Housing - Privacy policy – Braintree District Council

We will protect and respect your privacy.
This privacy notice covers the information we need to provide housing support and advice.

We need to collect, store and process personal information to assess the housing need and fulfil our duty of care.

We have created this notice to clarify how we:
collect personal data
store personal data
process personal data

We have measures in place to protect your privacy throughout this process.
We are the Data Controller for the personal information you provide.

We hold and process all personal information in line with data protection legislation.

We process your data to assess your housing need and to perform our tasks.

The data we hold about you will include:
titles
names
aliases
photographs
addresses
phone numbers
email addresses
gender
date of birth
age
marital status
nationality
immigration status
current employment status
national insurance number
family make up and dependants
income
benefits
savings
investments
valuable assets
bank account numbers including those of your partner or persons living with you
other relevant information needed to assess your situation, such as your landlord details

We will also keep sensitive or other special categories of personal data such as:
criminal convictions
racial or ethnic origin
mental health
physical health
medication
treatment received
data concerning sexual orientation

We will process your personal data so we can help resolve your housing problem. Your housing problem may or may not mean you are at the risk of becoming homeless.

We will assess your housing application to check:
if you are eligible for social housing
your housing support needs including health and financial

If applicable we will support you in
finding accommodation with a private landlord
resolving any problems that may occur during any tenancy

We have a duty of care under section 17 of the Children Act where we have reached a decision on an application
that we do not owe a housing accommodation duty
that we owed a housing accommodation duty but it has come to an end

We also have a duty of care under adult social care legislation for any assessment if you are a single person.

We process your data on a lawful basis.

We process your data to meet our legal obligations. We need the information you provide to carry our duties under:
the Housing Act 1996 (as amended)
the Homelessness Reduction Act 2018

We process your data where you have given us your explicit consent.

It is important that we hold accurate and up to date information about you. This helps us assess your needs and deliver appropriate services.

You must tell us immediately if any of your details change so that we can update your records.

It is an offence to:
give false statements
withhold information
fail to disclose changes in circumstances

We will not:
make any decisions about you based on automated processing
send your data abroad
store your data abroad

To assess your housing need and support you in resolving your housing problem, we may share your personal information with other departments within the Council other local authorities government departments the Police hospital doctors schools landlords current or previous employers utility companies voluntary services and organisations (listed in the Housing Support Pack) We will check information with other sources to make sure the information you have provided and we hold about you is accurate. If we need to disclose sensitive information, we will only do so: once we have got your explicit consent where we have a legal obligation We may disclose information when necessary to prevent the risk of harm to an individual. We will only disclose information to other organisations if we have a legal duty to release data to: prevent or detect fraud prevent or detect crime protect public funds

We only keep your data for as long as necessary.

We keep your personal information for seven years after we have assessed your housing need and closed your file.

After this time, we destroy your information in a secure way.

You can contact us for full details of how long we keep information and data.

You can read our privacy page to find out: how we maintain the security of your information what rights you have to access your information how to correct or remove your information If you have any questions or want to find out more information you can phone or email our Data Protection Officer. If you are unhappy with how we have processed your personal information, contact the Information Commissioner's Office.

Data Protection Officer
Braintree District Council
Causeway House
Bocking End
Braintree CM7 9 HB
01376 552525
DPO@braintree.gov.uk