Government admits RM plays major role in opening ATOS Post

[TrueBlueTerrier]

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Government admits Royal Mail plays major role in opening confidential post

The government has finally admitted that large numbers of confidential medical questionnaires – submitted by disabled people as part of their benefit claims – are being opened by Royal Mail staff.

Disabled activists first suggested early last month that ESA50 questionnaires were being opened by Royal Mail, before being forwarded to Atos Healthcare, the company that carries out “fitness for work” tests for the government.

Information suggesting the practice was widespread was contained in a response from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to a Freedom of Information Act (FIA) request.

Disabled people were outraged that Royal Mail staff could be opening and handling detailed and sensitive personal information, for example about their medication, communication difficulties, incontinence, and panic attacks.

Disabled activist Sue Marsh, who wrote about the FIA request on her blog last month, said filling in such forms was the one time that most disabled people “sit down and really face exactly how their illness or disability limits their life”.

She said: “You are writing things on those forms that you probably do not even tell your mum or your partner.”

One of the disabled people who commented on Marsh’s blog said she felt as if she had been “punched” when she read how the forms were being opened by Royal Mail staff.

She had to declare on her ESA form how she had been raped – because of its impact on her mental health – as well as including her address, telephone number and the fact that she lives alone.

She said it was “morally and ethically wrong” that the forms were being opened by Royal Mail staff, as well as being “frightening and humiliating and degrading”.

Another person who commented on the blog said her disabled daughter’s form had included the fact that she had been gang-raped, and that – if she knew Royal Mail employees were accessing that information – she would be “terrified” that it could be misused.

The government originally failed to comment on the claims, before eventually insisting, late last month, that the practice was restricted to one Royal Mail “opening unit”, which dealt with forms for just one Atos testing centre, in Flowers Hill, Bristol.

But the DWP has now admitted – despite repeatedly insisting that only one Royal Mail unit was involved – that the practice is far more widespread.

The discrepancy only emerged after Conservative employment minister Chris Grayling wrote a letter to Marsh’s mother, appearing to accept that the practice was common and noting her concerns “about the security of personal data” on the forms.

Nearly two weeks after Grayling’s letter was forwarded to the DWP press office by Disability News Service, a senior DWP press officer finally admitted that the practice was not just restricted to one Royal Mail unit in Bristol.

He confirmed this week that ESA50 forms and other DWP mail were also being opened in Royal Mail centres in Edinburgh, Falkirk, south London and Preston, while insisting that the previous – inaccurate – information had been provided by DWP “in good faith”.

He said there had “been no attempt by the department to mislead anyone, and we would certainly apologise if anyone felt that had been the case”.

He said the ESA50 forms opened by Royal Mail staff were “processed in a separate and secure location designated for DWP mail”, while the post opening was monitored by CCTV, among other security measures.

Marsh said discovering that it had taken the DWP so long to find out what was going on made her almost as angry as realising there was “another tier of people who get to read these details and that no-one knew about it”.

She said: “Those of us used to dealing with the DWP know their left hand does not know what their right hand is doing, but to find it is systematic through the whole DWP, and that even their press officers don’t seem to know what is going on, is really worrying and quite frightening.”

[pinstripe]

We also open post for the Child Support Agency!

[stokes11eg]

Sadly, this has been going on for a long time, and also includes the opening of recorded and S/D's too! I believe if you acxtually address the letter to a named person and include Private and confidential= to addressee only, it is supposed to stop any Tom .Dick or Harry opening your mail.

[Biker Mouse]

But hasn't somebody, somewhere got to open this mail? Even ATOS or DWP staff can blab!

[fishtank]

But hasn't somebody, somewhere got to open this mail? Even ATOS or DWP staff can blab!

Of course they have and the idea that an ATOS or DWP assessor on however much an hour is going to open and sort thousands of these claim forms into their relevant sub groups is laughable.
If we lose the contract it will be the ATOS mail room assistant who opens them.....
Good luck with that.

[TeeferTiger]

This is why I don't really see a problem with it.

What difference does it make? They must think that they've really got nothing better to do all day than to sit there and read all the gory details and shout "ere lads, 'ave a read of this one!!" and all gather round having a good old laugh and some "stupid bitch" who pisses herself. Honestly. I had to fill in several of these questionnaires and whilst nothing as traumatic has happened to me, it's still a faceless nobody who is dealing with the post. It's not as if it's being opened by my next door neighbour (who I know for a fact can't keep her gob shut) and I know that she knows everything about me.

