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Data Access Policy

What must you do to comply with the Data Access Policy?
The DWP’s Data Access Policy is such that it has ceased provision of RESTRICTED data and the receipt of personal sensitive data from local authorities through means other than a government approved secure communications channel (i.e. GSi connections like GCSX).

The policy applies to all local authorities in England, Wales and Scotland where GCSX (or GSX for Scotland) connections can be or have been made available.

In order to comply with the policy now you need to ensure the following is in place within your Housing Benefits business area:

Accessing CIS via GCSX: HB staff must now use the secure portal for accessing CIS over GCSX rather than over the internet. The secure portal http://esef.cis.dwp.gsi.gov.uk/SEF/ presents the same CIS home page to Users. There will be no change to the users’ login and password details. Access to the CIS via the internet is no longer possible.

Bulk File Transfer: HB staff must now use your Data Transfer Appliance (DTA) to receive the nightly bulk file transfer of the electronic Local Authority Input Documents (LAIDs) and Local Authority Claims Information (LACI) documents. The DWP e-Transfer Project will provide business change support to HB Teams in the transition to the new process. Contact the LAST support team with any queries

The DWP e-Transfer Project will provide business change support to HB Teams in the transition to the new process.

Engagement with the In & Out of Work Team: Colleagues in Job Centre Plus (JCP) may already have been in contact with your HB teams to begin preparation for implementing the business process changes relating to the In and Out of Work initiative. The IT requirement is a team GCSX email box – local name to be determined by the business. If your authority has not yet been contacted by JCP In and Out of Work representatives, please continue business as usual in respect of this area of work.

Ongoing data handling: You should begin reviewing any other information that you share with DWP to ensure that GCSX is always being used where appropriate. This may include rolling out GCSX email accounts to HB staff as well as other staff across the authority.

3rd Party Suppliers and the CIS MOU: It is important to ensure that any external suppliers you have involved in the administration of Housing Benefits are exchanging CIS data in such a way as to be compliant with terms of the CIS MOU.