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If you have paid enough National Insurance Contributions you are entitled to insurance based JSA for a period of six months. But, depending upon your personal financial circumstances you may be entitled to more that the standard JSA amounts. This is called income based JSA. The Employment Service is piloting a move to a One Call Centre system. The first stage is a telephone interview. A completed form is then sent to the claimant for checking. The first question on the Form is 'Do you want to claim Income Based JSA?' followed by the statement 'Select YES if you are not sure'. It actually seems difficult for claimants to say NO to this question. The Employment Service interviewers reassure claimants that they cannot lose anything by saying YES. But there follows a battery of questions on the claimants income and sources of income, debts, savings, other benefits. The same range of information is requested for their partner. If the claimant asks why particular information is required they can be told that is just a matter of 'security'. Can anyone say whether this procedure is consistent with the Data Protection legislation? Is it legal for the Employment Service to ask for a range of personal information without first establishing whether it is necessary for the claim being made? If the claimant gets only insurance based JSA, is the Employment Service obliged to destroy all the personal information it has collected on the claimant and their partner that was not necessary for their claim?? Ray Thomas, Social Sciences, Open University Tel: 01908 679081 Fax 01908 550401 Email: [log in to unmask] 35 Passmore, Milton Keynes MK6 3DY