Financial Assessments for Social Care Privacy Notice

This Privacy Notice sets out what you need to know about how the City of Doncaster Council (the Council) will use your information for the administration of financial assessments for social care services.

 

What information about you do we collect?

For the processing to which this notice relates to be carried out we use the following information:

  • personal information – such as: your name, address, date of birth, national insurance number, and telephone number
  • Information about your next of kin and people who act for you such as appointees and representatives
  • Financial information such as benefit details and other income you receive, savings and investments and money you pay out that is relevant to the assessment including expenses relating to any disabilities
  • Detailed information about a property if this is offered as equity in support of a Deferred Payment Agreement (DPA) such as valuation, ownership details, mortgages or other secured loans, insurance, rental income or any other information relevant to the DPA

How do we collect information about you?

We collect your information from you directly or from third parties in the following ways:

  • By asking you or others to complete a financial assessment form
  • When you or someone on your behalf contacts the financial assessment team
  • From incoming correspondence such as emails or letters
  • Financial information from the Council’s Housing Benefit and Council Tax Support team or the Department for Work and Pensions about your welfare benefits for the purpose of completing and verifying your details
  • From the registrar of births, deaths and marriages
  • From the Council’s Adult Social Care Team
  • From HM Land Registry if you own a property that is included in your financial assessment

How will your information be used?

Your information might be used to:

  • Work out if you are entitled to financial assistance from the council towards your care and support costs.
  • Work out if you might be entitled to other income and benefits you are not claiming
  • Safeguard you against financial abuse
  • Recover any unpaid care charges
  • Help prevent and detect fraud (under the National Fraud Initiative)

The Legal Basis for using your information

The table below sets out the legal basis for each of the activities that this Privacy Notice covers Information required by law

Personal Data Activity

Legal Basis - GDPR

Article 6

 UK Legislation
Administration of financial assessments for social care

(1)(b) Because to do so is necessary to take steps at your request to enter into a contract for this service, or for the performance of a contract to which you are party.

 

(1)(c) processing is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation to which the controller is subject.

  

The Care Act 2014 (section 14) which gives the Council the power to charge you for adult care and support services you may be assessed to receive.

The Care Act 2014 (section 17) and The Care and Support (Assessment of Resources) Regulations which impose a duty on local authorities to carry out an assessment of your financial resources to determine the amount you may need to contribute towards any care and support services you may be assessed to receive.

Social Security Regulations issued under sections 30 and 31 of the Welfare Reform Act 2012 which allow us to collect, use and store information held by the Department for Work and Pensions about your welfare benefits for the purpose of completing a financial assessment for adult care services.

Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014.

Information required by contract (or information required to enter into a contract) You are required to provide us with your information to receive this service. The consequences of not providing the information requested is that you may lose any financial assistance from the council towards your care and support fees.

Who will your information be shared with?

We sometimes need to share your information within the Council or with other organisations. We will only share your information when necessary and when the law allows us to, and we will only share the minimum information we need to. For financial assessment matters we may need to share your information with:
  • The Council’s Housing Benefit and Council Tax Support Team
  • The Department for Work and Pensions
  • The Council’s Accounts Receivable Team to help resolve payment or debt enquiries
  • The Council’s Legal Services Team to assist in the recovery of unpaid care charges and the administration of the Deferred Payment Scheme
  • Cabinet Office for the National Fraud Initiative (NFI). You can find more information about the NFI at: http://www.doncaster.gov.uk/services/the-council-democracy/the-national-fraud-initiative-and-data-matching
  • Policing Authorities for the prevention and detection of a crime
  • The Council’s Safeguarding Team or Adult Social Care
  • The Office of the Public Guardian
  • Solicitors if they are acting on your behalf
In certain cases we may also share your information with other individuals and organisations. For example, if you make a complaint to your Councillor, or if the sharing would help with a safeguarding issue, or help prevent a crime. Sometimes, we might share your information without your knowledge.

The Council will never sell your information to anyone else.

How long will we keep your information?

We will keep your information for different periods of time, depending on what we are using it for. We only keep your information for as long as we need to, after which we will either securely delete the information.

Information in relation to your financial assessment will be kept for 7 years from last contact made by or to the Council.

Your rights

The law gives you specific rights over your information. These rights are:

  • to be informed of our use of information about you;
  • of access to information about you;
  • rectify information about you that is inaccurate;
  • to have your information erased (the ‘right to be forgotten’);
  • to restrict how we use information about you;
  • to move your information to a new service provider;
  • to object to how we use information about you;
  • not to have decisions made about you on the basis of automated decision making;
  • to object to direct marketing; and,
  • to complain about anything the Council does with your information (please see the ‘Complaints’ section below).
Some of the rights listed above apply only in certain situations, and some have a limited effect. Your rights are explained further in the Individuals’ Rights Procedure on our website, as is how to make a request under one or more of them. You can request information about yourself by making a subject access request on this page of the Council’s website.

Changes to this privacy notice

This notice is kept under regular review to make sure it is up to date and accurate.

Data Protection Officer (DPO)

The Council is required by law to have a DPO. The DPO has a number of duties, including:
  • monitoring the Council’s compliance with data protection law;
  • providing expert advice and guidance on data protection;
  • acting as the point of contact for data subjects; and,
  • co-operating and consulting with the Information Commissioner’s Office (see ‘Complaints’ below).
The Council’s Data Protection Officer can be contacted by email at information.governance@doncaster.gov.uk 

Complaints

If you are unhappy with the way in which your information has been handled you should contact the Council’s Data Protection Officer so that we can try and put things right. Alternatively, and if we have been unable to resolve your complaint, you can also refer the matter to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).

The ICO is the UK's independent body set up to uphold information rights, and they can investigate and adjudicate on any data protection related concerns you raise with them. They can be contacted via the methods below:

Website: www.ico.org.uk
Telephone: 0303 123 1113
Post: Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF.

 

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Last updated: 28 May 2024 15:39:02

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