Housing benefit, council tax support and discretionary housing payments privacy notice

Service description

It is necessary for us to collect and process personal information to work out and award your housing benefit, council tax support, discretionary housing payments, or for getting back money you may owe.

Processing activity

In order to administer housing benefit, council tax support or to award discretionary housing payments, it's necessary for us to collect and hold personal information about you. The information collected and held will vary and depend on the nature of the service.

We will process personal information relating to:

• Administration
• Award of benefits and support
• Recovery of overpayments
• Calculation of entitlement
• Discretionary payments
• Notifications

Information requirements

This may include the following information from you and any other person in your household:

• Name
• Date of birth
• Address
• Email address
• Telephone number
• National Insurance number
• Employer details
• Expenditure details
• Health information
• Income details
• Financial details
• Power of attorney details

Lawful basis

Our lawful bases for processing your personal information are:

• For the performance of a task carried out in the public interest (under the legislation below).
• That it is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation to which the council is subject.

We require the information in order to carry out our duties under the Local Government Finance Act 1992 and associated regulations, including:

• Administration of the council tax reduction scheme under S13A, and Schedule 1a of the Local Government Finance Act 1992 and associated regulations.
• Administration of the Social Security Administration Act 1992.
• Administration of housing benefit under the Housing Benefit Regulations 2006 and associated regulations.
• Administration of discretionary housing payments under the Discretionary Financial Assistance Regulations 2001 and associated regulations.
• The Serious Crime Act 2007 (where needed to disclose information to prevent fraud).

Reasons for processing

Some of the information that is collected is classified as special category personal data, or personal data consisting of criminal convictions and offences (including alleged offences). This is processed for exercising specific rights of the council. We have a data protection policy that sets out how this information will be handled.

Data processors 

We have outsourced some of our services to either joint arrangements with other local authorities, arms length partly owned companies, or private sector companies who provide data on our behalf.

These organisations collect and use personal data on our behalf to provide services. We will need to supply your information to these organisations in order to supply a service to you. These are:

EK Services

A joint administration arrangement with Dover District Council and Thanet District Council; which provides services relating to revenues and benefits, ICT, and manages our contract with Civica UK LTD.

Civica UK Ltd

A private sector company which provides benefit services, income collection services, council tax and business rates administration, collection services and customer contact services.

Data sharing

The law says that we must protect the public funds that we handle. In order to do this we will check some of the information with other sources (for example, HM Revenue and Customs or credit reference agencies) to verify your identity and to ensure that the information you have provided is accurate.

We may also share your information internally with other council departments (where it is in your interests to do so) as well as under legal obligations with partner organisations that inspect or handle public funds, to prevent and detect fraud and error including:

• Other councils
• Government departments such as HM Revenue and Customs, the Department for Work and Pensions and the Cabinet Office (as part of the National Fraud Initiative)
• National Audit Office
• Police
• Credit reference agencies - TransUnion CallCredit, Equifax, LoCTA
• Health and social care organisations
• Registered providers

If you have given us your permission in writing some of your information may be shared with:

• Your landlord,
• A named friend or family member, or
• A support worker or other individual authorised to act on your behalf

We will not share your personal data with third parties for commercial purposes, nor will we use your personal data for marketing products or services without your consent.

We may also rely on a number of exemptions, which allow us to share information without needing to identify a lawful basis for the sharing, and without needing to provide you information about the sharing. Please refer to the Kent and Medway Information Agreement for further details on our sharing arrangements. 

Automated decision making

We may make automated decisions concerning your entitlement, and you have the same rights of appeal as when an officer makes a decision.

We use information received from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) in relation to new awards of, or changes to, DWP benefits in payment, which can automatically amend claimants' entitlement to housing benefit or council tax support.

Some of the data provided by the DWP through their automated transfer to local authority systems is imported electronically into our core benefits systems. Claims are then reassessed without human involvement.

Notification letters (decision notices) to customers and landlords following these reassessments are also generated automatically.

The automation is used for consistency and the efficient processing of claims, and to ensure your current contact details are used so you receive the correct amount of benefit or support. Automated decision making does not affect your rights to seek a review of, or appeal against, a housing benefit or council tax support decision.

See our corporate privacy notice for more information on how we process your personal data. You can also get it in other formats, such as print.