Data protection in the age of welfare conditionality: Respect for basic rights or a race to the bottom?

This article addresses the informational control powers of the state to detect social security fraud as one of the pillars supporting welfare conditionality in Western European states. It sheds light on the question of whether the repressive trend of vastly expanding conditions and sanctions attached to welfare benefits can also be observed in an unwarranted expansion of the adopted control powers of the government. The article begins by highlighting the importance of data protection law in the field of social security. It then provides a normative yardstick for assessing nationally the control powers by analysing the normative criteria set by the EU data protection framework, more specifically with regard to the purpose limitation principle and the transparency rights of individuals. Three case studies are carried out on Germany, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands which investigate the conformity of the control powers of the welfare administration with the basic right to data protection. The article concludes by providing explanations for the diverging level of protection in the examined countries and by recommending strategies for improving the data protection position of welfare beneficiaries.