Council Tax 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

Local Taxation – Administration of Council Tax

This information is held in order to bill householders Council Tax.

Name, address and bank details of any person who is liable to pay Council Tax.  This could be the owner, tenant, sub tenant or resident of a property.

If the householder or occupant as part of the household is entitled to a discount or exemption further information is required to verify the entitlement.  We may ask for details as well as proof of physical or mental health. Where applicable we will request the age of a person who has confirmed their disability needs.

Where there is a requirement to confirm residency, we will ask for further identification such as a utility bill, insurance document and internal photographs of the property.

Data relating to criminal convictions and offences is also processed when required. 

We process this data to comply with a legal obligation to collect tax.

Central Scotland Assessors, customers, solicitors, landlords, estate agents, registrars, landlord registration

Registrars’ data collected as person has deceased.

Landlord Registration data is collected to ensure they are registered as landlord records are cross checked.

Copy of the Electoral Register from the Electoral Registration Officer.  

Information is received from Central Scotland Assessors through a weekly interface file.

Information from other agencies, such as the DWP or HMRC.

Data is kept in paper and electronic formats, which is held on the Stirling Council secure server.

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 liabilities /discounts have been updated. Including sharing with Waste Services to issue concession permits for Garden Waste and Environmental Health to confirm tenancy details and status.

The sharing of Council Tax valuation list data, for the purpose of allowing National Records of Scotland (NRS) to produce and publish demographic statistics including household estimates and household projections.

We are legally obliged to safeguard public funds, so we are required to verify and check your details internally for fraud prevention. 

The National Fraud Initiative (NFI) is an exercise that matches electronic data within and between public and private sector bodies throughout the United Kingdom to prevent and detect fraud. Stirling Council, which participates in the NFI, is required by law to protect the public funds it administers. We may share certain information provided to us with other bodies responsible for auditing or administering public funds, in order to prevent and detect fraud.

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.