Sharing and use of social security information
Section 41: Social Security Information
216.This section amends the Social Security Administration Act 1992 by (a) inserting a new section 7B to provide for the use by a “relevant authority” of social security information in connection with the administration and promotion of claims for benefit and (b) amending section 7A of that Act which deals with the receipt by relevant authorities of claims for benefit and the collection and verification of evidence relating to claims. Also, the definition of “relevant authority” is extended to include county councils in England. These measures support joint working arrangements and are intended to improve the take-up and delivery of benefits and other services administered by the Department for Work and Pensions, local authorities and English county councils (“relevant authorities”).
217.Currently section 7A of the Social Security Administration Act 1992 allows regulations to be made which enable the Department for Work and Pensions and local authorities administering housing benefit and council tax benefit to perform certain functions on behalf of one another. The section enables claims for prescribed benefits administered by the Department for Work and Pensions to be made to a local authority, and claims for housing benefit and council tax benefit to be made to the Department for Work and Pensions. It also allows the Department for Work and Pensions and local authorities to collect and forward information and evidence for each other's respective benefits as prescribed. However, the current provisions exclude English county councils because they only apply to local authorities who administer housing benefit and council tax benefit. They also make no specific provision for local authorities to use social security information they hold to promote the take up of benefits other than housing benefit and council tax benefit. And, current powers do not expressly permit relevant authorities to verify claims-related evidence and information on behalf of other relevant authorities.
218.Section 41 extends these provisions by:
including the English County Councils as relevant authorities able to receive prescribed benefit claims and related information and evidence, including housing benefit and council tax benefit claims, on behalf of the Department for Work and Pensions and on behalf of housing benefit and council tax benefit administering authorities;
enabling local authorities (and English county councils that do not administer housing benefit and council tax benefit) to use social security information that they hold to encourage people to claim benefits administered by the Department, as well as housing benefit and council tax benefit;
ensuring that information and evidence provided by a customer to a relevant authority can be verified, forwarded to and used by the administering authority in connection with a claim for or an award of a benefit, without the need for further verification; and
ensuring that information and evidence that has been used by one relevant authority in connection with a claim for or award of a benefit can be used by a different relevant authority in connection with a claim for or an award of a benefit that it administers, without the need for further verification.
219.There are specific provisions within the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992 which impose a duty on local authorities administering housing benefit and council tax benefit (local authorities) to promote the take up of benefits for which they are responsible. However, there is no specific provision enabling a local authority or, following the amendment to section 7A, an English county council to promote the take up of benefits administered by the Secretary of State. This section, through the inclusion of a new section 7B to the Social Security Administration Act, enables local authorities and English county councils to promote the take up of benefits administered by the Secretary of State. As an example, the section would enable a local authority to use information obtained on a claim for housing benefit or council tax benefit to pre-populate a claim form for pension credit (which is administered by the Secretary of State). This partly completed form could then be submitted to the claimant to encourage them to apply for pension credit.
220.Subsection (2)(a) and (c) of section 41 provides for English County Councils to perform, through regulations, benefit claims functions on behalf of other relevant authorities. Subsection (2)(b) of section 41 inserts a provision into section 7A of the Social Security Administration Act that enables, through the making of regulations, a relevant authority to verify information or evidence that it receives in connection with a claim or an award of a specified benefit, in cases where that benefit is administered by a different relevant authority. Subsection (3) ensures that, the provision making it a criminal offence to unlawfully disclose social security information acquired in the course of employment, that applies to public sector staff involved in social security administration, also applies to English county council staff.
221.Subsection (1) of section 41 provides for a new section 7B in the Social Security Administration Act. Subsection (1) of section 7B enables a relevant authority to use for a relevant purpose, any social security information which they hold. Subsection (3) clarifies that a relevant purpose is activity intended to encourage a claim which is made or could be made for a specified benefit. This power broadens the boundaries governing local authorities' use of the information that they hold. The Secretary of State has existing powers under section 3 of the Social Security Act 1998 to use information that he holds for one of his functions for another of his functions.
222.Subsection (2) of section 7B is a regulation-making power to specify the procedure to be followed by a relevant authority where it receives information and evidence that has already been used or verified and forwarded by another relevant authority. The purpose of this provision is to reduce claims processing times and the incidences of duplicate requests for information from customers. Regulations under section 7B would ensure that information and evidence that has already been used by the Department for Work and Pensions, for example, must, subject to certain safeguards, be accepted as correct by the receiving authority for purposes connected with another benefit claim. Without this provision, receiving authorities could opt to continue as before by requesting and verifying the evidence from scratch, thereby duplicating information requests to customers.
223.Section 7B defines the term "social security information" as covering information relating to social security (including child support and war pensions data), and also evidence obtained in connection with any claims or awards relating to these areas. To provide maximum flexibility in developing these provisions section 7B also clarifies that a "specified benefit" (in respect of which this section applies) is to be prescribed in regulations.
