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This privacy notice relates to the Castle Point Borough Council housing management system. It applies to information provided by post, email, telephone and the online Castle Point Borough account accessible via www.Castlepoint.gov.uk
2.1 The data controller
The data controller for the Castle Point Borough Council housing management system is:
Castle Point Borough Council
Council Offices
Kiln Road
Thundersley
Benfleet
Essex
SS7 1TF
We will store the data in our housing management system and restrict access according to our data security policies.
2.2 Personal data
The personal data we would like to collect from you is the information that we ask for during the application process. We will use this data for the following purposes:
• To provide a self-service account for you to access housing services;
• To create a customer record that allows us to link details of service requests to your information.
• To manage your homelessness application, if you make one.
• To manage your housing application, if you make one.
• To manage your offer of housing, if we make one.
• To manage your tenancy, if you accept an offer of housing.
2.3 Legal basis
The processing is necessary so that we can create an account at your request; or in order for us to provide a service that you have requested. For homelessness applications, data protection law describes our legal basis as performance of a task carried out in the public interest. For housing applications data protection law describes our legal basis as necessary for the performance of a contract.
If you do not provide the information we ask for we may not be able to provide the service that you need.
We may need to collect special categories of personal data in order to assess your eligibility for housing. Data protection law describes this exemption as being of substantial public interest.
2.4 Consent
We do not need your consent to collect or process your personal information in relation to the council’s housing management system. This is because we need the information to provide you with the services that you have requested.
2.5 Disclosure
Castle Point Borough Council may pass on your personal data to third parties for the purposes of detecting or preventing fraud or other crime, or if it is necessary to provide the service that you have requested. These organisations may include Essex County Council, Essex Police, the Department of Work and Pensions, or any other organisation where we are required by law to share information.
The Council has a data processing contract with Civica whose systems will hold your data in a secure location in the UK, hosted by trusted partners.
They are only permitted to process your data in accordance with our written instructions in order to provide you with the services you need.
If you bid for homes managed by landlords other than Castle Point Borough Council we will pass your details to that landlord so that they can manage any offer of housing.
2.6 Retention period
Castle Point Borough Council will process personal data for the period it takes to provide you with the service that you have requested. We will keep your data for a period of seven years after your account was last active. If you become a council tenant we will keep your data for as long as you remain a tenant, and for up to seven years afterwards.
2.7 Automated processing
We use software systems to analyse your application and assess your priority banding. We also use an automated system to rank bids for properties according to priority. If you believe your priority banding or ranking is wrong you can ask us to check it manually.
2.8 Your rights as a data subject
You have the right:
• to request a copy of the information that we hold about you;
• to correct data that we hold about you that is inaccurate or incomplete;
• in certain circumstances you can ask for the data we hold about you to be erased from our records;
• where certain conditions apply to have a right to restrict the processing;
• in some circumstances, to have the data we hold about you transferred to another organisation;
• to object to certain types of processing such as direct marketing;
• to ask us to reconsider any automated decisions;
• to complain if we refuse a request you may make using these rights and you are not happy with our reason.
We may refer any request you may make using these rights to another organisation, if they have been involved in processing your personal data.
2.9 Complaints
If you are unhappy about how we are handling your personal data you can complain to the Data Protection Officer. You can also complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office.
The details for each of these contacts are:
Data Protection Officer, Civic Governance & Law, Castle Point Borough Council, Council Offices, Kiln Road, Thundersley, Benfleet, Essex, SS7 1TF, legal@castlepoint.gov.uk
Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, United Kingdom, SK9 5AF, casework@ico.org.uk or 01625 545745
This privacy notice was last updated on 14/08/2020.
You can find more information about how we use personal information and your rights at www.Castlepoint.gov.uk.