FAQ

Who we are and what we do

The Electoral Services Section is committed to protecting and respecting your privacy. For the purpose of the 2018 General Data Protection Regulation, the Data Controller is (depending on the service) either the Electoral Registration Officer (for registration matters), or the Returning Officer (for election matters) based at the Town Hall, 160 Whitechapel Rd, London E1 1BJ

When you contact the Electoral Services Team, we are likely to ask you for certain personal information in order to be able to assist with your enquiry. Some of this information will need to be recorded and stored on our systems. This Privacy Notice aims to explain:

1. the different kinds of personal data we process
2. how we use your data
3. how we store your data
4. why we process your data
5. when and why we share your information
6. the legal grounds for processing your information.

Everyone working for Electoral Services has a legal duty to keep and process information about you in accordance with the law.

This notice explains why we ask for your personal information, how that information will be used and how you can access your records.

We process your data in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and UK privacy legislation and if you have any concerns or questions the Council’s Data Protection Officer can be contacted on DPO@towerhamlets.gov.uk.

The laws that govern the collection and use of this data

The following is a list of all primary and secondary legislation relevant to the collection, processing and retention of personal data:

• Local Government Act 1972
• Representation of the People Act 1983
• Electoral Administration Act 2006
• Electoral Administration Act 2013
• Representation of the People (England and Wales) Regulations 2001
• Representation of the People (England and Wales) (Amendment) Regulations 2002 and 2006
• Representation of the People (England and Wales) (Amendment) (No 2) 2006
• European Parliamentary Elections (Registration of Citizens of Accession States) Regulations 2003
• European Parliamentary Elections Regulations 2004
• Police (Scotland) Regulations 2004
• European Parliamentary Elections (Amendment) Regulations 2009
• Local Elections (Principal Areas) Rules 2006
• Local Authorities (Mayoral Elections) (England and Wales) Regulations 2007
• Greater London Authority Elections Rules 2007
• The Local Authorities (Mayoral Elections) (England and Wales) (Amendment) Regulations 2011
• The Local Elections (Principal Areas) (England and Wales) (Amendment) Rules 2011
• Greater London Authority Elections (Amendment) Rules 2012
• Neighbourhood Planning (Referendums) Regulations 2012
• Elections Act 2022

Why we need your information and how we use it

We use information about citizens, electors and voters to enable us to carry out specific functions for which we are responsible and to provide you with a statutory service.

We keep records about potential and actual electors, voters, citizens, candidates and their agents, staff employed at an election and the people we need to pay. These may be written down (manual records) or kept on a computer (electronic records).

What type of information is collected from you

The information we collect and process may include:

1. basic details about you, for example, name, address, date of birth and nationality
2. unique identifiers (such as your NI number),
3. scanned application forms & dates of any letters of correspondence
4. notes about any relevant circumstances that you have told us
5. details and records about the service you have received
6. your previous or any redirected address
7. the other occupants in your home
8. if you are over 76 or under 16/17
9. whether you have chosen to opt out of the Open version of the Register.

Who your information may be shared with (internally and externally)

This will include:

1. contracted printers to print polling cards, postal packs & other electoral material
2. to registered political parties, elected representatives, candidates, agents and other permitted participants who are able to use it for electoral purposes only
3. credit reference agencies, the British Library, UK Statistics Authority, the Electoral Commission and other statutory recipients of the Electoral Register
4. details of whether you have voted (but not how you have voted) to those who are entitled in law to receive it after an election
5. where the health and safety of others is at risk
6. when the law requires us to pass on information under special circumstances,
7. crime prevention or the detection of fraud as part of the National Fraud Initiative
8. the police (article 6(1)(e) General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR)). This is necessary and proportionate to fulfil the Returning Officer’s statutory functions of safely and properly conducting an election.

How long we keep your information (retention period)

In order to provide you with this service, we rely on our legal obligations. The Electoral Registration Officer & Returning Officer are independent statutory post holders and are obliged to process your personal data in relation to preparing for and conducting Elections.

Your details will be kept and updated in accordance with our legal obligations and in line with statutory retention periods.
Anyone who receives information from us has a legal duty to keep it confidential.
We are required by law to report certain information to appropriate authorities – for example:

• where a formal court order has been issued.
• to law enforcement agencies for the prevention or detection of a crime
• to the Jury Central Summoning Bureau indicating those persons who are aged 76 or over and are no longer eligible for jury service.

Partner organisations

The process of checking citizens’ personal identifiers to ensure eligibility for inclusion in the Electoral Register, is controlled by the Cabinet Office via the Governments Individual Electoral Registration Digital Service.

The process includes:

• The Department for Work and Pensions who use data provided to verify the identity of new applicants
• The Cabinet Office will inform the old local authority of people who have moved area

Information will be processed within the European Economic Area (EEA) and will not be shared with overseas recipients.

If your details are in the Open version of the Electoral Register, your name and address can be sold to third parties who may use it for any purpose. You can opt out of this version at any time and are given the opportunity when you apply to register to vote and annually as part of the Canvass of all households.

