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Hi there
First off, hello to you all as a new user!
I didn't know exactly where to post this, so hope it's the right place.
It's fairly complicated, something to get your teeth into so bear with me.
I am living in a shared house and found myself out of a job recently.
I pay rent to the other person in the house - and they pay the rent to an agency. So my name not on the tenancy agreement. Given the circumstances of my moving in here (I was virtually homeless and they let me move in with no rent in advance or deposit) I have no real problem with that.
Anyway so they essentially do not accept LHA (Housing Benefit).
I had called the benefit agency and explained my situation. The person told me all I had to do was bring in a letter from the person who collects the rent stating how much the rent is, what date I moved in.
So, as I need to be able to pay the rent I got the person I pay rent to, to write a letter, stating how much the rent is and what is included etc. I told the person it was for a bank loan.
Anyway I brought this in as part of my claim for housing benefit, amongst other things.
One of the other things they wanted me to bring in was bank statements (to see money for rent coming out). I have a Credit Union account.
I called the Credit Union prior to my appointment and was told that for current account statements it would cost £5 to get the statements. I told them I needed them for my housing claim and they said I could go in to the branch and they would possibly be able just to print them out for me from their own PCs. This is obviously an unofficial way of doing things.
In any case the journey to and from the Credit Union branch is at more or less £5 (recently moved)
So I went to my housing appt and I explained to them that I haven't got my bank statements due to the fact it would cost me £5 - but i gave them an old statement for ID purposes.. anyway off the officer went with my ID etc and spoke with the HB Manager.
So she came back to the desk and informed me that the HB Manager had just called the number on my bank statement and actually spoke to a member of the Credit Union about me - and therefore my accocunt!!
They said reason being that the HB Manager didn't believe that it cost money for the statement. As it happens the person at the other end of the line had mistakenly told them it doesn't cost any money, so when the officer came back to the desk she demanded I call the Credit Union in front of her?? (I did , it was engaged, and then she didn't ask again, strangely)
This can't be right, surely? Even if they suspect something dodgy was going on is it right that they can just call my credit union and ask about me and my circumstances with absolutely no permission from me?
Does this not infringe my rights under the data protection act?
I understand that if they are investigating benefit fraud that this may have some rights to specific things i.e, checking your bank statements for salary paid in - but this was literally my first appointment with them so is anybody able to advice me as to whether this was in fact unlawful?
Also i would have thought that my Credit Union should not be giving this information out either? I am going to call them on Monday and ask specifically how the conversation went. She cannot have been asking a general question because my name was mentioned.
The other things is - the person whose name was on the letter i.e. the person i am paying rent to, they said was not registered as paying council tax at the property, so they would need to see the tenancy agreement etc and send a letter in telling them what interest the person has in the property - I had to abandon the claim because I can't have them finding out (they don't k now I lost my job yet)
So essentially I have to move out my place asap and find somewhere that accepts HB. This bit isn't hard but I don't have deposit money, which is worrying me.
So is anybody able to give me advice regarding the data protection act?
First off, hello to you all as a new user!
I didn't know exactly where to post this, so hope it's the right place.
It's fairly complicated, something to get your teeth into so bear with me.
I am living in a shared house and found myself out of a job recently.
I pay rent to the other person in the house - and they pay the rent to an agency. So my name not on the tenancy agreement. Given the circumstances of my moving in here (I was virtually homeless and they let me move in with no rent in advance or deposit) I have no real problem with that.
Anyway so they essentially do not accept LHA (Housing Benefit).
I had called the benefit agency and explained my situation. The person told me all I had to do was bring in a letter from the person who collects the rent stating how much the rent is, what date I moved in.
So, as I need to be able to pay the rent I got the person I pay rent to, to write a letter, stating how much the rent is and what is included etc. I told the person it was for a bank loan.
Anyway I brought this in as part of my claim for housing benefit, amongst other things.
One of the other things they wanted me to bring in was bank statements (to see money for rent coming out). I have a Credit Union account.
I called the Credit Union prior to my appointment and was told that for current account statements it would cost £5 to get the statements. I told them I needed them for my housing claim and they said I could go in to the branch and they would possibly be able just to print them out for me from their own PCs. This is obviously an unofficial way of doing things.
In any case the journey to and from the Credit Union branch is at more or less £5 (recently moved)
So I went to my housing appt and I explained to them that I haven't got my bank statements due to the fact it would cost me £5 - but i gave them an old statement for ID purposes.. anyway off the officer went with my ID etc and spoke with the HB Manager.
So she came back to the desk and informed me that the HB Manager had just called the number on my bank statement and actually spoke to a member of the Credit Union about me - and therefore my accocunt!!
They said reason being that the HB Manager didn't believe that it cost money for the statement. As it happens the person at the other end of the line had mistakenly told them it doesn't cost any money, so when the officer came back to the desk she demanded I call the Credit Union in front of her?? (I did , it was engaged, and then she didn't ask again, strangely)
This can't be right, surely? Even if they suspect something dodgy was going on is it right that they can just call my credit union and ask about me and my circumstances with absolutely no permission from me?
Does this not infringe my rights under the data protection act?
I understand that if they are investigating benefit fraud that this may have some rights to specific things i.e, checking your bank statements for salary paid in - but this was literally my first appointment with them so is anybody able to advice me as to whether this was in fact unlawful?
Also i would have thought that my Credit Union should not be giving this information out either? I am going to call them on Monday and ask specifically how the conversation went. She cannot have been asking a general question because my name was mentioned.
The other things is - the person whose name was on the letter i.e. the person i am paying rent to, they said was not registered as paying council tax at the property, so they would need to see the tenancy agreement etc and send a letter in telling them what interest the person has in the property - I had to abandon the claim because I can't have them finding out (they don't k now I lost my job yet)
So essentially I have to move out my place asap and find somewhere that accepts HB. This bit isn't hard but I don't have deposit money, which is worrying me.
So is anybody able to give me advice regarding the data protection act?
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