Privacy statement and cookies

This privacy statement covers The Anglia Revenues Partnership (ARP) and ARP Enforcement Agency for the purposes of Council Tax, Business Rates, Housing Benefits and Local Council Tax Reduction for the five partner authorities:

Breckland District Council, East Cambridgeshire District Council, East Suffolk Council, Fenland District Council,  and West Suffolk Council.

Cookies

Cookies are small pieces of information that are stored by your browser on your computer's hard drive. They make it possible for us to provide our online ticketing service and track visitor statistics, such as returning visitors.

For information on how we use cookies visit our Cookies page.

Identity of the controller

Contact details for the Data Controllers:

When you use the Anglia Revenues website you are agreeing to this statement and any additional statements on individual pages within the website.

The legitimate interests of the controller

Your privacy is important. We regard the lawful and correct treatment of personal data as vital to maintaining the confidence of the many people we deal with. We will treat personal data lawfully and correctly, any personal information you give us will only be used in accordance with principles found in the UK General Data Protection Regulation and Data Protection Act 2018. For more information about the act visit: Information Commissioners Office (ICO)

If you provide any personal information on this website, it will only be used for the reasons given on the page, application form or shared with partner organisations that we use to help deliver that service. It will not be shared with any third party without your consent, unless required by law or for the prevention and detection of fraud.

What information do we collect from you?

We may collect and process the following data about you:

  • Personal information that you provide while using the ARP website and our services
  • Personal information for administration purposes of Council Tax, Business Rates, Housing Benefit and Local Council Tax Reduction
  • Any information collected from you as part of our online registration or application processes
  • If you contact us, we may keep a record of that correspondence
  • With your specific consent, we may ask you to complete customer satisfaction surveys for research purposes
  • Visual and audio images of you through our use of Body Worn Video and audio recording equipment where enforcement visits are carried out.

Why is your information processed?

Most of the personal information we ask you for is to enable us to provide the statutory service and legal requirement in the administration of Council Tax, Business Rates, Housing Benefit and Local Council Tax Reduction Scheme (LCTRS).

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 your data is may be used, pleased visit TransUnion.

We will process the personal data collected in respect of the use of body worn videos (BWV) cameras by our enforcement agents to:

  • collect information about incidents occurring at the doorstep to protect the health and safety of the individuals involved with debt enforcement visits which may include being used to provide evidence to investigate and prosecute any violence against the enforcement agent, and
  • ensure compliance with applicable laws and be able to respond adequately and fairly in the event that complaints are made against the enforcement agent carrying out the debt enforcement visit.

Where your consent is required to use personal data

The information we hold about you has been collected for a specific purpose. Your consent may be needed when we want to use data for a different purpose. For example, we collect your name and address so we can send Council Tax bills, but we would need your permission if we used this information to send you something else at another time, this is called opting in.

The right to withdraw consent at any time, where relevant

If you give consent for this action or any other form of opt in consent, you have the right to ask for this consent to be withdrawn, where relevant.

However, your consent is not required when we are obliged under law to assist in the prevention and detection of crime, for example through the National Fraud Initiative or where the information is needed to carry out a legal function, such as the collection of Council Tax.

All application forms and requests for information must explain why we need the information requested.

Existence of each data subject’s rights

How you can see personal information we hold about you

The UK General Data Protection Regulation provides the following rights for individuals:

  • The right to be informed – this is the information given to you in a privacy notice.
  • The right of access – see the personal information we hold about you.
  • The right to rectification – if you feel your information is incorrect you can ask for it to be corrected.
  • The right to erase – there are some circumstances when you can ask for your personal information to be erased.
  • The right to restrict processing – there are some circumstances when you can ask for the processing of your personal information to be restricted.
  • The right to data portability – you may request to acquire and reuse your personal information for your own purposes.
  • The right to object – you can object to processing if you feel your personal information is not being used for the purposes that you gave it to us for.
  • Rights in relation to automated decision making and profiling – you have the right to know if your personal information is used in an automated process which could result in an unfavourable decision against you. If any of the personal information we take from you is used in the processes above we will tell you at the time it is taken. Rights in relation to automated decision making and profiling – you have the right to know if your personal information is used in an automated process which could result in an unfavourable decision against you. If any of the personal information we take from you is used in the processes above we will tell you a the time it is taken.

How to exercise one of the rights above?