To verify your identity, when you apply to be registered to vote the data you provide will be processed by the Individual Electoral Registration Digital Service managed by the Cabinet Office. As part of this process your data will be shared with the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) and the Cabinet Office suppliers that are data processors for the Individual Electoral Registration Digital Service.

Find more information on the Register to vote website.

How we protect your Information

We will not transfer your personal data outside the EU without your consent.

We have implemented generally accepted standards of technology and operational security in order to protect personal data from loss, misuse, or unauthorised alteration or destruction.  

Please note that where you are transmitting information to us over the internet this can never be guaranteed to be 100 per cent secure.  

For any payments which we take from you online we will use a recognised online secure payment system.

We will notify you promptly in the event of any breach of your personal data which might expose you to serious risk. 

Your rights

You have rights under the Data Protection Legislations:

• to access your personal data
• to be provided with information about how your personal data is processed
• to have your personal data corrected
• to have your personal data erased in certain circumstances
• to object to or restrict how your personal data is processed
• to have your personal data transferred to yourself or to another business in certain circumstances.
• You have the right to be told if we have made a mistake whilst processing your data and we will self-report breaches to the Commissioner.

How you can access, update or correct your information

The Data Protection Legislation allows you to find out what information is held about you, on paper and computer records. This is known as ‘right of subject access’ and applies to your Electoral Services records along with all other personal records.

If you wish to see a copy of your records you should contact the Data Protection officer. You are entitled to receive a copy of your records free of charge, within a month.

In certain circumstances access to your records may be limited, for example, if the records you have asked for contain information relating to another person.

The accuracy of your information is important to us to be able to provide relevant services more quickly. We are working to make our record keeping more efficient. In the meantime, if you change your address or email address, or if any of your circumstances change or any of the other information we hold is inaccurate or out of date please email us or write to us at:

Electoral Services
Tower Hamlets Town Hall
160 Whitechapel Rd
London
E1 1BJ

Tel: 020 7364 5000

If you would like to know more about how we use your information, or if for any reason you do not wish to have your information used in any of the ways described, please tell us by contacting our Data Protection Officer:

The Data Protection Officer
Complaints and Information Team
Tower Hamlets Council
160 Whitechapel Rd
London
E1 1BJ

Tel: 020 7364 5000
Email: DPO@towerhamlets.gov.uk

You can obtain further information about GDPR from the Information Commissioner and can also contact them if you have any complaints that you wish to make:

Information Commissioner’s Office
Water Lane
Wilmslow, Cheshire
SK9 5AF

Tel: 0303 123 1113
ico.org.uk

Tower Hamlets Training Hub: MECC & The Vital 5

The Training Hub, in collaboration with Tower Hamlets Public Health, is offering half-day "Making Every Contact Count" training to all health and wellbeing frontline staff in Tower Hamlets. Attendees will learn how to have brief, person-centred conversations that quickly identify The Vital 5 key risk factors and support behavioural change.

The Vital 5 is a public health framework aimed at addressing five key risk factors that significantly impact overall health and wellbeing (blood pressure, smoking, alcohol, physical activity, mental well-being). These factors are interconnected and contribute to preventable chronic diseases and inequalities in health outcomes.

Date

Various

Delivery method

Hybrid (face-to-face and online via Zoom). Those booking online will need a working camera and audio.

More information

Register via The Tower Hamlets Education Provider Network and Training Hub webpage.

Tower Hamlets Training Hub: MECC for social isolation and loneliness

The Training Hub, in collaboration with Tower Hamlets Public Health, is offering half-day “Making Every Contact Count” training to frontline staff in Tower Hamlets. Attendees will learn how to have brief supportive, conversations with residents experiencing social isolation and loneliness using the MECC Framework.

This interactive and practical 3.5 hour module covers:

• the definition, risk factors and impact of social isolation and loneliness.
• developing and practicing person centred communication skills with people experiencing loneliness and social isolation.
• learning and reviewing the MECC framework and how it can be adapted to those experiencing social isolation and loneliness.
• exploring common challenges in having person-centred conversations in relation to social isolation and loneliness.
• exploring how to effectively signpost residents to useful national and local resources for residents experiencing loneliness and social isolation.

Date

Various

Delivery method

Face-to-face and online sessions via Zoom. Those booking online will need a working camera and audio.

More information

Register via The Tower Hamlets Education Provider Network and Training Hub webpage.

The Good Practice Mentor Programme (GPM) free training

The Good Practice Mentor Programme is a legacy project from Ageing Better, a seven-year partnership programme that ran from 2015-2022. The GPM offers a wide range of free training, support, toolkits and resources to help organisations to reduce loneliness and isolation affecting older people.

Sessions cover topics like Co-Production, Addressing Barriers to Engagement, The Psychology of Loneliness and Isolation, Conversational Strategies, Outreach and Communications.

