Privacy notice

Welcome to Lichfield District Council’s privacy notice in respect of temporary accommodation owned by Lichfield District Council and supported by Lichfield West Midlands Traded Services Limited (LWMTS). 

This privacy notice supplements the information the council currently makes available about how the organisation meets core data protection obligations as set out in our main privacy notice.   

We respect your privacy and are committed to protecting your personal data

This privacy notice explains what types of personal information we will collect about you, what we do with that personal information and the legal basis for our processing of your personal information.

It also explains how we keep your personal information safe and secure.

We take our data protection obligations very seriously and this notice gives you information about our approach to data protection legislation (UK General Data Protection Regulation, Data Protection Act 2018 and any subsequent updated legislation).    

Lichfield District Council is the data controller for your information. Lichfield West Midlands Traded Services (LWMTS) is a processor of your information, as is our 24-hour repairs service.

The type of personal information we collect   

We currently collect and process the following information:  

  • Personal identifiers, contacts and characteristics (for example, name and contact details)  
  • Financial details, support needs, medical and social care needs 

How we get the personal information and why we have it  

Most of the personal information we process is provided to us directly by you to help resolve your housing issues:  

  • As part of your application for temporary accommodation to our housing team.

We also receive personal information indirectly from the following sources and in the following circumstances:  

  • Information from the director on call within the Lichfield District Council’s Wider Leadership Team who has may respond to urgent call outs in relation to temporary accommodation   
  • Accommodation providers, either emergency or private landlord   
  • Our LWMTS repairs and maintenance team
  • Department for Work & Pensions in relation to Universal Credit claims
  • Our housing benefits and council tax teams in relation to housing benefits and council tax
  • Third party partners including social care, NHS, police, fire, support services including Betterway, Pathway and other housing partners.

How we will use and share this information  

We use the information that you have given us in order to process your application for temporary accommodation.   

We will share basic information with Lichfield West Midlands Traded Services Ltd including:

  • your name
  • your dependents' names
  • a risk assessment on your housing case to support any placement in our temporary accommodation

If placed in our temporary accommodation, your address and risk assessment will also be shared with our out of hours repair company, so they can validate you when you call to report a repair and their team are aware of any risks or support needs. Our relationship with our repairs company is covered by a data sharing agreement under which they have committed to keeping any data you then share with them safe and secure.

We also may share the data you give us with our customer services team, revenues team, benefits team, environmental health team and community safety team in order that they may respond to queries or concerns you may have, or that may be raised in relation to your stay with us.

We may also share your information with other authorised officers of the council, other councils or the national fraud initiative.

Depending on your circumstances, we may also share your information with HM Courts & Tribunals Service, HM Revenue & Customs, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), the Police, the probation service, the NHS, Staffordshire County Council (including social care and education), emergency accommodation providers, and supporting charities and organisations. 

Our basis for processing

Under the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR), the lawful bases we rely on for processing this information are: 

  • Perform a public task Article 6(1)(e)  
  • The Housing Act 1996 (As Amended) is the underpinning statute   
  • The Homeless Reduction Act  

In addition, in some instances you may have given us clear consent to process your data. The conditions which allow us to process your special category data are:   

  • Consent Article 9(2)(a) or   
  • Necessary for reasons of substantial public interest Article 9(2)(g)  
  • Data Protection Act 2018 Sch1 6(2)  

How we store your personal information   

Your information is securely stored within a system that requires password access and provides an audit trail.   

We will keep the information we collect about you as part of your housing application/stay with us for 6 years. We will then dispose of your information by deleting your records.  

Data may also be held in the cloud by UiPath during automated processing and auto deleted from there after 24 hrs.  

 Your data protection rights  

The lawful basis for processing can affect which rights are available to individuals as outlined in the table within the overarching privacy statement. Under data protection law, you have the following rights   

  • Your right of access - You have the right to ask us for copies of your personal information.   
  • Your right to rectification - You have the right to ask us to rectify personal information you think is inaccurate. You also have the right to ask us to complete information you think is incomplete.   
  • Your right to erasure - You have the right to ask us to erase your personal information in certain circumstances.   
  • Your right to restriction of processing - You have the right to ask us to restrict the processing of your personal information in certain circumstances.   
  • Your right to object to processing - You have the the right to object to the processing of your personal information in certain circumstances.  
  • Your right to data portability - You have the right to ask that we transfer the personal information you give us to another organisation, or to you, in certain circumstances.  

You are not required to pay any charge for exercising your rights. If you make a request, we have one month to respond to you.  

Please contact us at dpo@lichfielddc.gov.uk if you wish to make a request.  

How to complain  

Please contact us at dpo@lichfielddc.gov.uk if you wish to make a complaint in relation to the way we have handled or stored your data.

Key information