Cardiff Council and Brent Council have dismissed employees for unauthorised access to the Department for Work and Pensions' (DWP) Customer Information System (CIS). Cardiff confirmed it fired a worker for viewing data on celebrities, while Brent terminated an agency worker's contract for similar misuse.
Computer Weekly's Freedom of Information requests revealed that staff at 34 local authorities wrongly accessed the CIS between 2006 and 2009, resulting in nine sackings. Other cases led to resignations, suspensions, warnings, or revoked access. No staff were prosecuted.
The DWP stated it could not confirm incidents as they are a matter for councils. A spokesperson said: 'The small number of breaches shows that the CIS security system is working and is protected by several different audit and monitoring controls... It is the duty of local authorities to consider and enforce what is appropriate, including legal action, against their employees.'