Date

Various dates

Delivery method

Online

More information

Visit the The Good Practice Mentor Team Eventbrite webpage to browse and book sessions. Find out more about the Good Practice Mentor programme and the range of support on offer by contacting gpm@syha.co.uk.

Thrive London Mental Health training

Thrive London offers a wide variety of sessions and resources on mental health and wellbeing for frontline workers. Topics include psychological first aid, trauma-informed practice, conflict resolution, suicide prevention training, and more.

Date

On demand

Delivery method

Online

More information

Visit the Thrive LDN - Training webpage to browse and enrol on courses.

Money Guiders free training

The Money and Pensions Services (MaPS) delivers a calendar of free training sessions to professionals who support people with money troubles. Upcoming sessions cover topics like Income Maximisation, Personal Independence Payment (PIP) Awareness, Pensions, Insurance, Student Debt, Housing Mediation, Financial and Digital Exclusion, Credit Unions and Gambling Awareness.

Date

Various dates

Delivery method

Online.

More information

Visit the Money Guiders Knowledge Hub for information and bookings.

Protection Approaches - Understanding Hate Crime

This training has been designed for those who work with those most at risk of being the victims of hate crime.

The course can be delivered as a short course over 2 hours or as a more in-depth course over a full day. It covers: 

• Hate crime laws
• The impact of hate crime on victims, witnesses, and communities
• How and where people can report
• Why it is important to report
• How to support victims
• How to prevent hate crime.

Date

Contact education@protectionapproaches.org for bookings.

Delivery method

Online. 

More information

See this Hate crime training info sheet for more information.

Protection Approaches - Identity-based violence and atrocity prevention

This training can include anything from urgent briefings on situations of impending or ongoing mass atrocities, to structural training on how organisations or governments can implement prevention strategies of monitoring, analysis, communication, and response. The session can be tailored according to the needs of partners. 

Date

Contact Kate.Ferguson@protectionapproaches.org for bookings.

Delivery method

Online.

More information

Visit the Protection Approaches training webpage for more information.

Protection Approaches – Active Bystander training

This session was created in partnership with British East and South East Asian Network (besea.n). Participants are guided through a series of discussions to explore how they can play a role in tackling identity-based prejudice and violence in their community, school, or place of work.

Content is tailored to the needs of each group. The training has a minimum time of two hours but can also be delivered over a half or full day. Content includes:

• What it means to be an active bystander or ally: through group discussion the participants explore what being an active bystander means to them
• Standing up for victims: working through a series of scenarios, participants consider and learn what they can do when they encounter prejudice, harassment or violence such as a racist attack in a supermarket or an inappropriate comment from a colleague
• What you can do if you are the victim: participants consider some options they may have if they are the victim of prejudice or violence, and find out where there are support services and resources.

Date

Contact education@protectionapproaches.org for bookings.

Delivery method

Online.

More information

Visit the Active Bystandership training webpage for more information.

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 your data may be shared.

The information you provide will be used by the London Borough of Tower Hamlets’ Young Tower Hamlets, to process your Personal data and Special category data. London Borough of Tower Hamlets will provide services internally, except in the instances where organisations provide services (such as schools/Health and voluntary sector) where this will be a joint service.

We will store your personal and special category data in the Local Authority’s Upshot database for planning and decision making in line with the council’s core values.

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 lawfully process your personal data such as name, address, contact details, under GDPR Article 6:

• 6(1)(a) consent
• 6(1)(b) performance of a contract
• 6(1)(c) compliance with a legal obligation
• 6(1)(e) task in the public interest or official authority vested in the controller

And more personal data such as health, personal and household circumstances and Special Category Data under GDPR Article 9:

• 9(2)(b) employment, social security or social protection law, collective agreement.
• 9(2)(j) archiving in the public interest, or scientific and historical research purposes or statistical purposes

Additional legislation that apply:

• Children Act 1989
• Section 17 of the Children Act 1989
• Section 11.1, Pre-birth ‘Good Practice Steps’
• Section 47 of the Children Act 1989
• Section 20 of the Children Act 1989
• The Education Act 1996
• The Education Act 2002

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. The information will be stored until the data subject reaches the age of 19 years or 25 years if Special Education Needs and / or Disability are identified. For further details, you can view our retention schedule.

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 this will include Ofsted, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, external education settings such as schools, Health organisations and services provided by the Voluntary Sector.

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.

Automated decision making and profiling

The service will process some of the data electronically and may therefore make automated decisions on your case. You can ask for this to be explained to you, please see the ‘your rights’ link below. We may also to some degree use the data to build a profile for you regarding service provision and priority.

Your rights

You can find out more about your rights on our Data Protection page 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. 

You can pay rent for your home, garage, parking space or store shed at any Post Office or PayPoint outlet using a rent payment card.

• Take your rent payment card to any Post Office and pay with cash, debit card or cheque 
• Take your rent payment card to any location where you see the PayPoint sign and pay with cash
• You will not be charged for this service, but you will be given a receipt for your payment. Keep it safe - you may need it later as proof of payment

Find your nearest payment outlet