Hi, don't know if this has been covered already but thought it important enough to point out to the gang.
This week in the press it was revealed that the DWP employed the privatised Royal Mail to open letters addressed to it for sorting and filing. That means that confidential ESA and PiP completed forms plus private accompanying information is not being opened by the addresse but an outsourced company.
No on is saying the postal workers are doing anything wrong but is this how you expect your intimate details to be treated? Not only is this happening on normal Mail but recorded delivery letters as well. So there is the confidentiality issue, items going missing and a breach of contract by Royal Mail in failure to deliver to correct address and get it signed for. The last item is fraud. How many of us have forked out £3 to £4, that we can ill afford, to get the supposed peace of mind from recorded delivery?
Apparently the only way to get it opened at the appropriate department is to write - PRIVATE and CONFIDENTIAL on the outside of the letter.
Patrick
Written by
Hartleyhare2
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It would certainly explain the frequently "lost" items.
Considering the amount of post the DWP gets, it is understandable they would contract it out, but who is doing the Auditing? There is widespread failure there and a propensity for identity fraud. Not really what you expect is it?
Hi Patrick, this is the first time I have heard of this, I certainly wound not be happy for just any postal workers to be opening my personal information, this is private personal information surely that can be allowed, it's just like Joe blogs reading your health records or bank statements .
I will certainly be interested in finding out more about this practice.
Thank you for bringing this to our attention, I wonder how many people are aware of this.
If this is true we should all make a case and complain to the Information Commissioner's Officer as surely it would be a breach of the Data Protection Act 1998. Unless it is stated somewhere on the information they send you.
Hi Hartleyhare2 my friend, I was well aware of this and I have pasted an excerpt from the *Independent Newspaper below:
*Confidential medical information from sick and disabled people applying for welfare benefits is opened and sorted by Royal Mail staff on behalf of the Government without the claimant's knowledge or consent, The Independent can reveal.
Medical experts reacted angrily to the potential for breaches in confidentiality after it emerged that the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) routinely uses Royal Mail to process the thousands of benefits claims, including health data, it receives every day.
The revelations have prompted fresh concerns about the fact that the handling of sensitive personal information can be legally outsourced without the subject's consent.
For example, people applying for sickness benefits such as employment support allowance (ESA) must first complete a detailed medical questionnaire explaining their conditions, prescribed medication and therapies, and the names and addresses of their doctors and nurses.
The form, which also includes highly sensitive questions about addictions and mental illness, is then posted in a pre-addressed envelope to the DWP or Atos Healthcare – the Paralympics sponsor paid by the Government to carry out controversial assessments of claimants' capacity to work.
However, it has emerged that these envelopes are routinely opened and the contents sorted by the Royal Mail, unless the envelope is specifically marked "private and confidential". In those cases they are sent to Atos unopened, according to the DWP.
The information came to light after Lynne Neagle, a Welsh Assembly member, was asked to investigate by a constituent who was told by a local post office not to bother sending ESA forms by special delivery as the envelope would be opened by Royal Mail regardless.
I want to sincerely wish you all the best of luck and please take care of yourself my friend.
I know someone who is employed in the Telford postal centre, but this is nothing to do with royal mail it is DWP who sub contract to a company for mail handling so technically the mail IS received by DWP, what they do is to scan and return original documents like passports, driving licences, birth certificates, medical etc, they are scanned onto the DWP system so that the process becomes paperless at that point, the information is entered on the claimants national insurance number and is then available to all DWP departments. The employees are CRB checked and go through a 3 interview process and 6 months probation. The jobs are all advertised through Job Centres and where possible it is targeted toward long term unemployed etc if necessary including further training for maths, english then all training is done in house on the job itself. With recorded delivery mail that goes in batched as 6 or 7 letters for example and is all signed for as received by DWP at that point. This job used to be a civil service position but as with many things was contracted out to a services company a few years ago when back logs of applications were becoming a problem, im told by the person who is a supervisor at the centre (who i have known for 33 years) that ALL incoming mail that is 2 post office deliveries every day Monday to Friday is dealt with and data entried and/or despatched on the same day by internal networks to the appropriate department. I hope this information helps with your questions.
If you search this on Goggle their is a gentleman who regular request information from DWP under the freedom of information request and you can read responses he has received.
It has been going on for many years not something you think about but when comes to light makes sense due to amount of mail they receive on daily basis.
I am not saying it right .
Question
Even if its marked Private and confidential how do they know what department to send it to for opening as its all addressed to Post Handling Site ?
I find it unbelievable my mail is been read by anyone. Whether its to be placed in the right box or on to a computer. The fact remains people not trained to deal with my claim are still able to get at all my private and personal information.
No wonder this way of dealing with claims seems to be in turmoil for many needy people.
Sorry but this does not sit right with me at all. I have my forms almost ready to be sent so will put private and confidential on the envelope. Why we should have to put this when surely everyones information is private and confidential is beyond me.
