Who are we?

The Council is a local authority providing a broad range of local government services, including Council Tax billing, social services, processing planning applications, waste collection etc. 

The Council is a registered data controller with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), registration number Z7517364.

The following information informs you about what we do with your information when you are in contact with Adult’s Care and Support.

How we use your personal information

Under the Care Act 2014 local authorities have a statutory obligation to provide relevant social care services for:

• service delivery
• service planning/improvement

We need this information to do things like:

• help us decide if you need any ongoing social care services
• use this information to meet and manage any ongoing social care needs
• check the quality of the services you receive
• investigate if we have concerns about your safety or you are reporting concerns about another person’s safety
• look into complaints you have about your services
• keep track of the spending on your services
• detect and prevent fraud or crime
• help with service delivery and planning, for example training of staff.

We may also use your data for the prevention or detection of fraud/crime or research. When it is for research purposes it will be anonymised data only.  This means that no one will be able to identify you from the anonymised data.

In order to provide you with support the Council has to process certain personal about you. The processing of your information includes the collection, use, sharing (if appropriate), retention and destruction of your information.

The information we collect includes:

• Name​
• Address​
• Date of Birth​
• Contact Details (Phone/email)​
• Details of disability/ impairment/ vulnerability​
• GP details​
• Information about your care and support needs​
• Information about your mental capacity​
• Next of kin details​
• Benefits details​
• Financial details​

We may also ask you to provide further information to allow us to provide a more suitable or appropriate service to meet your needs. This information may include:

• Marital status​
• Gender​
• Ethnicity​
• Sexual orientation​
• Religious beliefs​
• Details of your accommodation​
• National Insurance number​
• Safeguarding enquires that have been completed
• Adaptations or equipment you have​
• Informal carers information​
• Whether someone holds POA/LPOA/deputyship or appointeeship for you​
• Housing status​
• Bank or building society details​
• Professionals involved in your care.

Use of your NHS Number in Adult Social Care

If you are receiving support from adult social care then the NHS may share your NHS number with us. In this way we are able to work together to improve your care and support.  Your NHS Number will be used across a number of support services, including GPs, hospitals, community matrons, district nurses and social care practitioners.

Lawful basis for processing your personal information

The Council has to have a lawful reason to process your information.  As such the Council will process your application as follows: 

Article 6.1(c) Legal Obligation​ – processing is necessary for the performance with a legal obligation to which the Council is subject.

Article 6.1(e) Public Task​ – 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.

Where we  record special category data, the condition for processing this is:​

Article 9(h) Health or Social Care & (i) Public Health

Article 9(c) Processing is necessary to protect vital interests of the data subject or of another natural person where the data subject is physically or legally incapable of giving consent.

Data Protection Act 2018

Safeguarding of children and of individuals at risk (Sch 1, para 18): “Processing is necessary for the purposes of protecting a child or vulnerable adult from neglect or physical, mental or emotional harm + processing is necessary in substantial public interest + the data subject does not consent because:

Processing conditions for special category data - Safeguarding the economic wellbeing of vulnerable adults (Sch 1, para 19): “Processing is necessary for the purposes of protecting the economic well-being of an individual at economic risk who is aged 18 or over + the data concerns health + is necessary for reasons of substantial public interest and consent cannot be obtained (same reasons as para 18).”

These legal bases are underpinned by acts of legislation that dictate what actions can and should be taken by local authorities, including:

• the Health and Social Care Act, 2015
• the Children’s Act, 1989
• the Localism Act, 2011
• the Data Protection Act, 2018
• the Human Rights Act, 1998
• the Mental Health Act, 1983 (Amended 2007)
• the Mental Capacity Act, 2005
• the Homelessness Reduction Act, 2017

Protecting your personal information

The Council endeavours to ensure that the services we provide comply with all data protection legislation, for example, the UK General Data Protection Regulations (UK GDPR), and the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA 2018). 

The Council has appropriate security and controls in place to prevent data loss, for example, hacking attempts, however, we cannot guarantee that the personal information you submit will not be intercepted.

Sharing your personal information

We may share your information with:​

• advocates, deputies, legal power of attorney
• borough councils, housing associations and landlords
• Solicitors
• Cabinet Members
• Central Government
• DWP
• Family members and carers
• external providers
• Health agencies​
• Police​Fire brigade​
• Care providers and care homes​
• Drug and alcohol services​
• Probation and courts​
• Specialist contractors​
• Schools/ Education Providers

We may also share your information with internal departments including:​

• Legal Services​
• Financial Service​
• Fraud Prevention​
• Children Social Care

The Council has a statutory obligation to collect your personal data, which means we do not need to ask for your permission to collect and share it. However, we will only share the minimum amount of your data on a basis of need, in line with legislation and will work transparently with you at all times.

If you do not provide your data, it will limit the effectiveness of the services and support that we are able to offer you.

Retaining your personal information

The Council will only keep your information for as long as is necessary, for the minimum amount of time, for the purpose it was collected, and in line with statutory and/or business requirements.

Accomadation support	6 years after no longer in receipt of service​
Case management	6 years after no longer in receipt of service
Community living and disability support	6 years after no longer in receipt of service
Mental health support	20 years after end of treatment or service provision or 8 years after death​
Safeguarding and vulnerable adult protections support	6 years after no longer in receipt of service

International Transfer of personal information

Information will not be transferred internationally.

Automated decision-making

Adult Care and Support will never make automated decisions using your data.

In order to improve the services we provide to residents, we use your information in different ways, this is known as data analytics. We bring together information from a range of services and sometimes partner organisations to understand more about the needs of those living in the borough.

To find out more about how we use information for data and predictive analytics please visit our General Privacy notice page.

Cookies and your Individual Rights

To learn more about cookies and your Individual Rights, or how to raise a concern, please go to our General Privacy notice page

Review

This Privacy Notice was reviewed 6 July 2021 and will be reviewed annually or as required (legislation update etc)

National data opt-out programme

National data opt out programme web page