Housing Services Privacy Notice

This Privacy Notice sets out how Powys County Council (PCC) ('we'/'us') collects, uses and shares your personal information for the purposes of performing specific tasks relative to providing housing provision and support services.

Contact details, including name, address, telephone numbers, email address and next of kin.
Identifying information, including date of birth, national insurance number, personal reference numbers relating to your Housing Records.
Images/photographs including photographic ID, CCTV images, images captured through lone working policies
Information about your personal circumstances
Financial, employment and benefit information
Demographic data, which can include information about family members and area lived in
Adoption and Social Services Records
School Records
Caring Responsibilities
Child Care access arrangements
Dependant details
Armed Forces Details
Connection to/employment by a housing association or Powys County Council
Property Ownership
Tenancy Related Information
Vehicle Registration

We will also process the following special category data:

Racial and ethnic origin
Religious beliefs
Nationality and immigration status
Languages Spoken
Sexual orientation
Your mental and physical health
Marital Status
Gender
Criminal convictions and offences

The purposes for which we process your personal information:

Delivering Housing Solutions including, jointly maintaining our Common Housing Register with our Registered Social Landlord partners to accommodate housing need and the allocation of Gypsy and Traveller sites
Prevention and Relief of homelessness
Management of tenancy agreements
Affordable Housing Development
Disabled Facilities Grants and adaptations to properties
Complying with Rent Smart Wales (property and landlord) requirements
Houses in Multiple Occupation/Selective Licensing
Bringing empty properties back into use

Who might we share your personal information with?

From time to time, we will share your personal data with partner organisations and service providers so that they can help us carry out our duties, rights and discretions in relation to the services we provide. Organisations include but are not limited to:

Registered Social Landlords who jointly run the Common Housing Register with the Council
Other Local Authorities
Dyfed Powys Police
Mid & West Wales Fire & Rescue Authority
Probation
Approved contractors
Shelter Cymru
Care & Repair
Support Agencies
The Council Adult Social Care and Children's Services
The Council's Legal services
Debt recovery agencies, in cases of rent arrears
Planning and building regulations
Businesses acting as a Data Processor on behalf of Powys County Council regarding housing functions

We will only share your personal data with third parties where we have an appropriate legal ground under data protection law which permits us to do so (unless you have already provided prior consent).

Where information is shared with other organisations or processed on our behalf, we will ensure adequate protection by ensuring contracts and sharing agreements are in place. These will define the minimum amount of data to be shared, how your information is to be used and will enforce security controls to protect your information.

All council officers are required to undertake relevant training to ensure that personal data is processed in accordance with the principles of data protection legislation.

The Legal Basis (What allows us to process your personal data):

Under the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR), the lawful bases we rely on for processing this information will generally be one or more of the following:

(a) Your consent. For example, collecting your data when you complete a survey or when you enter a competition. You are able to remove your consent (where appropriate) at any time. You can do this by contacting housing@powys.gov.uk.
(b) a contractual obligation. For example, when you and Powys County Council enter into a tenancy agreement
(c) a legal obligation. For example, to fulfil our legal obligations as a Local Authority in line with the Housing (Wales) Act 2014.
(e) our obligation to perform a public task. For example, Social Services and Wellbeing (Wales) Act 2014 places a duty on local authorities to make arrangements to promote co-operation between relevant partners.
(f) a legitimate interest. For example, monitoring satisfaction with our services

For the processing of special category personal information, we rely on:

(g) Reasons of substantial public interest (with a basis in law)

We collect and use information about special category (sensitive) personal data because it is necessary for the purpose of exercising functions under legislation. This includes but is not limited to:

Housing Act 1985/ 1996/ 2004
Housing (Wales) Act 2014
The Allocation of Housing and Homelessness (Eligibility) (Wales) Regulations 2014
Code of Guidance for Local Authorities on Allocation of Accommodation and Homelessness
Licensing of Houses in Multiple Occupation and Other Houses (Miscellaneous Provisions) (Wales) Regulations 2006
The Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996
Regulatory Reform (Housing Assistance) Order 2002
Wellbeing of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015

Due to the sensitive nature of the information we collect, we put safeguards in place to ensure that:

we only gather as much information as we need, and no more;
the information is accurate and kept up-to-date;
the information is only used for the purpose intended;
we keep the information for only as long as is necessary, in line with our retention schedule.

We will not disclose personal information to third parties for marketing purposes or use personal data in a way that may cause unwarranted detriment.

However, there are circumstances where the council is legally required to disclose information:

for the purpose of performing statutory enforcement duties
disclosures required by law
for the purposes of detecting/preventing fraud, including local and national fraud initiatives
auditing/administering public funds

Where might we collect your personal data, if it isn't provided by you?

The ways in which personal data is collected includes, but is not limited to:

Data provided by you on a housing application form, transfer application form, exchange application, or screening form
Data provided by your social worker, carer or doctor
E-mail enquiries
Telephone enquiries
Face to face meetings (with our employees)
Other council departments
Registered Social Landlords
Live Chat
Completing surveys
Entering competitions
Audio/ video recordings made to protect housing staff whilst lone working

How long will we retain your personal information for?

We will only keep your information for the minimum period necessary. After this time, information is deleted/destroyed in accordance with council approved retention schedules. Please see our 'retention schedule' which explains how long we keep information for: Retention and destruction of records

Further Information:

For further information about how we process your personal data, the rights you are entitled to exercise such as the right of access, and the commissioner's contact details, please visit our overarching privacy notice here: Data Protection and Privacy

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Housing Services Privacy Notice

This Privacy Notice sets out how Powys County Council (PCC) ('we'/'us') collects, uses and shares your personal information for the purposes of performing specific tasks relative to providing housing provision and support services.

On this page

Who are we and how are we contacted?

Data Protection Officer (DPO):

What personal information do we process about you?