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Jobcentres told to stop referring benefit claimants to food banks (Guardian)
‘(A)n internal DWP briefing seen by the Guardian says it will no longer issue [signposting] slips – which require the name of the claimant and brief details, such as the number of children in the household – because they amount to “inappropriate use of personal claimant data”.’
Well if that’s true, why do the Trussell trust require us to give this information when we refer clients to them? Indeed, how do they know without this information, who the referral is for?
This is DWP, having placed claimants in hardship, seeking to “rub salt into the wound”, and cause even more stress. In short, in my opinion it is tantamount to “psychological warfare”.
Anyway, you can just walk in to a foodbank and take what you want. Lord Wassname* said so, cos there’s an infinite demand for free goods.
Anyway, shouldn’t these people be looking for work, not trying to find food??? What’s with this eating lark when there’s work to be done?
(* I have gone blank as to his Lordly handle. You know, the one who helped set up UC then bannered off, claiming credit for the bits that worked, but the other bits were someone else’s fault)
(* I have gone blank as to his Lordly handle.
Lord Haw-Haw.
Well, I suppose they have clarified that they see their role as part of the problem rather than part of the solution.
This be he - “If you put more food banks in, that is the supply. Clearly food from a food bank is by definition a free good and there’s almost infinite demand.”
https://www.theguardian.com/society/shortcuts/2013/jul/03/lord-freud-poverty-food-banks
Look how long ago it was said, and how little has changed.
He attended a NAWRA meeting a while back, and was just as charming, modest and compassionate.
Isn’t he the one who changed sides from Labour to Conservative in order to get a peerage? Obviously a man of deep and sincere conviction.
Isn’t he the one who changed sides from Labour to Conservative in order to get a peerage? Obviously a man of deep and sincere conviction.
Twelve voices were shouting in anger, and they were all alike. No question, now, what had happened to the faces of the pigs. The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which.
What if the claimant gives explicit consent for their data to be shared? I thought the DWP knew all about this!
What if the claimant gives explicit consent for their data to be shared? I thought the DWP knew all about this!
Well this is why this move is simply absurd. How can you compromise the personal data of someone by giving them a slip of paper which contains their own personal data and which they choose to willingly share elsewhere, in this case at a foodbank.
The story here is that they don’t want people like the Trussell Trust using the data about why people need to be sent to foodbanks in the first place to highlight the punitive nature of the social security system in this country.
It’s the same reason why they are seeking to manipulate the underclaiming statistics that Gareth has highlighted elsewhere. Trying to control the narrative and with many Orwellian overtones I think.
I note the little cuties are doubling down on this. I wonder if the ICO has a view?
This makes no sense as a change. The signposting slip says that “the bearer” has been advised about foodbanks, but doesn’t specify the name of the person. Thereby, these slips become tradable. Someone who has had the maximum number of food parcels will be able to hand the slip to someone who hasn’t and, depending on the foodbank’s policy, obtain a parcel without a real referral.
They also signpost people to agencies which do make referrals (eg Citizens Advice), thereby wasting our time as well as the client’s.
I wonder what prompted this change. It doesn’t save money or reduce DWP workload. Could it be that Ministers want to avoid having to answer a future FoI request about how many claimants have been referred to foodbanks? Surely not?