Benefits - Privacy Notice - Self-isolation grants

What this Privacy Notice covers

On 28th September 2020, the Government passed into law a national Test and Trace Support scheme. From 12th October, a one-off payment of £500 or access to a discretionary fund will be available for eligible individuals. For more information about this scheme please see:

If you apply, we will need to process your personal data to assess whether you are eligible to receive financial support, and if so, to provide a payment to you. This Privacy Notice sets out what personal data we will use, how we will use it, and why we need to, when an applicant applies for this support.

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has commissioned NHS Test and Trace on behalf of the Government and is the data controller for the purposes of providing Test and Trace data to Adur District Council and Worthing Borough Council.

Adur & Worthing Councils are the data controllers (referred to in this notice as 'we' or 'us') of your personal data for the purposes of applicable data protection legislation in relation to the administration and management of the following:

  • Administering applications and making payments for Test and Trace Support Payments

The Councils' Data Protection Officer can be contacted at:

In relation to your personal data we are committed to collecting, using and protecting it appropriately. Our Data Protection Policy can be found on our Data Protection webpage.

This privacy notice explains:

  • How and why we collect and use your personal data
  • The type of personal data that we collect
  • When and why we may share personal data with other organisations
  • The rights and choices you have in relation to the personal data that we hold about you
  • How long the information is kept for
  • Our legal basis for processing your data

What we collect, why and how it is used

We collect your personal information for the purpose of administering applications for Test and Trace Support Payments:

  • Names
  • Addresses
  • Telephone numbers
  • Email addresses
  • Proxy applicant details (if someone else submits the application on your behalf)
  • NHS Test and Trace reference numbers
  • Dates of birth
  • National Insurance numbers
  • Employer (or self-employment) details
  • Bank account details

We will obtain data from the NHS Test and Trace Service to confirm that you have either tested positive for COVID-19 or you have been in close contact with someone who has tested positive for COVID-19. As this data is related to your health it is referred to as 'special category data'.

We do not collect criminal offence personal data.

To validate your bank account details, we need to share relevant information you've given us with TransUnion. This will be used to ensure your support payment is paid to the correct bank account and to help prevent fraudulent use of support payments. This is not a credit check and won't impact your credit rating. For more information on how TransUnion may use your data, please see: Privacy Centre - on the TransUnion website

We may share personal data with other departments within the Councils and external organisations in the following circumstances:

  • The Councils' Wellbeing Service to enable wider COVID-19 support to be provided
  • Her Majesty's Revenue & Customers (HMRC) for tax and National Insurance purposes, as required
  • Department of Health and Social Care to help understand public health implications, allow us to carry out anti-fraud checks and determine how well the scheme is performing
  • Potentially your employer to validate your application

We will not provide personal data to anyone else or use the data about you for any other purpose unless the law allows or permits us to.

Your personal data may be converted ('anonymised') into statistical or aggregated data in such a way that ensures that you cannot be identified from it. Aggregated data can't, by definition, be linked back to you as an individual and may be used to conduct research and analysis, including the preparation of statistics for use in reports.

Our legal basis for processing your personal data

The legal basis for processing your personal data is:

  • Article 6(1)(e) of the General Data Protection Regulation - processing is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority vested in the controller
  • Article 9(2)(i) of the General Data Protection Regulations - processing is necessary for reasons of public interest in the area of public health, such as protecting against serious cross-border threats to health or ensuring high standards of quality and safety of healthcare
  • Schedule 1 Part 1 (2) of the Data Protection Act 2018 - health or social care purposes

Separately, we have special permission from the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care to use confidential patient information without people's consent for the purposes of diagnosing, recognising trends, controlling and preventing, and monitoring and managing communicable diseases and other risks to public health.

This is known as a 'section 251' approval and includes, for example, using your test results if you test positive for COVID-19 to start the contact-tracing process.

The part of the law that applies here is section 251 of the National Health Service Act 2006 and Regulation 3 of the associated Health Service (Control of Patient Information) Regulations 2002.

You can find more information about this via the NHS Contact Tracing Privacy Notice.

How long the information is kept for

We will only keep your personal data for as long as it is needed for the purposes of the COVID-19 emergency, and for audit and payment purposes.

Records are kept in accordance with the Council's Information Retention and Disposal Schedule and we will not keep your information for longer than necessary.

Your rights

You have certain rights under the UK Data Protection law including:

  • The right to be informed
  • The right of access to your personal data (also known as a Subject Access Request or SAR)
  • The right to withdraw consent
  • The right of rectification (to have any inaccuracies corrected)
  • The right of erasure (to have your records deleted)
  • The right to restrict processing
  • The right to data portability
  • The right to object
  • Rights in relation to automated decision-making and profiling

Further information about your rights is available on the Information Commissioner's Office website.

If you have a concern about the way that we are collecting or using your personal data, we ask that you contact us in the first instance. Alternatively, you can contact the Information Commissioner's Office.

Automated decision-making or profiling

No decision will be made about you solely on the basis of automated decision-making (where a decision is taken about you using an electronic system without human involvement) which has a significant impact on you.

Security

We use appropriate technical, organisational and administrative security measures to protect any information we hold in our records from loss, misuse, and unauthorised access, disclosure, alteration and destruction. We have written procedures and policies which are regularly audited, and the audits are reviewed at senior level.

How to contact us

If you have any questions about how we collect, store, or use personal data please email us as listed below:

  • Telephone the Revenues & Benefits Service on:
    • 01273 263444 (Adur residents) or
    • 01903 221062 (Worthing residents)
  • Email us on revsbens@adur-worthing.gov.uk

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Page last updated: 08 August 2022

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