Privacy notices

Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council privacy notices.

Guide contents

Housing Options - Homeless Team

This Privacy Notice is designed to help you understand how and why the Housing Options 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 Housing Options Team has statutory responsibility for providing housing advice and assistance to residents and assessing homelessness applications in line with relevant legislation for residents who are or who could be threatened with homelessness.

What personal information do we collect?

The types of personal information collected include:

  • Personal information such as name, address, contact details, date of birth, language, gender, marital status, national insurance number 
  • Proof of housing eligibility (including photo ID and immigration status)
  • Ethnicity or ethnic origin 
  • Religious or philosophical belief 
  • Sexual orientation 
  • Information about your next of kin or another advocate/representative 
  • Health data, including GP details, NHS number and medical diagnosis
  • Family information, such as any dependent children or other members of your household
  • Residential status, such as property ownership details, the type of tenancy you hold, your landlords contact details, details of any rental arrears, details of any notices to quit or legal eviction notices including their expiry dates
  • Financial information, such as your income and expenditure to assess affordability, income sources, employment and benefits information 
  • Information about other services involved and your involvement with the, for example criminal justice agencies, armed forces, recovery services, environmental health, benefits, mental health services. 
  • Your housing situation and the homelessness support you require. 

Why do we collect your personal information? 

We may use your information for the following reasons:

  • To enable us to carry out the legal duties for which we are responsible as a Local Authority
  • To assess and gain a full understanding of your housing situation by gathering information from a wide variety of partner agencies to establish eligibility for accommodation.
  • To establish if you have a priority need to be provided with emergency accommodation
  • Managing your temporary accommodation provision where you are accommodated in a provision paid for by the service 
  • To make referrals to appropriate support services 
  • To support you if eligible in obtaining long term accommodation 
  • To provide you with the information, advice and support you need
  • To work with charities and not-for-profit groups who have an interest in reducing homelessness in the borough and to commission appropriate services. 
  • To help us assess the effectiveness of our services and to plan and improve future services. 

Who do we obtain your information from?

We collect personal information from you directly, for example online or in person. We may also obtain information from third parties such as other Council services, landlords, DWP, Probation, Police, NHS, Councillors or MPs, charities or other service providers. 

Who do we share this information with?

The legislation places duties on authorities and emphasises the need for joint working between authorities, social services, and other statutory, voluntary and private sector partners in tackling homelessness more effectively. 

You information may be shared with the following types of organisations/services:

  • Other Council services or groups directly involved with or working with an applicant 
  • Social or private rented landlords to work jointly to resolve a homelessness situation
  • Government agencies such as the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC)
  • Multi-Agency Meetings built around an applicant to share information across involved agencies to resolve your homelessness/housing situation
  • Health services 
  • Other Local Authorities
  • Emergency services 
  • Commissioned service providers 
  • Local hotels, B&Bs or accommodation providers 
  • Utility companies, charities, furniture suppliers etc 

The Council works with third parties to deliver certain services or carry out functions on our behalf. We may share your information with these third parties for any of the purposes detailed in this privacy notice. We will always ensure that your information is kept secure, only used for these purposes, and not disclosed further unless required by law. 

How long do we keep your information for?

Your information will be kept for a period of 6 years after the date of closure of your cases and then will be securely destroyed. 

What is our lawful basis for processing your information?

We process your personal information under the following lawful bases: 

  • UK GDPR Article 6(1)(c) – for compliance with the legal and statutory duties the Council is subject to under the legalisation as below
  • UK GDPR Article 6(1)(d) – to protect your vital interests or those of another person
  • UK GDPR Article 6(1)(e) – for the performance of our public task. 

Where the information we process is special category data, the lawful bases we rely on are:

  • UK GDPR Article 9(2)(b) – Employment, social security or social protection 
  • UK GDPR Article 9(2)(c) – to protect your vital interests or those of another person where you are incapable of giving your consent 
  • UK GDPR Article 9(2)(g) – reasons of substantial public interest (with a basis in law)
  • UK GDPR Article 9(2)(h) – for the provision of health and social care 
  • DPA 2018 Schedule 1 Part 1 – Health or social care purposes 
  • DPA 2018 Schedule 1 Part 2 – (8) equality of opportunity or treatment, (18) safeguarding of children and individuals at risk and (19) safeguarding of economic well-being of certain individuals 

The legislation includes:

  • Housing Act 1996
  • Homelessness Act 2002
  • Homelessness (Priority Need for Accommodation) England Order 2002
  • Homeless Reduction Act 2017
  • Homelessness Code of Guidance 

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 contact 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.