Monday, January 19, 2015

P60 for the tax year 2013/14: Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Iain Duncan Smith defies the Data Protection Act 1998

Part 1: Are we 'domestic extremists'? Metropolitan Police Service acknowledges receipt of Declan's request to know if he is on police databases

On 19 December Declan was forced to write to Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Iain Duncan Smith for a P60 for the tax year 2013/14 (see blog of 4 January, "What will it take to get an accurate P60 from the Department for Work and Pensions for the tax year 2013/14?"). After waiting for over 8 months for the document, this morning Declan received a letter from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) citing the sum of money we received from November 2013 to January 2014 based on a new claim for Jobseeker's Allowance that neither of us signed, not the sum we received from the DWP for the relevant tax year 2013/14. All the Information Commissioner could do for us with the Single Homeless Project was get them to release information to us (see blog of 28 December, "Heavey v Single Homeless Project: Will the Central London County Court rule we consented to declarations for online referral that we are paying our own salaries and that we are both mentally ill, and despite our photographic evidence to the contrary?"). We are not sure what the Information Commissioner will be able to do for us to get the DWP to give us a P60 for the tax year 2013/14 that they have given everybody else, but that is to whom Declan's next letter will be addressed for his updated complaint to the United Nations. This time last year, on 22 January, Declan filed a case in the High Court against Secretary of State Duncan Smith and won the case within a month (the court order is presented below). We do not expect such a quick result this time round and have no idea what it will take to get an accurate P60 for the tax year 2013/14 from the DWP.

Updated complaint to the UN: Revised paragraph 31

31. On 7 January 2014, the Applicant and his wife enrolled in a three-month rolling winter night shelter programme for rough sleepers run by the West London Churches Homeless Concern (WLCHC). Two days later, on 9 January, they turned up at Barnsbury Jobcentre of the Department for Work and Pensions to sign on for Jobseeker’s Allowance only to be told that the Applicant’s joint claim had been terminated because they had earlier refused to agree to Jobseeker’s Agreements drawn up by the Jobcentre that they had argued were inappropriate. Neither the Applicant nor his wife were issued with a letter of termination with or without appeal rights, and on 22 January the Applicant filed a claim in the High Court for judicial review against Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Iain Duncan Smith on the ground of procedural unfairness (see Annex 10, Department for Work and Pensions: Application for Judicial Review, pp. 28-33) [emphasis added]. Secretary of State Duncan Smith, in the Acknowledgement of Service, acknowledged that the Applicant had legitimate grounds for refusing to sign his Jobseeker’s Agreement as varied by the Jobcentre and he accordingly paid the Applicant arrears of Jobseeker's Allowance to 9 January 2014 (see Annex 11, Department for Work and Pensions: Order by High Judge Phillips, p. 34). On 21 January 2014, the day before the Applicant lodged his case in the High Court against Secretary of State Duncan Smith, he and his wife were approached by a WLCHC worker about an offer of a flat that had been made by the Single Homeless Project (SHP) on behalf of Mayor of London Boris Johnson's Greater London Authority (GLA) Housing First programme; however, the offer was dependent upon the Applicant and his wife receiving Jobseeker’s Allowance or alternatively producing two employment contracts that would cover the amount they would need to qualify for Housing Benefit. On 5 February 2014, following a donation from an American benefactor, the Applicant and his wife presented SHP GLA Housing First with two such contracts as employees of N4CM, but they were nevertheless rendered street homeless when the WLCHC night shelters closed on 13 April 2014, due to the accommodation on offer being unavailable.

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