Berneslai Homes Data Protection Policy | Berneslai Homes

Article: Berneslai Homes Data Protection Policy

Berneslai Homes collects and stores information about customers, housing applicants, employees and Board Members.
This information could be both personal and confidential.

However, when we collect information from you we will tell you what we need the information for and what we will use it for.
We treat any information provided in the strictest confidence and in line with the Data Protection Act 1998.

This document outlines how we store, process and make accessible personal data held by Berneslai Homes.

The eight principles of Data Protection:

Berneslai Homes will comply with the eight principles of the Data Protection Act.  These principles are legally enforceable and state that data:

1. shall be processed fairly and lawfully;
2. shall be obtained for a specific and lawful purpose;
3. shall be adequate, relevant and not excessive;
4. shall be accurate and up to date;
5. shall not be kept longer than necessary;
6. shall be processed in accordance with the rights of the data subject;
7. shall be kept secure;
8. shall not be transferred to another country outside the EEC unless that country ensures adequate protection of the data.

Compliance with the Data Protection Act

• Berneslai Homes, as a corporate body, is the data controller under the Act.
• The Performance and Information Manager has responsibility for data protection within Berneslai Homes, ensuring that our notification to the Information Commissioner and our entry in the Data Protection Register is accurate and up to date.
• Compliance with data protection is the responsibility of all of our employees who process personal information.

All Berneslai Homes' staff have training on Data Protection legislation and receive regular updates on our Data Protection Policy. It is their responsibility to maintain confidentiality of all information and they are also responsible to pass on to the Performance and Information Manager if they are aware of any breach of confidentiality.

What are your rights?

• You have a right to see any information that we keep about you;
• You have the right to ask us to correct any inaccurate information we hold about you;
• You have the right to ask us not to send you promotional and marketing information.

What should I do if I want to see the information?

You need to contact the Performance and Information Manager. You must do this in writing, although e mails are acceptable, and you must be specific about what information you are asking for.

Someone else can apply on your behalf but they must provide evidence that they are able to do so and they provide your written consent. They will also need to provide proof of their identity, as will you if you apply in person.

The postal address is:

Performance and Information Manager
PO Box 627
Barnsley
S70 9FZ

The e mail address is: CustomerServices@berneslaihomes.co.uk

Please quote: Data Protection’ in the email title.

We MUST supply the information you ask for within 40 working days of you asking or give you a reason if we cannot provide it.

We may charge you a fee of £10 for providing information. Information about a housing application is free.

We accept the following as proof of identity:

• Current Blue Badge Disabled Drivers' Badge;
• Current full Driving Licence UK or EEA;
• Current Passport;
• Current Benefit Agency Book;
• Original notification of award of benefit;
• Current Inland Revenue notification.

What do we collect?

We may collect any of the information detailed below as appropriate

• Name and address
• Ethnicity
• Contact information, including telephone numbers and e mail addresses
• Information with regard to National Insurance number and date of birth
• Income, benefit and other financial details
• Medical and support needs
• Demographic data
• Other information which may be relevant to customer surveys

What do we use personal information for?

We require this information for a number of reasons, in particular in order to ensure that we provide you with the best possible service and that our internal records are up to date, accurate and to ensure our services comply with relevant Equality legislation.
We will use your contact information to contact you by your preferred method.

If you apply for a home, we use the information you give us to decide what kind of home you need and how quickly you need to move there. 

When you become a tenant, we use your personal information to help us manage your home and the surrounding neighbourhood or to consider any support or services you may need.

Do you share information with others?

We will only share information with other agencies, like contractors undertaking repairs and improvements on our behalf, the Council or the police, if it is relevant and necessary to do so.

Where we share information, we will make it clear to you on the forms you fill in that we may do this and, when you sign any of our forms, you should be aware that you are giving your consent for us to share your data.

We assure you that the organisations we share information with will treat the information in the strictest confidence and will only use the information for the purposes it was supplied.

We will expect them to store the information securely and remove it from their files when they no longer need it.  They are not allowed to pass the information onto anyone else.

There are some exceptional circumstances when we are allowed to share information with third parties without your consent.
These are:

• Where there is clear evidence of fraud;
• To comply with the law;
• In connection with legal proceedings;
• To protect the health and safety of an individual, where that individual would be at risk if the information were not disclosed or where there is a legal requirement to do so;
• Anonymously for statistical purposes.

All these circumstances are detailed in the Data Protection Act 1998.

Where do you keep information about me and for how long?

All Berneslai Homes' staff will take steps to ensure that personal data is kept secure at all times against unauthorised or unlawful loss or disclosure and that the data is only kept for as long as the law allows.

Our document retention details can be found in our Records Management Policy.

We keep most of our information on our secure computer systems but any paper records we have are stored in a secure environment.

Confidential and/or personal paper documentation is disposed of by an approved contractor at our premises and we are supplied with a Certificate of Destruction on completion of the shredding process.

We promise that while we hold your information we will not change it without your authority and we will protect it against damage, loss or theft.

The Information Commissioner

The Information Commissioner maintains a public register of data controllers.  The Data Protection Act 1998 requires every data controller, who is processing personal data, to notify and renew their notification on an annual basis.

Failure to do so is a criminal offence.

More information

If you would like more information about our privacy policy please contact:

Performance and Information Manager
PO Box 627
Barnsley
S70 9FZ