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Keelman Homes Privacy Notice.

by Anne-Marie Pearce & filed under Data Protection

Privacy notice

This privacy notice tells you what to expect when Keelman Homes Limited processes your personal data. It applies to personal data about applicants, customers and other service users.

Controller

Keelman Homes Limited is the data controller of all personal data that you provide to us. Our ICO Registration number is ZA587653.

We have appointed a data protection officer (DPO) who is responsible for overseeing questions in relation to this privacy notice. If you have any questions about this privacy notice, including any requests to exercise your legal rights, please contact the DPO using the details set out below.

Contact details

If you have any questions about this privacy notice or our privacy practices, please contact our DPO:

  • by post: Data Protection Officer, Keelman Homes Limited, Civic Centre, Regent Street, Gateshead NE8 1JN.
  • by phone: 0191 433 2106.
  • email: anne-mariepearce@keelmanhomes.org

You have the right to make a complaint at any time to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the UK regulator for data protection issues, the contact details for which are set out below:

  • Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF.
  • telephone: 0303 123 1113.
  • web: ico.org.uk

We would, however, appreciate the chance to deal with your concerns before you approach the ICO so please contact us in the first instance.

Why do we collect and store personal data?

We need to collect, process and store personal data about you and other household members [to fulfil our obligations as a registered provider of social housing and to deliver efficient and effective services.]

How we collect your personal data

[Generally the personal data we hold will have been provided by you (on application or enquiry forms or when we communicate with you), but we may also hold personal data provided by third parties where this is relevant to your housing circumstances, for example from social workers, health professionals and from our primary providers (see the heading further below ‘Sharing your Personal Data’ for more information about our primary providers).]

If you fail to provide your personal data

We will only ask for personal data that is appropriate to enable us to deliver our services.  In some cases, you can refuse to provide your details if you deem a request to be inappropriate. However, you should note that this may impact on our ability to provide some services to you if you refuse to provide information that stops us from doing so.

Information we may hold about you and how we use this

Personal data, means any information about an individual from which that person can be identified. It does not include data where the identity has been removed (anonymous data).

We may collect and use different kinds of personal data for various purposes. For example:

  • we hold names and dates of birth, photographic ID, National Insurance number, nationality and information about your previous housing circumstances to assess housing applications. [We will only process this information as long as required to assess your housing need and will retain it in line with our retention policies.]
  • we hold your contact details such as your address, contact numbers, and email address so we can communicate with you.
  • we record information about your physical and/or mental health needs and requirements to ensure our services are accessible; that we take account of any support needs in our dealings with you; and to improve our communications with you. For example, if you are involved with a carer or social worker, if you need adaptations in your home, or if you need large print or translated text.
  • we record information to help us to deliver housing management services including reports of anti-social behaviour, complaints, and change in circumstances.
  • We hold your bank details to facilitate payments to us.
  • We hold details of your gender, ethnicity and race for audit purposes to demonstrate compliance with equality laws and ensure that there is no discrimination against ‘protected classes’.
  • We record if you are a ‘potentially violent person’ so that staff can take precautionary measures if contacting you or meeting with you in person.
  • we maintain financial records about the amount of money you have paid us; any amount(s) outstanding and associated recovery action.
  • we carry out satisfaction surveys to help us to monitor our performance, to keep our records up to date and to improve our services to our customers. This information is store in-line with our retention policies.

[This list is not exhaustive, as we hold records of most contacts we have with you, or about you, and we process this information so we can deliver services to you.]

Lawful basis for processing

Our lawful basis for processing your information for the above purposes will be one or more of the following (Article 6 UK GDPR):

  • Contract: for a contract we have with you, or because you have asked us to take specific steps before entering a contract.
  • Legal Obligation: for us to comply with the law (not including contractual obligations).
  • Vital Interests: to protect someone’s life.
  • Legitimate interests: for our legitimate interests, or the legitimate interests of a third party, unless there is a good reason to protect your personal data which overrides those legitimate interests. Legitimate interests are those uses of personal data by a data controller that are deemed necessary or reasonably to be expected by a data subject.
  • Consent: You have given clear consent for us to process your personal data for a specific purpose.

Sensitive personal data

Special categories of particularly sensitive personal data, such as information about your health, racial or ethnic origin, sexual orientation, or trade union membership, require higher levels of protection.

In order to access some of our services and for legislative purposes it may be necessary to collect your sensitive personal / special category information, which may include:

  • Medical/health information, treatment/medication details
  • Racial or ethnic origin
  • Sexual orientation

We need to have further justification for collecting, storing and using this type of personal data. We may process special categories of personal data in the following circumstances:

  • In limited circumstances, with your explicit written consent.
  • Where we need to carry out our legal obligations or exercise rights in connection with employment.
  • Where it is needed in the public interest, such as for equal opportunities monitoring.
  • Where it is necessary to protect you or another person from harm.