Someone's got to open the post and RM staff are just as qualified as ATOS anyway

[johnsouthwales]

why would royal mail want to open mail in the first place?

is there a purpose to it? or is it common practice that someone somewhere is opening mail 'at random' for some tittle tattle? if it is happening to dwp envelopes, what is stopping someone from opening anything at all? who is doing it? sorters or management? i see that someone has got time to muck about reading forms. where are the management when this is going on...

what is the difference between this and news of the world hackers? none... both a gross invasion of privacy

[fishtank]

It's not random posties opening mail John it's part of the contract with the DWP that the forms are opened and segregated before they are sent on.
It is done under very strict conditions in a secure room with camera surveillance.

[TeeferTiger]

I think this is why the public don't like the thought of it, they think it's just someone like their postie opening their forms

We're not complete amateurs you know! We can, when the time is required, act professionally, with discretion and decorum. There's no difference between someone in RM opening the mail and someone in the DWP. You're just as likely to get someone blabbing from either company. You could argue that someone from ATOS might be more likely to blab as they might know someone from another department who deals with the case further on, you never know.

[johnsouthwales]

– are being opened by Royal Mail staff.

were being opened by Royal Mail,

could be opening

were being opened

were being opened

He said the ESA50 forms opened by Royal Mail

[fishtank]

He said the ESA50 forms opened by Royal Mail

Yes they are because it's our job to open them.

[johnsouthwales]

dam, i wrote the last reply ages ago but dint send it at the time cos i had a visitor..

why do they need to open the letter and put it in another envelope? i don't get that guys... the dwp give a return envelope in the initial pack anyway, so what's the point?

i'm sure there's a perfectly rational explaination for this...always is lol.

confidential information is between the applicant and the dwp.. if the dwp go blabbing about someone, it's easy to get to the source... with a 3rd party involved, it will be difficult to prove.. if someone made a complaint, rm will turn around and say it wasn't them, it was atos..

then again, if someone makes a complaint to atos, atos could turn around and say it wasn't them it was rm .... blame game

best if no 3rd party gets involved at all

[johnsouthwales]

lol, from what i can see this was raised over a month ago.. from what i can see, rm are doing dwp sorting for them. rm take out the form from the envelope, put it in a pile to be redirected to atos because dwp haven't got the capacity to sort it out themselves.

oh, sack the dwp mailroom sorters and let rm do it for cheaper??

what happens when someone has a recorded delivery sent to the dwp for confirmation that they sent and received the form? someone has paid good money to pay for a signed for letter, so obviously it will not get signed for at dwp or atos because it's already been intercepted at the special mail centre..

strange goings on lol

[Lounge Lizard]

But hasn't somebody, somewhere got to open this mail? Even ATOS or DWP staff can blab!

Of course they have and the idea that an ATOS or DWP assessor on however much an hour is going to open and sort thousands of these claim forms into their relevant sub groups is laughable.
If we lose the contract it will be the ATOS mail room assistant who opens them.....
Good luck with that.

'Contract' is the significant word, but one that I've not seen in the 667 word article.
The DWP has ultimate responsibility for this sensitive information and if they give Royal Mail a contract that includes opening letters then they will be confident that those Royal Mail employees are appropriate people to handle the forms.
Given that there's no suggestion that Royal Mail employees have breached confidentiality, nor that they are likely to, it is hardly the issue that it's made out to be.
Apart from which, given the failures of computer systems and confidentiality in several government departments, is the DWP any better a body to hold such information than Royal Mail ? I doubt it.

[johnsouthwales]

if the dwp were nosing through people's forms, they will be easy to track down as they would have more time and an opportunity than rm, if anything, the handlers will be traceable - but if someone is reading them unauthorised inbetween their post room and a particular dept, they would never be traced, and if anything, even if someone was using info inside dwp, it may not even be used for a few weeks or months even. or heaven forbid, someone inside dwp using info as potential blackmail material or any form of gossip.

it's the feeling of prying eyes they are more concerned of, and like you say, it may be a case of worrying for nothing.. potentially rm will not have time. and on top of that, there will be no need to go past the first page anyway? and even if they did they'd have to be mr memory man.

common sense in the rm room is a ban on paper, pen etc, mobile phones, cameras and all forms of any material and instruments that could be used to write or store info.. even womens eye shadow crayon lol. i'd think they have a bit of a shock as they may have not come across the situation before, and they would need 100% confidence for this to simmer down.

i'll send off an email to some interested party as it would be no good blowing this out of proportion and repair any confidence issues. the theory is obvious that the less hands it passes through, the less involved the better. if it's just the 1 in rm, that turns into 1 to 5 or more in dwp. and if anything else, when the info is fed into dwp computer, who knows who else reads them besides the mail sorters?