How we use your data

We take the collection, use and deletion of your personal information very seriously. We have a number of privacy notices which explain how our services use the information you give us and ensure it is adequately protected.

Kirklees Council Privacy Notice

Your personal information

What we mean by personal information

Personal information can be anything that identifies and relates to a living person. This can include information that when put together with other information can then identify a person. For example, this could be your name and contact details.

Some of your personal information might be 'special'

Some information is 'special' and needs more protection due to its sensitivity. It's often information you would not want widely known and is very personal to you. This is likely to include anything that can reveal your:

sexuality and sexual health
religious or philosophical beliefs
ethnicity
physical or mental health
trade union membership
political opinion
genetic/biometric data
criminal history

Why we need your personal information

We may need to use some information about you to:

deliver services and support to you
manage those services we provide to you
train and manage the employment of our workers who deliver those services
help investigate any worries or complaints you have about your services
keep track of spending on services
check the quality of services
help with research and planning of new services

How the law allows us to use your personal information

There are a number of legal reasons why we need to collect and use your personal information.

Each privacy notice from the menu below explains for each service which legal reason is being used. Generally we collect and use personal information where:

you, or your legal representative, have given consent
you have entered into a contract with us
it is necessary to perform our statutory duties
it is necessary to protect someone in an emergency
it is required by law
it is necessary for employment purposes
it is necessary to deliver health or social care services
you have made your information publicly available
it is necessary for legal cases
it is to the benefit of society as a whole
it is necessary to protect public health
it is necessary for archiving, research, or statistical purposes

Consent

If we are relying on consent to process your data, you can request to withdraw consent or restrict/object to some elements of the processing. The Council does not rely on consent in most cases because it has legal duties to do certain tasks. For example, processing planning applications, collecting council tax payments and social work tasks are based on legal duties, not consent.

If we are relying on consent to use your personal information, you have the right to remove it at any time. If you want to remove your consent, please contact the relevant service. Alternatively, contact DPO@kirklees.gov.uk and tell us which service you're using so we can deal with your request.

We only use what we need

Where we can, we'll only collect and use personal information if we need it to deliver a service or meet a requirement.

If we don't need your personal information we'll either keep you anonymous if we already have it for something else, or we won't ask you for it. For example, in a survey we may not need your contact details, in which case we'll only collect your survey responses.

If we use your personal information for research and analysis, we'll always keep you anonymous or use a different name, unless you've agreed that your personal information can be used for that research.

We don't sell your personal information to anyone else.

What you can do with your personal information

The law gives you a number of rights to control what personal information is used by us and how it is used by us.

You can ask for access to the information we hold on you (right of access)

We would normally expect to share what we record about you with you whenever we assess your needs or provide you with services.

You also have the right to ask for all the information we have about you and the services you receive from us. When we receive a request from you in writing, we must give you access to everything we've recorded about you to which you are entitled.

However, we can't let you see any parts of your record which contain:

Confidential information about other people; or
Data a professional thinks will cause serious harm to your or someone else's physical or mental wellbeing; or
Information which may stop us from preventing or detecting a crime.

This applies to personal information that is in both paper and electronic records. If you ask us, we'll also let others see your record (except if one of the points above applies).

For details about getting access to your records, please see UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) for further information. If you can't ask for your records in writing, you can ask someone else to do it for you or ring the Council and we will help. You can ring us on 01484 221000 and ask for either Customer Services or Data Protection.

You can ask to change information you think is inaccurate (right to rectification)

You should let us know if you disagree with something written on your file.

We may not always be able to change or remove that information but we'll correct factual inaccuracies and may include your comments in the record to show that you disagree with it.

You can ask to delete information (right of erasure)

In some circumstances you can ask for your personal information to be deleted, for example:

Where your personal information is no longer needed for the reason it was collected in the first place
Where you have removed your consent for us to use your information (where there is no other legal reason for us to use it)
Where there is no legal reason for the use of your information
Where deleting the information is a legal requirement

Where we have shared your personal information with others, we'll do what we can to make sure those using your personal information comply with your request for erasure.

Please note that we can't delete your information where:

we're required to have it by law
it is used for freedom of expression
it is used for public health purposes
it is for, scientific or historical research, or statistical purposes where it would make information unusable
it is necessary for legal claims

You can ask us to limit what we use your personal data for (right to restrict processing)

You have the right to restrict the processing of your personal data if you are in dispute with us over its accuracy while it is being verified. You can also restrict our use of your personal information if the processing is unlawful.

If we no longer need your personal information for the purpose it was held, you can ask us to keep records if they are required to establish, exercise or defend legal claims.

If you wish to restrict the processing of your information, please contact the relevant service in the first instance.

You can ask to have your information moved to another provider (data portability)

You have the right to ask for your personal information to be given back to you or another service provider of your choice in a commonly used format. This is called data portability.

