Welfare rights service privacy notice
Your Personal Information and how we use it
Sunderland City Council's Welfare Rights Service needs to collect information about you to help us provide you with the best possible service advice.
We will only use information collected lawfully in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and future UK Data Protection legislation.
We will not use any information we hold about you for any purpose other than that for which it was collected, unless we have obtained your consent beforehand.
What information do we collect?
We collect information about you and your needs, including financial circumstances. This enables us to provide the advice and support that you require. This information may be recorded in writing, or electronically on a computer, or a mixture of both.
The type of information we will or may collect:-
- Personal information (such as name and address, next of kin)
- Your assessed care and support needs
- Health conditions
- Appropriate financial information including your creditors
- Information from medical practitioners - such as GP's and Consultants.
- Information from Government Departments like the Department of Work and Pension
- Information from HMCTS (Her Majesty's Court and Tribunal Service)
- Information from Employers
- Information from ACAS
- Information from Inland Revenue Information from Landlords and Social Housing providers
How is the information we collect used to help you?
The information we collect may be used to help you in the following ways:
- Welfare Rights Advisers need accurate information about you to assess your needs, and to plan and deliver the support you require
- To assess the type and quality of advice you have received
- To safeguard you against abuse
- To ensure any concerns can be properly investigated if you are unhappy with the advice you have received
- To present information and argument in support of you in relation to Social Security legislation, Employment legislation, Debt advice and Housing Rights.
- Identify issues that have may have a large scale impact on a wider group of people and report those issues via research and reports without disclosing your own personal identity
Do we share information about you with anyone?
There are times when it will be appropriate for us to share relevant information with other agencies to help us work together for your benefit. We may share your information with the following main partners, and they may share it with us to support your care:
- GPs
- NHS Authorities
- Sunderland Care and Support
- Independent Providers of Social Care
- Department of Health
- Department of Work and Pensions
- Her Majesty's Court and Tribunal Service
- Employers
- ACAS
- Inland Revenue
- Landlords and social housing providers
We do not share information about you with anyone without your consent unless the law requires or allows us to do so. We will always seek your positive consent to share information if there is no other legal basis to share.
In all cases where we must pass on information, we will only share the minimum amount of information required and will use the most secure method to transfer; wherever possible data will be pseudonymised (i.e. does not identify you personally) or encrypted.
The lawful basis on which we use this information
We need to collect and use your personal data in order to deliver the most appropriate advisory service to you, and to comply with the GDPR provisions in relation to the advice we provide regarding The Welfare Reform Act 2012 and all other social security legislation and regulation, Employment Rights Act - Equality Act 2012 and all other legislation in relation to employment and associated rights, The Consumer Rights Act 2015 and all other legislation in relation to debt advice and The Housing Act 2016 - predecessors and all other legislation in relation to housing law.
Our lawful basis for processing is therefore as we are carrying out a task in the public interest as defined by Article 6(1)(e) of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), and also to deliver the contract between us as the advisers and you as the client as defined by Article 6(1)(b).
Some of the information we may need to hold is classed as special category information - primarily ethnicity and any health conditions. Our lawful basis for processing this data is provided by Article 9(2)(a) of GDPR - we will not process this information without your consent.
How we look after your information
All information is held securely with physical, organisational and electronic access controls to ensure it is secure both at rest and when in transit.
How long we will look after your information
We will keep information in line with Sunderland City Council's Retention Schedule for Welfare Rights, and we will only keep it as long as we need it. When we no longer need your information it will be destroyed securely by deletion of electronic records and shredding of paper files.
Requesting access to your personal data
You can find out if we hold any personal information about you by making a 'subject access request' under the General Data Protection Regulation.
In addition, you have the right to request the rectification or erasure of your personal data, and to object to, or request restriction of, processing your data.
If you have any concern about the way we are collecting or using your personal information, we request that you raise your concern with us in the first instance.
Alternatively, you can contact the Information Commissioner's Office at
Further information
https://www.sunderland.gov.uk/data-protection
Contact Us
Data Protection Officer, Sunderland City Council, City Hall, Plater Way, Sunderland, SR1 3AA
Email: Data.Protection@sunderland.gov.uk or Tel: 0191 520 5555
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