What information we collect and why
Legal basis
Under the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR), we rely on one or more of the following lawful bases:
- legal obligation – we need to process your personal data to comply with the law
- public task – we need to process your personal data to provide you with certain council services
- contract – we need to process your personal data as part of a contract
- consent – we need your permission to process your personal data (which can be withdrawn)
- vital interests – we need to process your personal data to protect someone’s life in an emergency
- legitimate interest - we need to process personal data for legitimate interests
Where we process sensitive or criminal offence data, we rely on additional conditions set out in the Data Protection Act 2018.
Types of personal data
Depending on how you interact with us, we may process:
- personal details, such as name, address, date of birth, contact details
- reference and identification numbers, such as a council tax or housing reference
- financial information, such as payments, benefits, arrears
- household, family and caring information
- employment or education information
- images, audio or video recordings, such as CCTV, body‑worn video, call recordings
- online identifiers, such as IP address when using our digital services
- criminal offence data, where we are legally permitted to process it
We may also need to process sensitive personal data, known as special category data, such as:
- health and disability information
- racial or ethnic origin
- political opinions
- religious or philosophical beliefs
- trade union membership
- genetic data
- biometric data (used for identification, e.g. fingerprints, facial recognition)
- sexual orientation
- sex life
How we collect the data
We collect personal data:
- directly from you, for example through online forms, applications, emails, telephone calls
- from other council services, where we have a valid lawful basis
- from partner organisations, such as government departments, NHS bodies, housing providers
- from publicly-available sources, where appropriate
- through monitoring systems, such as CCTV and access control systems
Why we collect this information
We need to use personal information about you to:
- provide you with a service you apply for or are entitled to receive from us
- make sure the council meets statutory obligations
- support the delivery and improvement of council services
- manage the services we provide to you
- assist and investigate any concerns or complaints you have about our services
- monitor and keep track of spending on services
- check the quality of services
- help with research and planning of new services
- safeguard children and vulnerable adults
- prevent and detect fraud