Housing Solutions and Homelessness privacy notice

We ask that you read this privacy notice carefully as it contains important information on:

• who we are
• how and why we collect, store, use and share personal information
• your rights in relation to your personal information
• how to contact us and supervisory authorities if you have a complaint

Who we are

The Housing Solutions and Homelessness Teams are part of the council’s housing service. We provide support to households who want to join our housing register and or need advice and support because they are homeless or at risk of homelessness.

We work jointly with other council services and organisations to deliver appropriate services to households and support future development of affordable homes for local people.

Our address is: Dorset Council, County Hall, Colliton Park, Dorchester, DT1 1XJ

Our email contacts are:

Housing solutions team: dorsethomechoice@dorsetcouncil.gov.uk

Housing advice and homeless team: housinghelp@dorsetcouncil.gov.uk

The personal information we hold

We collect, use and are responsible for certain personal information about you. When we do this, we are regulated under the General Data Protection Regulation which applies across the European Union (including in the United Kingdom) and we are responsible as ‘controller’ of that personal information for the purposes of those laws.

The personal data collected may include the following:

• name
• date of birth
• gender
• relationship status
• religion
• nationality
• pets
• telephone and mobile numbers
• email address
• third party contact information
• address history for the last 5 years from date of approach including landlord details
• national Insurance Number
• household makeup including children
• information about your health and that of your household
• income including benefit entitlement
• involvement of other agencies i.e. Children’s Services or Adult Social Services
• income and expenditure information
• identification
• proof of any disabilities
• proof of savings/stocks and shares
• bank/building society/credit union statements
• pay slips
• address history of immediate family members e.g. parents, siblings, and nondependent children
• support needs of the household
• referrals to organisations or agencies you have provided consent for us to contact
• information about your mortgage
• information about any property that you own
• outstanding debts including statements
• legal action concerning your current or previous home
• criminal convictions (not including spent convictions)
• risk of harm to yourself or others

We may also collect anonymous preferences, interests and favourites. Occasionally, we may ask you for more sensitive personal data. Where we do, we will provide you with more information about why it is being collected at that time.

As many of the ways in which you interact with the council are through the council’s website via electronic devices, the council may automatically collect information about your devices and the software on it. This information is capable of being personal data and can include unique identifiers such as your IP address, browser type, domain names, access times and referring website address. This type of information is used for the operation of the service, to maintain quality of the service, and to provide general statistics regarding the use of the council’s website.

Personal information about you from others

To help us provide services appropriate to your needs we may receive personal information about you from others such as:

• family members or friends
• health agencies such as NHS, GPs, hospitals, ambulance, community health organisations
• council services e.g. other housing teams, revenue and benefits, children’s services, adult social care
• landlords 
• Solicitors or advocates
• providers of other services e.g. substance misuse services
• Home Office
• banks or other financial institutions
• third sector organisations or charities supporting you e.g. Citizens Advice
• Police and or probation services
• HMCS (Her Majesty Court Services)
• HM Forces, Defences Infrastructure Organisation and Welfare Teams
• Department for Work and Pensions and or HM Revenue Services
• Department for Levelling Up Housing and Communities (DLUHC)
• other local authorities     

What will your information be used for and what is the lawful basis for requesting and using it?

Your information will be used to:

• process housing register applications 
• provide housing advice and homeless assistance 
• identifying families that may be eligible for support
• meeting the needs of households in fulfillment of our statutory duties and other responsibilities
• design services that meet the needs of local people  
• measure and understand the effectiveness of our services to support continual improvement

Personal data may also be shared with the Department for Levelling Up and Communities (DLUHC) and their authorised data processors. This is for the purpose of conducting research including into the effectiveness and long-term outcomes of homelessness related support.

Our lawful basis for using your personal data is to meet a legal obligation to which we are subject (article 6(1)(c) UK GDPR), or because the use is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority (article 6(1)(e) UK GDPR). The basis for this processing is set out in various laws including:

• The Crime and Disorder Act 1998
• The Children Act 1989
• The Housing Acts 1988, 1996, 2002, 2004
• The Homelessness Reduction Act 2017
• The Landlord and Tenant Act 1987
• The Protection from Eviction Act 1977 
• Article 6(1)(e) - general processing ‘public task’
• Article 9(2)(h) - special category data processing
• Article 9(3) - condition
• Article 10(1) - processing of criminal offence data

Who we may share that personal information with

We may share your personal information with others to carry out the activities listed above in an efficient way. Depending on the services we are providing, we may routinely share with third party partners as detailed below:

• judicial agencies e.g. courts
• police or probation services
• law enforcement agencies and bodies undertaking the collection of debts
• Health agencies such as NHS, community and mental health services, acute hospital trusts, GP, Public Health Dorset
• Government agencies such as Department for Work and Pensions, immigration services
• Emergency services
• Education providers 
• Other local authorities
• The Department for Levelling Up Housing and Communities (DLUHC) or their authorised processors
• Safeguarding boards e.g. Dorset Council Safeguarding Adult Board
• Emergency accommodation providers e.g. bed and breakfast landlords
• Elected members and MPs (as your representative)
• Funding bodies e.g. Homes England
• Landlords – housing associations, registered providers and private landlords
• Other service areas within the council such as adult social care, children’s services, and financial services
• Other relevant organisations for purposes which may include law enforcement, the prevention and detection of crime and fraud.  
• HM Forces
• Third sector organisations e.g. Citizens Advice
• Community land trusts
• Contractors appointed by the council for the purposes of property maintenance 

Dorset Council may use an additional external information technology provider (if appropriate, for example Huume for housing register and homeless services) which will process your data (a data processor) for these and related activities. The data controller is Dorset Council. 

Only relevant information will be shared and access is restricted to essential personnel who have a duty of confidentiality.

The council has a duty to protect public funds. It may therefore use the personal information for the prevention or detection of fraud and may therefore share this personal information with other bodies for these purposes.

As a mandatory participant of the National Fraud Initiative (NFI), we sometimes share personal data with the NFI. The purpose of this data sharing is to detect and prevent fraud.

The NFI may share the personal data we provide with other bodies or organisations including: HMRC, the Department for Work and Pensions and IT suppliers to the NFI.

The personal data we provide will be used by the NFI to match records across different data sources to prevent and detect fraud.  See more information about how the NFI use personal data.

Where we share special category data, our additional legal basis is that the processing is necessary for reasons of substantial public interest for the exercise of a function of the Crown, a Minister of the Crown, or a government department.

Whether information has to be provided by you, and if so why

The provision of the personal data (as set out above) is required from you so we can provide the best possible service to you. We will inform you at the point of collecting information from you, whether you are required to provide the information to us.

If you do not provide this information to us, we may not be able to provide a service to you. We may not be able to accept your application to join the Dorset Council housing register or it may delay our ability to provide a prompt and effective service.

The length of time we may keep your information

We will erase your personal information in accordance with the service's retention schedule. This requires us to retain records for periods ranging from 12 months to 6 years after we have provided a service to you. If you would like further information about how long your data will be retained, please contact us to request a copy of our service's detailed retention schedule.

Your rights

You have certain rights with regard to your personal information, however not all of these rights will be available to you in all situations, particularly where the processing of your information is necessary for the council to carry out its duties and powers.

For how to contact the council about data protection matters or how to make a complaint about how your personal information has been handled by the council, please see our data protection pages.