Coventry Homefinder privacy notice

Coventry City Council complies with the Data Protection Act and the GDPR 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.

Locata currently has a contract with Coventry City Council to host the Web-based system that holds the information that applicants provide.

Why we collect and use Personal Data about you

We collect and hold personal information relating to Coventry Homefinder applications.

We use this information to:

  • Process and assess your Housing Register application
  • Share with Housing Associations who are part of Homefinder who may allocate you a property
  • Comply with the Housing Act 1996 for the allocation of social housing
  • To conduct appropriate checks (eg former tenancies)
  • Help us to develop and improve our services
  • Complete statistical returns to Government departments
  • The prevention and detection of crime

The legal basis for processing your personal information is ‘Public task’ (substantial public interest) - we process personal data of people who have made an application to the social housing register (Coventry Homefinder) because it is necessary to comply with the Housing Act 1996.

What information do we collect about you and your household?

In order to carry out these purposes we collect and obtain:

  • Your full name
  • Your Date of Birth
  • Your Contact details
  • Your National Insurance number
  • Your current and previous addresses for the past 5 years
  • Your current housing circumstances
  • Full names of those in your household (who will be moving with you and part of your application)
  • Date of Birth for those in your household (who will be moving with you and part of your application)
  • The National Insurance numbers of those in your household (who will be moving with you and part of your application)
  • Household circumstances relating to your housing need
  • Financial information relating to your financial position and that of other household members – this is used to assess whether you qualify to join the register and, where appropriate, if your housing need is related to the affordability of your current home.
  • Ethnicity and nationality – special category data (this information is requested but applicants have the option to choose ‘prefer not to say’).
  • Any disabilities as defined in the Equality Act 2010 – special category data
  • Criminal offence history
  • Details of any contact we have had with you, such as any correspondence and complaints

Who we share your Personal Data with

We will share data with:

Registered Providers of social housing who are part of the Coventry Homefinder partnership and let properties through Coventry Homefinder - in order to review your application (where appropriate) and for the allocation of social housing. These are:

 

  • Bromford Group
  • Citizen
  • Clarion
  • GreenSquareAccord
  • Midland Heart Housing Association
  • Nehemiah UCHA
  • Optivo
  • Orbit Heart of England Housing Association
  • Starley Housing Co-operative
  • Stonewater Limited.

In order to process your application and assess your housing need, we may share information with other organisations to make sure it is correct or ask other organisations to share information with us, in order to understand and confirm your housing, personal health or family situation. Where relevant, necessary and appropriate to your housing circumstances, this may include:

  • Your GP and/or other healthcare professionals involved in your care or the care of a household member.
  • Probation services.
  • Current and/or previous landlords.
  • Substance misuse or mental health services.
  • Social Services.
  • The Police.
  • Any agencies you have consented to complete the application on your behalf.
  • Other agencies, support services or voluntary sector organisations that you have indicated you engage with in relation to an issue which impacts on your housing need/application.

We will share data with the Cabinet Office (which is 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. More information on the National Fraud Initiative.

There may be certain circumstances where we would share your personal data where we are required to do so by law, to safeguard public safety, and in risk of harm or emergency situations. Only the minimum information for the purpose will be shared.

How long will we keep your information?

We will only keep your personal information for as long as the law specifies or where the law does not specify this, for the length of time determined by our business requirements.

Your Rights

You have the right to:

  1. Ask to see the personal information we hold about you
  2. Ask us to change information we hold about you if it is wrong
  3. Ask us to delete the information we hold about you
  4. Ask us to limit the way we use your personal Information
  5. Ask for human intervention regarding decisions made about you by a computer (automated decisions)
  6. Data portability (have your data transferred to another Authority)
  7. Complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office

To exercise any of these rights please contact the Coventry Homefinder Team by emailing coventryhomefinder@coventry.gov.uk

Complaints

You have the right to submit a complaint if you are unhappy with the way your request is handled or disagree with a decision made by the council regarding your data. In these circumstances, you can contact the Data Protection Team (DPO) and request a review of the decision.

If you are not satisfied with any outcome from the DPO you may wish to apply to the Information Commissioner's Office at:

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


Date of last review: August 2021