Section 132: Unlawful disclosure of information supplied under section 131, Welfare Reform Act 2012

A person to whom subsection (2) applies is guilty of an offence if the person discloses without lawful authority any information—

which comes to the person by virtue of section 131(1), (3) or (4), and

which relates to a particular person.

This subsection applies to—

a person mentioned in section 131(11) (a) to (c);

a person who provides qualifying welfare services (within the meaning of section 131);

a person who is or has been a director, member of the committee of management, manager, secretary or other similar officer of a person mentioned in paragraph (a) or (b);

a person who is or has been an employee of a person mentioned in paragraph (a) or (b).

A person guilty of an offence under this section is liable—

on conviction on indictment, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years or a fine or both, or

on summary conviction, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding the general limit in a magistrates' court or a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum or both.

It is not an offence under this section—

to disclose information in the form of a summary or collection of information so framed as not to enable information relating to any particular person to be ascertained from it;

to disclose information which has previously been disclosed to the public with lawful authority.

It is a defence for a person ("D") charged with an offence under this section to prove that at the time of the alleged offence—

D believed that D was making the disclosure in question with lawful authority and had no reasonable cause to believe otherwise, or

D believed that the information in question had previously been disclosed to the public with lawful authority and had no reasonable cause to believe otherwise.

A disclosure is made with lawful authority if it is so made for the purposes of section 123 of the Social Security Administration Act 1992.

This section does not affect that section.

Regulations under section 131(11) (g) may include provision for applying the provisions of this section to—

a person who is a qualifying person within the meaning of section 131 by virtue of the regulations, or

a person associated with such a qualifying person by reason of the person's office or employment or otherwise.

In relation to an offence under this section committed in England and Wales before 2 May 2022 the reference in subsection (3) (b) to the general limit in a magistrates' court must be taken to be a reference to six months.

Section 132: Unlawful disclosure of information supplied under section 131

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