Data Protection

I wonder if I could have some thoughts on this issue.

I have a claimant who has recently been issued with a HB o/p of approx £3600 based on a reassessment of her income.  The claimant believing this to be incorrect asked for copies of all information passed between herself and the LA for the period of the backdate.

This was met with a letter advising her that she needed to submit a Data Protection disclosure request for a fee of £10.  This is the second time now that I have come across this LA doing this.

I asked the LA about it and my only response was that if information is requested it is sent to their Legal team who would make this decision.

I would really appreciate your thoughts on whether they are allowed to do this and how best to challenge this.

Thanks

I have had a couple of similar experiences.  A paraphrased & amended extract from a letter sent to the LA is copied below (NB: in this case, an appeal had already been submitted):

———————————- (extract from letter written by advisor, signed by clmt)
.......
I now turn to the request for documentation and records relating to my appeal.  The documentation and records requested are necessary in order to properly pursue my appeal.  As this relates to a matter involving legal proceedings (an Appeal Tribunal), it is wholly unreasonable for a charge to be made.  Effectively, you are imposing a charge on justice at a stage where it is intended to be free.  I point out that you are in any case required, in the interests of justice, to make FULL DISCLOSURE of ALL records and documents that may have an effect on the appeal - not just those purported, by the Council, to have been relied on when the decision was made.  In the experience of my advisor, it is not unusual for local authorities to be somewhat selective in the records and documentation produced in relation to benefit appeals.

In that context, it is submitted that it is wholly inappropriate for the Council to be its own adjudicator as to what is relevant to the appeal. 

My advisor further notes the following:

a) s.35 of the Data Protection Act makes it plain that non-disclosure provisions do not apply where disclosure is for the purpose of legal proceedings.

b) in CH/3240/2007, it was made clear that ALL evidence relevant to the appeal should be made available to the tribunal and disclosed to the appellant.  This approach has been fully reflected in several other authorities including, for example, CH/1757/2007 in which it was further observed that the relevance of evidence was a matter for the Tribunal, not the DWP or the LA.

If, following this letter, you still refuse to provide the information free of charge, my advisor will seek a direction from the Tribunal requiring you to produce what has already been requested; this being on the grounds that such disclosure is in the interests of justice.  If such a direction was given, and your authority maintained its refusal, my advisor will consider asking the Tribunal to draw an inference from that refusal.

I look forward to a prompt and constructive resolution of this issue.

Yours sincerely
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Feel free to utilise any of the above if it helps.