Mo
Hello Hartleyhare- only just seen your msg, this has happened to me in the days I was sending in sick notes to get ESA, I discovered the letters went to a massive sorting office in Wolverhampton where it was "distributed" to the appropriate dept!! I wrote to my m.p about this, he looked into it and told me NOt to waste money sending in recorded just get a receipt of postage to the recipient. Registerd/recorded was completely ignored due to the volume delivered daily to Wolverhampton which were then shipped to Birmingham, for ESA claimants, I spoke to a local job centre employee who gave me pre printed envelopes for Birmingham so as to avoid the hugh backlog at Wolverhampton... (he told me once upon a time claimants took their sick notes to local job centre who inturn faxed them to Birmingham for processing and delays rarely happened. Whoever set this system up at Wolverhampton up should be hung!!
I've applied for esa and have had two fit notes, the first for 8 weeks and one on Friday for 12 weeks. Both of these I took into the job centre who as you said scanned them across to Wolverhampton. So much easier. Linda x
Hello Hartleyhare2,,,Patrick,,,this is very alarming to hear about,, as you say these forms are confidential,,and I would not like to have had mine opened by somebody outside the dwp,,, the royal mail says that interfering with the mail is a criminal offence and the given named recipient should open it,,, when I need to send things that I want to get to a specific place, I only use the Special delivery service,,which is tracked and traceable,,,sadly recorded delivery is not a priority service and it is just noted that delivery to the address has occurred,,,
What has happen to all the civil servants that are/were employed by the dwp???,,makes you wonder what has been going on behind their doors,,,,thank you for highlighting this information,,,,ttfn from karen.
This has been happening for a few years now. I first discovered about it when my husband was sorting out his ESA. I wasn't very happy when I found out. When he went to tribunal I made sure that the amongst the comments about the inaccuracies that were in his medical report was an a "by the way . . . " stating concerns about the original medical in confidence forms being opened in the sorting office. Never heard any more about it but I just felt I got my concerns voiced.
I would only ever send documents to DWP via recorded delivery although I have handed some ESA paperwork (eg proof of service pension income) into JCPlus and got a receipt for them. Mind you my friend sent some ESA documents in recorded delivery and they still lost them - they tried to blame her for not sending them in but she could prove she sent them!
OMG Just when I think nothing they (DWP) do can shock me anymore!!!!! I'm curious about this when I think of the most private details of my life I have been FORCED to share with them through the post.
The cynic in me is thinking are they doing this to put people off writing confidential stuff to them??? Makes people think twice if anybody could be reading it. Have these people signed confidentiality agreements? I'm sure this is a breech of The Data Protection Act??!!?
Another point of interest... It was leaked that the amount of money they spend on these Reviews, Appeals, etc etc. It would cost much less money to just give everyone the money in the first place!!!!!!!
To quote a good friend "Why can't they stop picking on the poor. At least when we get money it goes back into the economy on taxis, food etc and not I to offshore bank accounts"
It's almost like they want to Lord it over the poor and vulnerable. Like going back to Victorian times. The truth is if they did away with all benefits and paid everyone a basic financial income it would be more cost effective. I heard it's being trailed in Australia and Scandinavia and they might try it here as part of the new Universal income.
Been there Patrick!! "Lost" private documents twice in 3 months!!! Bank statements etc! Finally sent next important letter by special delivery at cost of £6, it was tracked, but was still anxious even when said it was delivered, because never knew how signed for it!! Your post definitely explains the "lose" of previous important letters!! This kind of action should be outlawed NOW!!! Scandalous!!!! I no my reply is a bit late to say the least, but just started following you mate! Speak soon. John.
I worked for an auction company a few years ago. It worked a bit different and one of our contracts was Royal Mail. Basically a couple of times a week a large hgv would arrive filled with over flowing cages for us. These cages contained lost mail. (Not letters). We sorted them into lots and sold them at auction. There's a huge amount of money made in lost mail.
Wow! I find that quite an eye opener and shocking. I thought Mail returned would go back to sender if on envelope. If not opened and return address saught or destroyed. Could these lots not contain cheques, cash, banking details and personal ID? Forget computer hacking, paper hacking! Lol
I think it's stuff with no return address. Everything lost goes to Ireland where it's sorted some of its stuff that's not allowed to go by post. It's all openeded and it's just the contents that end up at the auctioneers. It's not letters or anything. It's stuff like clothes, brick a brac, sports wear. Loads of stuff really. Transport for London also send stuff to this company as do some storage companies, when they have to clear out things. The rest is all shop returns. It's all sorted and sold online or at the physical auction. I guess a lot ends up on eBay.
Funnily enough it all goes from Ireland to Milton Keynes in England for sorting, it then used to go to the auction house in another part of England but that's now moved to mk. I have since taken myself back to Scotland
The world is a funny place! Hope your enjoying being back in Scotland.
That's disgusting 😡😡😡 as I don't think the post office signs official secrets act any more and a lot of the postal workers are casual too. Have you thought of contacting MP to complain? I would. 😘😘🤗🤗
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