Breathing Spaces housing privacy notice

This privacy notice is designed to help you understand how and why North Yorkshire Council processes your personal data. This notice should be read in conjunction with our corporate privacy notice.

Who are we?

North Yorkshire Council is a ‘data controller’ as defined by Article 4(7) of the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR).

For the Breathing Spaces scheme, the council is working in conjunction with Wakefield council's breathing space service to help homeowners who are struggling with their mortgage repayments. Breathing space offers an interest-free secured loan that provides help to pay your mortgage. You will have to repay the loan at the end of three years.  

The council has appointed Veritau to be its data protection officer. Their contact details are:

Information Governance Office

Veritau

West Offices

Station Rise

York

North Yorkshire

YO1 6GA

Email: infogov@northyorks.gov.uk

Tel: 01904 552848

What personal information do we collect?

In order to administer the scheme, we will need to collect and process certain categories of your personal data:

  • name
  • address
  • contact details
  • date of birth
  • gender
  • age
  • employment status (retired/working)
  • marital status

The council will also need to process data relating to your financial position:

  • we will process information regarding your mortgage and secured debt information including the mortgage balance, interest rate, term and type of mortgage, monthly payments, arrears on the account, the current status of your accounts, legal action current or pending, and the value of your property
  • We will also process information including your household income and benefit information, savings, stocks and shares, bank account information, household expenditure, secured and unsecured debt details e.g. council tax, catalogues
  • your National Insurance Number (NI) will be used to allow a credit search to be undertaken

We may also collect certain categories of special category information:

  • health information including information regarding disability

Why do we collect your personal information?

We are processing the above information in order to fully understand your financial problems and the extent of any debts. This allows the preparation of the household budget and identification of options across all debts to resolve your financial difficulties, improve finances and stabilise you household situation.

Who do we obtain your information from?

The council may receive information from Wakefield Council which is administering the scheme on our behalf.

Who do we share this information with?

Within the council, your information may be shared with other internal teams in order to cross-reference contact details and confirm identification.

The council will share your personal information with Wakefield Council which is administering the scheme on behalf of the council.

How long do we keep your information for?

Your information will be retained for 12 years. This retention period starts 1 month after full loan repayment.

What is our lawful basis for processing your information?

North Yorkshire Council relies on the following lawful basis to process your personal data:

  • UK GDPR Article 6 (1) (c) – processing is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation to which the controller is subject
  • UK GDPR Article 6 (1) (e) – processing is necessary for the performance of a task in the public interest

When processing special category data, the council will rely on the following lawful basis:

  • UK GDPR Article 9 (2) (b) - processing is necessary for the purposes of carrying out the obligations and exercising specific rights of the controller or of the data subject in the field of employment and social security and social protection law

The project has a direct responsibility to prevent homelessness in support of the homeless reduction in 2018 and also fulfilling the council’s duties under the localism act 2011 in relation to social protection.