Repeated request to provide 3 months Bank Statements or face being refused to claim

The request was partially successful.

Dear Department for Work and Pensions,

I have been required to provide 3 months bank statements at regular intervals in recent years, just had one yesterday for a rapid reclaim (I am making a new claim for ESA instead of JSA now though) as I was working for an agency for 2.5 weeks and was subsequently let go.

The requirements for JSA, ESA, Universal Credit is that you to have less than £5000 in the bank otherwise the payment will get reduced. If you have over £16,000 then you will get nothing. I have had no where near that in my amount in my account since 2012 when I started to sign on. Therefore the reason you are ask for fully itemised bank statement to "assess your entitlement" is completely invalid. You can filter your statement in many different ways with any online bank so only relevant information is provided, but the DWP say you are not allowed to use these filters and they want every detail. Why?

It is understandable that they want to see incoming payments to see if you have any other income (job on the side or whatever), but what right have you to access peoples out goings. Where you shop, whether you have drunk alcohol recently in a bar, where you go out, the grocery store you use. This request for your personal private data is excessive and has nothing to do with assessing your claim.

If you want to know what your rent is you can produce the lease etc (which you already have anyway, having submitted it multiple times). If I question you about it I am told that "I dont' need to apply for benefits, its a choice", as if an unemployed person has any choice.

If your going to use my bank statements to pry in to every corner of my life, by all means do, but dont request them under false pretences. If these statements are true and the DWP is using this data to assess claims, surely it falls under an excessive collection and holding of data under the Data Protection Act. I have no idea whether the DWP are subject to comply with the DPA, but if they are surely this falls under such a misuse

Yours faithfully,

christopher law

DWP freedom-of-information-requests, Department for Work and Pensions

This is an automated confirmation that your request for information has
been accepted by the DWP FoI mailbox.
 
By the next working day your request will be forwarded to the relevant
information owner within the Department who will respond to you direct. 
 
If your email is a Freedom of Information request you can normally
expect a response within 20 working days.
 
Should you have any further queries in connection with this request do
please contact us.
 
For further information on the Freedom of Information Act within DWP
please click on the link below.
 
[1]http://www.dwp.gov.uk/freedom-of-informa...
 

show quoted sections

References

Visible links
1. http://www.dwp.gov.uk/freedom-of-informa...

Operations FOI Requests, Department for Work and Pensions

1 Attachment

 
Dear Christopher Law
 
 
Please find attached our response to your recent Freedom of Information
request.
 
 
 
Yours sincerely
 
DWP Central Freedom of Information Team
 
 
 
 
 

show quoted sections

Operations FOI Requests, Department for Work and Pensions

1 Attachment

 
Dear Christopher Law
 
Please find attached our response to your recent Freedom of Information
request. Please accept our apologies because the link in the first
response did not open.
 
 
Yours sincerely
 
DWP Central Freedom of Information Team
 
 
 
 
 

show quoted sections

Dear Department for Work and Pensions,

Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.

I am writing to request an internal review of Department for Work and Pensions's handling of my FOI request 'Repeated request to provide 3 months Bank Statements or face being refused to claim'.

What has been given as a response is not an answer to the question. Being asked to read a 180 page online document is not answering the question. I will not repeat what the question was or how this response is inadequate as this is apparent to anyone who reviews it.

Additionally the answer to the question is not in the 180 page document, I read it through. This took me some time and this is frustrating and a abuse of the FOI system process. If the DWP wishes not to answer questions then say so and do not waste a substantial amount of inquirers time.

The only thing I could decipher from this document is that there could be instance where maybe I paid for something which could be "disregarded" as Capital and I am trying to make a benefits claim to have the amount discarded from total amount. This never happened and I never made a claim for certain spendings to be disregarded.
The onus would be on me to provide evidence to have something disgarded and this is not a reason why the DWP should be asking regularily for my full bank statement, including outgoings payments.

The document infact never mentions bank statements at all.

Again, please can you provide a complete and coherent response to my question or not?

A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/r...

Yours faithfully,

christopher law

DWP freedom-of-information-requests, Department for Work and Pensions

This is an automated confirmation that your request for information has
been accepted by the DWP FoI mailbox.
 
By the next working day your request will be forwarded to the relevant
information owner within the Department who will respond to you direct. 
 
If your email is a Freedom of Information request you can normally
expect a response within 20 working days.
 
Should you have any further queries in connection with this request do
please contact us.
 
For further information on the Freedom of Information Act within DWP
please click on the link below.
 
[1]http://www.dwp.gov.uk/freedom-of-informa...
 

show quoted sections

References

Visible links
1. http://www.dwp.gov.uk/freedom-of-informa...

Dear Department for Work and Pensions,

Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.

I am writing to request an internal review of Department for Work and Pensions's handling of my FOI request 'Repeated request to provide 3 months Bank Statements or face being refused to claim'.

Sorry I missed something from my last request I just sent. There is also "notional capital", but again at the times I have been required to provide these bank statements there was no reason to suggest why my capital would be over £6000, and no reason why a print out of my incoming payments and bank balance would not be sufficient. DWP staff in my local center have also repeatedly told me than my bank statements are not used to see what I am spending money on; so which is it?

My aim is to see if these measures are excessive and unecessary resulting in an invasion of peoples privacy. Surely if they are not applied only when required and not frequently and without good reason then they are.

A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/r...

Yours faithfully,

christopher law

DWP freedom-of-information-requests, Department for Work and Pensions

This is an automated confirmation that your request for information has
been accepted by the DWP FoI mailbox.
 
By the next working day your request will be forwarded to the relevant
information owner within the Department who will respond to you direct. 
 
If your email is a Freedom of Information request you can normally
expect a response within 20 working days.
 
Should you have any further queries in connection with this request do
please contact us.
 
For further information on the Freedom of Information Act within DWP
please click on the link below.
 
[1]http://www.dwp.gov.uk/freedom-of-informa...
 

show quoted sections

References

Visible links
1. http://www.dwp.gov.uk/freedom-of-informa...

Operations FOI Requests, Department for Work and Pensions

1 Attachment

Dear Christopher Law,
 
Please find attached the reply to your recent Freedom of Information
request reference number with IR 49:
 
 
Thank you,
 
DWP Freedom of Information Team
 
 
 
 

show quoted sections