Jobcentre says consent is required to contact customers by email address, telephone, online or by sms
Submitted by Ally on Thu, 29/12/2011 - 10:31pm
Jobcentres require consent to contact a customer by email address, telephone, online or by sms, do these rules apply to Providers? Any ideas how a customer can be made to allow contact by email address, telephone, online or by sms when they have written to the Provider to withdraw consent?
Sounds a bit odd. If a provider has the contact information and they are using it for the purpose it was given to them eg to administer and manage a programme being delivered for DWP, then I think you'd be hard pushed to argue that they can't try and contact a customer. Anyone who knows where I live can write to me, if my email address is available they can also email me. There are obviously laws about spamming and marketing, but I think just contacting a customer regarding a service they are delivering to them, is a different thing. Using the same information for any other purpose would be illegal without consent.
Totally agree with your comments - Lazarus - I suppose it will not be too long before someone starts commenting it's against Data Protection though........... it's like trying to help get someone a job with your hands tied behind your back and not being allowed to speak - neat trick if you can do it.
Your boss at the DWP is quite clear on this topic:
"There is no legal requirement for a Jobseeker's Allowance...customer...to supply their provider with a CV..., an e-mail address or a telephone number.
http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/51649/response/129469/attach/2/312...
This topic has been fully discussed on the earlier thread that has been Censored http://indusdelta.co.uk/discussion/censorship_right_wing_think_tank/8461
Agree they do not have to supply but if you already have the information!...............You should be able to use it! ..... to help them move forward!
@Greyham
The boss at the DWP requires all Providers to get signed for consent to be able to contact them by Email or Telephone and they can choose to only be contacted by letter.
There is “no” http://binged.it/tGj7NL legal authority for a Provider/DWP/ESF to share or collect personal information with an employer or training provider. Providers ” cannot put any conditions on a customer to try and persuade them to consent.“”
http://binged.it/t9GCHn
Consent…can be withdrawn “at any time” and “entitlement to..benefits will not
depend on whether I choose to give consent or not. My placement on any programme with [Provider] and any employment or future offer of employment will not depend on whether I choose to give consent or not.”
http://binged.it/vQaI4R
@Greyham and @Lazarus Any member of the Public (we are all taxpayers) can request the Jobcentre and DWP to remove their email and telephone contact details from any computer or clerical record, as it was provided on the basis of consent and a request for removal is a request to withdraw consent to hold their personal information. Providers only hold personal information on behalf of the DWP, so when any is removed by the DWP or Jobcentre Providers cannot use it ever again, unless fully informed freely given and voluntary consent is provided, Data Protection Act principles apply.
http://binged.it/vQaI4R
yes agree if they withdraw concent - however - @Ally - think you might want to re-check your chapter 5 memo as it seems the DWP Department has withdrawn this memo with immediate effect and replaced it with another.
@Greyham
The DWP boss merely amended the guidance associated to the consent form that MUST be used by Providers. Unaltered by the way. The Data Protection Act was still in force when I last looked and as such consent is required, that being a basic principle of the Data Protection Act.
All the commentators seeking to act unlawfully by seeking to subvert the Data Protection Act (1998) and the Human Rights Act (1998) Article 8 rights are unable to quote from anything that supports their opinion, not even what the DWP boss says.
@Greyham "yes agree if they withdraw consent"
Or they never provide it in the first place?
@Ally - you're the one who asked the question! If you think you know the answer then why ask? And for the record ... the boss of DWP isn't the boss of me!
The linked information you offer as your argument doesn't say that providers have to get signed consent to be able to contact participants by email or telephone. One states there is no legal requirement for a participant to supply a CV, email or telephone number; and the other link to provider guidance is about giving consent for the provider to share information with employers. You're using them out of context and are being deliberately misleading.
However, your last statement is correct. If JCP is asked to remove personal information from their computer system (and they have no legitimate reason to hold it in order to deliver their service eg address, NINo etc), then they must remove it and it can no longer be used. Still doesn't mean a provider can't write you a letter!
Scrap the last post ... @Ally ... GET A LIFE!
@Lazarus
Contact by letter seems reasonable, by recorded delivery of course.
Nothing is out of context, as everything relies upon consent, that being a basic Data Protection Act principle.
If the Jobcenter does not hold a CV, email address or telephone number, then nothing can lawfully force anyone to provide one to a Provider, against their wishes not to consent to such disclosure.
If someone chooses not to respond to Provider emails or telephone calls, then that is an exercise of consent being withdrawn.
The boss is always the DWP, as they are the piper calling the tune.
Here's some excellent reasons not to consent and seek employment help elsewhere.
"I totally understand why many participants resent being sent to providers. The industry is blighted by the shoddy service of those providers who process participants like a factory, conduct extensive box ticking exercises, and don't invest in support that will make a difference...standardised CVs produced by people who have no idea about recruitment etc. Many a time when I'm visiting a training provider I'll ask, "Would I really want to come here?" I look around at the state of many centres, how participants are treated, and what is actually on offer to them, and too often the answer is, "Not even if hell froze over". And that goes for many of the "okay" providers. And whether a participant wants to work or not is no excuse for delivering a poor quality service."
Submitted by Lazarus on Wed, 04/01/2012 - 11:25am.
http://indusdelta.co.uk/discussion/work_programme_working_voluntary_sect...