Section 42: Information relating to certain benefits
224.Since April 2003, support services, which assist vulnerable persons to live independently, have been provided for or on behalf of local authorities under the Supporting People programme. Those in receipt of certain income-related benefits automatically qualify under the Supporting People means-test to receive assistance with charges for these services. The Act will enable the Department for Work and Pensions and local authorities to confirm to the Supporting People team of a local authority whether a person is in receipt of one of these benefits, without that Supporting People team having first to obtain that person’s consent. It will also enable Supporting People teams to provide certain information to local authorities to assist with the administration of housing benefit, for example to help identify where it would be appropriate to make payments of housing benefit to the landlord rather than to a claimant. These information exchanges will only be permissible for limited purposes. If a person is a certain person within a Supporting People team or a Supporting People service provider, he will commit a criminal offence if he discloses, without lawful authority, information supplied to him by virtue of one of these powers.
225.Supporting People teams for local authorities in England and Wales administer grants from the Department for Communities and Local Government and the National Assembly for Wales to provide welfare services. These services provide support to assist vulnerable groups in society, including the elderly, people suffering from substance abuse and people with mental health or learning difficulties, to live in the community. Section 93 of the Local Government Act 2000 provides a power by which these grants can be paid. An equivalent to this grant-making provision exists in Scotland but is contained within Scottish legislation.
226.Section 94(1) to (3) of the Local Government Act 2000 allowed information relating to certain income-related benefits - housing benefit, income support, income-based jobseeker’s allowance and state pension credit, administered by the Department for Work and Pensions or local authorities - to be supplied to Supporting People teams for purposes connected with applying a grant made under section 93 towards welfare services. Section 95 of the Local Government Act 2000 created an offence concerning disclosure, without lawful authority, of information which was supplied by virtue of section 94.
227.Section 94 of the Local Government Act 2000 enabled the supply of information by the benefit teams of the Secretary of State or the local authorities to Supporting People teams. It gave no power for information to be supplied by the Supporting People teams to the benefit teams. Subsection (1) enables a two-way supply of information between benefit teams and Supporting People teams. Specifically, the subsection enables Supporting People teams to contact benefit teams when they receive an application for support services. In common with what previously occurred, this subsection enables the benefit team to confirm whether a certain income-related benefit (including the new income-related employment and support allowance) is in payment. This information will be used by the Supporting People team to determine whether the claimant meets the means test in determining the amount of assistance with service charges for the support services. Similarly, the subsection will enable benefit teams to inform Supporting People teams when payment of a certain income-related benefit – and hence automatic entitlement to full support – ceased.
228.It is intended that grants to support these welfare services would in future be made under powers in addition to section 93 of the Local Government Act 2000. To support this shift in funding arrangements, subsection (1) of this section creates a freestanding provision that enables supply of information concerning grants paid under enactments which will be specified by order as per subsection (7).
229.Subsection (2) of this section also enables certain information held for prescribed purposes by Supporting People teams or by housing benefit teams to be supplied to the other teams for use for prescribed purposes. The prescribed purposes are limited either to a purpose relating to housing benefit or to a purpose relating to welfare services (subsection (8)). This provision will be used, for example, to enable housing benefit teams to consider information relating to the vulnerability of a claimant or the probity of a landlord when considering whether to pay housing benefit to the claimant or to the landlord. For example, in considering whether a payment of housing benefit should be made to the claimant or to the landlord it would contribute to the decision-making process in housing benefit teams for them to know whether the claimant is receiving Supporting People assistance because of a disability and, if so, whether that disability may indicate a level of vulnerability.
230.Certain information supplied to Supporting People teams could be passed to the welfare service providers when required under subsection (5). This mirrors the provision in Section 94(4) of the Local Government Act 2000.
231.The information sharing powers provided for within this section and the offence of unlawful disclosure in section 43 replace those contained in sections 94 and 95 of the Local Government Act 2000, which are omitted.
Section 43: Unlawful disclosure of certain information
232.Section 95 of the Local Government Act 2000 made it an offence for a person to disclose without lawful authority information supplied by virtue of section 94 of the Local Government Act 2000. Section 43 creates a similar unlawful disclosure provision in relation to information received by virtue of section 42.
233.Subsection (2) sets out to whom this section applies. It covers specified positions within Supporting People teams and those providing welfare services. Relevant persons in the Department for Work and Pensions or local authority benefit teams are not covered by this new section as there is an existing unlawful disclosure provision which applies to them, section 123 of the Social Security Administration Act 1992.
234.This section complements section 123 of the Social Security Administration Act 1992 and subsections (3) to (6) of this section follow the wording of that section.
