DWP Central Freedom of
Information Team
Caxton House
6-12 Tothill Street
London
SW1H 9NA
Kellie Dorrington
freedom-of-information-
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx
xxxxxxx@xxx.xxx.xx
DWP Website
Our Ref: FOI2023/07335
16 February 2023
Dear Kellie Dorrington,
Thank you for your Freedom of Information (FoI) request received on 27 January. You wrote:
“I would like to make a freedom of information request about the Universal Credit claims
sent to the risk review team at the DWP from May 2020 to 2022.
1 How many Universal Credit claims have been passed to the risk review team broken
down over the period from May 2020,2021 and 2022?
2 Proportion of claims sent to the risk review team whose payments are suspended?
3 How do these UC claims with the risk review team break down in terms of nationality of
claimant?
4 Categories of the reasons claims were sent to the risk review team.
5 Categories of the reasons claims were sent to the risk review team, broken down in
terms of nationality of claimant.
6 How UC claims in general break down in terms of nationality of claimant?
7 Length of time claims take to proceed to a conclusion based on categories of reasons
sent to the risk review team?
8 How many complaints have been received for this period on cases sent to the risk
review team?
9 How many claimants who have had their claim sent to the risk review team have had
their award reinstated fully, partially and refused
10 Estimated average cost of investigating a claim sent to the risk review team.”
DWP Response
We can confirm that we hold information falling within the description specified in your
request. However, we have estimated that the cost of meeting your request would exceed the
cost limit of £600 specified in the Freedom of Information and Data Protection (Appropriate
Limit and Fees) Regulations 2004. This represents the estimated cost of one person
spending 3½ working days (equivalent to 24 staff-hours) in determining whether the
Department holds the information, and locating, retrieving and extracting it.
Under Section 12 of the FoI Act the Department is not therefore obliged to comply with your
request and we will not be processing it further. The reason being the Department is unable
to provide any of the information you seek within the appropriate cost limit as you have asked
for information that is contained in individual cases.
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Under Section 16 of the FoI Act we should help you narrow your request so that it may fall
beneath the cost limit.
We have considered how we might help you to bring your request within the cost limit, but the
volume of cases means that we are unable to help you redefine 9 question in such a way that
we could provide an answer. However, if you were to re-submit your request without
Question 9, we will look to provide the requested information where possible and where it can
be provided within costs.
We will consider afresh any revised request however we cannot guarantee that any revised
request will fall within the cost limit as each FoI request is judged on its own merits.
If you have any queries about this letter, please contact us quoting the reference number
above.
Yours sincerely,
DWP Central Freedom of Information Team
Department for Work and Pensions
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Your right to complain under the Freedom of Information Act
If you are not happy with this response you may request an internal review by e-mailing
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxx.xxx.xx or by writing to: DWP Central FoI Team, Caxton
House, 6-12 Tothill Street, London, SW1H 9NA.
Any review request should be submitted within two months of the date of this letter.
If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review you may apply directly to the
Information Commissioner’s Office for a decision. Generally, the Commissioner cannot make
a decision unless you have exhausted our own complaints procedure. The Information
Commissioner can be contacted at: The Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House,
Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF.
Website
: ICO FOI and EIR complaints or telephone 0303 123 1113.
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