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Hi Guys
Those of you that know me well, know i first started my first company back in April 2009 and prior to that and until the company started to become successful i was claiming JSA (though declared any income and signed off, once income was steady). Anyway since April 2012 i have been getting demands for repayment of a social fund of £158.32 - Now i have no recollection of ever having such a loan, in fact my last social loan was probably between 2005 and first half of 2008 and was less than £40. I have never in all my time whilst i was on benefits (on and off) between the year 2000 and 2009 had any social loan over £90 that i can recall.
Anyway, today i just received another letter in the post from DWP claiming a separate amount for social fund of £98.32 and exact difference of £60.00 to the earlier amount claimed. Not only that the letter was in an unsealed and opened envelope, meaning anyone with access to the letter between it being printed and originally placed in the envelope and it being delivered by royal mail this morning could have easily have taken out the letter, read it and placed it back in the envelope, and i'd be non the wiser. So does this amount to breach of the Data Protection Act 1998 and article 8 ECHR Right to privacy - Reference law protection confidential information (Financial and NI number)? Answer in my opinion is yes it does, as its a clear act of negligence on the part of DWP that had left my confidential information open to be abused/stolen and my details and details of the alleged debt to them being accessible by 3rd parties.
Here is my letter i wrote in response to them - I shall post up the photo's tomorrow if i get the time to do so.
Let me know what you guys think about this - bear in mind, as i said, i have not been on JSA since 2009 and have not had any social loans since 2008 at the latest, and non where in the ranges of what they are claiming because as far as i am aware they were all paid back as per originally agreed when i applied.
EDIT ----
Here are the images of the Envelope as it were when it was received (I have left 3 images out as they contain my details etc):
You can clearly see that the seal is still intact, and there are no tears as would be expected from opening a sealed envelope, and the glue on the lip is still new and unused, though you can see dampness on the back of the envelope that indicates some attempt, but insufficient, was used to seal it.
Those of you that know me well, know i first started my first company back in April 2009 and prior to that and until the company started to become successful i was claiming JSA (though declared any income and signed off, once income was steady). Anyway since April 2012 i have been getting demands for repayment of a social fund of £158.32 - Now i have no recollection of ever having such a loan, in fact my last social loan was probably between 2005 and first half of 2008 and was less than £40. I have never in all my time whilst i was on benefits (on and off) between the year 2000 and 2009 had any social loan over £90 that i can recall.
Anyway, today i just received another letter in the post from DWP claiming a separate amount for social fund of £98.32 and exact difference of £60.00 to the earlier amount claimed. Not only that the letter was in an unsealed and opened envelope, meaning anyone with access to the letter between it being printed and originally placed in the envelope and it being delivered by royal mail this morning could have easily have taken out the letter, read it and placed it back in the envelope, and i'd be non the wiser. So does this amount to breach of the Data Protection Act 1998 and article 8 ECHR Right to privacy - Reference law protection confidential information (Financial and NI number)? Answer in my opinion is yes it does, as its a clear act of negligence on the part of DWP that had left my confidential information open to be abused/stolen and my details and details of the alleged debt to them being accessible by 3rd parties.
Here is my letter i wrote in response to them - I shall post up the photo's tomorrow if i get the time to do so.
Dear Robert Smith
Thank you for your letter dated 10th February 2014, received today 14th February 2014 via the royal mail, in an unsealed and opened enveloped. Which shows evidence of not being sealed at all prior to dispatch, given there is no tear damage on the back of the envelope from the seal being opened and the fact the glue on the lip of the envelope is still new and unused – Though there is minor sign of dampness on the back of the envelope where the seal would stick to the back of the envelope. Which is evidence that there was not an efficient amount of liquid/saliva applied to the seal prior to sealing the envelope, it is also evidence that the seal was not sufficiently checked to ensure it was sealed, or the downright “I can’t be bothered to correct” attitude, prior to posting. Yes I have photographic evidence of this, as well as the envelope in question with comparison photos of the return envelope that was also included with your letter - Copies of the Photos can be supplied on request – but I shall keep the original envelopes.
Such negligence means that anyone who had access to the letter prior to it being delivered to me, could have taken the letter out of the envelope and read it, before placing it back in the envelope. This is a serious breach of Data Protection Act 1998. Also as you are a public authority, you are therefore may also be in breach of my right to privacy under the Article 8 of the European Convention of Human Rights – Reference law on Protection of Confidential Information (Financial and NI Number). I shall be seeking legal advice on this breach to my rights and data protection and will consider making a formal complaint to the information commissioner’s office and the minister in charge of your department should I not receive a satisfactory settlement offer.
Now as for the content of your letter; you alleged that I owe a debt towards a social fund (I assume loan) of £98.32 – I dispute this, as you provide no evidence to support your claim, such as a breakdown of date(s) the loan was taken out on, or for repayments and sums made in repayments. Not only that I have been receiving letters from your Debt Management department from since early 2012 for an amount of £158.32 exactly £60 more, which is also an alleged Social Fund Loan, which is also disputed and again no evidence was supplied to support such claim.
