Benefits

How the council processes your personal data where you apply for or receive benefits

Data Usage for Various Applications

We will collect, store, and use the following categories of personal information:

Applications for Housing Benefit and Council Tax Support

  • Personal contact details (e.g., name, address, title, telephone number, email address)
  • Date of birth
  • Gender
  • Marital status and dependents
  • Next of kin and emergency contact information
  • Government identification number, driver’s licence number or other identification card number
  • Bank account details or payment card details
  • Information about your finances
  • Photograph

Housing Benefit or Council Tax Support Fraud Investigations

  • Personal contact details (e.g., name, address, title, telephone number, email address)
  • Date of birth
  • Gender
  • Marital status and dependents
  • Next of kin and emergency contact information
  • Government identification number, driver’s licence number or other identification card number
  • Bank account details or payment card details
  • Information about your finances
  • Photograph

Benefits System Reports

  • Personal contact details (e.g., name, address, title, telephone number, email address)
  • Date of birth
  • Gender
  • Government identification number, driver’s licence number or other identification card number
  • Bank account details or payment card details

Reconciliation Records

  • Personal contact details (e.g., name, address, title, telephone number, email address)
  • Bank account details or payment card details

Housing Benefit Overpayments

  • Personal contact details (e.g., name, address, title, telephone number, email address)
  • Date of birth
  • Gender
  • Government identification number, driver’s licence number or other identification card number
  • Bank account details or payment card details
  • Information about your finances

Recovery Actions

  • Personal contact details (e.g., name, address, title, telephone number, email address)
  • Bank account details or payment card details

We may also collect, store and use the following more sensitive personal information where we are dealing with your housing benefit and council tax support application or where we are investigating fraud in respect of housing benefit or council tax support:

  • Information about your racial or ethnic origin, your religious and philosophical beliefs, your health (including any medical condition) and your sex life and sexual orientation
  • Information about criminal convictions and offences

How is your personal information collected?

We collect personal information about you from the following sources:

  • You (via our online and paper forms, by written correspondence or over the telephone) or from someone you have authorised to act on your behalf
  • Indirectly from our Customer Services, Housing Options, Exchequer, Elections, Environmental Health or our Planning Enforcement teams
  • From the Department of Work and Pensions, the Valuation Office Agency or North and East Devon Magistrates Court
  • Via our enforcement agents, Ross and Roberts Limited or Rossendales Ltd

How we will use information about you

Where relevant we will use the personal information we collect about you for the purposes of:

  • Processing your application for(and thereafter administer and pay) housing benefit and council tax support
  • Investigating housing benefit or council tax support fraud
  • Processing benefits system reports
  • Processing reconciliation records
  • Processing housing benefits overpayments; and
  • Processing recovery actions

We need to use the personal information we collect about you because it is necessary for us to perform our official functions (which have a basis in law) in accordance with Article 6(1)(e) of the GDPR and comply with our legal obligations in accordance with Article 6(1)(c) of the GDPR.  This includes our duties in connection with the provision of benefits in compliance with the law, including the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992, the Social Security Administration Act 1992, the Social Security Act 1998, the Child Support, Pensions and Social Security Act 2000, Welfare Reform Act 2007 and the Contracting Out (Functions of Local Authorities: Income-Related Benefits) Order 2002.

North Devon District Council sometimes needs information about people other than the person who has applied for a benefit or discount to work out what that person is entitled to. For example, where a person makes a claim for Housing Benefit, we need information about other people who live in the same household to work out how much the person will be paid.

How we use particularly sensitive personal information

We will use information about your racial or ethnic origin, your religious and philosophical beliefs, your health (including any medical condition) and your sex life and sexual orientation where it is necessary for carrying out, or in compliance with, your social security/social protection rights and our obligations. In this, regard we may be required to process the above listed particularly sensitive information in compliance with the rights and obligations provided by the laws listed above

Information about criminal offences or alleged criminal offences

Where we have good reason to use your personal information to prevent or detect benefit fraud it is envisaged that we will process information about criminal offences or alleged criminal offences. Similarly there may be occasions where an individual is subject to Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA) and so have different entitlements to housing benefit based on criminal offences or alleged criminal offences connected with them.

We will only process information about criminal offences or alleged criminal offences where we are required to do so pursuant to reasons of substantial public interest on the basis of law in order to comply with our specific statutory duties in accordance with the laws set out above or in relation to the prevention or detection of fraud and provided that doing so would be proportionate to the aim pursued.

We have in place an appropriate policy document and safeguards which we are required by law to maintain when processing such data.

Data sharing

Why might you share my personal information?

We will only share your personal data with other officers within the Council where they have a business need to know and/or where this is necessary in accordance for the performance of a public task. This may involve sharing your data with our:

  • Customer Services team (who act as the first port of call for information)
  • Housing Options team (where they are acting in accordance with our statutory duties as housing authority – certain information is provided to them by our benefits team but only where this is necessary in accordance with our statutory duties and public law functions as housing authority)
  • ICT (who maintain our systems)
  • Environmental Health and Planning Enforcement teams (these teams carry out public functions on behalf of the Council, accordingly we share personal information with them, such as up to date contact details, where they can demonstrate to us that this is necessary in accordance with the Council’s public functions in respect of environmental health and/or planning enforcement)

We are required to share certain information about housing benefit applicants with the Department for Work and Pensions and therefore they have certain, limited access to our system and otherwise personal information is only shared with them where we are legally obliged to provide it.

We have appointed Devon Audit Partnership (Devon County Council) as our internal auditor and they may access our systems, which contain your personal information, in order to carry out an audit.

Where a legal case is brought we may be required to share personal data with the North and East Devon Magistrates Court.

We have appointed Dukes Bailiffs Ltd as our enforcement agents. Your name, address, registration number and the outstanding amount of your debt will be shared with them where we seek to recoup an outstanding debt from you.

How long we keep it

For information about how long we hold personal data, see our Data Retention Schedules.

What are your rights?

In processing your personal data we are acting pursuant to our public task and statutory obligations. You therefore have the right to object to our processing of your personal data. There are legitimate reasons why we may refuse your objection, which depend on why we are processing it. For more information on your rights see Your Rights.