{
  "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/social-security-administration-act-1992/schedule-3B/paragraph-1",
  "json_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/social-security-administration-act-1992/schedule-3B/paragraph-1.json",
  "legislation": "ukpga/1992/5",
  "legislation_title": "Social Security Administration Act 1992",
  "legislation_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/social-security-administration-act-1992",
  "path": "schedule/3B/paragraph/1",
  "kind": "paragraph",
  "number": "1",
  "heading": "Power to require information by way of an eligibility verification notice",
  "text": "(1) The Secretary of State may, for the purposes of assisting in identifying incorrect payments of a relevant benefit, give a person of a type mentioned in paragraph 2 a notice (an “eligibility verification notice”) requiring the person to take the steps mentioned in sub-paragraphs (3) and (4).\n(2) The Secretary of State may give an eligibility verification notice only where the Secretary of State considers that it is necessary and proportionate to do so.\n(3) The first step is to identify relevant accounts (see paragraph 20(1)) which—\n(a) the person provides, and\n(b) are accounts—\n(i) into which a specified relevant benefit has been paid, or are accounts linked to such accounts, and\n(ii) which meet specified criteria (“eligibility indicators”) whether alone or with other accounts within paragraph (a) and sub-paragraph (i) of this paragraph.\n(4) The second step is to give to the Secretary of State the following information for each identified account—\n(a) specified details about the account (for example, sort code and account number),\n(b) specified details about the account holders (for example, their names and dates of birth), and\n(c) specified details about how the account meets the eligibility indicators.\n(5) Information that amounts to transaction information or special category data—\n(a) may not be required by the Secretary of State by way of an eligibility verification notice, and\n(b) must not be given to the Secretary of State in response to such a notice.\n(6) But the prohibition against the requiring and giving of special category data does not prohibit the requiring and giving of data to establish that an individual is in receipt of the specified relevant benefit.\n(7) A person given an eligibility verification notice is not required to carry out the steps set out in sub-paragraphs (3) and (4) in relation to any account that is held outside the United Kingdom.\n(8) In this paragraph the reference to an account which is linked to an account into which a specified relevant benefit is paid is to an account held by the same person who holds the account into which that benefit is paid.\n(9) In this Schedule, references to an incorrect payment of a benefit—\n(a) are references to a payment of an amount in respect of that benefit which is not equal to the amount for which the benefit recipient is eligible, and\n(b) include references to payments that have been made or that may be made.",
  "extent": null,
  "status": null,
  "version": "current",
  "annotations": [
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F1",
      "text": "Sch. 3B inserted (2.12.2025 but only for the purposes of making regulations, 2.2.2026 in so far as not already in force) by Public Authorities (Fraud, Error and Recovery) Act 2025 (c. 28), s. 109(2)(b), Sch. 3 Pt. 1 (with s. 105); S.I. 2025/1265, reg. 2(2)(c)"
    }
  ],
  "outstanding_effects": [],
  "provenance": {
    "source": "legislation.gov.uk",
    "source_url": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1992/5/schedule/3B/paragraph/1",
    "retrieved_at": "2026-10-29T09:36:26.977425+00:00"
  },
  "licence": "Open Government Licence v3.0",
  "licence_url": "https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/",
  "attribution": "Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives."
}