Benefits privacy notice

Find out how Stirling Council uses personal data by checking the Council’s website at the following address:

https://www.stirling.gov.uk/privacy-statement/

Our website contains a Register of Data Processing which lists all the different ways
in which the Council uses personal data.

This Privacy Notice provides more information about just one of those processes.

The Council has a Data Protection Officer to make sure it is complying with data protection laws.

They can be contacted at:

Data Protection Officer
Stirling Council
Old Viewforth
14-20 Pitt Terrace
Stirling
FK8 2ET

Email: dataprotection@stirling.gov.uk
Telephone: 01786 404040

Personal data is processed to administer Housing Benefits and Council Tax reduction.  

Housing Benefit – to help people on low income pay their rent.

Council Tax Reduction – to help householders on low income pay their Council Tax

Householders, any person who has a liability to pay rent or Council Tax

Name, address, date of birth, children, disability, immigration status, employment status, bank information other financial information.  

Health (physical or mental)

Racial or ethnic origin

GDPR Article (6)(e) - processing is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority vested in the controller.

Customers

Third Party organisations such as Citizens Advice, Advice Agencies, Housing Associations, internal Housing Departments, Landlords, DWP

From different parts of the Council – collected for the purpose of claiming Housing Benefit/Council Tax Reduction Information may be requested from Social Security

Scotland in order to support an individual’s disability benefit entitlement.

Information from other agencies is received through many different channels, this can be e-mails, letters or posted through Royal Mail. 

Kept in paper and electronic format.  

We will not keep your information for any longer than it is needed, and will dispose of both paper and electronic records in a secure way. The length of time we need to keep information will depend on the purpose for which it is collected. The Council has a Record Retention Schedule which sets out how long we keep records and the reason why.

Internally with other departments in Stirling Council and other Local Authorities on request to ensure correct benefit has been awarded and no overlap in entitlement.

We are legally obliged to safeguard public funds, so we are required to verify and check your details internally for fraud prevention.  We may share this information with other public bodies (and also receive information from these other bodies) from fraud checking purposes.

We are also legally obliged to share certain data with other public bodies, such as DWP, HMRC & Police and will do so where the law requires this.  We will also generally comply with requests from specific information from other regulatory and law enforcement bodies where this is necessary and appropriate.

Your information is also analysed internally to help us improve our service.  This is covered in our Fraud Privacy Statement. 

You have the following rights under data protection laws. If you have a request under any of these rights, you can make a subject access request.

• The right of access – You have the right to request information we hold about you. This is known as a subject access request and is free of charge. We must respond within one month, although this can be extended to three months if the information is complex.
  
  
• The right to rectification - You are entitled to have your information rectified if it is factually inaccurate or incomplete. We must respond to your request within one month. If we decide to take no action, we will tell you why and let you know about your right of complaint to the UK Information Commissioner
  
  
• The right to erasure - You have the right to ask us to delete your information or stop using it. It will not always be possible for us to comply with your request, for example, if we have a legal obligation to keep the information. If we decide to take no action, we will tell you why and let you know about your right of complaint to the UK Information Commissioner.
  
  
• The right to restrict processing - You have the right to restrict how your data is processed in certain circumstances, for example, if the information is not accurate. If a restriction is applied, we can retain just enough information to ensure that the restriction is respected in future. We must tell you if we decide to lift a restriction on processing.
  
  
• The right to data portability – You have the right to object to processing, if we are processing your personal data with your consent, and it is held in a structured, commonly used, machine-readable form, you have a right to ask us to transmit it to another data controller so they can use it. This right does not apply if we process your personal data as part of our public task.
  
  
• The right to object - You can object to your information being used for profiling, direct marketing or research purposes.
  
  
• You have rights in relation to automated decision making and profiling - to reduce the risk that a potentially damaging decision is taken without human intervention.

If you want to complain about or comment on how we have processed your personal information, you should email dataprotection@stirling.gov.uk

If you are still unhappy with how the council handled your complaint, you can contact the UK Information Commissioner's Office at:

The Information Commissioner,
Wycliffe House,
Water Lane,
Wilmslow,
Cheshire SK9 5AF

Phone: 0303 123 1113

You can find further information on the Information Commissioners Office website.