Claimants 'can engage with confidence' with DWP requests to verify their identity by 'taking a photo of you stood next to your street sign' and of 'you holding your local newspaper dated the same day'

Department's Senior Responsible Owner for Universal Credit says that 'there’s nothing to worry about' temporary arrangements that have been 'tailored for the restrictions we are still under'

Claimants 'can engage with confidence' with DWP requests to confirm their identity by 'taking a photo of you stood next to your street sign' and of 'you holding your local newspaper dated the same day', the Department's Senior Responsible Owner for Universal Credit has said.

With reports online that claimants have been receiving messages via their universal credit accounts to provide photographic evidence to verify their identity, the Public Interest Legal Centre tweeted yesterday to ask whether others are getting the same messages. The Legal Centre said its client had received a message in the following terms -

‘Further to today’s phone call, I now require you to provide the following information. If you don’t provide all of the information that we’ve requested your claim will be closed. 1. A photo of your ID card or passport open on the photo page. 2. A photo of your ID card or passport open on the photo page held next to your face. 3. A photo of you stood outside the front door (open behind you) of the property you live at. Ask someone to take this from the street so that whole property can be seen. 4. A photo of you stood next to your street sign with your right hand holding it. Ask someone to take this photo from a few metres away so that the background can be clearly seen. 5. A photo of you holding your local newspaper for the area you live (not a national tabloid newspaper). This should be dated the same day you upload the photo. Please note, once you upload these details, we may still require you to attend a Jobcentre appointment before any consideration is given to awarding your Universal Credit. I’ve created an upload in your To Do list ...’

However, in a series of Tweets in response to the reports - and while initially agreeing that they 'look suspicious to me' - the DWP's Neil Couling has today said that -

'Said I’d take a look as there have been some instances of fraudsters representing themselves as DWP officials to harvest data off claimants to use in criminal activities. But this is legitimate. I will explain in a bit more detail (1).'

https://twitter.com/NeilCouling/status/1448971863573602341

'You will know that in the 1st lockdown we suspended face-to-face verification. Prior to Covid in cases where there was a doubt we used to call people into Jobcentres. Initially we used a 'Trust and Protect' approach. (2)'

https://twitter.com/NeilCouling/status/1448971921173979171

'We knew some would abuse that, I’ve been very open about that, but it was for the greater good. But we always said we would go back and check. And this is part of that, given restrictions mean we can’t yet use our Jobcentres to the full (3)'

https://twitter.com/NeilCouling/status/1448971976928862212

'So this is a temporary process, tailored for the restrictions we are still under. Eventually we will be able to return to interviews in Jobcentres in cases of doubt about identity. So there’s nothing to worry about here for claimants, they can engage with confidence (4)'

https://twitter.com/NeilCouling/status/1448972031073132559

NB - see also the rightsnet discussion thread in relation to Universal credit retrospective verification.