Less commonly, we may process this type of information where it is needed in relation to legal claims or where it is needed to protect your interests (or someone else’s interests) and you are not capable of giving your consent, or where you have already made the information public.

Our lawful basis for processing your special category data is as follows (Article 9 UK GDPR):

  • Your explicit consent
  • Carrying out our obligations in the field of social security and social protection law.
  • To protect vital interests where you are physically or legally incapable of giving consent
  • For the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims or whenever court are acting in their judicial capacity
  • For reasons of substantial interest (supplemented by Schedule 1, Part 2 Data Protection Act 2018)

Information about criminal convictions

We may only use information relating to criminal convictions where the law allows us to do so. This is usually where that processing is necessary to carry out our obligations.

We will only collect information about criminal convictions if it is appropriate and where we are legally able to do so. We will use information about criminal convictions and offences to allow the Neighbourhood Relations Team to assess whether there are any restrictions on the type of housing or location of housing an applicant should be offered, and for assessing whether to put a ‘potentially violent person’ marker on an individual account for managing a live tenancy to safeguard staff and communities.

Our lawful basis for processing this data is as follows (Article 6 Schedule 1): –

  • Task in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority
  • Legal obligation

Right to withdraw consent

In the limited circumstances where you may have provided your consent to the collection, processing and transfer of your personal information for a specific purpose, you have the right to withdraw your consent for that specific processing at any time. To withdraw your consent, please contact the [DPO]. Once we have received notification that you have withdrawn your consent, we will no longer process your information for the purpose or purposes you originally agreed to, unless we have another legitimate basis for doing so in law.

How we manage your personal data

Processing of your personal data will be undertaken in accordance with the principles of the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR ). Access to personal data is restricted to authorised individuals on a strictly need to know basis. We will treat your personal data fairly and lawfully and we will ensure that information is:

  • processed for limited purposes
  • kept up-to-date, accurate, relevant and not excessive
  • not kept longer than is necessary
  • kept secure.

We are committed to keeping your personal details up-to-date, and we encourage you to inform us about any changes to ensure your details are accurate. To help us to ensure confidentiality of your personal data we may ask you security questions to confirm your identity when you call us or when we call you.

We will not discuss your personal data with anyone other than yourself, unless you have given us prior authorisation to do so. Anyone calling on your behalf may also be subject to security questions to ensure we’re taking adequate steps to protect your personal data.

We may apply markers to your information held on our management system (for example, in relation to your vulnerability or health status) to enable us to tailor and deliver services to you.

We only hold records during the period of our relationship and for a set period afterwards to allow us to meet our legal obligations, including resolving any follow up issues between us.

Sharing your personal data

Normally only our employees can see and process your personal data. However, there may be times when we need to share relevant information with third parties for the purposes as outlined below, or where we are legally required to do so.

When sharing personal data, we will comply with all aspects of the Data Protection Act 2018 and UK GDPR.

Where necessary or required, we may share personal data:

  • with our contractors to undertake some repairs, maintenance or improvement works.
  • with third party service providers, in connection with services performed on our behalf, for example if we use a mailing company to distribute letters on our behalf
  • with market research companies to carry out customer satisfaction surveys on our behalf to help to improve the services you receive.
  • with other registered providers, trusts and landlords, in connection with tenancy references and associated enquiries.
  • with Council Tax offices, to ensure billing details are correct.
  • with utility companies to ensure correct billing can take place.
  • with credit reference agencies and debt collection agencies, in connection with some housing applications and in relation to any outstanding charges.
  • with appointed brokers to carry out affordability checks on Rent to Buy and Shared Ownership applicants.
  • with local authorities and government departments as necessary for administering justice, or for exercising statutory, governmental, or other public functions.
  • with police and other relevant authorities (eg Probation Service, Department of Work and Pensions, HM Revenues and Customs) in relation to the prevention or detection of crime and fraud; the apprehension or prosecution of offenders and the assessment or collection of tax or duty.
  • with other statutory organisations, such as social services and health authorities, as necessary for exercising statutory functions.
  • with the Regulator of Social Housing, to comply with our regulatory obligations.
  • with CORE – COntinuous REcording of Lettings and Sales in Social Housing in England, The Ministry for Housing, Communities and local Government (MHCLG) collect data on social housing lettings and sales via CORE for statistical purposes. Please see the CORE privacy notice
  • with internal and external auditors who ensure we are correctly performing our duties as a Registered Landlord.

This list is not exhaustive as there are other circumstances where we may also be required to share information, for example:

  • to meet our legal obligations.
  • in connection with legal proceedings (or where we are instructed to do so by Court Order).
  • to protect the vital interests of an individual (in a life or death situation).

Without prejudice to the generality of the above paragraphs, Keelman Homes Limited will share your personal data with our Primary Provider. Our primary provider provides housing management and maintenance services to Keelman Homes tenants in accordance with the management agreement between us and our primary provider.  We will share your Personal data with our primary provider to enable them to provide the housing management and maintenance services. Any personal data collected by our primary provider during the provision of these services will be shared with Keelman Homes Limited.

