We keep the Household Support Fund Privacy Notice under review. It was last reviewed and updated in May 2022.
If you have any questions about this Privacy Notice contact the council’s Data Protection Officer.
View the Privacy and transparency information for all of the City of York Council (CYC).
- personal data
- collecting personal data
- using personal data
- sharing personal data
- our legal basis for using personal data
- retaining personal data
- further processing of personal data
- personal data in Emails
- your rights relating to personal data
Personal data
We may collect and use the following personal data:
- name and address
- National Insurance number
- date of birth
- telephone numbers
- income for you and your household
- your characteristics (including gender, language and ethnicity)
- where appropriate, relevant medical information for you and/or your household
- any additional personal information that's necessary for us to assess your application and provide you with the service you require
- details of any previous and current involvement with specialist services
- details of your bank or building society
If we need any other details to assess your application for the Household Support Fund, we will ask you for this and explain why we need it.
See further details about how we define personal data and non-personal data.
Collecting personal data
We may monitor and record electronic communications (website, email and phone conversations) for a number of reasons such as staff training or to have an accurate record of conversations. We will inform you if your call is being recorded or monitored.
We will ensure you know if you have a choice about giving us information.
We ask that you:
- give us accurate information
- tell us as soon as possible of any changes
- tell us as soon as possible if you notice mistakes in the information we hold about you
See further details about the steps we take when we collect your personal data.
Using personal data
We collect and use your personal data including special categories of personal data for the following purposes:
- to consider your eligibility, process and make a decision on your application for Household Support Fund
- to consider your eligibility and, if appropriate, make an award for York Financial Assistance Scheme, Discretionary Council Tax Reduction or Discretionary Housing Benefit
- from time to time and if we have your consent, we may ask you to take part in a survey to get your feedback, comments and opinions to help us improve our services
- to provide presentations and reports for example statistical and demographic information to evaluate the service. Any information we use in presentations or reports will be anonymised and will not identify any individuals
See further details about how we use your personal data.
Sharing personal data
Where you have provided details of a support worker, adviser or other person supporting you and given us your permission, we may discuss your application and information provided with them.
Where an award is made, goods or items are provided through a third party supplier. If an award is made we will pass your contact details and other information needed for the supply of the award to our third party supplier.
We will:
- protect your data and make sure nobody has access to it who shouldn’t
- only share your personal data with other City Of York Council departments or with external partners, agencies and contractors involved in delivering services on our behalf
- make sure we don’t keep it for longer than is necessary
- delete or destroy it securely when we no longer have a need to keep it
We will share your information with services who offer social welfare support, information and advice where we have your explicit consent to do this. For example, other council services, such as Benefits and Contributions Advisors, Local Area Coordinators and external organisations.
To find out more about what we do with your information when Customer Service refers you onto another council service see CYC service privacy notices and for other advice and support services, see Sharing information with advice providers.
Your personal data will only be shared with someone we know is acting on your behalf when we have your prior consent to do this.
If you wish to withdraw your consent to share your information please contact the Benefits Team.
Sharing data under Data Protection legislation
We may be required or permitted, under data protection legislation, to disclose your personal data without your explicit consent, for example if we have a legal obligation to do so, such as for:
- law enforcement
- fraud investigations
- regulation and licensing
- criminal prosecutions
- court proceedings
We must protect public funds and may use personal data and data-matching techniques to detect and prevent fraud, collect taxes and ensure public money is targeted and spent in the most appropriate and cost-effective way. To do this, your personal data may be shared with other bodies responsible for auditing or administering public funds, including the Department for Work and Pensions, HM Revenue and Customs, the Police and other local authorities.
Our legal basis for collecting and sharing personal data
We collect and use your information because you are asking us to consider your application for the Household Support Fund. We may not be able to do this, if you do not provide us with this information.
We will only use your information in accordance with data protection legislation, and for the purposes stated in this privacy notice.
We will ask for your explicit consent to contact you in the future for your feedback or to take part in a survey about this service.
If you wish to withdraw your consent to share your information please contact the Benefits Team.
Retaining personal data
We will keep your information for 7 years after your last contact with us and then we will securely and confidentially delete or destroy it.
At the end of the retention period, we may pass any relevant information to the City Archives where it is required or appropriate to do so.
Further processing of personal data
If we wish to use your personal data for a new purpose, not covered by this Privacy Notice, then we'll provide you with a new notice.
The new notice will:
- explain this new use before we start the processing
- set out the relevant purposes and processing conditions
Where and whenever necessary, we'll seek your consent to the new processing, if we start to use your personal data for a purpose not mentioned in this Privacy Notice.
See further details about the further processing of personal data.
Personal data in Emails
See further details about how we process any of your personal data contained within emails.
Your rights relating to personal data
When we collect your personal data we'll tell you how we are going to use it. Where we process your personal data, you have a number of rights under data protection law.
See further details of your rights relating to personal data.