Housing | Westmorland and Furness Council

Our Housing team assesses your housing situation. We provide advice, information and support if you:

are homeless
are threatened with homelessness
need to access housing related support services

Support services could include emergency or temporary accommodation, private rented, supported housing, financial support or any other housing type or related support service.

What information we collect

We need some personal data from you. This includes:

name, address and contact details
reason why you have contacted us
contacts that we have had with you
details of your current accommodation
housing needs and any risk factors that need to be taken into account
financial information
information about people who hold a licence to operate a House in Multiple Occupation (HMO)

We need some special category data from you. This includes:

information about your physical, mental and sexual health
details of your GP and other people providing professional support
protected characteristics such as age, ethnicity and language

We need some criminal and law enforcement data such as criminal history and offences.

How we collect your data

We’ll collect data from you by:

online
phone
email or in writing
in person

Why we collect your data

We collect your data so we can:

assessing your housing eligibility and needs and agreeing the advice or support you need
managing your tenancy or temporary accommodation
assessing, maintaining and updating your Homelessness application or application to a housing related support service
allocating you or referring you to accommodation
referring you to housing related support services
compiling reports to assess demand for housing services
ensuring council services are in line with contractual requirements and to a good standard
investigating any worries or complaints about the services
understanding and projecting the need and demand for services, commissioning new services or altering current provision where necessary
for the prevention and detection of crime
data matching including the National Fraud Initiative

Who we collect data from

We collect your data from:

landlords and housing associations
letting agents
other councils
solicitors and conveyencers
outgoing occupiers
Department for Work & Pensions
Pension Service
HM Revenues & Customs
Land Registry
credit reference agencies
Valuation Office Agency – in limited circumstances where legislation permits us to
council departments (such as Electoral Registration, Planning, Building Control, Housing, Customer Services, Adult Social Care, Safeguarding)
Cabinet Office – National Fraud Initiative
‘Tell Us Once’ service
enforcement agents
employers
Citizens’ Advice
Debt Collection and Welfare Services
Official Receiver

We may receive personal, special category personal or criminal and law enforcement data about you from the third parties mentioned above and other public bodies and organisations. In this case, we will tell you the source of the information unless we are unable to do so by law.

We have a duty to protect the public funds that we administer. We may use the information you have provided for the prevention and detection of fraud.

This may involve using Credit Reference Agencies to check that our records are accurate. We use a range of organisations to either store personal information or to help deliver our services to you. Sometimes we have a legal duty to provide your personal information to other organisations, for example the Court Service, DWP or HMRC.

We may share your data with:

other council departments, including Housing Benefit, Council Tax, Adult and Children’s services
judicial agencies, for example, courts
police
the courts, law enforcement agencies and bodies undertaking the collection of debts
health agencies, for example, GP practices, Community Mental Health team, hospitals
education providers
suppliers of gas, water, electricity, digital communications, satellite TVs, mobile providers
money and debt advice agencies
other local authorities
immigration services
the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG)
central and regional government departments
safeguarding boards
emergency accommodation providers, for example, bed and breakfast landlords
elected members and MPs (as your representative)
data reference and credit agencies
other landlords – housing associations, registered providers and private landlords
our contracted housing and service providers
those who we contract to carry out maintenance to your home
we may also share your personal information with service areas within the Council or other relevant organisations for purposes which may include law enforcement
The National Prison & Probation Service
housing related support providers
community land trusts

Legal basis

We process personal data by selecting at least one legal basis from:

UKGDPR Article 6(1) (b) Contract
UKGDPR Article 6(1) (c) Legal Obligation
UKGDPR Article 6(1) (d) Vital Interests
UKGDPR Article 6(1) (e) Public Task/Public Interest/Official Authority

Where we’re relying on UKGDPR Article 6(1)(c), all relevant legislation is listed below.

We process special category personal data by selecting at least one legal basis from:

UKGDPR Article 9(2) (b) Employment/social security and social protection
UKGDPR Article 9(2) (c) Vital interests (where the data subject is physically or legally incapable of giving consent)
UKGDPR Article 9(2) (g) Substantial public interest

We process criminal and law enforcement data by selecting at least one legal basis from:

UKGDPR Schedule 8(3) Protecting Individual’s Vital Interests
UKGDPR Schedule 8(4) Safeguarding Children and Individuals at Risk

Relevant legislation

The relevant legislation includes:

The Housing Acts 1985, 1988, 1996, 2002, 2004
The Homelessness Reduction Act 2017
The Localism Act 2011
Protection from Eviction Act 1977
Local Government Act 1972
Care Act 2014
Childrens act 2004
Part 6 of the Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014

Westmorland and Furness Council privacy notice - Housing