Low Income Pensioner Fund: Privacy Notice

1. Introduction

This notice provides additional privacy information regarding the Low Income Pensioner fund.

We will keep our privacy notice under regular review and will advise you of any updates on our website.

This Notice was last reviewed in January 2025.

2. Who we are

For the purposes of Data Protection legislation, South Tyneside Council is the Data Controller.

3. What type of personal information do we collect?

We may collect the following types of personal data. Without this information the application cannot be processed.

Name
Postal Address
Date of Birth and evidence of this (which could include driving licence, passport, bus pass or similar)
Contact details (phone number and / or email address)
Council Tax status
DWP Benefit information, including DWP Income Information
Bank account details
technical data includes internet protocol (IP) address, browser type and version, time zone setting and location, browser plug-in types and versions, operating system and platform and other technology on the devices you use to access our website.

4. How do we collect personal information?

South Tyneside Council will receive personal information directly from the customer or from an individual with permission to act on the customer's behalf. This could be one of the following skilled partners acting on behalf of the Customer; South Tyneside Council (Welfare Support Team or Customer Services Team), Age Concern Tyneside South (ACTS) or Citizens Advice (CA) South Tyneside.

5. Why do we collect your personal information?

The Council will process your personal data to perform the following tasks:

to determine eligibility for financial assistance.
to assess if there is a need for financial assistance to be granted to the customer.
to pass details about the customer, including name and address, and the award that has been granted onto the third parties as stated below to fulfil the award.
to pass details to other agencies that are well placed to provide additional support to the applicant for example South Tyneside Welfare Support Team, South Tyneside Citizens Advice, South Tyneside Council's Housing Teams, Social Services, Children's Services and other departments as may be necessary.
statistical and research purposes - all data will be anonymised:
- to inform, influence and improve the service provided
- to monitor and target funding effectively
- to monitor the performance of the Fund
- to link with other South Tyneside Council policy areas
publications - all data will be anonymised:
- requests from external organisations published on South Tyneside Council's website.

6. Who might we share your personal information with?

Information held on behalf of South Tyneside Council about you and your application will be shared with the original organisation that your claim for the Fund came through, if appropriate; either Age Concern Tyneside South or Citizens Advice South Tyneside.

As described above, we may also share your information with teams within the Council.

We will not share your personal information with any other third parties unless you have specifically asked us to, or if we have a legal obligation to do so.

7. How long will we keep your personal information?

South Tyneside Council will keep this data for a maximum of 7 years after the end of the financial year to which it relates to as per audit requirements. After this point your data will be anonymised and may be used in case studies and/or securely destroyed.

8. What is our legal basis for using your personal information?

To use your personal information there must be a lawful basis to do this, such as, through a contract, performing a public task or where there is a legal obligation.

Under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the lawful bases we rely on for processing this information are:

Under Article 6 (e) - 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.

Under Article 9 (2) (g) - processing is necessary for reasons of substantial public interest, with a basis in law.

Section 2 of the Local Government Act 2000 enables local authorities to provide financial assistance to any individual.

9. How do we keep your personal information secure?

Information provided to Information Governance is held securely on our network. Only officers working within Information Governance and system administrators have access to these records.

10. Is your personal information used overseas?

Provide information on whether personal data is processed overseas. If it is, provide explanation of safeguards / checks in place to ensure data is processed in accordance with GDPR.

11. What are your rights?

Your individual rights are set out in law. Subject to some legal exemptions, you have the following rights:

Right to be informed
Right of access
Right to rectification
Right to erasure
Right to restrict processing
Right to data portability
Right to object
Rights in relating to automated decision making and profiling

12. Contact us

If you would like to exercise your rights in relation to your personal information, or you feel that something has gone wrong with your personal information, you can contact us in either of the following ways:

By email: data.protection@southtyneside.gov.uk
By telephone: 0191 424 6539
In writing: South Tyneside Council, Information Governance, Town Hall and Civic Offices, South Shields, NE33 2RL

If you feel that the Council has not handled your information correctly you can contact the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO). The ICO is the Government's Independent Body responsible for overseeing data protection. In most cases the ICO will only review cases that have exhausted the Council's internal procedures.

The ICO's contact details are as follows: Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, SK9 5AF. More information can be found on the ICO's website at www.ico.org.uk.