Bank Statements Requested by DWP

[bdunne]

Not long started to claim IS, have been instructed to attend the job center with some information (passport 3 months banks statements etc).

 

Don't mind doing this but I don't like the idea of disclosing what i spend my money on surely I have a right to privacy here

 

Can i redact the personal transactions on the statement and just show the income support payment along with the balance and my details etc?

 

What possible use would they have for my shopping habits etc.....plus what if (and I don't) do not want to disclose certain transactions such as the purchase of adult materials etc )

 

Just think its very unnecessary and surely they must have to justify why they require such information.

 

Thanks in advance

[fletch70]

They really will not care about your visits to online stores or other adult material however I see no reason why you can not redact payments out but any payments in you need to be able to justify . What they are interested in is your balance and to make sure you have not moved or deliberately spent money to bring your savings below the savings limit

[marcus6]

Hi bdunne,

 

if you go to your bank you can ask for a print out of statements that just show whats paid into your back! ( and not what you spend. this can be left off) you have to show everything that is paid into your bank not just your income support payment!

 

hope this helps.

 

Not long started to claim IS, have been instructed to attend the job center with some information (passport 3 months banks statements etc).

 

Don't mind doing this but I don't like the idea of disclosing what i spend my money on surely I have a right to privacy here

 

Can i redact the personal transactions on the statement and just show the income support payment along with the balance and my details etc?

 

What possible use would they have for my shopping habits etc.....plus what if (and I don't) do not want to disclose certain transactions such as the purchase of adult materials etc )

 

Just think its very unnecessary and surely they must have to justify why they require such information.

 

Thanks in advance

[bdunne]

Hi

 

Thanks for the advice I might try just getting a statement with just credits on it.

 

They will probablt say its not good enough but I will have at discussion if it does

 

Cheers

[antone]

The DWP has a right to ask for bank statements when you claim a means tested benefit like IS. They're not, however, interested in what you spend at Tesco or whether you have a subscription to an adult website or whatever. Basically, they need to see your bank statements in order to be sure that you have no undeclared income and that you have not disposed of a large amount of savings recently that would give rise to deprivation of capital issues.

 

If it were me, I'd just let them see the statements. But if you wish to make an issue of this, then I'd say redact the descriptions of all transactions but leave the amounts intact. That should be enough for them. If it's not then you can ask them why they need to see the information. But the key point is that they do have reason to look at your outgoings as well as income.

[morgandlin]

I would just show them the statements, because, to be honest, they already have access to credit agency reports, phone companies, credit card companies etc.,, so you will have left a 'trail' anyway, if they ever choose to check (usually only with suspected fraud).

 

For an initial claim, all they are interested in is that your bank accounts make financial sense, for claiming means tested benefits, and that you provide details of ALL accounts, and are not hiding any.

 

They don't care how much the Tesco bill is, provided it, and all other monies out, ties up with what you say you have coming in.

[Shoelover]

Going to be blunt.. If you start redacting your statements they are more likely to scrutinise them. Whereas if they are provided in tact I doubt they will get much more than a cursory glance.

[morgandlin]

I agree - nothing looks more suspicious, and nothing is more likely to cause further checking, than someone appearing to be trying to hide something!

[essexmat]

Although it may seem an intrusion I see no problem with this - as many have said they are not intrerested in what your spending habits are. I had to do similar on a 3 monthly basis when in my IVA (now cleared) and that was tougher as I could not use my account for gambling and high cost purchases as that would be ssen as disposable income I could have been paying off my debt so had to be careful. DWP are only interested in seeing if there are any credits to your account that should be there i.e. £500p/m from another source etc.

[worried33]

just show the statements in full, if you want to explain why any suspicious looking transactions occur then make a note.

 

e.g. once I had a incoming transaction on a statement twice in a row on a 3 month set of statements from my sister, the first she was paying me back for money I lent her, the second was birthday present, I put this down and was never questioned about it.

 

I think mainly they checking for balance and income. They probably don't care what outgoings are one bit. But they will care if you start censoring bits off.

