Housing services
Your privacy and the protection of your personal information is very important to us and we are committed to robust compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation and the Data Protection Act 2018.
These privacy notices explain what we do with your personal information, your rights and how we protect it.
These notices are for all our service users and clients. This version of the notice was adopted in November 2020 and will be kept under review.
Who we are
Maidstone Borough CouncilMaidstone
Kent
ME15 6JQ
Phone: 01622 602000
Email: Data Protection Officer
You can find us in the Information Commissioner’s register of organisations.
Bookings of temporary accommodation
Types of information we collect from you
- Name
- Address
- Phone number
- Email address
- Gender
- Ethnicity
- Religion
- Sexual orientation
- Health and disability data
- Criminal background
- Financial information
- Court proceedings
- Employment
- Details of family members
- Social services involvement
- Children’s school
Keeping your personal information
In line with our record retention schedule, records relating to the bookings of temporary accommodation occupants will be kept for 6 years.
Our legal basis for using your information is
Legal obligation
Sharing personal information
Where necessary we'll share your personal information with third party service providers, who are under contractual obligation to protect your data including:
- Temporary accommodation providers
Healthy living referrals
What personal data is being collected?
We process the following types of personal data:
- Name
- Address
- Email address
- Phone number
- Emergency contact number
- Employment status
- Whether you need financial support
- Date of birth
- Gender
- Housing situation
- Answers to Motivational Interviewing and goal setting
- Signposting to other support agencies
- Preferred method of contact (email/telephone/text)
- Whether you have engaged with the service
We process the following types of special category data:
- Ethnic origin
- Health data (NHS number, height, weight, waist circumference, smoking status, alcohol consumption, level of physical activity, wellbeing, loneliness, diet, body fat, health conditions, disability status, and GP information)
- Marital status
How do we use your personal data?
We use your personal data to:
- Refer you to Healthy Living Services.
- Retain a record so we can audit and quality assure our services, and to inform decision-making about our services.
- Plan and manage our services and to meet the requirements of external regulators.
We also use cookies and other analytic technologies to give you a better experience on our website and to improve the relevance of online advertising you see. For more information, please see our Cookie Notice.
We may also use your personal information to contact you regarding user satisfaction surveys and for staying in touch.
How long do we keep your personal data?
Personal data will be kept for 6 years from the end of the service being provided to you. This is to meet our customer service, accounting, and auditing requirements.
What is our lawful basis for processing your personal data?
Our lawful basis to process your personal data is consent.
Our lawful basis to process your special category data is explicit consent.
Who will your personal data be shared with?
Your personal data will only be shared with other organisations when necessary, and it will always be shared securely. We will only share your personal data if the law lets us, and we always aim to share as little data as necessary.
We share your personal data with:
- Kent County Council – One You Kent
- Maidstone Leisure Centre
- DDM-Health
- AN Computing
We may also share personal data with anti-fraud and law enforcement agencies for the prevention and detection of crime.
We will share personal data with our parent department(s) in Central Government in line with statutory functions.
As part of interagency initiatives, and Maidstone Task Force, we may share personal data with our partnership organisations including Kent Police, Kent County Council, One Maidstone, housing associations and voluntary organisations when it is necessary and lawful for us to do so.
Where will your personal data be stored?
We store your personal data in the UK. We don’t transfer your personal data to any other countries, including countries in the EU and EEA (European Economic Area).
Hospital discharge
Types of information we collect about you
- Name
- Address
- Phone number
- Email address
- Gender
- Health/Disability
- Financial information
- Court proceedings
- NHS number
- GP details
- Next of kin details
Keeping your personal information
In line with our record retention schedule, records relating to hospital discharges will be kept for 6 years.
Our legal basis for using your information is
Legal obligation.
Sharing personal information
Where necessary we'll share information where required to by law or in the public interest, with other statutory service providers:
- Involve Kent
Applications for Disabled facilities grants
Types of information we collect about you
- Name
- Address
- Phone number
- Email address
- Gender
- Health/Disability
- Financial information
- Employment
- NI number
- Type of adaption
Keeping your personal information
In line with our record retention schedule, records relating to applications for Disabled Facilities Grants will be kept for 10 years after the grant is issued.
Our legal basis for using your information is
Compliance with a legal obligation.
Sharing personal information
Where necessary we will share your personal information with third party service providers, who are under contractual obligation to protect your data including:
- Contractors
Where necessary we'll also share information where required to by law or in the public interest, with other statutory service providers:
- Landlords
- Health professionals
Change of circumstances for Housing register applicants
Types of information we collect about you
- Name
- Address
- Phone number
- Email address
- Gender
- Ethnicity
- Religion
- Sexual orientation
- Health and disability data
- Criminal background
- Financial information
- Court proceedings
- Employment
- Details of family members
Keeping your personal information
In line with our record retention schedule, records relating to housing register applicants will be kept for 7 years from the end of the service.
