Benefits privacy notice

 The personal information you give to us in person or through any of our forms relating to Housing Benefit, Council Tax Reduction, Second Adult Reduction, Scottish Welfare Fund, Discretionary Housing Payments, Clothing Grant and Free School Meals and any other personal information we hold about you in this context will be managed to: 

• Process your application for Housing Benefit, Council Tax, Scottish Welfare Fund, Discretionary Housing Payments and Clothing Grant and Free School Meals 
• Administer your application for above 
• Communicate with you about your application for above 

We process your information in order to perform a task carried out in the public interest and in the exercise of official authority, namely the task of administering benefits in terms of the Local Government Finance Act 1992, Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973, Housing Benefit Regulations 2006, Council Tax Reduction (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2013, Housing Benefit and Council Tax (Decisions and Appeals) Regulations 2001 and The Discretionary Financial Assistance Regulations 2001.  

Data protection law gives certain types of information special significance because of its sensitivity such as health information. This is known as special category data. If we process this type of information about you in relation to Housing Benefit, Council Tax Reduction, Scottish Welfare Fund, Discretionary Housing Payments and Clothing Grant and Free School Meals we do so on the basis that it is necessary for reasons of substantial public interest. 

It's important that we hold accurate and up to date information. If any details have changed, or change in the future, then you should ensure that you inform the Revenues and Benefits Section as soon as possible so that they can update your record. 

Without the correct information you may not receive the benefits, reductions or discounts which you're entitled to. If we ask you to give specific information in order to assess your application and you don't give this information, your application may not be processed and we may fine you. Deliberately giving false information is also a crime. 

Most of the information we hold about you will come from you as an individual. Some of the information about you may come from third-party sources including other local authorities, electoral registration officers, local assessors and housing bodies operating in the East Renfrewshire area and the Department for Work and Pensions. Such information includes: 

• your name & address 
• your age
• contact details such as email or telephone (including mobile)
• your benefits
• health or medical information (in connection with benefit or reduction claims) 

HM Revenue and Customs officials may also give information they hold about you to us relating to Council Tax Reduction. This information can be provided for the purpose of determining an application for council tax reduction, reviewing or appealing a determination and / or preventing or detecting fraud or an error in connection with the council tax reduction or as a result of an attempt to obtain council tax reduction fraudulently. .

Your information will be accessed by our staff who need to do so to administer Housing Benefit, Council Tax Reduction, Scottish Welfare Fund, Discretionary Housing Payments and Clothing Grant and Free School Meals you're entitled to. If such administration is provided on our behalf by an external agency, that agency will also have access to your information. We also need to ensure proper administration of our funds so details will be checked internally for fraud prevention and verification purposes. Information is also analysed internally in order to give management information and inform future service delivery. 

Your information may also be shared with other departments within the council, bodies responsible for auditing or administering public funds, other councils, public sector agencies, governmental departments and other private companies or entities (such as credit reference agencies or service providers). We also meet requests for specific information from other regulatory and law enforcement bodies where this is necessary and appropriate. Organisations who we may share data with include: 

• The Department for Works and Pensions and other UK Government departments
• Scottish Government
• Social Security Scotland
• Health & Social Care Organisations such as East Renfrewshire Health & Social Care Partnership
• Registered social landlords
• External enforcement, collection or tracing agents
• National Fraud Initiative
• Renfrewshire Valuation Joint Board
• NEC Software Solutions Ltd - Council Tax and Benefits System
• GBG Plc - ID3 global bank details verification
• PayPoint Plc - Payment of Scottish Welfare Fund 

We'll only keep your personal data for as long as necessary and thereafter this will be securely destroyed.

Further information about how we manage our records can be found within our  Integrated Business Classification and Records Retention Schedule (PDF) [2MB]  

Contact us if you need this information in an alternative format.

Depending on why we need to process your information you will have rights to how your information is used. Further information about your rights, including the circumstances in which they apply, can be found within our main privacy policypage published on our website.

If you have concerns about the processing of your personal data, by the council, you can contact the Data Protection Officer at dpo@eastrenfrewshire.gov.uk.

For independent advice about data protection, privacy and data sharing, visit the Information Commissioner's Office website