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.
Former RAF man John Williams, 50, from Pontypool in south Wales, received incapacity benefit (the precursor to ESA) for 10 years, because he was unable to work as a result of arthritis and post-traumatic stress disorder. He was recently declared fit for work – which means that his benefit will stop after 12 months whether he has a job or not – and was posting his appeal documents when told about Royal Mail's role. "Nowhere in any of the paperwork does it say that a third party is involved," he said. "People are sending very personal information and have a right to know this is happening; I feel like I've been misled."
Ms Neagle said: "These claimants often have incredibly complex case histories – they may have mental health problems or be victims of sexual abuse – I imagine they'd find it incredibly unsettling to know that such deeply personal information was being treated like this.
"While I have no reason to doubt the absolute integrity of the Royal Mail staff involved, that's not the point – they simply should not have access to this kind of information."
The DWP said security measures were in place to minimise the risk of any data breaches, including CCTV in sorting rooms and procedures that mean at least two people open the mail together.
"We are a large organisation that handles all kinds of sensitive information. We use Royal Mail to sort and direct our mail to the appropriate processing centre," a spokesman said. "We hold the contract and ensure they abide by the same data protection and security checks as any DWP employee."
Dr Tony Calland, chair of the British Medical Association ethics committee, said the security was irrelevant: "We are very concerned that a government department could even contemplate allowing such sensitive and confidential medical data to be handled by a third party without the person's consent."
An Atos Healthcare spokeswoman said: "We're subject to the postal arrangements set by the DWP. Once we receive information we strictly comply with all of the Government's confidentiality and data security regulations. Where the envelope is addressed directly to Atos Healthcare it is opened by our staff."
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rosylyn
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I read this some time ago and feel it's yet another breach of our human rights . ATOS, the DWP and the government themselves have no care at all for disabled or sick people. We are, to them, sub-human.
Disability benefits are not a gift , they are paid for with N.I contributions, in most cases having been paid for over many years by people who are then told they are unable to claim them, or are time limited to 12 months.
In general , outside of the disabled community and their carer's there seems to be a total lack of empathy bordering on apathy by the general public to the plight of disabled people. Disability hate crimes are rising sharply.
In 2012 I find this appalling , so this final breach of our human rights is shocking but not surprising.
I have been told that marking letters " private and confidential " prevents them being opened by third parties, how true this is though I'm not sure .
i cannot believe royal mail is doing this and as cuts will happen anyway rooting through our personal info is wrong when i get an atos form in the future ill send it filled in by courier
how dare they do this
why arent m.p's on the case??
please note leaders are millionares!
they no grip on disability or poverty
some times i struggle to reach to keyboard
i live alone and determined to stay independant
i have lots of illnesses
please feel free to comment or look up my facebook group
When I had to reapply a couple of years ago my extra evidence of medical papers and reports went missing and it was insisted [without having seen them] that I had to attend a medical.
I got my husband to contact the centre where my medical assessment was going to be and faxed them the papers, requesting that they be given to a Decision Maker to assess, before deciding if I needed a medical assessment.
Within 24hrs I was telphoned to say the Decision Makers had reviewed my papers and I didn't have to attend a medical assessment after all. Furthermore my claim was now made "indefinate",which means I don't have a date for re-assessment.
Just goes to show that this information we are sending in, doesn't reach the right people and are left to be sidelined or sifted out in favour of ATOS just sending us to a medical by default.
This latest news of the RM opening envelopes just begs belief and how on earth can a post office worker decide where this information should be sent anyway [that's probably why so much goes missing].
Why this is being done can only come down to one answer.
We mean nothing in the pecking order and I remember when the tories were in government before...this bad treatment is not new.
Lets hope more people are now marking their envelopes "Private and Confidential"!
I now always photocopy EVERYTHING I send in as they once lost a DLA application... and then told me I'd changed my surname to Buchanan - the woman on the phone actually argued with me when I told her I hadn't changed my name and then asked me to send my birth certificate and proof of other name changes - and she wanted the originals not copies!!!! I wrote a letter with information - dates of marriage etc but no documents. Now if they want to see original documents, I take them into local Jobcentre where they can be seen, verified and copies forwarded and I take the originals home.
This latest news really makes me cringe, the idea of having to share very personal details of my life with benefits agencies is bad enough, but the idea of random strangers from the Post Office being able to read through that information - quite apart from the fact that we often have to include bank details on those forms - its just too much!
We get a pre paid envelope to send info to DWP etc, so why have RM got to open it to send it on? Where it needs to go is obvious, on the front of the envelope. So thats more money wasted on RM doing what DWP should be doing. This gets more and more bizzare. As Andrea said (above) thats probably why so much info goes "missing". Time for change....
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