Our legal basis for using your information is
Legal obligation.
Sharing personal information
We'll share information relating to a housing register application with Golding Homes if the lead applicant has given us consent to share their information.
Complaints about housing
Types of information we collect about you
- Name
- Address
- Phone number
- Email address
- Health/Disability
- Age
Keeping your personal information
In line with our record retention schedule, records relating to provision of complaints about housing will be kept for 6 years from the end of the service.
Our legal basis for using your information is
Compliance with legal obligation.
Sharing personal information
Where necessary we'll share your personal information with third party service providers, who are under contractual obligation to protect your data including:
- Contractors
Where necessary we'll also share information where required to by law or in the public interest, with other statutory service providers:
- Landlords
- Social workers
Direct lets
Types of information we collect about you
- Name
- Address
- Phone number
- Email address
- Gender
- Health/Disability
- Financial information
- Employment
Keeping your personal information
In line with our record retention schedule, records relating to applications for direct lettings will be kept for 7 years from the end of the service.
Our legal basis for using your information is
Compliance with a legal obligation.
Sharing personal information
Where necessary we'll share information where required to by law or in the public interest, with other statutory service providers:
- Housing associations
Homelessness approaches
Types of information we collect about you
- Name
- Address
- Phone number
- Email address
- Gender
- Ethnicity
- Religion
- Sexual orientation
- Health and disability data
- Criminal background
- Financial information
- Court proceedings
- Employment
- Details of family members
- Social services involvement
Keeping your personal information
In line with our record retention schedule, records relating to homelessness approaches will be kept for 7 years after closure of case.
Our legal basis for using your information is
Compliance with a legal obligation.
Sharing personal information
Where necessary we'll share your personal information with third party service providers, who are under contractual obligation to protect your data including:
- Temporary accommodation providers
- Support agencies
- Housing associations
Houses of multiple occupation
Types of information we collect about you
- Name
- Address
- Phone number
- Email address
- Criminal background
Keeping your personal information
In line with our record retention schedule, records relating to houses of multiple occupation will be kept for 6 months after the property is no longer licensed.
Our legal basis for using your information is
Compliance with a legal obligation.
Sharing personal information
This information is publicly available upon request.
Management of temporary accommodation occupants
Types of information do we collect from you
- Name
- Address
- Phone number
- Email address
- Gender
- Ethnicity
- Religion
- Sexual orientation
- Health and disability data
- Criminal background
- Financial information
- Court proceedings
- Employment
- Details of family members
- Social services involvement
- Children’s school
Keeping your personal information
In line with our record retention schedule, records relating to the management of temporary accommodation occupants will be kept for 6 years.
Our legal basis for using your information is
Official authority/public task.
Sharing personal information
We do not share this information.
Community larder membership
Types of information we collect about you
- name
- address
- contact details (phone number and email address)
- age
- employment status
- housing status
- health/disability status
Keeping your personal information
Information will be kept until three months after the end of the service being provided to you, to meet our customer service, accounting, and auditing requirements.
Anonymised data will be kept for three years after the end of the service being provided to you, to meet our customer service, accounting, and auditing requirements.
Our legal basis for using your information is
In this instance, we rely on the lawful basis of task in the public interest to use your personal data. We rely on the lawful basis of public health to use your special category data.
Sharing personal information
Your personal data will only be shared with other organisations when necessary, and it will always be shared securely. We will only share your personal data if the law lets us, and we always aim to share as little data as necessary. We may share your personal data with:
- other departments in the council
- Involve Kent
- Kent County Council
- One You Kent
- Citizens Advice
- housing associations
We may also share personal data with anti-fraud and law enforcement agencies for the prevention and detection of crime.
We'll share personal data with our parent department(s) in central government in line with statutory functions.
As part of interagency initiatives, and Maidstone Task Force, we may share personal data with our partnership organisations including Kent Police, Kent County Council, One Maidstone, housing associations and voluntary organisations when it is necessary and lawful for us to do so.
ReferKent
Types of information we collect about you
- name
- address
- phone number
- email address
- race
- ethnic origin
- health data
- type of issue you're experiencing
- reasons for requiring a referral
Keeping your personal information
Information will be kept on ReferKent for three months after the referral has been made. We will not keep a copy of the referral.
Our legal basis for using your information is
In this instance, we rely on the lawful basis of consent to use your personal data.
We rely on the lawful basis of explicit consent to use your special category data.
If you would like to withdraw your consent, please contact HousingAdvice@Maidstone.gov.uk.