However, this only applies if we're using your personal information with consent (not if we're required to by law) and if decisions were made by a computer and not a human being.

It's likely that data portability won't apply to most of the services you receive from the Council.

You can tell us that you object to the processing of your personal data (right to object)

You can tell us that you object to the processing of your personal data where the following applies:

where the processing is based on legitimate interests or the performance of a task in the public interest/exercise of official authority (including profiling)
direct marketing (including profiling)
where the processing is used for the purposes of scientific/historical research and statistics.

Please note that there are circumstances where your objection will not apply:

where there are compelling legitimate grounds for the processing;
where the processing is for legal claims;
where we are conducting research where the processing of personal data is necessary for the performance of a public interest task.

You can ask to have a decision made about you by 'a real person' (right not to be subject to automated decision-making or profiling)

You can ask to have any computer made decisions explained to you, and details of how we may have 'risk profiled' you.

You have the right to question decisions made about you by a computer, unless it's required for any contract you have entered into, required by law, or you've consented to it.

You also have the right to object if you are being 'profiled'. Profiling is where decisions are made about you based on certain things in your personal information, e.g. your health conditions.

If and when Kirklees Council uses your personal information to profile you, in order to deliver the most appropriate service to you, you will be informed.

Who we share your personal data with

We use a range of organisations to either store personal information or help deliver our services to you. Where we have these arrangements there is always an agreement in place to make sure that the organisation complies with data protection law.

We will complete a data protection impact assessment (DPIA) before we share personal information to make sure we protect your privacy and comply with the law.

Sometimes we have a legal duty to provide personal information to other organisations. This is often because we need to give that data to courts, including:

if we take a child into care;
if the court orders that we provide the information; and
if someone is taken into care under mental health law.

We may also share your personal information when it is necessary for one of these reasons:

in order to find and stop crime and fraud; or if there are serious risks to the public, our staff or to other professionals;
to protect a child; or
to protect adults who are thought to be at risk, for example if they are frail, confused or cannot understand what is happening to them

How we protect your personal information

We'll do what we can to make sure we hold records about you (on paper and electronically) in a secure way, and we'll only make them available to those who have a right to see them. Examples of our security include:

Encryption, meaning that information is hidden so that it cannot be read without special knowledge (such as a password). This is done with a secret code or what's called a 'cypher'. The hidden information is said to then be 'encrypted'.
Pseudonymisation, meaning that we'll use a different name so we can hide parts of your personal information from view. This means that someone outside of the Council could work on your information for us without ever knowing it was yours.

Controlling access to systems and networks allows us to stop people who are not allowed to view your personal information from getting access to it.

Training for our staff allows us to make them aware of how to handle information and how and when to report when something goes wrong.
Regular testing of our technology and ways of working including keeping up to date on the latest security updates (commonly called patches).

Where in the world is your information?

The majority of personal information is stored on systems in the UK. But there are some occasions where your information may leave the UK either in order to get to another organisation or if it's stored in a system outside of the EU.

We have additional protections on your information if it leaves the UK ranging from secure ways of transferring data to ensuring we have a robust contract in place with that third party.

We'll take all practical steps to make sure your personal information is not sent to a country that is not seen as 'safe' either by the UK or EU Governments.

If we need to send your information to an 'unsafe' location we'll always seek advice from the Information Commissioner first.

How long we keep your personal data

There's often a legal reason for keeping your personal information for a set period, and this can range from months for some records, to decades for more sensitive records. Where there is no retention period set down in law, each team or service must set out for how long they have a business need to keep your information. This information will be in their own privacy notice.

How to find out more

If you have any worries or questions about how your personal information is handled please contact our Data Protection Officer

For independent advice about data protection, privacy and data sharing issues, you can contact the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) at:

Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF
0303 123 1113 (local rate)
casework@ico.org.uk
http://www.ico.org.uk

Coronavirus privacy notice

Coronavirus privacy notice

Track and trace privacy notice

Track and trace privacy notice

Service-specific privacy notices

Sometimes we work more closely with you for particular projects or because of specific needs.

In these situations we create additional documents to help make our use of your personal information really clear.

For each of the privacy notices there is information about:

why we collect your information
our lawful basis for processing your information
who we may share your information with and why

Adults and Health

Children and Families

Corporate Strategy, Commissioning & Public Health

Growth & Regeneration

Commercial, Regulatory and Operational Services

Employment and Skills

Investment and Regeneration

Licensing

Archived programmes

My Kirklees

Privacy notice for My Kirklees Account

Online privacy

Site standards includes information about the use of cookies and associated topics.

Data matching and information sharing

We routinely check information provided by you or information supplied by an external organisation about you against other information held by the council.

We may also perform other data matching processes, see the privacy notice for further information.

Data matching statement

Access to information

UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) explains what personal data is and your rights to access personal information the council holds about you.

Council and democracy