The following privacy notice applies to Housing Benefit & Council Tax Support.

It explains how personal information is going to be used, what it is used for, who it might be shared with and why and for how long it is to be kept.

• Contact details (including telephone numbers and email address)
• Identification details (including National Insurance Number, passport, driving licence, birth certificate, marriage certificate, utilities)
• Financial data (including income, savings, capital and expenditure, benefit entitlement status)
• Immigration status (based on entitlement to benefit within the UK)
• We sometimes need information about people other than the person who has applied for a benefit or service to work out what that person is entitled to. For example, where a person makes a claim for Housing Benefit, we need information about other people who live in the same household to work out how much the person will be paid

• Deliver services and support to you
• Manage those services we provide to you
• Train and manage the employment of our workers who deliver those services
• Help investigate any worries or complaints you have about your services
• Keep track of spending on services
• Check the quality of services
• Prevent and detect fraud in the use of public funds

Crawley Borough Council (CBC) is registered as a Data Controller with The Information Commissioner’s Office (Registration Number Z5327706).

The council complies with The Data Protection Act 2018 and the GDPR.

We ensure that your personal data is processed fairly, kept safe and secure and retained for no longer than is necessary.

The Data Protection Officer (DPO) for CBC is the Head of Governance, People & Performance. If you have any concerns or questions about how we look after your personal information, email dpo@crawley.gov.uk.

• Processing is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation
• 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 controller

We pass data to:

• Internal departments
• Other local authorities (where permitted by legislation)
• Central Government (where permitted by legislation)
• Other third-party organisations, as allowed by law
• Other partner agencies that provide services on our behalf
• Agencies with whom we have a duty to co-operate, such as the police
• Housing Associations
• Department for Work and pension
• HM Court Services

We will not share data with third-parties for marketing purposes.

For benefits processing this will be for the duration of the claim (or linked claims) and/or until all outstanding actions such as overpayment recovery or appeals have taken place plus an additional 6 years for accounting purposes.

You have the right to:

• Be informed of data processing (which is covered by this Privacy Notice)
• Access your personal information (known as a Subject Access Request)
• Have inaccuracies corrected
• Have information erased
• Restrict processing
• Data portability
• Intervention in respect of automated decision making/profiling
• Withdraw Consent (see below)
• Complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (See below)

To exercise any of these rights please contact the Data Protection Officer.

The lawful basis upon which CBC process personal data is set out in this notice.  However, where personal data is solely processed on the basis of consent, you will have the right to withdraw that consent.

If you have any worries or questions about how your personal information is handled please contact our Data Protection Officer.

For independent advice about data protection, privacy and data rights, you can contact the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO):

• Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire DK9 5AF
• Tel:  0303 123 1113 (local rate) or 01625 545 745 if you prefer to use a national rate number
• Visit ico.org.uk
• Email casework@ico.org.uk