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Privacy notice - Coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19)

This privacy notice covers how we collect, use and hold data about you in relation to tackling the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19).

East Sussex County Council takes data protection seriously. Please be assured that your information will be used appropriately in line with data protection legislation, will be stored securely and will not be processed unless the requirements for fair and lawful processing can be met.

In order to protect public health, information relating to health and social care services, COVID-19 test status and ethnicity may be processed by the Council.

Information will be processed for the purpose of protecting public health and effectively responding to the current public health emergency.

Whilst we may already hold data about you, you may have provided this information for a specific reason and normally we would seek to inform you that the data provided would be used for a different reason. Due to the rapidly emerging situation regarding the current pandemic, however, this will not always be possible.

Additionally, at this time we may ask you for more information, where it is necessary to ensure your safety and wellbeing. We will, however, ensure that this is limited to what is proportionate and necessary to manage the spread of the virus and safeguard those most vulnerable.

The purposes for which your information may be used include:

  • sharing information with health services in order to look after individual’s health and care needs
  • sharing information with organisations engaged in disease surveillance for the purposes of protecting public health, providing healthcare services to the public and monitoring and managing the outbreak
  • processing information provided by other organisations for the purposes of delivering social care services to the public
  • processing information for the purposes of protecting the Council’s workforce

Existing law which allows confidential patient information to be used and shared appropriately and lawfully in a public health emergency is being used during this outbreak. Using this law the Secretary of State has required NHS Digital, NHS England and Improvement, arm’s-length bodies (such as Public Health England), local authorities, health organisations and GPs to share confidential patient information to respond to the COVID-19 outbreak.

Any information used or shared during the COVID-19 outbreak will be limited to the period of the outbreak unless there is another legal basis to use the data.

Information may be shared with organisations engaged in disease surveillance for the purposes of protecting public health, providing healthcare services to the public and monitoring and managing the outbreak. Your data may also be shared with other local services such as food banks or local support groups.

Any sharing of personal data is always done:

  • using the minimum personal data necessary
  • with the appropriate security controls in place
  • in line with legislation

Under data protection legislation, you have the right:

  • to be informed why, where and how we use your information
  • to ask for access to your information
  • to ask for your information to be corrected if it is inaccurate or incomplete
  • to ask for your information to be deleted or removed where there is no need for us to continue processing it
  • to ask us to restrict the use of your information
  • to ask us to copy or transfer your information from one IT system to another in a safe and secure way, without impacting the quality of the information
  • to object to how your information is used
  • to challenge any decisions made without human intervention (automated decision making)

Please visit data subject rights for further details.

Should you have any further queries on the uses of your information, please speak directly to the service with whom you are engaged.

To complain about the use of your information, please contact our Customer Services Team or our Data Protection Officer.

Further information on making a complaint.

You can also contact the ICO for further information or to make a complaint:

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

Phone: 0303 123 1113 (local rate)
Email ICO
Report a concern on the ICO website