Privacy notice - Corporate complaints and enquiries handled by our Customer Services team
Overview
This privacy notice covers and explains the personal data we may collect and process about you when you contact us to make any corporate complaint or enquiry (not regarding social care) made to the Customer Services Team.
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.
What information is being used?
We will process your name and contact details (this may include address, email address and phone number).
We will also process the details of your complaint or enquiry in order to investigate the matter on your behalf. If you have supplied any documentation or supporting evidence in relation to your complaint or enquiry then we will also process this.
How will your information be used?
We will process your name, contact details (this may include address, email address and phone number) and any supporting documents or evidence you have provided to allow us to fully investigate your complaint or enquiry. Our investigations may require us to disclose any of the information listed previously with other council departments or any contractor which has been tasked to provide a service, relevant to your complaint or enquiry, on behalf of the Council.
We may also process details of your complaint (which may include name and contact details) to periodically run reports in order to review Council policy and improve services we provide.
You information will be shared if it is a complaint which the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman decides to investigate.
We aim to maintain high standards, adopt best practice for our record keeping and regularly check and report on how we are doing. Your information is never sold for direct marketing purposes.
Our staff are trained to handle your information correctly and protect your confidentiality and privacy.
Your information is processed in the UK or in a country with an adequacy agreement with the UK.
What is the legal basis for processing your information?
Local authorities are required to have a published complaints procedure to enable members of the public who are in receipt of service to complain about a perceived maladministration on the part of the Council. Therefore we are carrying out a public task which is carried out in the public interest and is also in the exercise of official authority vested in us as a public authority.
The Local Government Act 1974 (“the Act”) gives powers to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGO) to investigate complaints made by members of the public about the service they have received from the Council. East Sussex County Council is listed out as an authority which can be investigated by the LGO under section 25 of the Act. We are required under Section 29 of the Act to furnish the LGO with any information they may require. This may include the Council producing documents which will process your information in order to assist with the LGO investigation.
The legal basis for processing your information for enquiries is because it is necessary for the performance of the task carried out by the Council which is carried out in the public interest.
How long will your information be kept for?
We will keep your information and details for 6 years after the end of this financial year, which runs from 1 April to 31 March.
Sharing your information
We will not share your information with anyone outside of East Sussex County Council unless they are an approved contractor who was charged to provide the service on behalf of the Council to you. We may also share your information with the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman where you have made a complaint and they are investigating your complaint.
Any sharing of personal data is always done:
- on case-by-case basis
- using the minimum personal data necessary
- with the appropriate security controls in place
- in line with legislation.
Information is only shared with those agencies and bodies who have a "need to know" or where you have consented to the sharing of your personal data to such persons.
We may use the information we hold about you to assist in the detection and prevention of crime or fraud. We may also share this information with other bodies that inspect and manage public funds.
Use of third party organisations
East Sussex County Council may share your information with trusted external organisations to process your data on our behalf.
To enable effectively manage your complaint or enquiry, East Sussex County Council may share your information with trusted external companies to process your data on our behalf.
Any organisation commissioned by the Council will be under contractual obligation to comply with data protection legislation.
Your rights
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.
How to find out more or complain
Should you have any further queries on the uses of your information, please speak directly to our service:
Email: Customer Services and Information Governance Officer
Phone: 01273 482913
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 Information Commissioner's Office (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)