Scottish Welfare Fund - Privacy Statement

To speak to someone about the Scottish Welfare fund, please call 01546 605512.

Your Personal Data

Argyll and Bute Council will act as the ‘Data Controller’ for the personal data you provide to us. The Data Protection Officer, who is responsible for ensuring personal data is managed in accordance with data protection legislation, can be contacted as follows:

Address: Iain Jackson, Governance and Risk Manager, Argyll and Bute Council, Governance and Law, Kilmory, Lochgilphead PA31 8RT. 

Email:  Iain.Jackson@argyll-bute.gov.uk   or  data.protection@argyll-bute.gov.uk  

Telephone:  01546 604188 or 01546 605522 

Information held about you

As part of the Scottish Welfare Fund (SWF) application process for Crisis Grant (CG) or Community Care Grants (CCG), Argyll and Bute Council will collect personal data about you and members of your family.

The information collected includes:

• Details about you such as your name and address, telephone number, email address, national insurance number, date of birth, household composition and income and savings details
• Other relevant information to process your claim such as your circumstances, details of any crisis you are facing and pressures on your family/household, and your landlord details

We will use this data to process your claim and may check some of the information with other sources, such as any agency assisting you with your application, or the electoral roll or credit reference agencies to ensure this data is accurate.

Who will process your information?

The personal information you give to us through the SWF claim form and any other personal information we hold about you in this context will be processed by Argyll and Bute Council staff.

Do you have to provide your information?

We process SWF claims as part of our statutory function as your local authority. Processing your personal information is necessary for the performance of this task by the council. If you do not provide us with the information we have requested for this purpose then we will not be able to award you these grants.

Providing accurate information

It is important that we hold accurate information about you at the time of making your claim for CG or CCG in order to assess your needs and make the appropriate decision about your eligibility for support.

How will we use the information we hold about you?

We will collect information about you (where applicable) to:

• Process your claim for CG or CCG
• Where processing is necessary to comply with legal obligations for example, the prevention and detection of crime including fraud
• Protect public funds

What is the legal basis for us to process your information?

The legal basis for processing data is:

• Under the following legislation:
  • The Welfare Funds (Scotland) Act 2015

Who will we share your information with?

To process your claim we share information under our legal obligations and with partner organisations, including:

• Other departments of the Council
  • Housing services where the Council is the landlord or the claimant is designated as homeless
  • Other organisations or public bodies
    • Argyll and Bute Health and Social Care Partnership to ensure the accuracy of data in the claim
    • Other Scottish Local Authorities to help minimise fraud and error
    • The Department for Works and Pensions (DWP)
    • HM Revenues and Customs
    • The Police
    • The Scottish Public Services Ombudsman where the claimant has submitted a tier 2 appeal.

Data is shared with the Scottish Government for statistical and analytical purposes. The Scottish Government have a privacy notice regarding what they do with SWF data which will be published shortly.

We will not share your information with other organisations unless there is a legal basis to do so. However, there may be certain circumstances where we would share without your consent, such as where we are required to do so by law to safeguard public safety and in risk of harm or emergency situations. Otherwise outside of the conditions stated, we will not share your information as detailed unless you have provided your written consent to do so. 

How long will we keep your information?

We will keep your information for the minimum period necessary. The information outlined in this privacy notice will be kept after all action on your claim has finished and the period required by the Council for legal and audit purposes has passed which is normally 6 years after your claim has been cancelled. All information will be held securely and destroyed under confidential conditions. 

Do we transfer your information outside the UK?

We do not transfer personal information outside the UK.

Your Rights

When you provide information to the Council, you will have the following rights:

• to withdraw consent at any time, where the lawful basis specified above is consent
• to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office – see below for details
• to request access to your personal data – please contact the Data Protection Officer if you wish to submit a request.
• to data portability, where the Legal basis specified above is i) consent or ii) performance of a contract
• to request rectification or erasure of your personal data, as far as the legislation permits – please contact the Data Protection Officer and provide details of what data you wish to be rectified or erased.

You can find out more about your rights in relation to data protection here: www.argyll-bute.gov.uk/data-protection or from the Data Protection Officer by telephone or in writing, as detailed above.

Information Commissioner’s Office

The ICO is the UK’s independent body set up to uphold information rights. 

Information Commissioner’s Office

Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF

Telephone:  0303 123 1113   Email:  casework@ico.org.uk 

The Information Commissioner’s Office – Scotland

45 Melville Street, Edinburgh, EH3 7HL

Telephone:  0303 123 1115  Email:  Scotland@ico.org.uk