PN007 - Customer Services Privacy Notice

Torfaen County Borough Council is committed to protecting your privacy when you use our services. This Privacy Notice is designed to give you information about the data we hold about you, how we use it, your rights in relation to it and the safeguards in place to protect it.

TCBC Service Area: Communities, Customer Service and Digital: Customer, Digital & ICT Services
Work Area: Customer Services
Contact Details: CallTorfaen@torfaen.gov.uk
Privacy Notice Name: Customer Services

Data Controller: Torfaen County Borough Council, c/o Civic Centre, Pontypool, NP4 6YB

If you wish to raise a concern about the handling of your personal data, please contact the Data Protection Officer on 01495 762200 or email dpa@torfaen.gov.uk

The Council provides statutory services for local communities and the people who live in them. Undertaking this work means we must collect and utilise information about the people we provide services to and keep a record of those services.

Who provides your data to the Council?

The personal information we process is provided to us directly by you or a person acting on your behalf (relatives, guardians, family members or other persons associated with you), during contact with the Customer Services team.

In order to carry out the purposes described above, we may also obtain personal data indirectly from a variety of sources, including the following:

another member of the public (e.g. complaint or concern)
an elected Councillor on behalf of their constituent
other Council Officers/services that liaise with Customer Services in the interest of its customers, or the Council itself
other organisations (e.g. Emergency Services, Landlords, Housing Associations) regarding an individual
the Department for Work & Pensions
HM Revenues & Customs
Central Government, Government agencies & departments

The personal and service specific information we process is provided to us via the source(s) above. Information is collected and processed in line with a service users specific request.

How does the Council collect this information?

The Council may collect this information in a variety of ways including:

During a telephone call to the Contact Centre
In person conversation at one of our Customer Care Centres
An online application via the web or mobile app
Via email
Via Facebook, Twitter or other social media
Within My Council Services (MCS) software system

What information does the Council collect about you?

The type of information collected will vary per contact, but typically includes:

Contact details such as name, address, telephone number and email address
Identifying details including date of birth, place of birth and national insurance number
Financial information including employment, income, bank account details
Family information including age, dependants, marital status and gender
Information about health and medical details
Copies of documents showing proof of identity (e.g. passport, birth certificate)
Copies of documents showing a person’s address (e.g. council tax bill, benefit letter, driving licence, wage slip)
Your photograph

Why does the Council process your personal data?

Under the UK General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the lawful basis we rely on for processing this information is:

(e) We need it to perform a public task.

Special categories of personal data

We also collect the following special category data:

Data concerning health - Medical information provided in support of an application

We collect this under Article 9 of the UK GDPR.

We do not collect any criminal data.

Who has access to your data?

Your data is shared internally only with the appropriate staff where it is necessary for the performance of their roles.

Apart from where previously stated, we do not pass your details to third parties unless we are lawfully required do so.

Is the Data transferred out of the UK?

How does the Council keep your data secure?

The Council has internal policies in place to ensure the data it processes is not lost, accidentally destroyed, misused or disclosed. Access to this data is restricted in accordance with the Council’s internal policies and in compliance with the UK GDPR.

Data will be stored securely in:

My Council Services

Where the Council engages third parties to process personal data on its behalf, they do so on the basis of written instructions. These third parties are also under a duty of confidentiality and are obliged to implement appropriate measures to ensure the security of data.

How long does the Council keep your data?

The Council will hold your personal data only for the period that is necessary and will follow organisational and Local Authority standards in this area. At the end of the retention period the Council will securely destroy or dispose of the data in line with retention schedules.

Are we making automated decisions/profiling with your data?

Your rights

You have a number of Rights you can exercise:

Access - to obtain a copy of your data on request
Rectification – to require the Council to change incorrect or incomplete data
Object, Restrict or Delete - under certain circumstances you can require the Council to delete or stop processing your data, for example where the data is no longer necessary for the purposes of processing
Data portability – to receive and/or transmit data provided to the Council to other organisations (this applies in limited circumstances)
Withdraw your consent at any time (where consent has been given)
To know the consequences of failing to provide data to the Council
To know the existence of any Automated Decision-making, including profiling, and the consequences of this for you.
To lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority (Information Commissioners Office)

If you would like to exercise any of these rights, please contact: Linda King, Customer Services Manager, at Linda.King@torfaen.co.uk

The Information Commissioner can be contacted at: The Information Commissioner’s Office (Wales), 2nd Floor, Churchill House, Churchill Way, Cardiff, CF10 2HH. Telephone 0330 414 6421 or e-mail Wales@ico.org.uk

Last Modified: 17/07/2023 Back to top