Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, for what length of time her Department retains records relating to employment support allowance claims.

DWP retains documentation in line with the Data Protection Act, as such, generally records classified as supporting the ESA claim are retained for 14 months after DWP’s live interest in the claim has ended. Ephemeral records are retained locally for 4 weeks and then destroyed.

There are however exceptions to this where records may be retained for longer than 14 months.

Examples include (but are not limited to):

•Fraud

•Overpayments including: civil proceedings and Recovery from Estates

•Debt Management including: Compensation Recovery

•Appeals including: Mandatory Reconsiderations where the case is outstanding with Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunal Service (HMCTS)

•Customer feedback or complaints being dealt with by Independent Case Examiner (ICE) cases & Parliamentary Health and Service Ombudsman (PHSO) Cases only.

•Criminal Cases Review Commission cases