To: Rt Hon Pat McFadden MP, Secretary of State, DWP
CC: Lucy Rigby KC MP, Economic Secretary to the Treasury, HM Treasury
12 December 2025
Dear Secretary of State,
Up to 8.3 million people on Universal Credit (UC) may effectively be excluded from switching bank accounts, so they can’t take advantage of deals, incentives and accounts that could improve their financial situation (without any cost to the Government). This is bad for competition, bad for consumers and bad for the economy. I would ask you to swiftly investigate and fix this.
There are a range of issues, including the fact that in order to switch banks on UC, some – possibly many – are told they must get an in-person appointment at the Jobcentre. This adds hassle, cost and, for the millions on UC who are in work, possible loss of income (never mind additional impact on those with accessibility issues). It also looks to be an inefficient use of Jobcentre resources.
This runs counter to the whole idea of simple one-click switching. Plus, the UC system does not seem to have been fully updated to incorporate digital banks, some of which lack physical cards or printed statements, making the whole system cumbersome.
Switching banks is done via the Current Account Switch Service (CASS), a Government-supported service that already has fraud checks embedded. It is meant to be a speedy, seamless, no-hassle process that simply transfers an individual’s banking from one bank to another.
The bureaucratic process of UC seems to, without cause, pervert the ease of the process, and add barriers that many people, especially those who work and are on UC, tell me simply make it not worth the time.
Having had it raised a couple of times by consumers, I put a call on my social media channels and was surprised and concerned to see how widespread the issue was. Many described the process as stressful, inconvenient and unnecessary. Some gave up and stuck with their existing account. A number have told me they will never attempt to switch banks again.
I suspect this is an issue that hasn’t been raised with you before, and you will be as keen as I am to look to investigate how widespread the problem is (something only Government can collect official data on) and then address the wider issue. I’ve attached a more detailed briefing for you, by my team at MoneySavingExpert, including example case studies, and information on why we suspect this doesn’t seem to have been picked up before. I’d be happy to meet and discuss this if it would help.
Kind regards,
Martin Lewis
Founder and Chair, MoneySavingExpert.com