Your data: Housing Benefit and Council Tax Support Administration

Service Specific Privacy Notice - Housing Benefit and Council Tax Support Administration

This notice contains service specific privacy information and should be read in conjunction with our pages detailing privacy information common to all service areas, such as how to contact the Data Protection Officer, Exercising of Your Rights, Data Storage and Retention and Feedback and Complaints.

Lawful Basis for Processing of Personal Data

The Data Protection Act requires that personal data is collected and processed only where there is a lawful basis to do so. The lawful basis' which applies in this instance are as follows:

Legal obligation: the processing is necessary for us to comply with the law.

Lawful Basis for Processing of Special Category Personal Data

In some cases it may be necessary for us to collect hold and process information of a more sensitive nature. Where this is the case, the lawful basis for us to do so is as follows:

• Social Security and Social Protection Law: the processing is necessary for the council to fulfil its obligations to the customer as required under social security legislation.

Purpose of Processing Personal information

We are collecting your personal data for the following purposes:

• The administration and processing of Housing Benefit and Council Tax Support claims.

Please note that in order to comply with current legislation your data may also be used for:

• Data matching under local and national fraud Initiatives.
• Crime prevention and the prosecution of offenders.

Personal Data Collected From Third Parties

Please note that the following information:

• Personal details
• Lifestyle and social circumstances
• Employment details
• Housing needs
• Physical or mental health details

May be obtained from third parties such as:

• Employers
• Housing associations and landlords
• Family members or representatives you have appointed
• Local and central government

Information Sharing

To ensure that the council provides you with an efficient and effective service we will sometimes need to share your information between teams within the council.

We may also share information with third parties that support the delivery of the services you receive or where we are legally obliged to do so. Information we hold may be shared with the following types of organisation:

• Family associates or representatives you have appointed
• Current and past employers
• Healthcare, social and welfare organisations
• Debt collection and tracing agencies
• Financial organisations (for example when making BACS payments)
• Service Providers
• Local and Central Government Departments
• Ombudsman and regulatory authorities
• Professional advisors and consultants
• Courts, tribunals and prisons
• Political Organisations (for example a local MP who is representing you)
• Credit reference agencies
• Police Forces
• Housing associations and landlords
• Voluntary and charitable organisations (for example the Citizens Advice Bureau)
• Partner agencies, approved organisations and individuals working with the police
• Legal representatives and/or defence solicitors

We will only ever share your information if we are satisfied that our partners or suppliers have sufficient measures in place to protect your information in the same way that we do.

We will never share your information for marketing purposes.

Obligation to Provide Personal Data

Please note that there is a statutory requirement to provide your personal information in respect of this service

Any failure to provide your personal information may prevent or delay us meeting our statutory requirements or in providing you with a timely and effective service.