Family resources survey.

[pawsforthought]

I would like to make forum members aware of this.

Last week my Sister had a visit form a lady form the National Centre for Social Research doing a Family Resources Survey on how the ecanomic climate affects different households and to help shape future Goverment policy,when she opened her laptop and started to ask questions it became obvious that she already had all the information ( my Sister has recently applied and been granted attendance allowance ) word for word that my Sister had put on the application form for attendance allowance.
Some of the questions were very intrusive, eg, how much did she have in her current account ? how much interest did she get on her savings ? she already knew where my Sisters money was invested, and asked a lot of other very personal questions and it soon became obvious that this was not the survey that they said it was.
My Sister was also asked to sign a form giving them the right to access all information about her from all sources,once signed they have that right for life,she was then told the study was confidential but could be accessed by Goverment departments ,by people outside Goverment departments,and people outside the UK via UK Data Archive.
At this point my Sister said -- on yr bike or words to that effect.
I wondered if anyone on the forum has had a visit from these people or knows anything about it.
If they come here they will not get a foot through the door.

[pawsforthought]

I have been looking on the Internet regarding the Family Resources Survey and guess what ? it is commissioned and sponsored by none other than D.W.P.they pick households at random and and wish to know about your circumstances including,income and state support,tenure and housing costs,assets and savings,occupation and employment,health and ability to work,pensions and insurance,childcare and carers. talk about big brother

[Guest]

I would have thought that this was a breach of the Data Protection Act, when signing DWP forms I do not recollect agreeing to have the information shared with third parties for research purposes. Information concerning medical conditions is defined as sensitive personal data and can only be shared in very limited circumstances, to the best of my knowledge this is not one of them. Did your sister keep a copy of the form which she completed? It might be worth checking what she agreed to when she signed it and making a complaint if she feels that her rights under the Act have been breached, the government seems to have a remarkably laissez faire attitude to our personal information whilst being determined to keep their own secure.

[pawsforthought]

My Sister did not actually have a form,she had a letter to say that her address had been picked at random to take part in the so called survey,what is worrying is that this lady turned up on my Sisters doorstep one evening,without any appointment.
the information was put on to a laptop,my Sister refused to sign the form to give agencies permission to access her personal information.
What is also a concern is that this person had all the personal information about my Sister already on the laptop,even to where her savings were invested,that can only have been supplied by the bank.this person also asked to see my Sisters passbooks and bank statements.which my Sister refused.
Some of the other questions asked were- did she have a good top coat? how often did she go out for a meal ?did she go out with friends ? did she cook for herself ?did she give money to her children?did her children give her money?did they buy her presents, how many rooms were there in the house and how many rooms did she use ? etc,etc now what is all that to do with DWP ?
I wondered if anyone else on the forum had been asked to take part in this so called survey and to warn everyone about it.

[Catja]

I'd like to believe that if you've done nothing wrong you've got nothing to hide, but I learnt the hard way that where the DWP is concerned, just claiming a benefit makes you a suspect.

IMHO sending somebody to do detailed surveys about the financial circumstances of vulnerable people (whether frail, sick, disabled, or just not v streetwise) is a pretty silly thing to do. IMHO an appointment should be made and ID should be properly checked before they even start.

We get so many scammers, doorstep preachers, energy sellers etc here that if in doubt I don't even unlock the security grille, never mind about letting them in.

[Guest]

Hi pawsforthought, I was referring to the form that your sister completed to claim AA prior to the visit of the researcher. I would not engage in this sort of intrusive questioning and I would challenge where the information held came from, when we complete forms for benefits to which we are entitled we do not sign away our right to privacy. Thank you for the warning, I will do my best rottweiler act if they try this on us, the researcher will not get past our door .

[pawsforthought]

No,my Sister did not keep a copy of the AA form that she filled in, but certainly a lot of the information that this person had came from that form,it is certain that all these Agencies swap information about you.