BIG Brother Watch has recently issued a hard-hitting report called Poverty Panopticon, which focuses on the dangers to disabled claimants from secret surveillance by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).

This is happening on the watch of a so-called Labour government which in its election manifesto claimed to be “committed to championing the rights of disabled people and to the principle of working with them, so that their views and voices will be at the heart of all we do.”

The Labour government is using increasingly intrusive, secretive surveillance methods (like AI, body-worn cameras, social media scraping and covert investigations) on people claiming benefits. This is creating a system of constant suspicion and monitoring, treating vulnerable people like potential criminals instead of offering support.

Big Brother Watch’s report highlights numerous dangers to benefit claimants. It notes the constant fear and mental harm of such surveillance.

Large numbers of claimants feel watched all the time, like they can’t escape scrutiny. This is causing severe stress, anxiety, and worsens existing mental health problems.

Yet these very same people are being attacked by Keir Starmer and co for “taking the mickey” by having the temerity to make the “lifestyle choice” to be on benefits.

Big Brother Watch has observed that: “People are made to feel under constant scrutiny … creating an environment of pervasive fear and anxiety.”

Not surprisingly, this living in fear makes it harder for people to focus on getting well or finding work.

The report points out that this spying on benefit claimants is a form of “digital strip search” due to the loss of all privacy.

The DWP is digging deeply into claimants’ private online lives without their knowledge. This includes scanning social media posts, photos on social media, locations and even private messages.

This is hugely invasive and quite possibly illegal under international humanitarian law. The report notes that the: “DWP is carrying out a ‘digital strip search’ on claimants, trawling through years of social media posts, photos, locations and interactions.”

Let’s be clear: everyone deserves privacy. It is a fundamental human right. Yet having your personal life combed through secretly, by an unaccountable government agency feels like a violation, especially when you’re vulnerable with physical and/or mental health problems.

Another major danger of this secret spying is people on benefits are being judged by faulty computer programmes known as algorithmic profiling.

The DWP has computer programmes (algorithms) trying to predict who “might” commit fraud based on data patterns.

These guesses can be very wrong and are often based on biased data. Big Brother Watch has pointed out, “Algorithmic risk scoring … flags claimants as ‘suspicious’ based on data patterns, rather than evidence of actual wrongdoing.”

In other words, all benefit claimants in Starmer’s Britain are treated as potential criminals. This a continuation of the Tories’ war on the poor which massively escalated after 2010.

This is leading to incredibly stressful investigations with many people having their benefits being stopped unfairly.

The Big Brother report cites various examples of vulnerable people who have been victims of this state sanctioned institutional violence.

Maya is a disabled woman with severe mental health conditions, including agoraphobia (a fear of leaving home) and complex PTSD. She relies on personal independence payment (PIP) benefits to survive.

Without her knowledge, DWP investigators secretly scrutinised years of her social media photos. They found pictures of her attending two rare family outings over a three-year period.

One was a brief trip to a park — a huge effort for her — and another was a visit to a cafe with family support. Based only on these photos, the DWP accused Maya of “dishonesty.”

They claimed the photos proved she could “socialise and leave home regularly,” which contradicted her claim about the severe impact of her agoraphobia and mental health problems.

The DWP launched a formal fraud investigation against her which led Maya to suffer severe panic attacks and a sharp deterioration in her mental health. She became terrified to leave home at all, even for essential medical appointments.

Maya described the experience as a “gross violation” of her privacy. The DWP had combed through deeply personal, years-old photos without her consent.

In her case the DWP completely ignored the context of the photos. These outings were rare, extremely difficult events requiring immense planning and family support, followed by days or weeks of recovery due to her conditions. They were not evidence of capability for regular activity.

After a lengthy and stressful investigation, the “case” against Maya was dropped. There was no fraud. The DWP’s accusation was based entirely on a misinterpretation of her limited social media presence.

Big Brother Watch’s report explicitly states that this case demonstrates how the DWP engages in “covertly combing through years’ worth of claimants’ social media posts, photos, locations and interactions.”

Maya’s case reveals the real harm of the secret spying of claimants’ lives. It shows how secret social media surveillance causes serious mental health harm to very vulnerable disabled people.

The DWP investigators misinterpreted ordinary moments, like rare family outings as “proof” of dishonesty.

Big Brother Watch’s report makes it clear that Maya’s story isn't an isolated case. It’s presented as an example of a “widespread, intrusive practice” targeting vulnerable claimants.

Of course, this all fits in perfectly with the war on vulnerable claimants which the DWP has been waging since at least 2010. In the process this murderous organisation has directly caused the deaths of hundreds, if not thousands, of disabled people.

As Big Brother Watch notes, “The fear of surveillance deters people from claiming their entitlements … creating a ‘chilling effect’ on people accessing essential support.”

This leads to people going without food, heating or medicine because they’re terrified of being watched or accused of fraud. This hurts some of the most vulnerable disabled people in our society.

People needing help feel like they’re facing an enemy, not a support system. It makes them feel powerless and stigmatised. The government holds massive amounts of data and surveillance power over individuals who are often in desperate situations.

This creates huge inequality and fear. The report states that “the surveillance state is being built in the shadows, disproportionately targeting the poor and marginalised.”

The report makes it clear that innocent people in this country are getting dragged through stressful investigations, having their benefits stopped and face accusations of criminality based on simple misunderstandings or out-of-context information.

The information presented in this report it clear that this secret spying on disabled people on benefits is all part of the Labour government’s war on the poor. 

Big Brother Watch has observed that: “The ‘Poverty Panopticon’ turns the social security system into an automated suspicion machine, designed to find fraud where it doesn’t exist, at the expense of the wellbeing, privacy and dignity of those it is supposed to support.”

Big Brother Watch deserves credit for its efforts to expose a dangerous social security system which actively seeks to harm vulnerable disabled people. It all fits in with Labour’s attempt to savagely cuts disability benefits as it seeks to divide working class people between those who are “productive’’ and pay income tax and those who are too ill or disabled to ever work.

Dr Dylan Murphy is a member of Disabled People Against Cuts and Unite Community.