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Low Income Family Tracker (LIFT) Privacy Notice

Who the Council is and what the Council does

The Cotswold District Council is a data controller under the Data Protection Legislation (UK General Data Protection Regulation and the Data Protection Act 2018) as the Council collects and processes personal information about you in order to for processing personal data and processing is in the performance of a task carried out in the public interest, has a basis in law.

LIFT is a system that can facilitate early identification of households who may benefit from targeted support around the cost of living and financial wellbeing. Cotswold District Council aims to provide support to these households to prevent them getting into crisis.

Any questions regarding our privacy practice should be sent to:

Data Protection Officer (DPO)
Cotswold District Council
Trinity Road, Council Office
Cirencester, GL7 1PX
Email: data.protection@cotswold.gov.uk
Tel: 01993 861194

Why the Council needs your information and how the Council uses it

In order to help households in need, Cotswold District Council may use the personal information provided by you as part of your Council Tax, Housing Benefit,  DWP Benefits (including Universal Credit), Tax Credits, Rent or Council Tax Arrears, Discretionary Housing Payment, or applications to the Welfare Fund, to assess your eligibility for any additional benefits, grants or support you may be entitled to.

The Lawful basis for processing:  

We have a statutory function to carry out the above duties under various legislation including the following:

UK GDPR Article 6(1)(e) - processing is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest in the exercise of official authority vested in the Council

  • Local Government Finance Act 1992
  • Local Government Act 1972
  • Council Tax (Administration and Enforcement) Regulations 1992
  • Social Security Act 1998
  • Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992
  • Child Support Pensions and Social Security Act 2000 - Sections 68-71 and Schedule 7
  • Welfare Reform and Work Act 2016
  • Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 - Section 115
  • Human Rights Act 1998 - Schedule 1 - The Articles
  • National Assistance (Assessment of Resources) Regulations 1992
  • Charging for Residential Accommodation Guide (CRAG)
  • UK GDPR Article 6(1)(e)

What type of information is collected from you

Cotswold District Council collects and processes a range of personal information about you. This may include:

  • Your name, address and contact details, including email address and telephone number, date of birth, IP address and timestamp
  • Ownership and/or tenancy details for your domestic property(s)
  • Ownership and/or tenancy details for non-domestic property(s)
  • Partner details
  • Information about other people living in your household including children
  • Employment and banking details
  • Income details
  • Savings and capital details

Cotswold District Council will collect the above information in a number of ways including application forms, passports and other identity documents, correspondence from you, customer interviews, meetings and other assessment activities.

You are obliged to provide Cotswold District Council with data as part of our statutory function as defined in the list above of appropriate legislation. In the event that we did not request and use this information then it would not be possible to carry out our statutory functions.

Any personal data you provide will be stored in a range of secure Council IT systems.

Information shared internally and externally

The Council may share your information internally (within the Council) in accordance with statutory obligations. In addition, the Council may share your information with third parties in accordance with statutory and regulatory obligations.

We provide your information to our suppliers to enable us to deliver a service to you. We may also share information with the Department of Work and Pensions in relation to Housing Benefit.

We obtain information about you from the Department of Work and Pensions and publicly accessible sources such public registers and the Voters Roll, as well as Registered Social Landlords, Private Landlords, Care Providers, the Social Security Agency and other Council Services.

Cotswold District Council and the DWP work together and share information often to provide a number of services.  Cotswold District Council and the DWP are joint data controllers for services such as Housing Benefit.

Automated Information

Automated information relating to benefit entitlement is received from the Department for Work and Pensions and is used to amend entitlement to Housing Benefit and Council Tax Reduction.

Anonymisation

Your personal information may be converted ('anonymised') into statistical or aggregated data in such a way that ensures that you cannot be identified from it. Anonymised data cannot, by definition, be linked back to you as an individual and may be used to conduct research and analysis, including the preparation of statistics for use in our reports.

How long the Council keep your information (retention period)

The information you provide as part of your request will be retained in accordance with the Council  Retention Policy schedules.

The Council has retention schedules in place to ensure that information is only held for as long as it is needed. We will not keep your information for longer than is required to by law.

Your information will be disposed of in a controlled and secure manner in accordance with the Council’s destruction Policy.

How the Council protect your Information

All the information the Council collects is stored securely on our IT system and manual filing systems. The Council has strict procedures for the way this is done. Any and all information about you is treated as confidential and with respect. There are also clear rules and guidance about storing, recording and sharing information which staff receive training on.

The Council will not transfer your personal data outside the EU without your consent.

The Council has implemented generally accepted standards of technology and operational security in order to protect personal data from loss, misuse, or unauthorised alteration or destruction.  

Please note however that where you are transmitting information to us over the internet this can never be guaranteed to be 100% secure.  

If you use your credit or debit card to make payments, the Council passes your card details securely to our payment processing partner as part of the payment process. The Council does this in accordance with the Payment Card Industry Security Standard, and doesn’t store the details on its website. The information you give to the Council when using our online payment system will only be used for the recording of your payment.

The Council will notify you promptly in the event of any breach of your personal data which might expose you to serious risk.

Your rights 

You have rights under the Data Protection Legislations:

  • to access your personal data
  • to be provided with information about how your personal data is processed
  • to have your personal data corrected
  • to have your personal data erased in certain circumstances
  • to object to or restrict how your personal data is processed
  • to have your personal data transferred to yourself or to another business in certain circumstances
  • to be told if the Council has made a mistake whilst processing your data and the Council will self-report breaches to the Commissioner.

How you can access, update or correct your information

The Data Protection law gives you the right to apply for a copy of information about yourself. This is called a ‘Subject Access Request'.

If you wish to see a copy of your records you should contact the Data Protection Officer. You are entitled to receive a copy of your records free of charge, within a month.

The accuracy of your information is important to us to be able to provide relevant services more quickly. We are working to make our record keeping more efficient. In the meantime, if you change your address or email address, or if any of your circumstances change or any of the other information we hold is inaccurate or out of date please email us or write to us at:

Revenues and Benefits Service
Cotswold District Council
Trinity Road, Cirencester, GL7 1PX
Contact us

Further information

If you would like to know more about how the Council uses your information, or if for any reason you do not wish to have your information used in any of the ways described here, please tell us. Contact the Data Protection Officer at data.protection@cotswold.gov.uk

You can also complain to the Information Commissioner: https://ico.org.uk

The Council reserves the right to update this privacy notice from time to time by publishing a new version on our website.

© Cotswold District Council 2024