 

Been blunt, asking for income based benefits, this is part of what you are expected to do, and it is reasonable. Everyone has to do the same process.

[caro]

They probably have access to bank accounts too so all the more reason to be honest.

[estellyn]

As a DWP decision maker, the only time I would look at outgoings on a bank statement would be if deprivation of capital might be an issue, so to check that people weren't spending to get below capital limits. Also a quick glance to check for transfers in or out of other banks in the name of the claimant that might not have been declared. Mostly we would be looking at items paid in on the account to check for earned or other income being received. We really didn't have time to be lookingat what someone spends their money on in their everyday spending.

[Shoelover]

I have to echo that... Nobody has the time or inclination to go through transaction at a time. Even as a fraud investigator I'd only scan for transactions that "jump out" at me. Most bank statements make pretty dull reading.

Though as soon as I see a statement with items blacked out it begs a question.

[antone]

I have to echo that... Nobody has the time or inclination to go through transaction at a time. Even as a fraud investigator I'd only scan for transactions that "jump out" at me. Most bank statements make pretty dull reading.

Though as soon as I see a statement with items blacked out it begs a question.

 

As a processor, I occasionally had to look at bank statements. It was tedious as hell. Frankly, I'd rather spend the whole day doing WARs than pore over other peoples' bank details.

[caro]

Can I ask if, for example, a relative helps out with bills now and again, can that cause a problem?

[dyfed]

Sorry but I dont agree that they can see anyones bank accounts. Does HMRC see the well known tax dodging large companys bank accounts? No I dont think so

As for passports and the like, well as far as dwp goes I have not got any.

 

And no I am not hiding anything I just believe that this is intrusive.

[caro]

Sorry but I dont agree that they can see anyones bank accounts. Does HMRC see the well known tax dodging large companys bank accounts? No I dont think so

As for passports and the like, well as far as dwp goes I have not got any.

 

And no I am not hiding anything I just believe that this is intrusive.

 

For this kind of thing you're probably right. When I posted to say that I was thinking about different circumstances eg when asked to attend an interview under caution my friend found they had access to all her accounts.

 

I agree it's an intrusion but that is why I say don't try and hide anything because there are circumstances where they can have access without your knowledge.

 

Likewise a friend applying for hardship payments provided bank statements to their bank account but was asked for statements for 2 other (empty and unused) accounts they'd virtually forgotten about.

 

Big brother is watching.

[antone]

Most DWP staff can't access your bank accounts. The only ones who can are fraud investigators, and even they can only gain such access in response to a specific allegation of criminality. No DWP staff can go on fishing expeditions around your bank accounts just because they're feeling nosey.

[bio]

They probably have access to bank accounts too so all the more reason to be honest.

 

Quite true - a case I was investigating involved someone providing statements to me after their IUC, but they were so heavily redacted they were almost useless. I had to obtain full statements, which caused undue delay and stress to the claimant, but they would not cooperate so I had no choice. As it turned out, they had tried to hide various significant transactions from me.

[fletch70]

Does everyone on this forum either work for or have worked for the DWP? Are they the new McDonalds?

 

Certainly where the police are concerned they need a warrant to get copies of your bank statements

Remember that this is welfare we are asking for and to a certain extent it is only right to prove entitlement. I know many years ago my grandfather was too proud to let anyone know his finances and as such lost out of some benefits that he was entitled to.

[marcus6]

Does everyone on this forum either work for or have worked for the DWP? Are they the new McDonalds?

 

.

 

I was just thinking that, now we know why there is a back log with claims, they are all on here!

[sadone]

I was thinking the same thing.

 

I mean are there any real claimants left posting on this board, or is it now just full of current/ex DWP employees?

[a2o]

What if someone helps out due to low income? Tax has already been paid and it is a gift?

If someone is helping you out.

[fletch70]

I do not know the real rules but I do know a solicitor refused my request for legal aid because there were regular deposits into my bank from my mother. They were to pay my rent because the local council were being as efficient as usual and it took them 6 months to sort out HB.

The solicitor claimed it was income

[a2o]

Thank you for your response, sorry to hear about that.

 

Any of the multiple dwp employees have any further information?