In regards to all of the above you can ask us for access to information that we hold about you. This is called a Data Subject Access Request. It can be requested verbally, by email: DataProtection@angliarevenues.gov.uk

or in writing:

FOI
Anglia Revenues Partnership
PO Box 267
Thetford
IP24 9AX

You will be required to provide proof of identity in person. We must respond to you within one month – if we feel the request is complex we may ask for an extension of this period.

If the information we provide is incorrect you must write to us and tell us what information is incorrect and ask that it be corrected. If we do not agree that the information is incorrect you may ask us to record your disagreement. There is no charge for this service.

If you don’t understand what you have been sent you can write to or email us for an explanation or we can refer you direct to the local authority’s Data Controller.

Where can I find more information about my rights?

The Government has set out a number of data protection principles and rights for you that we must follow when using your personal data. These principles and rights are detailed in the UK General Data Protection Regulation.

For a full explanation of how your council complies with the UK General Data Protection Regulation go to:

Each of the councils act as a Data Controller registered with the Information Commissioner You can search for the council’s register entry which gives a general description of what personal data is used for at: Register of data controllers ICO

Complaints

If you wish to complain about the way in which your request has been processed then your complaint will be dealt with by the relevant local authority in accordance with their own complaints procedure. If, after an internal review, you are still unhappy with the decision, you have a right of appeal to the Information Commissioner’s Office, visit their page: Information Commissioner’s Office - Make a complaint

Other legal requirements in regards to personal information

The prevention and detection of fraud and the National Fraud Initiative (NFI) and ARP Fraud and Compliance.

The information you give when you complete and return a form electronically or on paper will be held in accordance with current data protection legislation.

We are required by law to protect the public funds we administer. We may share information provided to us with other bodies responsible for auditing or administering public funds, or where undertaking a public function, in order to prevent and detect fraud.

The Cabinet Office is responsible for carrying out data matching exercises.

Data matching involves comparing computer records held by one body against other computer records held by the same or another body to see how far they match. This is usually personal information.

Computerised data matching allows potentially fraudulent claims and payments to be identified. Where a match is found it may indicate that there is an inconsistency which requires further investigation. No assumption can be made as to whether there is fraud, error or other explanation until an investigation is carried out.

We participate in the Cabinet Office's National Fraud Initiative; a data matching exercise to assist in the prevention and detection of fraud. We are required to provide particular sets of data to the Minister for the Cabinet Office for matching for each exercise, as detailed on:

GOV.UK - National Fraud Initiative

The use of data by the Cabinet Office in a data matching exercise is carried out with statutory authority under Part 6 of the Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014. It does not require the consent of the individuals concerned under the Data Protection Act 1998.

Data matching by the Cabinet Office is subject to a Code of Practice.

More information on the Cabinet Office's legal powers and the reasons why it matches particular information.

For more information on data matching you can email us.

We participate in the Cabinet Office's Debt Recovery and Vulnerability DEA Pilot; a data matching exercise to manage and reduce Council Tax debt and to identify vulnerability among Council Tax debtors. We are required to provide particular sets of data to the Minister for the Cabinet Office for matching for each exercise, as detailed on:

Anonymised data held in respect of East Suffolk Housing Benefit and Council Tax Reduction recipients may be shared for the purpose of data analytics. The Social Security (Information-sharing in relation to Welfare Services etc.) Regulations 2012 allow local authorities to hold, use and, where appropriate, share revenues and benefits administrative data for the purposes of improving local welfare provision (Part 3, S5 / S6, S7 and other clauses). Anonymised data will be held for the duration of the agreement only.

On occasions the council will undertake research into various topics or be asked (mandated) to share information for statistical analysis under law with other government agencies. When using personal data for research purposes or statistical analysis, the data will usually be anonymised to avoid the identification of an individual, unless consent has been given for the use of the personal data (consent is not always required if the information is required by law to be given). For example, the council is required to provide information about Council Tax to the Office of National Statistics (ONS), a government agency.

ONS are limited to the production and publication of anonymised statistics that serve the public good such as:

  • trends in housing demands
  • trends in rental properties
  • ageing
  • dwelling stock by tenure and number of people in a household or dwelling
  • consumer price index, including owner occupiers housing costs.

Other legal requirements

We aim to have a secure website and use security technology to protect any sensitive personal data we process about you. But your use of the internet, and this website, is entirely at your own risk. We have no responsibility or liability for the security of personal information transmitted over the internet. Please be aware that emails sent through the internet may not be secure so please consider this before you send personal or sensitive data.