Customer Services Privacy Notice
The UK Data Privacy legislation, give individuals the right to be informed about how organisations use their personal data. This information is provided in the form of a Privacy Notice.
Newark and Sherwood District Council is registered as a Data Controller under the Data Protection Act 2018 (registration number: Z4973840).
Who we are?
Customer Services assist customers with their enquiries relating to many council services and wherever possible resolve these at the first point of contact. There are several ways that customers can contact the Councils:
- contact centre - all calls to the main council telephone number are received by Customer Services and all emails to the customer services email address.
- social media accounts and web chat.
- face to face enquiry service at Castle House and the Ollerton Local Office.
- Castle House reception - this is for council and partner customers and for visitors to Castle House.
Customer Services deal with a range of enquiries including:
- waste management
- environmental services and public protection
- development control (planning)
- housing options including homelessness enquiries
- Council Tax and benefits
They also manage the customer feedback, including complaints, process. These are acknowledged by Customer Services and then allocated to the relevant senior officer.
The type of personal information we collect
We collect and process the following personal information:
- name
- contact details, which could include telephone number, postal address and/or email address
- reason for contacting the Council
- recordings of your telephone calls to us. Calls to our contact centres are recorded for training and monitoring purposes, so we can ensure we are delivering a good service. However, if you are making a payment over the telephone call, recording will stop when you provide your payment card details.
- visual images (eg. CCTV)
- we may also process additional information relating to your enquiry, such as, information regarding your financial circumstances, and information, which may contain special category (sensitive) personal data, for example, health information, if this is relevant to your enquiry.
If you choose not to supply your name and contact details, it may not be possible to respond or investigate your enquiry.
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 as the customer when we communicate with you. The information we hold, has been provided by you during telephone calls, emails or online enquiry forms, face to face conversations and social media.
We may also use and hold information provided by other Council business units and partner agencies, where this is directly related to your enquiry.
Advocates including Elected Members acting on your behalf, will provide enquiry details and information will be shared with them.
Telephone calls made to the Council contact centres are recorded. Recording contact centres telephone calls allows us to assess customer satisfaction, train and develop staff, review call quality, and have access to a verbal record of information in the event of a subsequent customer feedback.
How we use the information
We use the information that you have given to the Council to:
- provide you with access to our services and information
- carry out transactions
- signpost you to relevant agencies if we are unable to assist you directly
- investigate your enquiry, and contact you, either to request further information or provide you with a response. It will also enable us to contact the subject of your enquiry and take any remedial action, if necessary.
The Council recognises the importance of listening to the views of its residents about the services they receive from us. Our customer feedback policy provides the opportunity to capture, investigate, respond and learn from customer feedback to assist with the delivery and shaping of Council services in the future.
We welcome your contact and if we are doing something well, please tell us about it and likewise if we are not.
We regularly monitor all enquiries, this includes feedback we receive and how we deal with customer feedback, complaints and compliments under our Customer Feedback Policy (PDF File, 198kb).
Who we may share your information with
Your personal information may be shared between business units within Newark and Sherwood District Council and partner agencies so that they can carry out their statutory roles and support the delivery of Council services. Examples include taking your information on behalf of the County Council for one of their services or taking details relating to a council tax support claim which subsequently may be shared with the DWP.
In relation to customer feedback and feedback data, your information will only be passed to officers within the relevant business units who are responsible for handling, investigating and responding to customer feedback, therefore they may contact you for further information.
In addition, we may have to share your personal data with the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman and Housing Ombudsman. We may also share your information with organisations that we are contracted with or who are currently working with you, such as housing providers or administrating grants on our behalf. As they are delivering services on behalf of the Council, they must keep your details safe and secure and, as the data controller, we ensure they comply with our required information sharing standards and protocols. If we are required to share your information with authorised partner organisations, we will ensure this is done in a secure manner, and the information provided is proportionate for us or them to deal with your enquiry.
Sometimes we have a legal duty to provide personal information to other organisations or if there is a good reason that is more important than protecting your privacy. This does not happen often, but we may share your information with the Police to find and stop crime and fraud; this is shared under Schedule 2, Part 1, Para 2 Data Protection Act 2018 exemptions.
We do not sell your personal information to third parties and will never share your information for marketing purposes unless explicit consent has been given.
We do not transfer any of your personal information outside the European Economic Area (EEA).
The law we use to process your personal information
Under the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018, the lawful bases we rely on for processing this information are:
6(1)(a) Your consent. You can remove your consent at any time. You can do this by contacting privacy@newark-sherwooddc.gov.uk
6(1)(c) We have a legal obligation.
6(1)(e) We need it to perform a public task.
When we collect special category data, we also rely on the following lawful basis:
9(2)(a) Explicit consent has been provided (information in relation to special category data, for example, health information, if this is relevant to your feedback). However, you are able to remove your consent at any time. You can do this by contacting privacy@newark-sherwooddc.gov.uk
9(2)(g) Public task where the Council has a specific purpose under UK law.
How we store and how long we keep information about you
Your information is stored securely in electronic format.
We will hold your personal information in line with the Council’s retention schedule. At its expiry date the information will be reviewed, and only retained where there is an ongoing requirement to retain for a statutory or legal purpose. Following this your personal information will be securely destroyed. For details of retention time frames please contact privacy@newark-sherwooddc.gov.uk
Your data protection rights
Under data protection law, you have rights including:
- 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. We may not be able to agree to erasure, if this occurs we will explain why your request has not been actioned.
- your right to restriction of processing - You have the right to ask us to restrict the processing of your personal information in certain circumstances. For example, if you think we are processing your data unlawfully, you can request that any processing is suspended whilst this is investigated.
- 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 gave 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 privacy@newark-sherwooddc.gov.uk if you wish to make a request.
How to complain
If you have any concerns about our use of your personal information, you can make a complaint to us at privacy@newark-sherwooddc.gov.uk
You can also complain to the ICO if you are unhappy with how we have used your data.
The ICO’s address: Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF
Helpline number: 0303 123 1113