McCann v Department for Communities [2022]

The claimant worked for the respondent as a Quality Assurance Checker relating to Universal Credit. The issue leading to the case arose in September 2019 when the claimant was suspended on full pay pending investigation. The investigation related to breaches of procedures and multiple unauthorised accesses to department computer systems.  

A complaint was raised in August 2019 by a member of the public (an ex-partner of the claimant) that the claimant had accessed her data and was sending her messages relating to her confidential information held on the departmental computers. The Benefits Security Team was able to identify the exact nature of the access and what the claimant