Fair processing notices - Social housing and homelessness services

Housing and Homelessness services

Stoke-on-Trent City Council is the data controller for the personal information we hold about you in relation to your application for housing or for assistance with homelessness, your tenancy agreement, your lease agreement, your right-to-buy application, or your tenants' contents insurance.  In order to comply with data protection legislation, we must be sure you understand how we use this information.

We use your personal data to meet our obligations under housing legislation.  We are allowed to do so under data protection law because it is part of or public task.  Article 6(1)(e) of the GDPR allows this.

If you enter into a tenancy agreement with us it is a contract and we will process your data to manage your tenancy under that contract.  Article 6(1)(b) of the GDPR allows data to be processed when it is necessary for the performance of a contract.

Sometimes we need to collect, store or use data which is in the “special categories”.  This is more sensitive information such as your ethnicity or health information.  Article 9(2)(g) of the GDPR allows this as it is in the substantial public interest.  Specifically where we use this type of data for equality monitoring it is allowed under the Data Protection Act 2018, Schedule 1, paragraph 8.  Where we use it because it is necessary to deliver statutory services it is allowed under the Data Protection Act 2018, Schedule 1, paragraph 6.

We will only use or share your data when we are allowed to do so by relevant legislation. We can use your data to:

• process your application for housing in conjunction with the Housing Act 1996 
• process and make investigations in relation to your homeless application in conjunction with the Housing Act 1996
• review your current housing options 
• process your application for the bond scheme or other assistance to help secure private rented accommodation
• help with the management of your tenancy or lease
• help with the collection of rent and service charges
• help with the provision of repairs, maintenance and improvement services
• help Unitas to carry out property maintenance and management services
• help with the management of our estates 
• help with resident involvement and participation methods
• conduct mystery shopping, surveys, audits and performance monitoring in order to facilitate service improvement across housing services
• process your right-to-buy application in connection with the Housing Act (1985)
• process your tenants' contents insurance application and maintain your account
• provide you with further information, updates, and news about related services

Some of your information may also be used:

• for the prevention of homelessness in connection with the Housing Act 1996 (as amended)
• to assist with the collection of money owing to the city council such as rent, council tax, or other sundry debts
• to contact the Department of Works and Pensions when seeking a third party deduction for rent arrears under schedule nine to the Social Security (Claims and Payments) Regulations 1987 or when applying for an alternative payment arrangement of Universal Credit due to rent arrears
• for the prevention and detection of fraud under Digital Economy Act 2017 (part five)
• to establish your entitlement to other financial assistance provided by the city council including residential care and assistance, and education benefits in accordance with Welfare Reform Act 2012 and the Social Security Regulations 2012, and Section 110 of the Education Act 2005
• to safeguard children under the Children Act 1989
• to safeguard adults under the Care Act 2014  
• to help with the delivery and facilitation of housing development and regeneration projects
• Homelessness data will be shared with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government as part of the Homelessness Data England (HDE) project and the Next Steps Accommodation Programme.

You should be aware that we have a duty to protect public funds.  We may therefore use the information we have for the prevention and detection of fraud.  We may share this information with other bodies for these purposes. We may also share this information with other parts of the council or other relevant organisations for purposes which may include enforcement.

We may share data with our internal audit team to evaluate the effectiveness of the organisation’s risk management, control and governance processes.  We may also share your data with the council's fraud team to help to prevent and detect fraud.

We may also share some of your information with other agencies such as:

• Her Majesty’s Revenues and Customs, in accordance with the Welfare Reform Act 2012, and schedule five to the Tax Credits Act 2002
• Government departments such as the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) for research and statistical purposes (click here to view their privacy notice)
• Department for Work and Pensions, under the requirement of the Social Security Administration Act 1992 – section 122D
• other local authorities under the requirement of the Social Security Administration Act 1992 – section 122E
• police in relation to the Crime and Disorder Act 1998, Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 and the Localism Act 2011
• Staffordshire Fire and Rescue in relation to Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005
• Third party companies commissioned to carry out research/customer surveys to establish and improve the quality of services you receive
• third party enforcement agents 
• other housing providers including registered social landlords, charities and private landlords in relation to securing you accommodation
• Unitas in relation to property management and maintenance 
• Citizen’s Advice Bureau (CAB) and Potteries Moneywise for financial support services
• Social care, family intervention, and wellbeing teams
• CAMHS, mental health access team, Disability Solutions, Age UK 
• Louis Taylor estate agents in respect to valuation of your council property as part of the right-to-buy process
• the district valuer in respect to valuation of your council property as part of the right to buy process
• other housing providers including registered social landlords, charities and private landlords in relation to your right-to-buy application
• the armed forces, to verify your service, in relation to your right-to-buy application
• the insurance provider in relation to your tenants' contents insurance
• Achieve Training (Staffordshire) Limited  in relation to Homeworks or Tidy Garden Schemes
• other departments within the council
• other local authorities in the public interest
• other agencies, organisations including those with charitable status, where appropriate, in relation to the delivery of housing-related services
• other Debt Collectors and Tracing Agencies for the recovery of debts in relation to energy/utility debt.

Data held for the administration of your tenancy and rent account is held in accordance with the city council’s retention and disposal policy and schedule.

Data protection legislation provides you with certain rights. Not all of these rights will be available to you in all situations. Where we are under a legal duty to use data for a particular purpose you will not have the right to prevent it being used in that way.

Under data protection law:

• you can ask to see the information that we hold about you
• you can ask what is being done with the information that we hold about you
• you can ask to have some data that we hold about you deleted
• you can ask us to review a decision made about you by a computer, and ask for a new decision to be made without a computer
• you can ask us to stop processing data that we hold about you, but only in limited circumstances, such as processing for research, historical or direct marketing reasons
• you can ask us to make changes to inaccurate data
• you can ask us to move your information somewhere else
• you can ask us to restrict or limit what we do with your data, for example if you believe that data we hold is inaccurate, or you believe the processing in unlawful

If you want to speak to someone about our Housing or Homelessness Services, please contact the Housing Team by phone on 01782 233696 or via email to housing.adviceservices@stoke.gov.uk.  

If you wish to contact us in relation to any of your information rights, please contact the Information Rights Team at foi@stoke.gov.uk or write to: Information Rights Team, , Civic Centre, Glebe Street, Stoke-on-Trent ST4 1HH.

If you wish to complain about how your personal information has been handled by Stoke-on-Trent City Council, please contact the Information Rights Team in the first instance using the details above.  If you are not satisfied you can complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office at: The Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF, Tel: 0303 123 1113 or you can visit their website at ico.org.uk.

You can find details of how we handle your personal information by visiting stoke.gov.uk/dataprotection

For any general enquiries you can contact the council by phone on 01782 234234 or by writing to us at Civic Centre, Glebe Street, Stoke-on-Trent, ST4 1HH.