Data controller and purpose
This privacy notice applies to you (“the service user”) and the London Borough of Tower Hamlets (“the council”). The council takes the privacy of your information very seriously. This privacy notice applies to the council’s use of any and all of the data provided by you or collected by the council in relation to your use of this service.
It is important that you understand that sometimes we will need to share your data with other agencies where necessary or appropriate and by engaging with our service you understand that that your data may be shared.
The information you provide will be used by the London Borough of Tower Hamlets’ Revenue Services, to process your liability to council tax, business rates or other income to the council together with establishing eligibility to discounts, exemptions or reliefs available in connection with these.
We process your data in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and if you have any concerns the council’s Data Protection Officer can be contacted on DPO@towerhamlets.gov.uk.
Condition for processing personal data
It is necessary for us to process your personal data (name, address, contact details, financial information and other personal details relating to discounts, exemptions and reliefs), under:
- 6(1)(c) compliance with a legal obligation
For business rates the Local Government Finance Act 1988 and for Council Tax the Local Government Finance Act 1992.
A delay in you providing the information requested may result in a delay in providing appropriate services.
How long do we keep your information?
We will only hold your information for as long as is required by law and to provide you with the necessary services. This is likely to be for 7 years after the case is closed. For further details, you can view our retention schedule retention policy
We may also anonymise some personal data you provide to us to ensure that you cannot be identified and use this for statistical analysis of data to allow the council to effectively target and plan the provision of services.
Information sharing
Your personal information may be shared with internal departments or with external partners and agencies involved in delivering services on our behalf. As stated above this will include:
- HMRC
- Valuation Office Agency
- planning
- street naming & numbering
- building control
- electoral registration
- parking services
- housing benefits
- community infrastructure levy
- asset management
- registrar
- other local authorities
The council has a duty to protect public funds and may use personal information and data-matching techniques to detect and prevent fraud, and ensure public money is targeted and spent in the most appropriate and cost-effective way. Information may be shared with internal services and external bodies like the Audit Commission, Department for Work and Pensions, other local authorities, HM Revenue and Customs, and the Police. This activity is carried out under Article 9(2)(b) of the GDPR, under social protection law.
We have a duty to improve the health of the population we serve. To help with this, we use data and information from a range of sources including hospitals to understand more about the nature and causes of disease and ill-health in the area. This data would normally be anonymised and never used to make decisions on a specific individual or family.
Your rights
You can find out more about your rights on our data protection and this includes details of your rights about automated decisions, such as the ranking of Housing Applications, and how to complain to the Information Commissioner.