Accommodation based housing related and floating support and outreach services privacy notice - Privacy notices

The council provides services for communities and the people who live in them.

Undertaking this work means that we must collect and use information about the people we provide services to and keep a record of those services.

As we collect and use personal information about individuals we must make sure that they know what we intend to do with their information and who it may be shared with.

This privacy notice covers the accommodation based housing related and floating support and outreach services commissioned or utilised by the Community Wellbeing Directorate for the prevention of homelessness.

To enable Herefordshire Council to co-ordinate and deliver appropriate and suitable supported accommodation and outreach services offers, we will process the following information:

• Name
• Address
• Contact details including telephone number, email address
• Date of birth
• Relevant personal sensitive information such as religion, ethnicity, disability and health information, education, marital status, offences (including alleged offences), criminal record, employment details
• Family members' information, including any children
• Information relating to any safeguarding concerns
• Financial information including rent position, benefits and debts
• Information relating to your housing status
• Copies of assessments and reports written by third party agencies
• Contact had with you, such as visits and meetings
• Assessments, reports and support and safety plans about you

We receive most of this information from you, but we may also get some of this data from:

• Internal teams at the council
• Commissioned providers who deliver services on the council's behalf.

All personal data held is processed in accordance with data protection law.

The data controller for the information outlined in this privacy notice is Herefordshire Council.

We will collect information about you (where applicable) to:

• Provide you with the service which you or someone else have asked us to provide
• To allow the council to communicate and provide services appropriate to your needs
• Improve delivery and monitor performance of the services
• Assist the council to discharge its duties around homelessness and the allocation of housing
• Enable integrated working with others to ensure you receive the right support at the right time
• Evaluate and quality assure the services we provide, including seeking your feedback on the services you and, where applicable, your family have received

We may also use information in other ways compatible with the above.

The legal basis for processing the data is:

• Article 6(1)(b) - processing is necessary for the performance of a contract
• Article 6(1)(c) - processing is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation to which the council is subject
• Article 6(1)(e) - processing is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority

For special category data, the legal basis is:

• Article 9(2)(a) - the service user has given explicit consent
• Article 9(2)(c) - processing is necessary to protect someone's vital interests (such as to protect someone in an emergency)
• Article 9(2)(g) - processing is necessary for reasons of substantial public interest in that it is necessary to safeguard individuals at risk where there is reasonable cause to suspect that the individual

(a) has needs for care and support,

(b) is experiencing, or at risk of, neglect or physical, mental or emotional harm, and

(c) as a result of those needs is unable to protect himself or herself against the neglect or harm or the risk of it.

The legal obligations for the council on homelessness and the allocation of housing are set out in the following legislation:

• Housing Act 1996 Parts 6 and 7 (as amended)
• Homelessness Act 2002 and
• Homelessness Reduction Act 2017

To successfully deliver the services, we may share your information with all relevant departments within our own authority such as occupational therapists, community brokers, housing and adult social care.

Some services may not be internal to the council and may be completed under contract so we will provide information to the services to enable them to fulfil their contract and provide services to you.

We will not normally share your information with organisations other than our partner organisations without your consent, however, there may be certain circumstances where we would share without consent such as where we are required to do so by law, to safeguard public safety, and in risk of harm or emergency situations.

Any information which is shared will only be shared on a need to know basis, with appropriate individuals. Only the minimum information for the purpose will be shared.

We will only keep your information for the minimum period necessary.

The information outlined in this privacy notice will be kept for the required periods as set out in each individual contract.

All information will be held securely and destroyed under confidential conditions.

Individuals have a number of rights under data protection law, including the right to request their information, please refer to our access to information page.

You also have a right to make a complaint about our handling of your personal data to the Information Commissioner's Office.

If you have any questions or concerns about how your information is used, please contact the Contracts Team in the first instance at Contracts@herefordshire.gov.uk

Information you provide will only be used for the stated purpose. You can find further information about the processing of your data on our data protection page.

You can contact the council's data protection officer by emailing informationgovernance@herefordshire.gov.uk

You can find more information about data protection and how it applies to you on the Information Commissioner's Office website.

Homelessness page