Sharing personal information
We'll share your personal data with the appropriate organisation we're referring you to. We'll only make the referral with your consent.
Your personal data will only be shared with other organisations when necessary, and it will always be shared securely. We'll always aim to share as little data as necessary.
We may also share personal data with anti-fraud and law enforcement agencies for the prevention and detection of crime.
We'll share personal data with our parent department(s) in central government in line with statutory functions.
As part of interagency initiatives, and Maidstone Task Force, we may share personal data with our partnership organisations including Kent Police, Kent County Council, One Maidstone, housing associations and voluntary organisations when it's necessary and lawful for us to do so.
Citizen’s Advice Maidstone (CAB) Appointments
What personal data is being collected?
The information that will be shared with Citizens Advice Maidstone is:
- Name
- Date of birth
- Address
- Email address
- Financial data
- Number of children in household and children’s ages (where applicable)
- Tenancy agreement (if relevant to advice)
- Religion or culture (if relevant to advice)
- Support needs (if relevant to advice)
- Disability & health information (if relevant to advice)
- Pregnancy or maternity status (if relevant to advice)
- Frequency of bids on Homechoice and levels of success with bids (where applicable)
Citizens Advice Maidstone will not use this information for any other purposes. For more information, please see Citizens Advice Maidstone Privacy Notice.
The information that we will receive from Citizens Advice Maidstone is:
- Name
- Summary of appointment discussion
Once Maidstone Brough Council receives a summary of appointment discussion from Citizens Advice Maidstone, your information will be processed for the purpose of supporting your homelessness application under Part 7 Housing Act 1996 (as amended).
How do we use your personal data?
We use your personal data to:
- Book appointments with Citizens Advice Maidstone to provide you with support. Please be assured that we will continue to progress your homelessness application in line with our policies if you do not wish for us to refer you to Citizens Advice Maidstone.
- Retain a record so we can audit and quality assure our services, and to inform decision-making about our services.
- Plan and manage our services and to meet the requirements of external regulators.
We also use cookies and other analytic technologies to give you a better experience on our website and to improve the relevance of online advertising you see. For more information, please see our cookie notice.
We may also use your personal information to contact you regarding user satisfaction surveys and for staying in touch.
How long do we keep your personal data?
Personal data will be kept for 7 years from the end of the service being provided to you. This is to meet our customer service, accounting, and auditing requirements.
What is our lawful basis for processing your personal data?
Our lawful basis to process your personal data is consent.
Our lawful basis to process your special category data is explicit consent.
For customers who give consent and receive further support as a result of this, any actions arising will be processed under the following:
Our lawful basis to process your personal data is Task in the public interest - Part 7 Housing Act 1996 (as amended).
Our lawful basis to process your special category data is Substantial public interest - Part 7 Housing Act 1996 (as amended).
Who will your personal data be shared with?
Your personal data will only be shared with other organisations when necessary, and it will always be shared securely. We will only share your personal data if the law lets us, and we always aim to share as little data as necessary.
We share your personal data with:
- Citizens Advice Maidstone
We may also share personal data with anti-fraud and law enforcement agencies for the prevention and detection of crime.
We will share personal data with our parent department(s) in Central Government in line with statutory functions.
As part of interagency initiatives, and Maidstone Task Force, we may share personal data with our partnership organisations including Kent Police, Kent County Council, One Maidstone, housing associations and voluntary organisations when it is necessary and lawful for us to do so.
Where will your personal data be stored?
We store your personal data in the UK.
We will use your information to:
- Provide you with services.
- Retain a record to permit us to audit and quality assure those services.
- Contact you for user satisfaction surveys.
- Plan and manage our services and to meet the requirements of external regulators.
- Give you a better experience on our website and to improve the relevance of online advertising you see. Please see our Privacy Statement.
- Keep visitors and colleagues safe and secure, we also use CCTV at our premises which records images.
Automated decision-making
There are no automated decisions in this process.
Your rights over your personal information
- Access – you can request copies of your personal information that is held by the Council.
- Rectification – you can ask us to correct any incorrect information.
- Deletion – you can ask us to delete your personal information. The Council can refuse to delete information if we have a lawful reason to keep this.
- Portability – you can ask us to transfer your personal data to different services or to you.
- Limit processing – how it is going to be used in the future.
- Right to object - you have the right to object to how your data is being used
Find out more information on the ICO website.
Staying in touch
We want to keep in touch with clients and service users to tell you about our services, by post, email, text or social media.
We'll not do this if you opt out or object, and you can change your mind at any time. Just get in touch using the contact details at the top of this notice or unsubscribe within any of our awareness-raising communications.
We'll not use your personal information to send you marketing communications by email or text without your consent.