Privacy Notice - Homelessness
Why do you need my information?
The Council is a data controller under the Data Protection Legislation as we collect and process personal information about you in order to provide Housing Options Service and meet our statutory and regulatory obligations in terms of:
- Providing Housing and Homelessness Services to the residents, landlords and tenants of the District;
- Identifying housing needs and managing the Housing Register;
- Determining whether the Council has a Homelessness Duty and providing emergency accommodation; and
- Administering loan applications e.g. Deposit and advance Rent Scheme
We have a statutory obligation to provide these services in accordance with the following legislations, the list is not exhaustive:
- Housing Acts 1985, 1988, 1996
- Homelessness Act 2002
- Prevention of Social Housing Fraud Act 2012
- Right to Rent Act 2015
- Homelessness Reduction Act 2017
This notice explains why we ask for your personal information, how that information will be used and how you can access your records.
Any questions regarding our privacy practices should be sent to:
Data Protection Officer (DPO)
Mid Devon District Council
Phoenix House
Phoenix Lane
Tiverton
EX16 6PP
Email: dpo@middevon.gov.uk
What type of information is collected from you?
In order to administer our services we collect the following information from you:
- name
- address
- date of birth
- gender
- sexuality
- ethnicity
- contact details (email, telephone number etc.)
- National Insurance Number
- bank details and statements
- health records
- passport details
- driving license
- photographs
- racial or ethnic information
- religious or philosophical beliefs
- criminal convictions
We will only ask for personal information that is appropriate to enable us to deliver our services. In some cases, you can refuse to provide your details if you deem a request to be inappropriate. However, you should note that this may impact on our ability to provide some services to you. Information collected may be shared with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government for the purpose of the continuous recording of homelessness.
Who your information may be shared with (internally and externally)
Information may be shared with other services at our partner Authorities, such as Housing Benefit, for the express purpose of processing your application.
Your information may also be shared with other organisations in accordance with prevailing Data Protection Legislation for the detection and prevention of fraud and crime and reporting the number of homes in our area that have been empty for more than 6 months and have been brought subsequently back into use:
- government departments
- registered social landlords
- private sector landlords
- support agencies
- other Local Authorities
- other Council Services
We take part in the Cabinet Office's National Fraud Initiative: a data matching exercise to assist in the prevention and detection of fraud. To see what we must give the Minister for the Cabinet Office, click here.
We also share your data with the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities for the purpose of the continuous recording of lettings and sales in social housing (CORE).
How long we keep your information (retention period)
Data is only held as long as is necessary, unless superseded by statutory regulation, and disposed of securely when it is no longer needed.
How we keep your data secure in other countries
Where the Council transfers your data to any organisation in a third country or international organisation (e.g. using Cloud storage) appropriate or suitable safeguards will be written into the contract.
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
- you have the right to be told if we have made a mistake whilst processing your data and we will self-report breaches to the Commissioner.
How you can access, update or correct your information
The Data Protection Legislation allows you to find out what information is held about you, on paper and computer records. This is known as ‘right of subject access’ and applies to your Housing and Homelessness Services data along with all other personal records.
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 our records free of charge, within a month.
In certain circumstances access to your records may be limited, for example, if the records you have asked for contain information relating to another person.
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:
Housing Options Service
Mid Devon District Council
Phoenix House
Phoenix Lane
Tiverton
EX16 6PP
Email: housingoptions@middevon.gov.uk
Further information
If you would like to know more about how we use your information, or if for any reason you do not wish to have your information used in any of the ways described, please tell us. Contact the Data Protection Officer
You can also complain to the Information Commissioner:
We reserve the right to update this privacy notice from time to time by publishing a new version on our website