Our current primary provider is Gateshead Council. However, we are in the process of migrating the services to a replacement primary provider, Karbon Homes Limited. During the transition process, Gateshead Council will continue to be our primary provider, but we will also share your personal data with Karbon for the purposes of onboarding [Karbon Homes] as our replacement primary provider.

International transfers

We may from time to time transfer your personal data outside of the UK, and/or permit the transfer and/or processing of your personal data, outside the UK.

Whenever this applies, we ensure a similar degree of protection is afforded to it by ensuring at least one of the following safeguards is implemented:

  • We will only transfer and/or permit the transfer of your personal data to, and/or permit the processing of your personal data in, countries that have been deemed to provide an adequate level of protection for personal data.
  • Where we use certain service providers, we may use specific contracts approved for use in the UK which give personal data the same protection it has in the UK.

How long we will keep your information

[We will only hold your records during the period of our relationship with you and for a set period afterwards to allow us to meet our legal obligations including resolving any follow up issues between us (for example if you live in one of our properties, we will hold information about you for the duration of your tenancy. If you move and are no longer a resident, we will usually keep records about you for up to 12 years).]

Your rights

If you wish to exercise any of the rights set out below, please contact our DPO.

You will not have to pay a fee to access your personal data (or to exercise any of the other rights). However, we may charge a reasonable fee if your request is clearly unfounded, repetitive or excessive. Alternatively, we could refuse to comply with your request in these circumstances.

We may need to request specific information from you to help us confirm your identity and ensure your right to access your personal data (or to exercise any of your other rights). This is a security measure to ensure that personal data is not disclosed to any person who has no right to receive it. We may also contact you to ask you for further information in relation to your request to speed up our response.

We try to respond to all legitimate requests within one month. Occasionally it could take us longer than a month if your request is particularly complex or you have made a number of requests. In this case, we will notify you and keep you updated.

Right of access

You have the right of access to personal data we hold about or concerning you. This is called a subject access request.

We have a subject access request form which you can use for this purpose and we ask that your request is accompanied by proof of identity. If you are seeking to obtain specific information (e.g. about a particular matter or from a particular time period), it helps if you clarify the details of what you would like to receive in your written request.

If someone is requesting information on your behalf, they will need written confirmation from you to evidence your consent for us to release this and proof of ID (both yours and theirs).

We have one calendar month to provide you with the information you’ve asked for (although we will try to provide this to you as promptly as possible).

In response to subject access requests we will provide you with a copy of the information we hold that relates to you. This will not generally include information about your property such as repair logs, details of contractor visits, or general property maintenance information as this is unlikely to be ‘personal data’.

Right to request correction

You have the right to request the correction of the personal data that we hold about you. This enables you to have any incomplete or inaccurate data we hold about you corrected, though we may need to verify the accuracy of the new data you provide to us.

Right to request erasure

You have the right to request the erasure of your personal data. This enables you to ask us to delete or remove personal data where there is no good reason for us continuing to process it. You also have the right to ask us to delete or remove your personal data where you have successfully exercised your right to object to processing (see below), where we may have processed your information unlawfully or where we are required to erase your personal data to comply with local law. Note, however, that we may not always be able to comply with your request of erasure for specific legal reasons which will be notified to you, if applicable, at the time of your request.

Right to object to processing

You have the right to object to the processing of your personal data where we are relying on a legitimate interest (or those of a third party) and there is something about your particular situation which makes you want to object to processing on this ground as you feel it impacts on your fundamental rights and freedoms. You also have the right to object where we are processing your personal data for direct marketing purposes. In some cases, we may demonstrate that we have compelling legitimate grounds to process your information which override your rights and freedoms.

Right to request restriction of processing

You have the right to request the restriction of processing of your personal data. This enables you to ask us to suspend the processing of your personal data in the following scenarios:

  • If you want us to establish the data’s accuracy.
  • Where our use of the data is unlawful but you do not want us to erase it.
  • Where you need us to hold the data even if we no longer require it as you need it to establish, exercise or defend legal claims.
  • You have objected to our use of your data but we need to verify whether we have overriding legitimate grounds to use it.

Right to request the transfer

You have the right to request the transfer of your personal data to you or to a third party. We will provide to you, or a third party you have chosen, your personal data in a structured, commonly used, machine-readable format. Note that this right only applies to automated information which you initially provided consent for us to use or where we used the information to perform a contract with you.

Right to withdraw consent at any time

You have the right to withdraw consent at any time where we are relying on consent to process your personal data. However, this will not affect the lawfulness of any processing carried out before you withdraw your consent. If you withdraw your consent, we may not be able to provide certain products or services to you. We will advise you if this is the case at the time you withdraw your consent.

Changes to this privacy notice

This Privacy Notice is kept under regular review and was last updated in March 2023.

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