Proof that the DWP routinely demand unscheduled information updates on all claimants who make a complaint.

Response to this request is long overdue. By law, under all circumstances, Department for Work and Pensions should have responded by now (details). You can complain by requesting an internal review.

Dear Department for Work and Pensions,

In a letter from a DWP correspondence manager dated 12th November there reads - "When you made the complaint we reviewed ****** ESA entitlement to ensure we were not either underpaying or overpaying, to check whether we had overlooked certain aspects of ****** award. This is a routine approach to ensuring we are paying someone correctly and there is no direct connection or coincidence as you suggest to ***** [previous] complaints or other matters".

The DWP used this response as an excuse to exempt themselves from a complaint that they were specifically victimising the disabled claimant, on the basis of his claims of disability discrimination, by demanding the additional information and that this was contravention of the Disability Discrimination Act and the Equality Act.

The excuse claims that it was not a specific act of vengeful victimisation against the claimant resulting from his complaints about previous disability discrimination because the DWP claim that they treat all claimants who complain to this enhanced interrogation whether they are disabled or not. This would be a sound defence to the claim of disability victimisation but it raises another significant question of whether the DWP are in fact victimising all complainants as a means of suppressing public scrutiny, suppressing complaints and covering up DWP failures.

I am hereby asking for any information to prove that the DWP do routinely reassess the financial circumstances of any claimant who is party to a complaint.

This request could be met by provision of a copy of a process document instructing staff at the DWP to investigated and reassess the financial circumstances of any claimant making a complaint or instead by showing data of all complaints over a recent period with a marker showing how many of these were complaints involving a claimant and how many of those claimants received an otherwise unscheduled review of their financial circumstances shortly after the complaint was processed.

I have already raised a request for data regarding the statutory right to demand information as a result of the claimant raising a complaint (under DWP FoIA Request 4940) and the response to this is both overdue and currently non-existent readers can find a copy of that request at
https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/s...

Yours faithfully,

Ian Howgate

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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