Homelessness application and advice privacy notice

First published

21 Aug 2024

Last updated

23 Oct 2024

Homelessness application and advice 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.

Who do I contact about my personal information?

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

Why does the Council process personal information?

Personal data is processed to enable the Council to provide housing advice or to assess an application for housing via the Council’s homelessness service.

The type of personal information we collect

Names, addresses, dates of birth, national insurance numbers, benefits details, rent arrears details, housing histories, personal histories, employment details, medical details, ethnic origins, support needs, next of kin, family network information, relating to any person and their household who applies to Stirling Council for advice on a housing-related issue or who applies to the Council as homeless.

“Special Category” data includes: 

  • Health (physical or mental)
  • Racial or ethnic origin
  • Religious or philosophical beliefs
  • Sexual life

Data relating to children disclosed as part of applications and also criminal convictions and offences is processed.

What makes it lawful for the Council to process this personal information?

We process personal data necessary for a statutory obligation. We are required by law to provide a homelessness service, which requires us to obtain personal details from applicants and to assess their applications – Housing (Scotland) Act 1987, as amended by subsequent legislation.

We also process personal data for a “public task” in the public interest.  We are required by the Scottish Government to provide housing advice, with the aim of helping people who have housing problems to avoid becoming homeless if possible.

Where does the Council obtain personal information from?

From the data subjects in communication by letter, form, email or phone or in person.  Other information is collected by employees of the homeless service through their homelessness investigations. 

Details of Housing Benefit payments from Revenues and Benefits – details collected for calculation of rental account balances and provision of advice.

Personal details from Social Work or from Housing Benefit section – details collected by employees of the homeless service through their homelessness investigations. 

Some personal data may be passed from another organisation – e.g. a housing association, police, other local authority.

Where does the Council keep personal information?

Paper records, and electronic records on the council network, including Northgate housing database.

How long does the Council keep personal information?

Advice case records are destroyed 5 years after the date of last action on the case.

Homeless applications:

  • Where the applicant is not permanently housed, records are destroyed 5 years after the date of last action on the case;
  • Where the applicant is permanently housed, records are destroyed 5 years after the termination of the tenancy.

Who does the Council share personal information with?

Personal data is shared internally with Social Work, housing associations and other councils.

We will share personal data in relation to homelessness with Public Health Scotland, NHS Forth Valley and Integration Joint Board to support a collaboration in homelessness services.

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. 

Your rights

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.

Access to your information

You have the right to request a copy of the personal information that 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.

Correcting your information

We want to make sure that your personal information is accurate, complete and up to date. Therefore you may ask us to correct any personal information about you that you believe does not meet these standards.

Deleting your information

You have the right to ask us to delete personal information about you where:

  • you think that we no longer need to hold the information for the purposes for which it was originally obtained
  • we are using that information with your consent and you have withdrawn your consent - see the 'withdrawing consent to using your information' section below.  Please note that in general we do not rely on consent as the legal basis for processing your personal information
  • you have a genuine objection to our use of your personal information - see 'objecting to how we may use your information' below
  • our use of your personal information is contrary to law or our other legal obligations.

Objecting to how we may use your information

You have the right at any time to tell us to stop using your personal information for direct marketing purposes, profiling or research purposes. 

Restricting how we may use your information 

In some cases, you may ask us to restrict how we use your personal information.  This right might apply, for example, where we are checking the accuracy of personal information that we hold about you or we are assessing the objection you have made to our use of your information. 

This right might also apply if we no longer have a basis for using your personal information - but you don't want us to delete the data.  Where this right is realistically applied will mean that we may only use the relevant personal information with your consent, for legal claims or where there are other public interest grounds to do so.

Withdrawing consent to use your information

Where we use your personal information with your consent, you may withdraw that consent at any time and we will stop using your personal information for the purpose(s) for which consent was given.

Your request to transfer your data

If we are processing your personal information with your consent or as part of a contract with you, and it is held in an accessible and machine-readable format, you have a right to ask us to transmit it to another organisation. This is known as the right to data portability.

Our profiling or automated decision-making processes

We make some use of automated decision-making processes but very little use of profiling.  Where these techniques are used, this will be explained in the specific privacy statements relating to those functions, together with a description of the reason involved in any automated decision-making.

Complaints and comments

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.

Contents