Legal advice sought before increasing payments
Dear Department for Work and Pensions,
Please kindly provide a copy of the legal advice the department sought to check it was ok to increase Universal Credit payments during the lockdown period but leave those on Personal Independence Payment (PIP) and Employment & Support Allowance (ESA) with no extra financial support during the very same period.
The documents, if they exist, may for instance warn of potential discrimination claims against the department for helping one group of claimants but not the other groups who would be equally entitled to the same difference in payment.
Yours faithfully,
Amanda Hart
for Stop UK lies and Corruption.
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Our ref: FOI2020/28444
Contact email: [1][email address]
Dear Amanda Hart,
Thank you for your request for information which was received on 9th June.
Your request is being considered under the terms of the Freedom of
Information Act 2000.
You can normally expect a response to your FoI request within 20 working
days. However due to the current situation with COVID-19 it may not be
possible for us to reply to you within this timeframe.
The DWP will make every effort to respond to FOIs as we would usually but
the current situation may mean that available Departmental resources are
needed on other high priority areas.
We kindly ask for your understanding during this unprecedente d situation
and we will aim to deal with your FOI request as soon as is practically
possible.
If you have any queries about this letter, please contact the department
using the email address and reference number above.
Yours sincerely,
DWP Central FoI Team
Department for Work and Pensions
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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 'Legal advice sought before increasing payments'.
Re: FOI2020/28444
A valid response to our request should have been provided by now in all cases.
We still require the information.
A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/l...
Yours faithfully,
Amanda Hart
for Stop UK lies and Corruption.
This is an automated confirmation that your request for information has
been accepted by the DWP FOI mailbox.
If your email is a Freedom of Information request you can normally expect
a response within 20 working days.
However please be advised that due to the current situation with COVID-19
we cannot guarantee a response within this timescale.
Every effort is being made to respond to FOIs as we would usually but the
current situation means that available Departmental resources will be
needed on other high priority areas.
We kindly ask for your understanding during this unprecedented situation
and we will aim to deal with your FOI request as soon as is practically
possible.
Email FOI responses will be issued from [1][email address]
We recommend that you add this address to your email contacts otherwise
the response may be treated as Spam or Junk mail.
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[2]http://www.gov.uk/dwp
References
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2. http://www.gov.uk/dwp
Dear Amanda Hart,
I am writing in response to your request for information, received 9th
June.
Please accept our apologies for the delay in responding to your Freedom of
Information request.
Yours sincerely,
DWP Central FoI Team
Dear Amanda Hart,
I am writing in response to your request for information, received 3rd
August.
Yours sincerely,
DWP Central FoI Team
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 'Legal advice sought before increasing payments'.
Thank you for your response denying our request for this information. However we must respectfully reject this because it would be perfectly reasonable for you to redact the areas of concern leaving visible the parts we are interested in which is where they warn of potential discrimination cases if you were to "increase Universal Credit payments during the lockdown period but leave those on Personal Independence Payment (PIP) and Employment & Support Allowance (ESA) with no extra financial support during the very same period".
A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/l...
You have an opportunity to provide the information in redacted form before we take the matter up with the ICO who may well require you to release it in full rather than redacted.
Yours faithfully,
Amanda Hart
for Stop UK lies and Corruption.
This is an automated confirmation that your request for information has
been accepted by the DWP FOI mailbox.
If your email is a Freedom of Information request you can normally expect
a response within 20 working days.
However please be advised that due to the current situation with COVID-19
we cannot guarantee a response within this timescale.
Every effort is being made to respond to FOIs as we would usually but the
current situation means that available Departmental resources will be
needed on other high priority areas.
We kindly ask for your understanding during this unprecedented situation
and we will aim to deal with your FOI request as soon as is practically
possible.
Email FOI responses will be issued from [1][email address]
We recommend that you add this address to your email contacts otherwise
the response may be treated as Spam or Junk mail.
Should you have any further queries in connection with this request do
please contact us.
[2]http://www.gov.uk/dwp
References
Visible links
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2. http://www.gov.uk/dwp
Amanda Hart left an annotation ()
IC-55806-H6R8. ICO told authority to respond within 20 working days. Report back to ICO if fail to response by 28th October 2020
Dear Amanda Hart,
I am writing in response to your request for information, received 5th
August.
Please accept our apologies for the delay in responding to your Freedom of
Information request.
Yours sincerely,
DWP Central FoI Team
Amanda Hart left an annotation ()
IC-55806-H6R8 Informed ICO as they still need to take action here.
Amanda Hart left an annotation ()
IC-55806-H6R8. Informed ICO that DWP has still failed to provide this information.
Amanda Hart left an annotation ()
IC-55806-H6R8. Informed ICO that DWP has failed to provide this information.
Amanda Hart left an annotation ()
IC-55806-H6R8. Informed ICO that as of 12th March 2021 DWP has failed to provide this information.
Amanda Hart left an annotation ()
IC-55806-H6R8. 15th March 2021. Received acknowledgement from ICO.
Amanda Hart left an annotation ()
IC-55806-H6R8 Received update from ICO 6th April 2021 and we responded with further information showing why this needs to be exposed.
Amanda Hart left an annotation ()
DWP claim no advice was 'sought'. We have therefore agreed with the ICO that this case may be closed subject to the present court case against the department establishing anything to the contrary.
Owen Stevens left an annotation ()
this FOI is mentioned here: https://ico.org.uk/media/action-weve-tak...
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Amanda Hart left an annotation ()
Report to ICO if not provided by 29th Sept