On top of that, you are claiming what appears to be a second loan, which is exactly £60 less than the one originally claimed. How is it likely to have two social fund loans at the same time where the difference is exactly £60? In fact I always thought you were only entitled to one social fund loan at a time and could not apply for another one if you had a previous one outstanding! Not only that, I have no recollection of taking a loan for either the amounts being claimed, my last recollection from taking or applying for a social loan was an offer of less than £40. In fact, I have never had more than £90 in total on any social loan I had applied for in the past 10 years where i was on job seekers, and all were repaid, to the best of my knowledge, by deductions to JSA payments at the time.
I therefore dispute and do not acknowledge either claims to either sums, and I remind you that in law the onus of prove is on your to provide prove (evidence) to support your claim. So far no such prove has been provided by me, and you are merely, in my view sending me nothing but speculative invoices making demands for money that you have not even proven to be owed by myself. If the evidence is supplied and it proves beyond reasonable doubt to me that I may owe said sums, then I will off course arrange repayments, but so far, all I have is just your say so and nothing for me to go on that would enable me to check my own records to validate your claims. Basically your sending letters say I owe XYZ amount to you, without you providing evidence to support your claim - Is like me saying to my friend that he still owes me £100 that I lent him a few years back, to which he no longer has any recollection of borrowing from me and to which I have no evidence to prove I did lend it to him.
Yours Sincerely
Teaboy2
Thank you for your letter dated 10th February 2014, received today 14th February 2014 via the royal mail, in an unsealed and opened enveloped. Which shows evidence of not being sealed at all prior to dispatch, given there is no tear damage on the back of the envelope from the seal being opened and the fact the glue on the lip of the envelope is still new and unused – Though there is minor sign of dampness on the back of the envelope where the seal would stick to the back of the envelope. Which is evidence that there was not an efficient amount of liquid/saliva applied to the seal prior to sealing the envelope, it is also evidence that the seal was not sufficiently checked to ensure it was sealed, or the downright “I can’t be bothered to correct” attitude, prior to posting. Yes I have photographic evidence of this, as well as the envelope in question with comparison photos of the return envelope that was also included with your letter - Copies of the Photos can be supplied on request – but I shall keep the original envelopes.
Such negligence means that anyone who had access to the letter prior to it being delivered to me, could have taken the letter out of the envelope and read it, before placing it back in the envelope. This is a serious breach of Data Protection Act 1998. Also as you are a public authority, you are therefore may also be in breach of my right to privacy under the Article 8 of the European Convention of Human Rights – Reference law on Protection of Confidential Information (Financial and NI Number). I shall be seeking legal advice on this breach to my rights and data protection and will consider making a formal complaint to the information commissioner’s office and the minister in charge of your department should I not receive a satisfactory settlement offer.
Now as for the content of your letter; you alleged that I owe a debt towards a social fund (I assume loan) of £98.32 – I dispute this, as you provide no evidence to support your claim, such as a breakdown of date(s) the loan was taken out on, or for repayments and sums made in repayments. Not only that I have been receiving letters from your Debt Management department from since early 2012 for an amount of £158.32 exactly £60 more, which is also an alleged Social Fund Loan, which is also disputed and again no evidence was supplied to support such claim.
On top of that, you are claiming what appears to be a second loan, which is exactly £60 less than the one originally claimed. How is it likely to have two social fund loans at the same time where the difference is exactly £60? In fact I always thought you were only entitled to one social fund loan at a time and could not apply for another one if you had a previous one outstanding! Not only that, I have no recollection of taking a loan for either the amounts being claimed, my last recollection from taking or applying for a social loan was an offer of less than £40. In fact, I have never had more than £90 in total on any social loan I had applied for in the past 10 years where i was on job seekers, and all were repaid, to the best of my knowledge, by deductions to JSA payments at the time.
I therefore dispute and do not acknowledge either claims to either sums, and I remind you that in law the onus of prove is on your to provide prove (evidence) to support your claim. So far no such prove has been provided by me, and you are merely, in my view sending me nothing but speculative invoices making demands for money that you have not even proven to be owed by myself. If the evidence is supplied and it proves beyond reasonable doubt to me that I may owe said sums, then I will off course arrange repayments, but so far, all I have is just your say so and nothing for me to go on that would enable me to check my own records to validate your claims. Basically your sending letters say I owe XYZ amount to you, without you providing evidence to support your claim - Is like me saying to my friend that he still owes me £100 that I lent him a few years back, to which he no longer has any recollection of borrowing from me and to which I have no evidence to prove I did lend it to him.
Yours Sincerely
Teaboy2
EDIT ----
Here are the images of the Envelope as it were when it was received (I have left 3 images out as they contain my details etc):
You can clearly see that the seal is still intact, and there are no tears as would be expected from opening a sealed envelope, and the glue on the lip is still new and unused, though you can see dampness on the back of the envelope that indicates some attempt, but insufficient, was used to seal it.
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