Benefits privacy notice
Service: Revenues and Benefits
Team: Customer Accounts
Processing activity: Administration of Housing Benefit, Council Tax Support and Discretionary Housing Payment
The Data Protection Officer
Contactable by emailing: accesstoinfo@centralbedfordshire.gov.uk
Obtaining your personal information
We are likely to have been provided with the information about you from applications for Housing Benefit, Council Tax Support or Discretionary Housing Payment. Your information may be referred to us by a third party such as The Department for Work and Pensions, the Pension Service, a Landlord, Agent, Welfare Advice Agency or another service area within the council. The information we will hold is your name, National Insurance Number, date of birth, contact details and financial information.
We will also hold these details for any partner you may have, along with details confirming names, dates of birth and, where relevant, National Insurance Numbers and financial details of other members of your household.
The administration of benefits will include various activities to ensure the accuracy and timeliness of benefit payments such as calculation of entitlement; processing of payment files; internal and external audits; system maintenance; and quality assurance checks.
Some benefit decisions may be made through automated processes, such as yearly rent increases. If you would not like your claim to be dealt with using automated processes, please contact us on 0300 300 8306.
When assessing eligibility for support we may also obtain information about you, your household, your employment and income details from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), His Majesty’s Revenues and Customs (HMRC), the Home Office, The Pension Service, employers, Landlords and agents and other service areas of the Council.
Where we process special category data relating to your health, in connection with assessing eligibility for support, this will only be processed in accordance with Article 9 of the UK General Data Protection Regulation.
Use of your personal information
We are using your personal information for the purpose of administering Benefits (including Housing Benefit, Council Tax Support, Discretionary Housing Payment and recovering Housing Benefit overpayments) on the basis of a legal obligation and public task under the Social Security Administration Act 1992, Housing Benefit General Regulations 2006 (as amended), Housing Benefit (persons who have attained the qualifying age for state pension credit) Regulations 2006 (as amended), Welfare Reform Act 2012, The Discretionary Financial Assistance Regulations 2001, Council Tax Support Scheme Policy, and the Council Tax Reduction Schemes (Prescribed Requirements) Regulations 2013 (as amended).
We may also use your contact details and case history to communicate with you when we are consulting on, or implementing, changes to the Council Tax Support working-age scheme in accordance with our obligations under the Local Government Finance Act 2012.
We will use your data in profiling to help to inform us of where additional local welfare support funding for low-income families, such as how administration of the Household Support Fund, should be utilised. In addition, we will use your data to help inform policies and work such as a new Council Tax Support Scheme or Poverty Strategies.
When using your data for informing policies and targeted support, your data will be anonymised. As a result of this you could be allocated a payment from welfare funds. If you would like us to review any automated decision made, or you would like your details removed from the dataset we use, you can contact us at 0300 300 8306.
Our lawful basis for processing your personal data
We must have a legal basis to process your personal data. Where we use personal data for the above purposes and statutory functions the sections of the law that apply under UK GDPR are:
Article 6(1)(c) - processing is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation to which the council is subject.
Article 6(1)(e) – processing is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority vested in the council.
For sensitive special category data, such as about health conditions, the information would have been provided by you therefore we assume your consent. For this and other special category the following applies:
Article 9(2)(b) - processing is necessary for the purposes of carrying out the obligations and exercising specific rights of the council or data subject in the field of employment and social security and social protection law as authorised by UK law providing appropriate safeguards for the fundamental rights and interests of the data subject.
Article 9(2)(g) – processing is necessary for reasons of substantial public interest, on the basis of UK law which shall be proportionate to the aim pursued, respect the essence of the right to data protection and provide suitable and specific measures to safeguard the fundamental rights and interests of the data subject.
Who will receive or see my personal information?
Your personal information will be available to be seen by those within the Revenues and Benefits Service for the purpose of assessing and administering your application, recovering any Housing Benefit overpayments and by our support services (such as the Finance Teams and third-party payment handler) where necessary to carry out the purpose and supporting functions such as payment of Housing Benefit to your bank account.
Your data will be available to internal Council service areas where there is a legal gateway including Council Tax, Housing, Electoral Services, Adult Social Care, Blue Badge, Disability Grants, Local Welfare Provision and Missing School Children and for the purpose of identifying and preventing fraud. We may also share information with our Corporate Health and Safety Team when our staff safety is viewed as being at risk.
Information may also be shared with partner agencies during safeguarding investigations and in relation to our Prevent duty pursuant to the Counter Terrorism Act and associated legislation.
Externally, we may share information about you with other billing authorities for the purpose of recovering Housing Benefit and Council Tax debt; and your name, National Insurance Number, date of birth, household composition, payment and account information with the Child Support Agency, DWP, National Fraud Initiative, credit reference companies; HM Courts and Tribunal Services and HMRC for the purposes of assessing liability and for fraud identification and prevention.
Your claim information is processed by external printers acting on the council’s behalf and is scanned by our IT company.
With your consent, we may also share financial information with a body acting on your behalf, such as Citizen’s Advice. We may also discuss your application with your Landlord where authorised, by you, or where regulations require us to do so.
Information about debts owed by you to the Council may be provided to the Insolvency service in response to requests received under the The Debt Respite Scheme (Breathing Space Moratorium and Mental Health Crisis Moratorium) (England and Wales) Regulations 2020.
Your personal information will be stored securely and will not be accessible to anyone else, including other services within the Council, unless detailed above.
Retention
We will keep your data safe and secure for a period of six year(s) after the closure date on a benefit claim, plus that financial year. If a claim has an outstanding Housing Benefit overpayment, we will retain your information for six years after full repayment of the overpayment. After this time, it will be securely destroyed.
Transferring personal information outside of the EU
Your personal information will not be transferred outside the EU or to any international organisations by the Council.
Your Rights
Whatever our use of your personal information you have the right of access to that personal information (this means confirmation that we are using your personal information, access to it as well as other detail) and the right to seek rectification if the information is inaccurate. In the event that we become aware that information held by another agency, such as the DWP, is incorrect, we have a responsibility to notify them of the correct details.
We may only be able to provide you with information that has not originated from another organisation or agency. On occasion we may need to check with the relevant agency before we can release information. We will advise you if this is the case. For example, we might not be able to give you all of the information provided to us by the DWP without checking with them first. You will still be able to ask the DWP for this information directly.
As we are processing your personal data on the basis of legal obligation and public task you also have the right to object and the right to restrict processing and where we are processing special category data with your consent, you have the right to withdraw your consent.
Also, if you object to our use of your personal information and there is no overriding legitimate interest for us to continue using it or we have used your personal information unlawfully or it is no longer necessary for us to have the personal information, the right to erasure is also available to you, in certain circumstances.
Find out how to exercise these rights.
Complaints
If you are dissatisfied with the way the Council has used your personal information, then you may wish in the first instance to make a complaint to the Data Protection Officer. This can be done by- sending an email to
information.governance@centralbedfordshire.gov.uk
Alternatively, or if you remain dissatisfied following your complaint to the Data Protection Officer, you may lodge a complaint with The Information Commissioner. The Information Commissioner (ICO) is the UK’s independent body set up to uphold information rights. The ICO can help and advise you on all matters relating to data protection.
Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Telephone: 0303 123 1113