Greedy yorkshirewater

[Mr A]

A freind of mine has just recieved a letter from yorkshire water stating they have applied to the dwp to make deductions from her benefits without her permission. Is this legal? They originally told her she would have to pay £80 a month which she explained she couldnt afford and payed them £5 a week which is what she pays for her electric. Is there anything she can do? I pay £80 a month for internet, tv and phone? 20 quid a week for water is a joke!

Dear Miss....

£900

As the above amount remains outstanding i have asked the department for work and pensions to make direct payments for your water charges from your benefit.

By paying from your benefits through the Water Direct Scheme, you wil no longer be troubled by further letters from us and you will avoid further action that could add expensive costs to your account.

These payments will cover your ongoing water service charges and also include a weekly deduction towards your arrears.

If the department of work and pensions include you in the scheme they will tell you how much will be taken and when the deductions will begin. If you are not included on the scheme i will contact you.

[whitebakecase]

severn trent tried the same with me. I panicked for a while, but my fears changed to laughter when they wrote back and told me the DWP had refused their request to deduct from benefits.... idle threats maybe?

[Mr A]

Hope so, can they really do this without her permission?

[SilentDiver]

How do they know she's on benefits ? - surely that's private information.

Since Yorkshire Water are a private firm (presumably?), what business has a government agency sharing information with them - surely there are data protection act issues here.

[umbongo82]

A freind of mine has just recieved a letter from yorkshire water stating they have applied to the dwp to make deductions from her benefits without her permission. Is this legal? They originally told her she would have to pay £80 a month which she explained she couldnt afford and payed them £5 a week which is what she pays for her electric. Is there anything she can do? I pay £80 a month for internet, tv and phone? 20 quid a week for water is a joke!

Dear Miss....

£900

As the above amount remains outstanding i have asked the department for work and pensions to make direct payments for your water charges from your benefit.

By paying from your benefits through the Water Direct Scheme, you wil no longer be troubled by further letters from us and you will avoid further action that could add expensive costs to your account.

These payments will cover your ongoing water service charges and also include a weekly deduction towards your arrears.

If the department of work and pensions include you in the scheme they will tell you how much will be taken and when the deductions will begin. If you are not included on the scheme i will contact you.

It is legal. Have a read of this:

http://www.dwp.gov.uk/docs/tpp-new-creditor-guide.pdf

[nayga73]

Umbongo,- EDITED-NO NEED FOR PERSONAL ATTACKS.
The Social Security Administration Act 1992 s.187 says that cetain benefits are inalienable,which then refers to s.122 of Social Security Benefits and Contributions act 1992.
If your going to give advice,make sure it's right eh?

nayga73

[SilentDiver]

It is legal. Have a read of this: http://www.dwp.gov.uk/docs/tpp-new-creditor-guide.pdf

Just because it's the DWP's policy doesn't make it legal, nor does it exempt them from the Data Protection Act or the UN Human Rights Charter. If my company policy was to murder non-paying clients in cold blood I don't think I'd get away with it by just saying I could in a PDF file and putting it on the web.

[whitebakecase]

I wondered how they knew that I was on benefits too, but in the end, they either didnt know at all (clutching at straws) or simply didnt have the authority to extract information from DWP in the first place(assumption is the mother/brother of all fuckups)

[umbongo82]

Umbongo,
The Social Security Administration Act 1992 s.187 says that cetain benefits are inalienable,which then refers to s.122 of Social Security Benefits and Contributions act 1992.
If your going to give advice,make sure it's right eh?

nayga73

That link was from the DWP, you know that government department that gives the benefits. I think they may know a little more than you. Try reading what is contained in the link with regards to which benefits can be deducted from and also have a look at this:

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1987 ... ule/9/made

If you're going to rebut, make sure you're right eh?

[umbongo82]

It is legal. Have a read of this: http://www.dwp.gov.uk/docs/tpp-new-creditor-guide.pdf

Just because it's the DWP's policy doesn't make it legal, nor does it exempt them from the Data Protection Act or the UN Human Rights Charter. If my company policy was to murder non-paying clients in cold blood I don't think I'd get away with it by just saying I could in a PDF file and putting it on the web.

Try trying doing even a cursory amount of research instead of replying in such a manner.

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1987 ... on/35/made

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1987 ... ule/9/made

I would suggest that the only way they know if they can make deductions would be if they were made aware by the customer/advice agency/other third party they were on JSA etc. The DWP wouldn't give that information out.

Bit of a non-sequitur mentioning the UN Human Rights Charter and murder.