Privacy Notices - Household support fund Privacy Notice

You need to be aware of this Privacy Notice if you are making an application for assistance under the Household Support Fund

A Privacy Notice is a statement issued by an organisation, which explains how personal and confidential data about individuals is collected, used and shared.

Swindon Borough Council will act as a “Data Controller” for any personal data that you provide to us.  We will ensure that the data given to us is processed in line with our Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA 18) and the EU General Data Protection Regulations. (GDPR)

To find out more about Swindon Borough Council’s data protection policies please contact our Data Protection Officer. dataprotection@swindon.gov.uk or in writing to Data Protection Officer, Civic Offices, Euclid Street, Swindon, Wiltshire, SN1 2JH.

Please note: Not providing your personal data may lead to you not being able to claim assistance under the Household Support Fund.

Personal data relates to a living individual who can be identified from that data.

Identification can be by the information alone or in conjunction with any other information in the data controller’s possession or likely to come into such possession.

The processing of data is governed by the General Data Protection Regulations (the “GDPR”).

We will collect a range of data during the application phase for Household Support.

This will include:

• Title of applicant 
• Surname of applicant
• Forename of applicant
• Middle name or middle initial of applicant
• Date of birth of applicant
• National Insurance Number
• Address
• Postcode
• Telephone number
• Email address
• Household composition (dependent children, pensioner, couple, etc)
• Disabilities
• Details of employment or self-employment
• Benefits being claimed
• Household income and savings
• Household essential expenditure
• Preference for payment by supermarket voucher or post office voucher

We will use a computer database to process to store information. The database is held securely in an appropriately secure environment.

Only authorised officers have access to the database. Swindon Borough Council complies with its obligations under the GDPR by:

• keeping personal data up to date
• storing and destroying it securely
• not collecting or retaining excessive amounts of data
• protecting personal data from loss, misuse, unauthorised access and disclosure
• ensuring that appropriate technical measures are in place to protect personal data

We need to use this information to:

• ensure you are entitled to assistance and be able to consider an award
• report information on payments to Central Government, who require numbers and values as a total for households with children, pensioners and persons with disabilities

The information is held in order to help assess eligibility for assistance and the records will be updated to show if applications are successful or unsuccessful. Successful applications are updated and include the assistance provided.

Storing the application allows us to review claims, answer any complaints and is an Audit requirement. We are also required to ask and retain certain information to prevent fraudulent applications.

Information on household composition and disability is retained to enable the production of statistical information to the Department of Works and Pensions (DWP). The DWP may withdraw grant funding without this information.

We collect and use the information under Article 6 (lawful processing), and Article 9 (special categories of data), of the GDPR Act.

Article 6 of GDPR

Public task: the processing is necessary for the local authority to perform a task in the public interest or for official functions, and the task or function has a clear basis in law in terms of Health and Social Care Provision.

Article 9 (2) of GDPR

Special categories of data and lawful processing of:

• (g) Processing is necessary for reasons of substantial public interest, on the basis of law which shall be proportionate to the aim pursued, respect the essence of the right to data protection and provide for suitable and specific measures to safeguard the fundamental rights and the interests of the data subject

By completing the application, we are entitled to use data from other Council records to validate information provided, such as benefit records.

We are entitled to use the Government Spotlight and Searchlight to validate data. Information may be shared with Central Government and Auditors for the prevention of Fraud and for reporting on what payments Swindon Borough Council has made.

We may also share your personal information when we feel there is a good reason that is more important than protecting your privacy. This does not happen often, but we may share your information in order to find and stop crime and fraud; or if there are serious risks to the public, our staff or to other professionals.

For information, please see the Government website or contact the Council's Internal Audit section at: Swindon Borough Council, Civic Offices, Euclid Street, Swindon SN1 2JH.

We will do what we can to make sure we hold records about you in a secure way, and we will only make them available to those who have a right to see them.

We will maintain the reliability, accuracy, completeness and currency of personal data in our databases and to protect the privacy and security of our databases. We keep your personal data only for as long as reasonably necessary for the purposes for which it was collected.

Examples of our security include: 

• encryption, meaning that information is hidden so that it cannot be read without special knowledge (such as a password). This is done with a secret code, or what is called a 'cypher'. The hidden information is said to then be 'encrypted'.
• pseudonymisation, meaning that we will use a different name so we can hide parts of your personal information from view. This means that someone outside of the Council could work on your information for us without ever knowing it was yours.
• controlling access to systems and networks allows us to stop people who are not allowed to view your personal information from getting access to it
• training for our staff allows us to make them aware of how to handle information and how and when to report when something goes wrong

Regular testing of our technology and ways of working including keeping up to date on the latest security updates (commonly called patches).

Our servers and databases are protected by industry standard security technology.

We will keep and use your personal information in line with the requirements of the Data Protection Act 2018. Your personal information will be held for 6 financial years plus current year, unless there is any outstanding matters after this date.

Under the Data Protection Act you can see your own personal information. If you would like to know more about this, please see our website www.swindon.gov.uk for details or contact the Data Protection Officer at Swindon Borough Council, Civic Offices, Euclid Street, Swindon, SN1 2JH.

In the event that you wish to complain about the way that your personal data has been handled by Swindon Borough Council, you should write to the Data Protection Officer and clearly outline your case. Your complaint will then be investigated in accordance with our customer complaint procedure.

If you remain dissatisfied with the way your personal data has been handled, you have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office at www.ICO.org.uk. You may refer the matter to the Information Commissioner’s Office whose contact details are below:

Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF

Email: casework@ico.org.uk

This website also contains information on data protection and your rights and remedies

You are under no statutory obligation to provide personal data to Swindon Borough Council during the application process, however, if you do not provide all the data we request we may not be able to process an application for assistance.

An annual audit takes place on personal data to ensure that we remain legally compliant in accordance with current data protection legislation.

You are viewing the Privacy Notice for household support fund.

Read the main Privacy Notice