Benefits to be Paid onto Smart Cards to Stop claimants Spending Their Money on Alcohol or Gambling

Soon benefits could to be paid onto smart cards, the aim being to stop claimants wasting taxpayers money on alcohol or gambling.

Iain Duncan Smith The Work and Pensions Secretary said he was increasingly concerned about the way benefits could currently be used to fuel addictions, instead of putting people on the road to work.

Speaking at the Tory party conference in Birmingham, he said: 'I have long believed that where parents have fallen into a damaging spiral – drug or alcohol addiction, even problem debt, or more – we need to find ways to safeguard them – and more importantly, their families, their children, ensuring their basic needs are met.

Since this announcement Mark Hoban, a former Employment Minister, has questioned the legality of introducing a pre-paid card for benefit claimants.

Mr Hoban, who served under Iain Duncan Smith in the Department for Work and Pensions from September 2012 to October 2013, told a fringe meeting: "I think [this card] has been looked at quite often."

Speaking before Mr Duncan Smith's appearance at the Conservative Conference, he told a fringe meeting that "there may be some legal issues around using it."

Deirdre Kelly, also known as White Dee, from the television show Benefits Street, told the same fringe meeting that she thought the card was "not a bad idea."