Old PIP1 & WCA forms

Zipz

Does the DWP retain our the PIP and WCA forms plus any further info we send when applying for a benefit or review of a benefit?

Holly_Scope

Hi @Zipz. The DWP categorise documents as either supporting or non-supporting and depending on where documents fall, impacts the period they retain the information. A breakdown of what's covered within each is and the timescales for storing data:

Supporting:

Are documents or data that support a benefit or child maintenance outcome decision, and contains information on how that decision was made.  It is generally information that would be supplied in the event of an appeal or fraud investigation, or that affects the amount of benefit paid or child maintenance assessment. 

Supporting records are retained for 24 months after DWP’s live interest in the claim has ended. End of live interest is the retention period is ‘triggered’ when a case is closed or at the end of DWP interest.  DWP interest includes: fraud investigation has ended, overpayment has been repaid.

Non supporting or ephemeral records:

Are documents or data that do not fit into the definition of supporting documents. These are of a general nature and do not affect the claim in any way. For example, general enquiries, internal templates, front cover sheets.

These should be retained locally for 4-weeks, and then electronic records should be deleted, and paper records must be destroyed via confidential waste.

Hope this is helpful 😊

If you wanted to dig any deeper into this, you can do so here - DWP managing customer records guide - GOV.UK