Are you a DWP Jobcentre Customer, on a Welfare to Work (Workfare) Programme, or worried about a referral?

http://www.consent.me.uk/ 

Are you a DWP Jobcentre Customer, on a Welfare to Work(fare) Programme or worried about a referral?

Then you need to Protect YOUR Personal Information!

(1) Consent form: Never sign this Data Protection waiver when you attend any Welfare to Work Programme appointment. Your entitlement  to welfare benefits  does not depend upon signing it and any form like it can be ignored.

(2) Withdraw consent: You can use this standard letter to withdraw consent and get back your Data Protection rights,  from the DWP Jobcentre or any Welfare to Work Programme Providers or Subcontractors.

(3) Sign here please?: Check out the dedicated page on the fact that you do not have to sign many Jobcentre and Work Programme documents, like Action or Employment Plans. Or forms to acknowledge receipt of provider or subcontractor letters , attendance at induction sessions, declarations or agreements.

(4) Your CV: Remember that you do not have to give either the Jobcentre or any Work Programme Provider or Subcontractor a printed or electronic copy of your CV to keep. Though it might be reasonable to provide evidence of your ability to create, maintain and make use of one, which could mean only showing them a version of your CV, do not give them a copy to keep.

If you have already given your CV to the Jobcentre and agreed to the Jobseekers Agreement (ES3JP) section allowing  (a) retaining it or (b) sending it to any “prospective employers by the most appropriate method“,  you can withdraw your consent to stop such sharing.  Jobcentre guidance on use of your CV confirms “no action” should be taken if you do not wish to use it’s Job Broking Service.

Sample of a CV and tips that can help protect your privacy.

“There is no legal requirement for a Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA) customer…to supply their provider [or DWP Jobcentre] with a CV…, an e-mail address or a telephone number. ”
Source: DWP Central FoI Team

“Claimants only have to ‘show‘ Providers a copy of their CV, they do not have to use the DWP’s or Provider’s job brokerage service if they don’t want to. Providers do have to ask the claimant for permission to contact prospective employers. In short, the claimant is correct in quoting the Data Protection Act.”
Source: IndusDelta

(5) Words to avoid: Phrase your demands carefully. Don’t say, “I refuse. . . .” Say,  “I do not consent to share my personal information because I do not want to give up my  Data Protection Act rights” 

(6) Benefit sanctions: Check the dedicated page www.consent.me.uk/sanctions, to consider whether following anything suggested on consent.me.uk could lead to loss of benefit payments through a compliance doubt sanction.

(7) Contact: Tell your Jobcentre and Work Programme Adviser that you prefer only to be contacted by letter.  Or use a standard letter to explicitly remove consent to contact you by landline or mobile telephone, including text/sms or email.

“There is no legal requirement for a Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA) customer….to supply their provider [or DWP Jobcentre] with a CV…, an e-mail address or a telephone number.”
Source: DWP Central FoI Team

“There is no internal guidance that says it is a condition of Jobseeker’s Allowance that  claimants must provide their telephone number or their email address…providing a telephone contact number is notmandatory”
Source: DWP Central FoI Team

“However, if during the information gathering process by DWP with the customer, the customer provides an email address, a landline telephone number or a mobile telephone number, then it is reasonably expected that they have given DWP implicit consent to use these media in order to contact them. DWP would not routinely seek express consent or permission to use these media for contacting the customer, if the details had been supplied by the customer. ”
Source: DWP Central FoI Team

(8) Tips: Email, Telephone, CV and Job application tips that help protect your privacy.

(9) Sharing your information: Be aware all Work Programme Providers and their Subcontractors are DWP Jobcentre Data Processors, which means they share any personal information you give them with DWP Jobcentre,  without the need for further consent. Personal information you share with the DWP Jobcentre is also shared with all Providers and their Subcontractors for delivery of the Work Programme, without the need for further consent. The Work Programme referral letter states the DWP Jobcentre only shares your “contact details“, in fact they share considerably more.

“Providers receiving any SAR requests are required to notify DWP and provide us with [all] the personal data they hold to enable the Department to meet our legal obligations.”
Source: DWP Central FoI Team

“In addition, in order to carry out their functions under the Employment, Skills and Enterprise Scheme, the Work Programme provider may needadditional personal information from the claimant. If the claimant does not wish to [consent to] provide this information it may be the case that, with the provider, they can investigate ways in which they can still participate in the Scheme, without the additional information being provided.”
Source: DWP Central FoI Team

(10) Third Party: Consider telling your Work Programme Adviser to place a formal note on your Action Plan or DWP Jobcentre Adviser to amend your Jobseekers Agreement (ES3JP) so they both state you do not consent to your personal information being shared with and obtained from any third party, such as but not exclusively employers or training providers.

“…if a provider wanted to share your personal data with a non-contracted organisation [third party], that does require your consent. In these circumstances the provider will ask you to sign a consent form. Should you choose, you can refuse permission.”
Source: DWP Central FoI Team

Note: According to page 1 of the Jobseekers Agreement (ES3JP) Jobcentre Plus claim they can contact an employer for feedback, without the need for further consent, about any job they have told you to apply for.

