Question regarding esa 50 forms

[gus12345]

I am in the unfortunate position of having to survive on IB due to serious health conditions which ended my career and am currently being to transfered to ESA. I note that Royal mail staff have for some time been contracted to open ATOS mail and then forward it to the relevant ATOS address. If I understand correctly the ESA form and supporting documents are scanned ? and the paper copy forwarded by SD to ATOS. Now I know Royal Mail staff have signed the official secrets act but some of my medical documents are marked "confidential" and I have not given permission to Royal Mail to view any information contained in the ESA form or in the supporting medical evidence.Therefore Royal Mail employees have access to my confidential data without my express permission which obviously is of great concern. My question is how secure is the area where the forms are opened ? and what does the scanning of documents involve ?

Disabled and ill people claiming benefits are not blaming the post office for opening ATOS mail you have been contracted to do this work.They are more angry at the DWP and ATOS for not disclosing the facts about mail being redirected and opened before reaching ATOS. I am sure you can appreciate the concerns of people who have a hard enough time dealing with their illnesses/disabilities and surviving with very little money let alone a government that pokes its nose into every aspect of claimants daily life.The rubbish printed in the gutter press is another matter.

I hope someone can provide some information to alleviate my concerns.

[mazza111]

Dunno if it's true or not, I read it on another forum questioning this. But, they said, if you mark it private and confidential it won't be opened by RM. Whether this is true or not, I have no idea.

[TrueBlueTerrier]

To be frank I think the chances of anyone who actually does this type of work being on the forum, and willing to expose themselves is fairly slim. However I wish you luck in having your concerns addressed.

[gus12345]

Thank you for your replies.

TrueBlueTerrier I knew it would be a long shot for information but you don't know unless you try.

mazza111
I think to address an item of mail as private and confidential you need an individuals name to send it to I don't have one. But thanks for the suggestion.

[not me]

afraid i have no idea of the working of it.
only the delivery side(probably my post you saw on MSE ;)
TBH I doubt the staff are bothered about reading them. most likely just get through as quick as possibe
given mail is being opened then I'm assuming its a closed area.

however something to ponder.
RM staff are doing a job that a basic offie worker would be doing at ATOS.
its not like your application would go from the mail room to a doctor.
it would still be scanned onto the system. except it would be by an ATOS member of staff rather than RM.

[TeeferTiger]

I doubt they even have time to do any reading!

If it's anything like anywhere else in RM, you don't have time to do anything else and whilst you might think they'd all be sat there reading all your intimate details, they really do have better things to be doing.

And no, I'm not just dismissing your worries, because I'm in the same boat as you are. My documents will have been scanned and sent off etc the same as yours, but unless your neighbour works at the RM place that does the scanning, and your neighbour is the biggest gossip, then I wouldn't worry about it.