This privacy notice relates to the following pages:

What will you use my data for?

The personal data that you provide will be used to assess your entitlement to Housing Benefit and/or Council Tax Reduction and/or a Discretionary Housing Payment; the legal basis for this processing is contained within the Social Security Administration Act 1992, the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992, the Local Government Finance Act 1992 and the Discretionary Financial Assistance Regulations 2001.

Automated Processing

The information we collect from you is usually processed by an individual, however there are occasions when an automated decision may be made, but any changes to your Housing Benefit and/or Council Tax Reduction and/or Discretionary Housing Payment, will be notified to you.

Why do you need my data?

In order to assess your entitlement to Housing Benefit and/or Council Tax Reduction and/or a Discretionary Housing Payment, we need to undertake a means test and therefore we will collect information about your income, your savings and capital, your partner if you have one, income details and circumstances of other people who reside in the property with you.  You can choose not to provide the information which we request but if you do so, we will be unable to determine if you are entitled to Housing Benefit and/or Council Tax Reduction and/or a Discretionary Housing Payment. 

Who do you collect information from?

We also collect information about you from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), Her Majesty’s Revenues and Customs (HMRC), other local authorities, other council departments and in some cases your landlord provided the law allows us to do so.  We may also obtain information from credit reference agencies if we are allowed to do so, for the purpose of preventing and detecting fraud.

Who do you share my information with?

We share your information with other council departments, for example Electoral Services to allow them to complete their statutory duties (as laid out in Regulations 23, 35 and 35A of the Representation of the People (England and Wales) Regulations 2001). We also share your information with the DWP, HMRC, your landlord where the law allows us to do this or if you have given your permission and other local authorities if relevant.  We may also use and credit reference agencies for the purpose of preventing and detecting fraud where the law allows us to do so.

How long will you keep my data?

We will be implementing new functionality which will enable us to delete your data in accordance with our retention policy, which says we will keep your data for 6 years after your claim has been closed, however there may be circumstances where we need to keep your data longer, for example if you have been overpaid and owe us money. This functionality is currently being implemented.

Your rights

You are entitled to request a copy of any information about you that we hold. Any such requests should be made in writing.   If the information we hold about you is inaccurate, you have a right to have this corrected, and you have the right to request completion of incomplete data.

You have the right to request that we stop, or restrict the processing of your personal data, in certain circumstances. Where possible, we will seek to comply with your request, but we may be required to hold or process information to perform our statutory functions.

You can find further details on our website www.warwickdc.gov.uk under privacy notices.

If you have any worries or questions about how your personal information is handled, please contact our Data Protection Officer at DPO@warwick.gov.uk.

For independent advice about data protection, privacy and data sharing issues, you can contact the Information Commissioner at:

Information Commissioner's Office

Wycliffe House 
Water Lane 
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF

Tel: 0303 123 1113 (local rate) or 01625 545 745 if you prefer to use a national rate number. Alternatively, visit ico.org.uk or email casework@ico.org.uk