Council Tax privacy notice

Coventry City Council complies with Data Protection Law and is registered with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) as a Data Controller.

This Privacy Notice explains how personal information is going to be used, what for, who it will be shared with and why.

Why we collect personal information about you

We need to collect and hold personal information about you because the law says we have to. 

How we use your information

• To manage and collect council tax, business rates, BIDS and other monies owing to the Council
• To provide you with necessary and appropriate services
• To help us to develop and improve our services
• To complete and send reports to Government departments
• To do the things that the law says we have to do
• To prevent and detect crime

Who we share your information with

We will share your information with:

• Other council departments for the assessment of tax, the prevention of crime, to do the things the law says we have to and on the basis of the provisions contained within the Digital Economy Act 2017.
• Enforcement Agencies for the collection of tax and other monies owing to the council
• Other Councils and public bodies where the law permits
• Credit Reference Agencies
• Solicitors, Insolvency Practitioners and Her Majesty’s Court and Tribunal Service
• Other Organisations that carry out services for the council.
• The Cabinet office (who are a government department),  for the purposes of a data matching exercise called the National Fraud Initiative. The purpose of the exercise is to detect fraud and error. The Council is legally required to participate in this exercise.  Read more on the National Fraud Initiative.
• The Office for National Statistics (ONS)
• Coventry Business Improvement District Limited
• Elected Members, Members of Parliament and Advice Agencies when acting on your behalf

How long will we keep your information?

We will only keep your information as long as we need to so we can give you the service you need, unless we have to keep it for legal reasons. In accordance with financial regulations governing the retention of accounting records, in normal circumstances the council will retain personal information for a period of six years from the end of the financial year in which settlement was made of any amount owing to the council. All calls are recorded, call recordings are kept for 400 days.

Your rights

You have the right to:

1. Ask for the information we hold about you, this is called a Subject Access Request.
2. Ask us to change information we hold about you if it is wrong
3. Intervention in respect of automated decision making
4. Complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office

To exercise any of these rights please contact council tax: [email protected]

Complaints

You have the right to complain if you are unhappy with the way your request is handled or disagree with a decision made by the council about your data. If you want to make a complaint you can contact the Data Protection Team (DPO): [email protected]

If you are still not satisfied you can contact the Information Commissioner's Office at:

The Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF.