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DWP access to NI information

Damian
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Welfare rights officer - Salford Welfare Rights Service

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Does anyone know the detail of what access DWP have to NI records? The case involves a separated husband and wife, husband working and wife reliant on his being a worker to have r2r. She has some payslips from husband for before and after the date of claim but nothing from the date of claim. I was considering asking for the DWP to be directed to provide info on the husbands NI history but I don’t know the details of the access they have.

Thanks

AlexJ
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Trafford Welfare Rights

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I don’t know the answer to your specific question but I’m sure they have means of finding out. If they can get the info when assessing entitlement to CBESA, CBJSA etc. and they can get bank statements for fraud investigations, I can’t see why they can’t look at NI records for these purposes.

I’d try to force their hand by referring to the case of Kerr (AP) (Respondent) v. Department for Social Development (Appellants) (Northern Ireland) which held that:

…[a benefit claim] is a co-operative process of investigation in which both the claimant and the department play their part. The department is the one which knows what questions it needs to ask and what information it needs to have in order to determine whether the conditions of entitlement have been met. The claimant is the one who generally speaking can and must supply that information. But where the information is available to the department rather than the claimant, then the department must take the necessary steps to enable it to be traced. (paragraph 62)

adele
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In my experience, it’s the luck of the draw. In some cases, they’ve provided the information, in others there have been a few letters back and forth relying on Kerr and I’ve got what I needed, and in one case, it took two Tribunal hearings (with the DWP ignoring directions) before they would give anything. They usually quote some random bit of the Data Protection Act and hope you’ll go away…in short, though, the DWP has access to NI information.

ClairemHodgson
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but in any event, one can get it oneself from the contributions office…..

Elliot Kent
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ClairemHodgson - 26 April 2018 10:22 PM

but in any event, one can get it oneself from the contributions office…..

Trouble is that the claimant here is asking for someone else’s contributions to be used as evidence and they (presumably) have no contact with that person.

adele - 26 April 2018 01:45 PM

They usually quote some random bit of the Data Protection Act and hope you’ll go away.

See s35(2)(a) of the Data Protection Act 1998 and para 4 of PM v SSWP (IS) [2014] UKUT 474 (AAC) for the response to that. (Thanks CPAG)

Dan_Manville
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Mental health & welfare rights service - Wolverhampton City Council

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AlexJ - 26 April 2018 12:54 PM


I’d try to force their hand by referring to the case of Kerr (AP) (Respondent) v. Department for Social Development (Appellants) (Northern Ireland) which held that:

…[a benefit claim] is a co-operative process of investigation in which both the claimant and the department play their part. The department is the one which knows what questions it needs to ask and what information it needs to have in order to determine whether the conditions of entitlement have been met. The claimant is the one who generally speaking can and must supply that information. But where the information is available to the department rather than the claimant, then the department must take the necessary steps to enable it to be traced. (paragraph 62)

I’ve had a handful of similar cases and when the Tribunal directs that the NI record of the absent party be provided they have consistently revised in the claimant’s favour.

They’d rather pay up than potentially breach data protection!

ClairemHodgson
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Dan Manville - 27 April 2018 02:05 PM

They’d rather pay up than potentially breach data protection!

and there’s a bit of the act that says

S35 (2) : Personal data are exempt from the non-disclosure provisions where the disclosure is necessary—

(a) for the purpose of, or in connection with, any legal proceedings (including prospective legal proceedings), or

(b) for the purpose of obtaining legal advice, ) that if data is require for legal proceedings (which a tribunal is) it should be provided.

a tribunal is legal proceedings….. or prospective legal proceedings if the DWP doesn’t change its mind….

SocSec
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I have just won a similar case, by default, was trying to get husbands Ni info for esa appeal but cl claimed income support in mean time and husband did provide Ni so es allowed BUT there is case law on this and DWP Tribunal can ask DWP to obtain info, data protection is used by dwp to avoid this at DM stage but I am sure a Tribunal can ask them to find th einfo case UKUT 0474 [AAC] the Kerr case is the one