs in the Fujitsu accounting software he UK Post Office was using. Worse, postmasters working for the Post Office were warning of bugs in the software they were using from almost the day it came into use in 1999!
None have since recieved compensation from the Post Office or UK government. However, Fujitsu to this day still regularly bids on new UK government contracts.
What Has Any of This Got to Do With with Cryptocurrency?
When Bitcoin made it’s debut on the financial scene in 2009, early proponents of the cryptocurrency were quick to celebrate it as an answer to government overreach.
If you use Bitcoin, no one can ever freeze your account/wallet funds. Nor can they use anything like a direct deduction, with or without a court order, to confiscate some or all of your wallet balance.
It was for this reason that Bitcoin immediately became popular on illicit Dark Web marketplaces like The the Silk Road. However, from day one, it was always possible for anyone anywhere to keep tabs on the balance and spending habits of anyone with a Bitcoin address.
The Bitcoin transaction ledger has always been public. Give me the wallet address you use to receive funds, and I can immediately check your balance, as well as see what wallets you have sent or received money from in the past. Bitcoin, if you like, has always been a 100% transparent form of currency.
The problem we have now is that governmens can be proven in 2025, to be able to interfere with cryptocurrency wallet balances. Namely, and as I discussed in my last article, Bitcoin Is Not Censorship Resistant, by approaching some of the biggest Bitcoin miners, before asking them nicely to simply ignore certain transactions going to or from certain wallets.
All this said, we are not all the way down the road to government tyranny just yet.
While governments can pressure cryptocurrency miners to freeze wallets, they can’t enforce actual direct deductions. The only problem is that we are likely just a single piece of legislation away from when they can. This is especially true when we consider just how centralized and consolidated Bitcoin mining/transaction processing is becoming.
In Satoshi’s day, such a piece of legislation would have no effect, due to there being thousands, if not millions of indpendent Bitcoin miners worldwide reguarly processing transactions. However, today, where 45% of mining is consolidated among just 2 mining pools (Foundry USA Pool and AntPool), you can be certain that such legislation would be taken very, very seriously by mining pool operators.
Let us also remember that when any group or collective dominates 51% of Bitcoin mining, such a group will be able to reverse Bitcoin transactions and empty wallets at will, or on government orders. This is something which invaldates the use case for Bitcoin completely.
In short, the cash in your bank or what you have in you Bitcoin wallet is only truly safe if there are legal mechanisms in place protecting your right to financial privacy. Sadly, though, there are none. Only physical cash which you can physically hold on to is currently safe from state confiscation.
Moreover, make no mistake: if governments are passing laws now which give them the ability to confiscate what’s in your bank account, (while even banning you from driving if they can’t confiscate enough), they will be coming after your crypto tomorrow.