Can I covertly record a job centre staff for committing fraud?

The request was refused by Department for Work and Pensions.

Dear Department for Work and Pensions,
If I openly record this person, they wont do anything illegal, but when a camera isnt infront of the person, they commit fraud. The crime they commit falls under fraud act 2006, sections 2,3,4 and 6. If I am not allowed to film covertly, then I have no evidence to prove this person is committing a crime. If i do film then i cant represent it in court. So what action can i take against this member of the job centre, in order to prove to the court that they are committing a crime?

Yours faithfully,

F

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Billy fisher left an annotation ()

Where to start? You can’t present any information to ‘the court’. Information is presented when fraud is committed through a cps lawyer, IF the police have gathered and presented evidence sufficiently strong that an offence has been committed and there is a reasonable chance of conviction. It is highly unlikely that any footage you take would be accepted

If you believe fraud is being committed you should go to the police and let them investigate. Should you be found covertly filming DWP staff in a DWP office you may be opening yourself to sanctions, civil claims and/or criminal allegations. Don’t forget that although you have an implied licence to be on some DWP premises the DWP can withdraw that licence. Harassing DWP staff in their duties is something you should avoid. Most of these people on the frontline earn less than the benefit cap. If you do not wish to involve the police you should complain, so I suggest that you rephrase your question around how to complain.

PREDICTION: rejected in the first instance because you haven’t used a proper name

Rejected in the second instance because you’re not asking for recorded information.

This sort of foi request wastes everyone’s time and money as it has no hope of ever being answered.

helen2014 left an annotation ()

@ Billy Fisher, you are wrong most FOI Act 2000 request must be answered in some way or another even if telling the poster they'll refuse to answer his request.

F what you need is to read the Welfare Reform 2012 look out for the Job Seekers Allowance part and any regulations and guidance with regards to Job Seekers Allowance. The Welfare reform 2012 and all other documents mentioned can be obtain through FOI the guidance will tell you what you can or can't do as a claimant and what the dwp staff can or can't do. My son was threatened twice with sanction by two different dwp staffs they took turn if he did not give the them his login and password on the .govt job searches. I took it upon myself to read the welfare reform 2012 and any job seekers allowance guidance. The guidance stated that dwp staff must not ask claimant their login and password details 1st fraud and breaches, 2nd I was with my son and I was told that I cannot go with him for his job seekers allowance 2nd fraud and breaches. A claimant can have someone with them and even speak for them if they wish it to ensure they get the right claim my son was 19 years old at the time. I confronted the dwp staff they changed their tunes as I read part of the welfare reform 2012 to them that dwp staff cannot ask claimants for their login details. Every time my son went to sign on he kept both guidance about the login details and about having someone with him. Both dwp staff left him alone until with my help privately he went on to find a job all the jobs on the .govt website was false. My advice before you do anything about court read all the guidance and the welfare reform 2012 they can easily be fought using dwp's own guidance staff don't even know what's in the guidance because they are trained to actually get people off benefit and have meeting how much people they must sanction per week.

So fight them with their own documents I fought many times using the dwp own guidance.

no-reply@dwp.ecase.co.uk on behalf of Operations FOI Team, Department for Work and Pensions

1 Attachment

Dear F,

I am writing in response to your request for information, received 7
February.

Your response is attached

Yours sincerely,

DWP Operations FOI Team

Billy fisher left an annotation ()

Hmmmm, well prediction 1 proved correct didn’t it?

Billy fisher left an annotation ()

Helen,
What you say may be correct, but it has no bearing on the foi request that f’s made. If ‘f’ gives a real name it will be rejected as no recorded information, if they’re feeling helpful and vexatious if they aren’t.

J Roberts left an annotation ()

A UT decision re covert audio-recording:

“39. The question of the admissibility of covert audio-recordings may not have been considered in the Upper Tribunal case law but has arisen in several cases in the employment tribunals. The leading case is Chairman & Governors of Amwell View School v Dogherty [2007] ICR 135, in which the employee, a teaching assistant, had secretly recorded a series of three disciplinary hearings in which she was involved. She had managed to record both the ‘open’ part of each hearing, during which she had attended, and the ‘closed’ section when the disciplinary panel was deliberating in private...”

http://www.bailii.org/uk/cases/UKUT/AAC/...