This is what the Provider REED places on their consent declaration form:
"I agree that the Reed in Partnership Provider Network may contact me by telephone, email, SMS/text message, post or any other appropriate form
of communication"
Then
"My placement on the back to work programme and any employment or future offer of employment will not depend on whether I choose to give consent or not. I understand I can withdraw my consent at any time"
@Ally - I note you chose to omit the bit of my post that said:
Once again you quote something out of context and are deliberately misleading people. I really find that quite ironic considering your obsession with the Data Protection Act and human rights.
And just because Reed have put something on their consent form (which I assume is the consent to share information with employers) doesn't support your argument one jot.
@Lazarus
"I agree that the Reed in Partnership Provider Network may contact me by telephone, email, SMS/text message, post or any other appropriate form
of communication"
It is clear the above quote refers to a Provider contacting the person who can choose not to sign up/consent to such forms of contact.
A link was provided to your quote and as with other information I posted it can be followed up allowing the reader to reach their own conclusions.
You are still unable to quote anything from an independent source that contradicts what I have posted from independent often DWP, the boss sources.
Irregardless of what I have posted, anyone can follow the substantive evidence I used to support that consent is a basic principle of the Data Protection Act.
You are of course free to edit any comment you made earlier and introduce additions, to retrospectively support your unsupported contentions.
@Ally - nothing you have written is clear because you keep misquoting things. And unless I see the Reed form to ascertain its purpose, taking the statement on its own proves nothing. Your evidence is hardly substantive but as I've started the game I suppose I have to keep playing until someone wins!
ICO's answer to whether someone has to consent to information sharing is:
And if you need a link, try this: http://www.ico.gov.uk/for_the_public/personal_information/sharing_my_inf...
So while you may be under the impression that DWP are God, there are higher powers you may want to consult in future.
Here's what the boss says:
"As DWP is the data controller not the provider, providers do not hold any information about DWP participants in
their own right."
http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/79898/response/216778/attach/html/...
The boss of the boss says:
"Data controller means … a person who (either alone or jointly or in common with other persons) determines the purposes for which and the manner in which any personal data are, or are to be, processed."
www.ico.gov.uk/for_organisations/data_protection/the_guide/key_definitio...
The discussions on this website show that Providers and apologists have little problem subverting the principles of the Data Protection Act, as such it would be reasonable for anyone referred to the Work-fare Programme to withhold consent, withdraw consent or ensure they do not provide the DWP or a Provider with a copy of their CV, email address or telephone number in the first place. Simple
So whilst we may get confused, the answer is simple, do not give the DWP or Providers personal information that requires consent to give (disclose) or share with a third party. Simple
Simple consent requirement:
The European boss of the boss of the boss says:
"Directive 95/46/EC (the Data Protection Directive on which the UK Data Protection Act is based) defines ‘the data subject’s consent’ as: ‘any freely given specific and informed indication of his wishes by which the data subject signifies his agreement to personal data relating to him being processed’."
http://www.ico.gov.uk/for_organisations/privacy_and_electronic_communica...
The boss controller says:
“For consent to be fully informed and freely given you need to tell the customer exactly why you need the information, what you are going to do with it and whom you might share it with. We cannot put any conditions on a customer to try and persuade them to consent.“
http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/91474/response/225710/attach/html/...
This topic was more fully discussed on this website, but it has been removed:
http://indusdelta.co.uk/discussion/censorship_right_wing_think_tank/8461
There are many other websites that are freedom of expression loving than this one, such as: http://binged.it/yX5rqZ
@Paul Bivand Head of Statistics and Analysis and Censorship and Omission http://www.cesi.org.uk & http://www.indusdelta.co.uk
Why does your report:
Opening up employment for all: the role of assessment in the Work Programme
http://docs.google.com/viewer?url=http://www.cesi.org.uk/sites/default/f...
not contain any references to consent or privacy or give one mention of the Data Protection Act?
So you totally want to ignore the ICO do you because the quote I gave you doesn't fit into your obsessive compulsive little world? You are funny! :)
The Data Controller is the DWP, all Providers have to follow their instructions. You are trying to decontexualise the discussion away from the central issue of consent.
Sorry for cross posting but, but the DWP Data Controller does require a 'Data consent agreement' form to be created, so it provides a summary that enables it to be signed on the basis of fully informed freely given and voluntary consent.
Sample of such a consent form:
http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/86255/response/214543/attach/html/...
If Providers want to work outside of the remit of the Data Controllers directions they cannot do so when providing welfare to work/fare (forced unpaid labour) programmes commissioned by the DWP Data Controller.
p
I suspect we might agree that if DWP lawyers thought there was a potential problem in data sharing to achieve the aims of the Work Programme, they would have worked up a clause to go in the Welfare Reform Bill.
You wouldn't necessarily hear about it, because no MP and very few peers would think that jeopardising data protection or human rights laws for the sake of some people who do not want to be supervised looking for work is worth doing.
Meanwhile, remember http://indusdelta.co.uk/story/indus_delt.... Further attempts to wind up people who are trying to help people actually get jobs may result in moderator action.
Looking at Allys track record in winding people up it seems quite clear he asked the question quite simply so he could then spam the site with his tactics, he should simply be banned as he has a track record of this sort of thing and previous posts have been deleted.
Clearly he has far too much time on his hands given the amount of research he has done on the subject of finding ways around the system. I doubt he works in the industry as he has previously stated. Sounds like a trouble maker. Do not let him have his say in future.