Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will (a) prohibit the removal by departmental officials of documents from a person's universal credit journal and (b) ensure that in cases of official error the journal record is amended through the addition of a revising letter.

This function was introduced to allow for simple errors (such as spelling mistakes or messages entered before fully completed) to be rectified.

Jobcentre staff can only remove entries they have made and are not able to remove any other entries, such as those entered by another member of staff or claimant. It is important to note that this facility only removes the entry from the journal, with a permanent record being retained and stored on the system which can be retrieved if requested.

In situations where a Decision Maker’s decision has been revised, an official letter is uploaded to the claimant’s journal detailing the new decision and when it will take effect.