Privacy policy

Read about the information you send to us and what we will use it for.

1. Identity of the Data Controller and contact details

Rushmoor Borough Council is the data controller for the personal information you provide on this website. You can contact the Council by phone on 01252 398634, via email to housingoptions@rushmoor.gov.uk or by writing to us at Council Offices, Farnborough Road, Farnborough GU14 7JU. You can contact the Council’s Data Protection Officer at data.protection@rushmoor.gov.uk.

2. What we need your information for and the legal basis for it

We need your personal information, some of which may be sensitive, to process your application for assistance under housing legislation. The law allows us to use your personal information in this way, as carrying out responsibilities under the Housing Act 1996 (as amended) is one of the Council’s public tasks. Special category data (race, ethnic origin, religion, health etc.) to perform our duties under the Housing Act 1996 is obtained in accordance with Article 9(2)(g) of the General Data Protection Regulation where processing is necessary for reasons of substantial public interest or Member state law which shall be proportionate to the aim pursued, and provide for suitable and specific measures to safeguard the fundamental rights and the interests of the data subject.

3. Use for any other purposes

If we need to use your information for any other purpose, we will normally inform you before using it, unless we believe you know about the new purpose already or there are legal reasons that prevent us from telling you.

4. Will you pass my information to anyone else?

We may share your information with other teams within the Council such as Housing Benefit, Council Tax, legal services and Private Sector Housing teams in order to provide our services, carry out our public tasks and to keep our records up to date. If you ask a Councillor for help we may pass information to them and other services to enable them to help you.

We may also pass information about you to third parties where permitted or required by law to do so. This may include other local authorities and government departments or agencies carrying out their public tasks, such as Hampshire County Council Trading Standards, HMRC and the Police in carrying out criminal investigations.

5. How we will store and look after your information

Your data will be held electronically and will not be stored in a country outside the UK. All paper records containing your personal information will be held securely in our filing systems and archives.

For our Home Finder website, your data is held electronically and is stored on Civica servers in the UK. We have a data processing agreement with Civica.

6. How long we will retain your information

We will keep your information on our records for a period determined within our retention guidelines, or as long as we are required to do so by law, or in accordance with our operational requirements. For information on our policy for retaining personal information, please see our retention guidelines as published on Rushmoor Borough Council’s website.

7. Your rights concerning your information

The General Data Protection Regulation gives you a number of rights concerning your personal information. See the list below. Not all rights apply in every case – it will depend on the legal basis for collecting your information and how we use it.

  • The right to be informed
  • The right of access
  • The right to rectification
  • Rights related to automated decision making, including profiling
  • The right to restrict processing
  • The right to data portability
  • The right to object
  • The right to erasure

Further details on these rights can be found on our website www.rushmoor.gov.uk/dataprotection

8. Right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office

If you are not happy with the way the Council is handling your personal information you have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office. (ICO). You will find details of how to do so on the ICO website at https://ico.org.uk or by phoning their helpline on 0303 123 1113.

9. Why we need your information and the consequences of not providing it

We need your information to carry out our responsibilities under Housing Law. If you do not provide it, it is unlikely we will be able to assist you in performing our duties under the Housing Act 1996 Part VI and VII, as well as other relevant legislation and regulations such as Right to Rent or the Equality Act 2010.