You can complain directly to Halton Housing’s Data Protection Officer at dpo@haltonhousing.org or in writing to: Data Protection Officer, Halton Housing, PO Box 631 You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office using the following details: The Information Commissioner's Office Wycliffe House Water Lane Wilmslow Cheshire SK9 5AF Telephone: 08456 30 60 60 or 01625 54 57 45 Website: www.ico.org.uk      

Data Protection legislation provides rights for individuals over their data. A list of these Rights, and more information about what they mean can be found at the Information Commissioner’s Office website, https://ico.org.uk/

We hold all our data in a secure data centre and back it up to a separate disaster recovery site. Access to data is strictly controlled and monitored. All devices and servers are kept up to date with security patches and virus definitions. Our systems are regularly audited and tested to make sure that we are following procedures and to detect and address potential security risks.

We only keep your information for as long as it is needed. This is so that we can meet our operational needs and to meet any legal and regulatory requirements.  We use guidance from the National Housing Federation to help us decide how long we should keep your information for.

You should tell us so that we can update our records. You can do this from the Contact Us page of our website.

When we use your data for the purposes described above, this may include sharing your data with third parties.  We will only share your data where we have a legal obligation to do so, where it is necessary for the performance of a contract between you and us and/or it is in our legitimate interests. The third parties we may share your data with include contractors, suppliers and service providers acting on our behalf to provide services to you.  We may also share data with bodies such as the local authority, police, fire service, DWP and utility companies. We may sometimes be required by law to share information with enforcement or other statutory agencies, for the purposes of for example:

• Crime prevention or detection or matters of national security
• Taxation/fraud reasons (including housing fraud)

Experian Rental Exchange We have teamed up with Experian to take part in The Rental Exchange. The Rental Exchange is a way to strengthen your credit report without you needing to take on new credit. The scheme enables us to share details about the rent you pay with Experian on a monthly basis. This is then included in your credit report, meaning you will then be recognised for paying your rent on time. There is a legitimate interest in the sharing of data into Rental Exchange for these purposes, which forms our legal ground for the sharing of this data into the Rental Exchange. Your track record as a tenant will enable Experian to use the information supplied to them to assist other landlords and organisations to:

• assess and manage any new tenancy agreements you may enter into;
• assess your financial standing to provide you with suitable products and services;
• manage any accounts that you may already hold, for example reviewing suitable products or adjusting your product in light of your current circumstances;
• contact you in relation to any accounts you may have and recovering debts that you may owe;
• verifying your identity, age and address, to help other organisations make decisions about the services they offer;
• help to prevent crime, fraud and money laundering;
• screen marketing offers to make sure they are appropriate to your circumstances;
• for Experian to undertake statistical analysis, analytics and profiling,
• and for Experian to conduct system and product testing and database processing activities, such as data loading, data matching and data linkage.

If you would like to see more information on these, and to understand how the credit reference agencies each use and share rental data as bureau data (including the legitimate interests each pursues) this information is provided in this link: www.experian.co.uk/crain (Credit Reference Agency Information Notice (CRAIN)). (For a paper copy, please get in touch with us or with Experian). We also collect data using a third party, Google Analytics on our website users. The kind of information we collect about website users includes: · How they found our website · Devices and browser details website is accessed on · Demographic figures – age and gender of website user · How users navigate through and use our website This information is made available to us using analytics cookies and is totally anonymised. In other words, we can’t identify any individuals but we can see how customers use our website.

Cookies

Our website uses cookies to: · Help us identify how you use our website · Provide us with information on how we can improve our website and online services for you · Help us record your user preference

What are cookies?

Cookies are small data files which are stored on your device when you visit a website and are used as identifiers. The data collected by cookies help us understand how you use our website and online services, so we can continue to improve our offering. Cookies can also be used to identify you every time you visit a website. How can you opt out? If you would like to block cookies and stop sites from storing cookies on your devices, there are a number of ways you can do this depending on what browser you’re using. The following website offers advice on how you can disable cookies: https://cookies.insites.com/disable-cookies/  Please be aware blocking cookies may affect pages you are able to view and your user experience when using some websites.

To administer the housing register and allocate properties. This is necessary to enter into a contract with you and meet our legal obligations. To administer the sale and re-sale of properties where applicable. This is necessary to enter into a contract with you and for the performance of the contract between you and us. To contact you and respond to contacts you make with us regarding your contract with us.  This is necessary to for the performance of the contract between you and us, and to meet our legal obligations. To manage your tenancy including pre-tenancy work, tenancy changes, mutual exchanges, and end of tenancy administration. This is necessary to enter into a contract with you, for the performance of the contract between you and us and to meet our legal obligations. To deliver repairs and other works to your home and any communal areas. This is where necessary for the performance of the contract between you and us and meet our legal obligations. To take rent payments and manage your rent account. This is necessary for the performance of the contract between you and us. To take payments for any service charges and other non-rent services. This is necessary for the performance of the contract between you and us and where necessary to meet our legal obligations. To respond to any enquiries or complaints you contact us about. This is in our legitimate interests and where necessary to meet our legal obligations. To deal with complaints of anti-social behaviour. This is necessary for the performance of the contract between you and us and to meet our legal obligations. If we identify through contact with you any additional support needs you have, we will tailor the way we engage with you to help you successfully maintain your tenancy. This is in our legitimate interests and where necessary to meet our legal obligations. To provide housing support for customers in extra care, sheltered housing schemes and general needs properties, where applicable. This is where necessary for the performance of the contract between you and us. To contact you to seek feedback on the contractual services we provide to you. This is necessary for the performance of the contract between you and us. To engage you in the delivery of our services. This is in our legitimate interests and necessary to meet our legal obligations. To take any action necessary for breach of tenancy. This may be necessary for the performance of the contract between you and us and/or where it is in our legitimate interests to do so. To recover any debt owed to us. This is in our legitimate interests. To process any application from you to exercise your Right to Buy or Right to Acquire.  This is necessary to meet our legal obligations. Where necessary, to protect our employees and other individuals. We may capture your image on our CCTV systems if you visit Waterfront Point or other premises which is covered by this service. This information may be necessary for the purposes of public safety and crime prevention. We record calls to help us review our performance and investigate complaints or claims. It is in our legitimate interests to do this. We may use your image in photographs for publicity material, where we have your consent to do so. When we obtain your consent for this, we will tell you how you can withdraw your consent.

We have a dedicated Data Protection Officer (DPO).  You can contact our DPO at dpo@haltonhousing.org or in writing at: Data Protection Officer, Halton Housing, PO Box 631 There are also lots of other ways you can get in touch with us. You can find the details by going to the Contact Us page