Tip: You can of course tell any employer (in advance and in writing is best)  that you do not consent to them giving the DWP Jobcentre or any Work Programme Provider or Subcontractor any feedback on either a job interview or job application.

(11) Fully informed and freely given consent?

“Consent obtained under duress or on the basis of misleading information does not adequately satisfy the condition for processing.”Source: Information Commissioners Office

“Conditions relevant for purposes of the first principle: processing of any personal data…The data subject has given his consent to the processing.”
Source: Data Protection Act (1998) Schedule 2

“For consent to be fully informed and freely given you need to tell the customer exactly why you need the information, what you are going to do with it and whom you might share it with. We cannot put any conditions on a customer to try and persuade them to consent.“
Source: DWP Jobcentre policy on Consent

“Consent shall mean any freely given specific and informed indication of his wishes by which the data subject signifies his agreement to personal data relating to him being processed.”
Source: European Directive 95/46/EC on Data Protection on which the UK Data Protection Act is based

“1. Everyone has the right to the protection of personal data concerning him or her. 
2. Such data must be processed fairly for specified purposes and on the basis of the consent of the person concerned or some other legitimate basis laid down by law.”
Source: Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union – Article 8 – Protection of personal data

(12) Important Notice: Get copies of the 2008 DWP Jobcentre Notice on: ‘Customer Consent to Sharing/Disclosure of Personal Information‘, plus Jobcentre guidance onConsent and consider giving copies to Work Programme Providers and Subcontractors to explain why you will not share personal information they do not already have or update the information they already have access to from the DWP Jobcentre. Visit the ICO website to fully understand your Data Protection Act (1998) rights.

Right to respect for private and family life
Everyone has the right to respect for his private and family life, his home and his correspondence.
Source: Human Rights Act (1998) Article 8 ECHR rights to Privacy

(13) Obtain your information: Read details on how to get copies of personal information the DWP/Jobcentre holds about you and official information held by the DWP/Jobcentre and Providers.

(14) Destroy your information: You can request the DWP Jobcentre to remove any Sensitive personal information they have recorded about you, by using this standard letter. You can can also use this standard letter requesting additional personal information held by Providers or Subcontractors be destroyed.

Recording Sensitive Information on LMS*
“The consent will remain valid while the claim remains live, unless the customer requests that the details be removed…any fields/indicators that contain sensitive information must be amended/re-set to ensure that all traces of  the sensitive information have been removed.”
Source: DWP Legal Group Information-Devolution and Governance
*Labour Market System database.

(15) Starting work?: When you do get a job you can just complete ‘Part 4 Declaration‘ of your ‘Signing on Booklet’ (Part 4 ES40JP) and return the booklet to the Jobcentre.

(16) Barriers to employment assessments: Remember that whilst Jobcentres and Work Programme Providers may ask you to complete assessments or a ‘Looking for Work‘ (LFW1) form, you are free to withhold providing answers, be selective in what and how you answer, or just decline to complete.

“LFW1 is intended to be helpful and inform the interview, but completion isnot mandatory.” (original emphasis)
Source: DWP Central FOI Team

(17) Work Programme induction: Consider bringing copies of pages 2 and 3 of yourJobseekers Agreement (ES3JP) with you to any Work Programme induction or assessment, as it contains relevant answers to questions you will be asked and helps to limit how much information you give. This suggestion is based on the fact that Providers and Subcontractors already have access to this information, so no point giving them more than they already have.

(18) Be vigilant: New forms are being created by Jobcentre Plus, Work Programme Providers and Subcontractors that use small print to hide the fact that if signed you are consenting to give up many of your Data Protection Act rights.

(19) Jobseeking evidence: Jobcentres use a ‘Looking for Work‘ form (ES4JP) for you to record your Jobseeking efforts, consider only showing this and nothing else to Work Programme Providers and Subcontractors. Do not give them any copies to keep.

(20) Identity checks: You will be asked questions and for proof of identification by Work Programme Providers and Subcontractors, just show them your ‘Signing on Booklet‘ (ES40JP) and the Jobcentre letter referring you to the Work Programme.

(21) Your library: Visit your local library to find out about independent courses that can help and support you with Job applications, CVs and job Interviews or Career advice.

Got a question? email@i.do.not.consent.me.uk or use the contact form.

As DWP Jobcentre experts have found there is “little evidence” that any Welfare to Work Programme “increases the likelihood of finding work” and the Social Security Advisory Committee saying they are regarded as “punishment” of the sort usually reserved for criminal behaviour or prisoners like “community payback“, you therefore might wish to follow the evidence based pragmatic suggestions above.

“What will really matter in the long run is the level of employment opportunities, and the Work Programme will make not one jot of difference to that.”
Source: Whitehall Watch

[Last update to this page 22 02 12 ]