Customer Services - Privacy Notice
Who we are and what we do
This notice explains why we ask for your personal information, how that information will be used and how you can access your records.
Any questions regarding our privacy practices should be sent to:
Data Protection Officer (DPO)
Cotswold District Council
Trinity Road, Cirencester¸ GL7 1PX
Email: data.protection@cotswold.gov.uk
Tel: 01993 861194
Why we need your information and how we use it
We will only collect personal data where it is necessary for us to respond to the complaints, queries or feedback that you present to us.
Personal data that is collected for any of the purposes outlined in this notice is never used for direct marketing purposes and is not sold on to any other third parties.
The legal basis for us collecting your personal data
Where we are collecting personal data about you for the provision of one of the services outlined in this privacy notice, we rely upon the following lawful conditions:
- If you are providing feedback in the form of a complaint or are reporting an issue with a service that the council is responsible for providing, we rely upon the lawful condition for processing outlined in article 6(1)(e) of the General Data Protection Regulation (processing for the purposes of delivering a public task that is carried out in the public interest.
- If you are contacting us about one of the services we provide, we rely upon the lawful condition for processing outlined in article 6(1)(e) of the General Data Protection Regulation (processing for the purposes of delivering a public task that is carried out in the public interest.
- If you are making a general enquiry to the council, we will rely upon your consent to process your personal data.
- If you are raising a safeguarding concern we rely upon the lawful condition for processing outlined in article 6(1)(c) of the General Data Protection Regulation (processing is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation to which the controller is subject)
What type of information is collected from you
We may collect and store records about you on our secure Customer Relationship Management system, which may include:
- Personal information including: name, contact details, personal finance information, personal identification and payment details dependent on the service or response required.
- Recordings of telephone discussions you have with the Customer Service Centre;
- Information you provide us on forms, in emails or via telephone discussions;
- Information you provide us in email correspondence regarding complaints, queries or issues you are experiencing.
We will only ask for personal information that is appropriate to enable us to deliver our services.
In some cases, you can refuse to provide your details if you deem a request to be inappropriate. However, you should note that this may impact on our ability to provide some services to you.
Who your information may be shared with (internally and externally)
To deliver services to you it may be necessary to share your personal data with other Council services and partner organisations. We may also share information to enable us to comply with court orders and other legal obligations. If this is necessary, we will only share the minimum amount of personal data needed for this purpose.
Please note that we will always endeavour to share only the minimum amount of personal data that is necessary for the intended purposes.
How long we keep your information (retention period)
We will retain your general enquiries and complaints (requesting information, dealt with at first stage). Please see our retention schedule:
Customer Services Retention Schedule - pdf - 113 Kb
All enquiries sent to a specific service for resolution will be retained under their retention schedule as published in our Corporate retention policy.
How we protect your Information
We will not transfer your personal data outside the EU without your consent.
We have implemented generally accepted standards of technology and operational security in order to protect personal data from loss, misuse, or unauthorised alteration or destruction.
Please note however that where you are transmitting information to us over the internet this can never be guaranteed to be 100% secure.
For any payments which we take from you online we will use a recognised online secure payment system.
We will notify you promptly in the event of any breach of your personal data which might expose you to serious risk.
Your rights
You have rights under the Data Protection Legislations:
- to access your personal data
- to be provided with information about how your personal data is processed
- to have your personal data corrected
- to have your personal data erased in certain circumstances
- to object to or restrict how your personal data is processed
- to have your personal data transferred to yourself or to another business in certain circumstances
- to be told if we have made a mistake whilst processing your data and we will self report breaches to the Commissioner.
How you can access, update or correct your information
The Data Protection Legislation allows you to find out what information is held about you, on paper and computer records. This is known as ‘right of subject access’ and applies to your data along with all other personal records
If you wish to see a copy of your records you should contact the Data Protection Officer. You are entitled to receive a copy of our records free of charge, within a month.
In certain circumstances, access to your records may be limited, for example, if the records you have asked for contain information relating to another person.
The accuracy of your information is important to us to be able to provide relevant services more quickly. We are working to make our record keeping more efficient. In the meantime, if you change your address or email address, or if any of your circumstances change or any of the other information we hold is inaccurate or out of date please email us or write to us at:
Customer Services
Cotswold District Council
Trinity Road, Cirencester¸ GL7 1PX
Contact us
Further information
If you would like to know more about how we use your information, or if for any reason you do not wish to have your information used in any of the ways described in this leaflet, please tell us. Contact the Data Protection Officer.
You can also complain to the Information Commissioner