Personal Records

(asked on 25th January 2017) - View Source

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make it his policy to introduce a one-stop process for claimants who are required to update their personal information with government agencies.


Answered by
Caroline Nokes Portrait
Caroline Nokes
This question was answered on 31st January 2017

DWP administers a range of benefits and services, many of which are subject to different entitlement conditions. In the main it is the claimant's responsibility to make the benefit authorities aware of changes pertaining to their benefit award.

We do, however, recognise that changes to some benefits have consequential implications for others. As a safeguard, many of our systems trigger automated prompts. These help to ensure that DWP staff are alerted when a relevant change is processed in a connected benefit, so that further investigation can be initiated and appropriate adjustments made.

In the case of deaths DWP operates a Tell Us Once service for the public sector. Recognising the uniquely sensitive circumstances and wide governmental relevance, Tell Us Once shares death information across a range of government partners. This relies on the consent of the bereaved person/informant.

It is not our current policy to extend this service to other changes, but we are exploring the potential of automated data exchange between authorities so that we can minimise the burden on the citizen and the state.

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