Privacy Notice: Administration of Housing Benefit, Council Tax Reduction and Discretionary Housing Payments

About us: Great Yarmouth Borough Council (the Council), Town Hall, Hall Plain, Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, NR30 2QF, 01493 856100, is the data controller for the purposes of the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA) and the General Data Protection Regulations 2016/679 (GDPR).

How we use your data: We will use your personal information for the purposes of the provision of the administration of Housing Benefit, Council Tax Reduction and Discretionary Housing Payments. The processing of this information is necessary for the Council to undertake a public task as defined under Article 6(1)(e) of the Act, i.e. the processing is necessary for the Council to perform a task in the public interest or for its official functions, and the task or function has a clear basis in law, in this case the Social Security Administration Act 1992, the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992, the Child Support, Pensions and Social Security Act 2000 and the Local Government Finance Act 1992 and The Discretionary Housing Payment (Grants) order 2001(S.I.2001/2340).

Data sharing:  Your information will be kept strictly confidential. It will be stored in a secure, password-protected database/spreadsheet on the Council's computer system. Your data will be used for this specific purpose although your details will be shared between Council departments and where relevant with Norfolk County Council for the Supporting Families programme (formally Troubled Families programme).  

However, we will always use or share information for the prevention or detection of crime or the apprehension or prosecution of offenders.

How long we hold your data: Your personal information is required to be kept for 6 years following the end of your Benefit claim. We will only use your data within the terms of data protection laws. We will review dates for keeping personal data in the future and if necessary update these privacy notices.

Your rights: You have a number or rights available to you, including the potential right to see copies of all the data held about you, to ask for it to be corrected or deleted, to request the Council to restrict what it does with your data in certain circumstances, to object to what the Council may do with your data, and to data portability.

Please note that these rights are not absolute and there are circumstances where they do not apply or the Council may override these rights, however, if this is the case you will be informed of this.

Further information: If you want more information you may contact the Council's Data Protection Officer at gdpr@great-yarmouth.gov.uk or telephone the Council on 01493 846325 and ask to speak to the Data Protection Officer. If you are unhappy with the way your personal information is being handled you can contact the independent Information Commissioner at: https://ico.org.uk/.