Can benefit fraud investigators plant cameras or bugs inside your flat, or house?

The Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA) is very clear about how surveillance can be used. The act restricts the use of invasive surveillance techniques to a small group of circumstances. The use of intrusive surveillance has to be authorised by a judge. Fixed cameras and bugs are by their very nature intrusive forms of surveillance, for which benefit fraud investigators are highly unlikely to get permission to use in the course of their investigation. However, that does not mean that they cannot legally use other investigative and surveillance techniques.

It may not be possible for benefit fraud investigators to plant cameras in a suspect’s home. However, they can legitimately take video and photos of a suspect in their home, from outside their property, through an open window. People who are being investigated can also be photographed in the street, at the shops or in any other public space.

The situation with phones is a bit more complicated. Normally, it is not possible for benefit fraud investigators to get legal permission to tap the phones of those they suspect of defrauding the DWP.

Phone taps are very intrusive; they can only be used in the investigation of serious crime, the economic well-being of the UK or in the interests of national security. Most benefit fraud investigations do not fit into any of these categories, so phone taps for the investigation of benefit claims are rarely granted.  Even when they are, they can usually be contested using the Human Rights Act. Interestingly it is also technically possible for the microphone of a tapped phone to pick up conversations that take place close to the phone, but not actually on it.

Investigators can also, legally, go through a person’s rubbish. They can comb through everything there and keep anything that they find which is relevant to their case.

If you know that you are being investigated for benefit fraud, it is always wise to seek advice from a lawyer. At Hylton Potts, we have helped many people who have been investigated for benefit fraud to better understand the law helping them to ensure that their rights are properly respected during the course of the investigation.