Complaints received regarding SMI benefit removal

The request was partially successful.

Dear Department for Work and Pensions,
Please provide the number of complaints received regarding the removal of SMI benefit.
Also specify how many legal notices where claimants have threatened or intend to take legal action due to the removal of SMI benefit.

How many Court cases are due because of the removal of SMI benefit?

Yours faithfully,
Rees T.

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

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DWP - HPD FOI's, Department for Work and Pensions

Dear ‘Rees T’,

 

Thank you for your Freedom of Information request received on 22 June. You
asked:

 

“Please provide the number of complaints received regarding the removal of
SMI benefit.

 

Also specify how many legal notices where claimants have threatened or
intend to take legal action due to the removal of SMI benefit.

 

How many Court cases are due because of the removal of SMI benefit?”

 

 

You can expect a reply by 20 July 2018 unless I need to come back to you
to clarify your request or the balance of the public interest test needs
to be considered.

 

If you have any queries about this letter please contact me quoting the
reference number above. 

 

 

Yours sincerely

 

 

DWP FoI Central Information Team

 

 

 

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DWP - HPD FOI's, Department for Work and Pensions

1 Attachment

Please find enclosed reply to your FOI request .

 

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Dear DWP - HPD FOI's,

I draw your attention to the notes within the section you mentioned.
Quote
"Example

A requester named Robert Jones could call themselves ‘Rob Jones’, ‘Bobby Jones’, ‘R Jones’, ‘Bob Jones’ or ‘Mr Jones’. "

It then goes on to say

Quote
"27. If the requester has a name they sometimes reverse or write in several different ways, then the authority should accept all of the possible variations.

It is therefore the case you must accept and process the FOI request in full.

Should you have a problem with Rees T. then follow the instruction by ICO above and you have T. Rees

I look forward to the proper response thank you.

Yours sincerely,

Rees T.

DWP - HPD FOI's, Department for Work and Pensions

 

Dear ‘Rees T’

 

Thank you for your Freedom of Information internal review request received
on 29 June. You asked:

 

“I draw your attention to the notes within the section you mentioned.

Quote

"Example

 

A requester named Robert Jones could call themselves ‘Rob Jones’, ‘Bobby
Jones’, ‘R Jones’, ‘Bob Jones’ or ‘Mr Jones’.  "

 

It then goes on to say

 

Quote

"27. If the requester has a name they sometimes reverse or write in
several different ways, then the authority should accept all of the
possible variations.

 

It is therefore the case you must accept and process the FOI request in
full.

 

Should you have a problem with Rees T. then follow the instruction by ICO
above and you have T. Rees

 

I look forward to the proper response thank you.”

 

 

You can expect a reply by 27 July 2018 unless I need to come back to you
to clarify your request or the balance of the public interest test needs
to be considered.

 

If you have any queries about this letter please contact me quoting the
reference number above.

 

 

Yours sincerely

 

 

DWP FOI Central Information Team

 

 

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DWP - HPD FOI's, Department for Work and Pensions

1 Attachment

Please see the attached reply to your FoI internal review request

 

 

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Dear DWP - HPD FOI's,

I believe this is a deliberate stalling that is unwarranted.

I sent you precisely what it said in the ICO rules, you posted to me.
You have no valid grounds whatsoever to ignore the examples the ICO provided.
Do enlighten why ICO example of R Jones is acceptable to ICO yet T. Rees is not acceptable to you?
Do enlighten why ICO stated can reverse variant of name ie Rees T. which I pointed out to you is so obvious and you are ignoring ICO rules?
ICO rules do not require a Mr.

As this is a public website and for which has pointed out you have gone beyond the legally allowed time to answer FOI - fully, it would be expected that you would actually do what you are meant to.

Kindly send full response by return - I trust you have actually established full facts in the duration that has gone by to date and that you will not be letting me down further!

ICO will be able to see your flouting here. Can you provide your full name for whom to put on any complaint should that be necessary and shoe size, thank you

Yours sincerely, Ms T. Rees

Dear DWP - HPD FOI's,
Dear Department for Work and Pensions,

Please provide the number of complaints received regarding the removal of SMI benefit.

Also specify how many legal notices where claimants have threatened or intend to take legal action due to the removal of SMI benefit.

How many Court cases are due because of the removal of SMI benefit?
Yours faithfully, Ms T Rees

DWP - HPD FOI's, Department for Work and Pensions

1 Attachment

Please see the attached reply to your Freedom of Information request.

 

 

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DWP - HPD FOI's, Department for Work and Pensions

1 Attachment

Please see the attached reply to your Freedom of Information request

 

 

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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 'Complaints received regarding SMI benefit removal'.

Thank you for your reply.

The way in which you replied has given rise to further check being required, unless you would like a separate FOI request, but I don't see that makes much sense, so an Internal Review should be carried about by an independent and more senior person, who is more experienced.

I don't believe the response to be accurate.
I do believe you would hold the information that you have omitted, so let's try again.

Find the number of SMI claimants that had their SMI benefit removed, of all ages and tell me how many total complaints, include written and telephone. This should not exceed monetary allowance, duration, because you have a duty to log all complaints and report all complaints, for auditing and overseeing bodies.

Include before SMI benefit was removed, where claimant tried to stop you removing it as well as since, when asked to have it reinstated or extended or merely complained about your wrongdoing.

To make easier for you and because I am concerned you may pick out a word (such as 'due') when I meant it in the context of any, whether happened, happening or in process, or aware there will be - Court action -

and by any person that was previously in receipt of SMI benefit, that had their benefit removed or if deemed 'vulnerable' or has a representative will lose their SMI benefit (by November 2018, think the cut off is)
because Court matters aren't simply one date. DWP would become aware and protocol takes place, then hearing, appeals, higher Courts etc - so non exhaustive, when I asked how many Court cases and meant by persons who had lost their SMI benefit.
To clarify by my request, I was asking about any - that would include any person who lost their SMI benefit, regardless of signing up for SMI as a loan or not, that was using the Court process in any case, to include all angles. (examples that could be on Discrimination grounds or Human Rights grounds, on Public Law or Judicial Review any level of Court at all, include higher Tribunal, High Court, Supreme Court, any)!

You would have a list of SMI claimants as otherwise you wouldn't have been contacting them.
Whether SERCO or DWP ended up being the recipient - due to confusion by claimant.
You also wrongly had a drop in numbers (your own stats) of SMI claimants, originally 120,000 that varied down to 90,000 for which approx. 30,000 ended up (so you said) on the 'wrong system' - so you will need to check all!

In summary you can't merely say 9 Pension Age (out of overall SMI claimants) and you don't have working age number of complaints. I call for senior, who knows what they are doing to complete the missing information in this FOI request.

I believe there are one or two Court cases (including protocol, but action) already in progress, by persons who lost their SMI benefit back in April, it doesn't matter which basis or argument as mentioned above, that they are using - you will be aware it is an SMI claimant taking the action and that is what I asked and meant in the original FOI.

Hope this helps clarify and that you will now review the answer you previously gave and give me the full facts please.

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

Yours faithfully, Ms T Rees

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...
 

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References

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

DWP - HPD FOI's, Department for Work and Pensions

1 Attachment

 

Please see the attached reply to your Freedom of Information internal
review request.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

 

DWP Central FoI Team

 

 

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