26.11.13 The Information Commissioner’s Office to write to 1,200 Potential Blacklisted Workers

On 19 November 2013 the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) sent out the first of 1,200 letters to individuals who were on the ‘blacklist’ of construction workers. Earlier this year the ICO sent out letters to 103 workers. Overall, they have taken over 4,000 calls and 1,200 written requests from individuals wanting to know if they were on the ‘blacklist’.

The ICO are asking of the workers to provide evidence of their identity and will then check whether any of the information on the list is about them. If it is, then they will send the recipients a copy of their information.

Each case will vary in regards to how much information each individual receives. The ‘blacklist’ has a list of names and index cards, but some of the names do not have a corresponding index card. Some of the names listed have information next to their name such as National Insurance numbers, dates of birth or other information that is now out of date or inaccurate.

DWP have provided the ICO with current address details relevant to the NI records of approximately 1,200 workers but did not have any current details for a further 500 workers.  The ICO hopes that this latest drive will enable them to contact more people affected by the blacklist in the coming weeks.