# Social Welfare Inspector Lied and obtained personal information illegally !..



## Eamonn T (15 Oct 2011)

My friend and his partner were allocated council housing earlier this year but shortly after been allocated the house my friend had an accident where he broke 2 bones in his back.

Due to this, his movements were limited and he was unable to navigate the stairs in the council house he was allocated with his partner. He moved back home with his parents until his condition improved and informed the council of this and also the social welfare inspector which all had no problem with.

A few weeks ago both my friend and his partner were called for separate interviews and the social welfare inspector informed them she was cutting their JA as she had been informed by the Council that both my friend and his partner had signed a false declaration with the council in regards their tenancy agreement. 

She stated that because my friend had moved home and was using his parents address ( Which is his permanent address ) to collect his JA and his name was on the tenancy agreement that was fraud, she then showed a copy of their tenancy agreement and a number of letters which she had obviously obtained from the council. She stated that the Council had informed her that they indented on evicting my friends partner from the council allocated house where she resides due to this. She also stated that the council had informed her that they intended on prosecuting both of them for this as it was very serious.

She then began lecturing my friends partner about the fact that she is of the opinion that she should never have been allocated the house as she is not local to that area (This is clearly of no concern to a social welfare inspector ) and she personally knows four local girls who were refused a house on this estate and she is personally of the opinion that its very unfair on the local girls that my friends partner got a house there. She then proceeded to blackmail my friends partner by saying if they would both say they live there (even though my friend does not currently live there ) and claim a qualified adult she was willing to overlook the entire situation and she would persuade the council to not issue an eviction notice to them. She continued the same threats and accusations during my friends interview the following day but my friend recorded the entire interview on his phone.

Later that week my friend decided he would contact the housing section of the council and ask what was going on, why he had not been informed of any grievance they had before they informed the social welfare inspector and why was there an issue now to begin with seeing since they were perfectly aware of his situation.

To his shock however the council knew nothing about any of it. There was no evection pending whatsoever and they informed him that the council had not received any enquiries or requests for information from the social welfare inspector. The Council cannot explain how the social welfare inspector had a copy of their tenancy agreement and a number of letters as there was no official requests made for these documents.

When the story was relayed to me by my friend I couldn't believe that a Social Welfare Inspector would behave this way. She blatantly lied to their face and obviously obtained personal information and documentation illegally as to obtain such information and documentation there is a strict procedure which must be followed and this is clearly stated in the SWI Social Welfare Inspectors Code of Practice.

My friend approached a local TD who is also a minister to complain but he was not interested in hearing the story at all which I think is completely unacceptable.

What options are available to them in making a complaint, This Social Welfare Inspector is also deducting €30 per week since April from my friends JA but she will not nor can any other employee at the office explain why!

I understand the country is in a bit of a state but it does not seem fair to treat a low income couple with a child like this.


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## Slim (16 Oct 2011)

I think the only avenue to pursue this would be to make a written complaint to the Department of Social Protection. Perhaps a chat with Citizens In formation may be useful to establish the rules and procedures. If the Department does not deal with the complaint adequately your friend may complain to the Ombudsman. In addition, the Data Protection Commissioner would be interested in any inappropriate access or possession of personal information.


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## ontour (17 Oct 2011)

Eamonn T said:


> My friend approached a local TD who is also a minister to complain but he was not interested in hearing the story at all which I think is completely unacceptable.



In fairness, expecting a government minister to follow up on such a complaint without any effort to go through a complaints procedure within the organisation is not reasonable.


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## sean.c (17 Oct 2011)

1. Phone the officers main office and ask to speak to the manager, and make a verbal complaint.
2. Make a written complaint referencing above phone call.  Ask for the procedure for appealing the deduction.
3. Make a written complaint to the Council about providing misleading information to the Social Welfare (i.e. the fact that it'd cleared it with them that the partner would be living with his parents for the short term) referencing the phone calls (names & time) and asking for written confirmation that the situation is acceptable and no eviction process is in place.

I wouldn't make too much of the officer having your housing application, all to likely someone in the council gave them to her upon request, but the person you spoke to didn't know.  Don't assume that everyone in the council knows everything that's going on.

You'll hopefully get a phone call from the Social Welfare apologising, an revokation of the deduction, and a letter from the council confirming that everything is hunky-dory which you can show the Social.


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