Privacy notices

Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council privacy notices.

Guide contents

Complaints privacy notice

This Privacy Notice is designed to help you understand how and why the Complaints Team processes your personal data. This notice should be read in conjunction with the Council’s Corporate Privacy Notice.

Who are we? 

Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council is a ‘Data Controller’ as defined by Article 4(7) of the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR). The Complaints Team coordinates and oversees complaints about Council services. It records and assesses complaints, liaises with the relevant service areas to investigate the issues raised, communicates outcomes, and monitors complaint information to support service improvement.

What personal information do we collect?

We may collect the following personal information:

  • Name, postal address, telephone number and email address
  • Family member or advocate details (if relevant or they are acting on your behalf)
  • Details of the complaint/incident 
  • Other information relating to the complaint e.g. financial information 
  • Photos/videos where you have provided these 

We may also collect special category data such as:

  • Race or ethnic origin
  • Religious or philosophical belief
  • Sex life or sexual orientation
  • Data concerning health conditions or disabilities you may have. 

We will only collect the minimum data necessary to enable us to investigate and respond to your complaint. 

Why do we collect your personal information? 

The information you provide will be used to respond to your enquiries or problems; provide a service you have requested or to investigate a complaint you have made. We will also use your data, without identifying you, to manage our performance and internal service planning. 

Who do we obtain your information from?

Your personal information is collected directly from you or your representative, via online forms, handwritten complaint forms, by email, by phone and/or letters received through the post. Information may also be obtained from other council services when investigating your complaint. 

Should your complaint relate to someone else, we will be required to contact them to gain their consent for you to act on their behalf, if it is not already recorded on our case management system. 

Who do we share this information with?

Your information will be used within the Council to respond to your complaints. If your complaint involves a third party, such as the NHS, Police or contracted service provider, we may need to share your information with them in order to investigate your complaint and provide a resolution. 

Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council is listed as an authority which can be investigated by the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO) under Section 25 of the Location Government Act 1974. We are required under Section 29 of the Act to furnish the LGSCO with any information they may require. This may include the Council producing documents containing your personal information to assist with the LGSCO investigation. 

We may share Statutory Complaint data with external Investigating Officers, Independent Persons or the LGSCO, where appropriate. This helps to fully understand a customer’s situation and allows for an independent assessment and decision on the complaint. 

We may also share your personal information when we feel there is a good reason that is more important than protecting your privacy. This does not happen often, but we may share information to protect a child, to protect adults who are though to be at risk, in order to find and stop crime and fraud, or if there are serious risks to the public, staff or to other professionals. 

How long do we keep your information for?

Your personal information is held in line with the Council’s retention schedule and destroyed securely when no longer required. 

Data held Retention period
Corporate Complaints 6 years
Children’s Statutory Complaints Retain from date of birth of child for 75 years
Adult Social Care Complaints 6 years
Complaints made to the LGSCO 10 years 
Service Requests 3 years 

What is our lawful basis for processing your information?

Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council relies on the following lawful basis to process your personal data:

  • UK GDPR Article 6(1)(c) Legal obligation: the processing is necessary for us to comply with the law
  • UK GDPR Article 6 (1) (e) - processing is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest
  • UK GDPR Article 9(2)(g) – processing is necessary for reasons of substantial public interest with processing meeting Schedule 1, Part 2 of the Data Protection Act 2018 as below:
    •  (6) Statutory and government purposes

The legislations, policies and guidance that relate to this service includes, but is not limited to:

  • Local Government Act 1974
  • Children Act 1989 Representations Procedure (England) Regulations 2006
  • Local Authority Social Services and National Health Service Complaints (England) Regulations 2009
  • LGSCO Complaint Handling Code 

Your Rights

You have a number of rights that you may exercise in relation to your personal data. Some of the rights do not apply automatically and may not be available in certain circumstances where a lawful exception applies. 

You have a right to access your personal data. You can request a copy of personal data that we hold about you and ask us to explain how we use your data. 

You have a right to object to processing of your personal data. You have an absolute right to stop your data being used for direct marketing. In other cases where the right to object applies, we may be able to continue using your data if we have a compelling reason for doing so. 

If we are relying on consent as the lawful basis to process your data you can withdraw your consent at any time, and we will stop further processing. 

  • You have a right to request the restriction or suppression of your personal data. 
  • You have a right to have your personal data erased, if we no longer have a legitimate use for it. This right is sometimes called the ‘right to be forgotten’. 
  • You have a right to rectification of your personal data if the information we hold in relation to you is inaccurate or incomplete. 
  • You have a right not to be subject to any decision based solely on automated processing, including profiling, which produces legal or similarly significant effects. You can request human intervention or challenge any solely automated decision-making that significantly affects you. 

The Council has appointed a Data Protection Officer. Their contact details are:

Data Protection Officer

Redcar and Cleveland House

Kirkleatham Street

Redcar

TS10 1RT 

You can get in touch the team by emailing: InformationGovernance@redcar-cleveland.gov.uk or by calling 01642 774774.

If you would like to request access to your personal data or exercise any of your other data protection rights, please contact the Information Governance Team:

Information Governance 

Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council

Redcar and Cleveland House

Kirkleatham Street

Redcar

TS10 1RT 

Email: InformationGovernance@redcar-cleveland.gov.uk 

Telephone: 01642 774 774 

 

You can seek advice and have the right to make a complaint to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). The ICO is an independent body set up to uphold information rights in the UK. You can contact them through the ICO website www.ico.org.uk, their helpline on 0303 123 1113, or in writing to:

Information Commissioner’s Office

Wycliffe House

Water Lane

Wilmslow

Cheshire

SK9 5AF 

For more information about how the Council uses your data, including your privacy rights and the complaints process, please see our Corporate Privacy Notice.