Information sharing with the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP)

If you want to claim benefits for disability or ill health, you must provide information to DWP as part of the application process, to prove you are entitled to the benefit.

In the claim form, you will be asked for information such as:

• your personal details, for example your name, address, and date of birth
• the name and contact information of your GP practice
• the name and contact details of your hospital consultant, or other health or social care professional (if you have one)
• photocopies of hospital letters, reports, statements or diaries from family members or carers about your health issues, care, or treatment plans (if you have them to hand – you do not need to go out of your way to obtain these)
• details about your disabilities, illnesses, or health conditions, and how they affect you

There are different stages of a claim when this information might be needed. It might be needed when:

• you first make a claim
• there is a change in your circumstances
• your claim needs to be renewed

Providing your consent for your medical information to be shared

As part of the claim process, you will be asked to give your explicit consent for your GP practice, hospital, or other health or social care professional, to share relevant information about your health condition with DWP.

You do not have to consent, though this may impact your eligibility to benefits if DWP do not have sufficient evidence for your claim. If you do not consent, DWP will make a decision based on the information they have already, as well as any information you provide in the claim form you complete.

Information provided by your GP or consultant

Your GP, consultant or other health or social care professional may be asked by DWP to complete a short medical report. This report may include questions about:

• your disabilities
• your condition
• your symptoms
• the treatment you are receiving or have recently received, including recent hospital stays
• the impact on your day-to-day life and personal care activities

They will only share information that is relevant to your claim and information which you are aware of.

If you would like to know what information your GP practice, hospital, or other health or care setting has shared with DWP, you can send a request in writing to DWP asking for a copy of the report.

Circumstances when DWP may request information

You may receive a request from DWP to produce a report about one of your patients to allow DWP to assess a claim for a social security benefit or other welfare payment.

There are different circumstances where DWP might request information. It might be requested when:

• a person first makes a claim to benefits or welfare payment
• there is a change in the circumstances of a person already in receipt of benefits or welfare payment
• a person’s entitlement to a benefit (or welfare payment) is time-limited and needs to be renewed

The legal basis to share information with DWP

As part of the application process for a claim, DWP will obtain the explicit consent of the applicant for DWP to request and receive information about their health from their GP, hospital consultant or other health or care professional.

DWP will not ask organisations for a report on a person’s health or care unless they have obtained this explicit consent from the individual.

If DWP's report asks for information which a patient has specifically asked you not to share, the patient’s request should be respected, and it is acceptable to write ’cannot be disclosed’. However, you should flag to the patient that this could affect their eligibility for benefits. You should advise the patient to speak to DWP directly if they have any concerns about this.

Who should complete the report

Typically, DWP reports are addressed to the patient’s GP or hospital consultant named in the claim form, and they would be expected to oversee the completion of the report.

GPs can delegate the completion of a report to another relevant healthcare professional within the practice, such as a practice nurse.

Hospital consultants can also delegate the report to a more junior doctor (such as a senior house officer, registrar, or other appropriate healthcare professional).

There are also certain specific DWP reports, such as the SR1 form for individuals who are nearing the end of their lives, which can be completed by a GP, a consultant, a specialty doctor, a hospice doctor or senior specialist nurse.

What information you should provide

The appendix of DWP’s guidance on completing medical reports gives examples of the types of information that might be requested about your patient. Some examples are:

• their condition
• their symptoms
• the treatment they are receiving or have recently received, including recent hospital stays
• the impact on their day-to-day activities

The questions on the report require simple, factual responses which you have independently verified based on your knowledge of your patient and information contained in their health records.

If you do not know the answer to a question and the information is not in the patient’s health record, you are not expected to search further or carry out additional interventions with your patient to find out the answer. It is acceptable to write ‘not known’.

You should not include any information in reports which has not already been shared with patients. This is because they cannot consent to sharing information they are not aware of. Likewise, you should not share information about other people (third-party information), or information that the individual would not reasonably expect you to share.

You do not need to discuss the completion of the report with the patient or show it to them before sending it to DWP unless you think it would be beneficial to do so.

Timeframe for responding

When submitting a report request, DWP will advise an appropriate timeframe for completion and return.

Further information

General Medical Council (GMC) guidance - Disclosing information for employment, insurance and similar purposes.

To assess a social security benefit or welfare payment claim, DWP may request confidential patient information from your organisation.

Data Protection legislation

Your legal basis under UK GDPR for providing the information is:

• Article 6 1 (e) – public task
• Article 9 2 (b) – necessary for social security obligations

Common law duty of confidentiality

The common law duty of confidentiality is satisfied by the explicit consent of the patient making a claim, this consent is obtained by DWP.

In line with General Medical Council (GMC) guidance, you may accept an assurance from a DWP officer that the patient or a person properly authorised to act on their behalf has consented. This means that you will not always need to see evidence of the consent.

Submitting the form

You should follow local policies for securely supplying information. If DWP asks for specific records, you should send them copies rather than original documents.

How individuals can access information about them in DWP reports

DWP’s medical reports are exempt from the provisions of the Access to Medical Reports Act 1988, because the reports are not for employment or insurance purposes. This means the person cannot request access to it before it is sent to DWP.

If a person wishes to see the report, they should request it from DWP through the Subject Access Request process. The GP practice, hospital consultant or other health or care professional will not keep a copy of the report they send to DWP.