The Home Office is facing accusations of widespread data collection on British citizens as part of routine financial checks for migrant immigration applications. A personal data breach occurred after an Equifax report containing the names, dates of birth, and electoral roll data of over 260 individuals was mistakenly sent to the Refugee and Migrant Forum of Essex and London (Ramfel).
The link connecting the individuals included in the report and the immigration applicant was their previous residence or employment within the same address or postcode area, with some having moved as far back as 1986. Ramfel argues that the scale of data within this single report suggests the Home Office may be collecting financial data on potentially hundreds of thousands of unsuspecting citizens.
In addition, Ramfel claims that the Home Office initially ignored their notification of the breach and failed to adequately address their concerns regarding transparency, privacy, and consent in data collection.
Responding to the allegations, Joanna Rowland, Director General, Customer Services Group at the Home Office, said: “I cannot comment on individual processes in detail, but I note your suggestions and have asked officials in the relevant departments to consider them. The Home Office works hard to ensure the UK General Data Protection Regulations and Data Protection legislation is fully complied with. This means processing and securely storing the minimal amount of personal data necessary to execute our functions, lawfully and effectively, and deleting data which is not necessary.”
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