Introduction
The Wales & West Housing Group comprising Wales & West Housing and Cambria Maintenance Services Limited are registered as ‘data controllers’ under the Data Protection Act. We collect, hold and process a considerable amount of information, including personal information about you that allows us to provide our services effectively. Our Data Protection Manager is Russell Davey who can be contacted using the methods below.
Email: data.protection@wwha.co.uk
Phone: 02920 415 329
Your information is important to us and we take our responsibilities seriously ensuring that any personal information we collect about you and use is done so proportionately, correctly and safely. We will also collect data from third parties, for example, those specialist organisations that provide accommodation in our properties, such as, women’s refuge’s.
The table below tells you a little more about what we do with your information we collect and the legal basis for processing it.
| Categories of information | Why it is collected | Legal basis for processing |
|
Standard information
|
To provide you with a managed tenancy, care and support and to monitor our performance as an RSL, and to provide appropriate maintenance |
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| To obtain your contact preferences. To update you with any additional information or reminders or for you to participate in surveys or questionnaires to help us improve things. |
|
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| To defend ourselves against legal claims and allegations and provide police forces with evidence |
|
|
| Day to day safeguarding of residents and their families |
|
|
|
Special categories of information
|
Legal requirement not to discriminate against any groups |
|
| To provide you with a managed tenancy in line with current legislation |
|
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| To ensure we meet your needs as our tenant |
|
|
| Day to day safeguarding of residents and their families |
|
|
| Images/Photographs | Promotional purposes such as social media and press releases |
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| Day to day safeguarding of residents and their families |
|
|
| Voice recordings | All calls made to and from our housing options, heating and compliance teams are recorded for quality assurance and dispute resolution |
|
| Day to day safeguarding of residents and their families |
|
|
| CCTV | The management and investigation of anti social behaviour |
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| To prevent crime and protect buildings and assets from damage, disruption, vandalism and other crime |
|
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| To assist in day-to-day management, including ensuring the health and safety of staff and others including members of the public |
|
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| Day to day safeguarding of residents and their families |
|
The length of time we keep your information for will depend on why we need to process it.
We will keep it in line with our retention schedule, legislative requirements and best practice guidance until the data is no longer needed for the purpose it was collected. Following this the information will be destroyed and disposed of in a secure manner. If we are required to keep the information for statistical purposes we will anonymise or pseudonymise it where possible.
We may disclose personal data to third parties, this may include our contractors, service delivery partners and statutory bodies, but only where it is necessary, either to comply with a legal obligation, or where permitted under the Data Protection Act. We will strive to ensure that any personal data in our care will be kept safe and where your information is disclosed to a third party we will seek to ensure that the third party has sufficient systems and procedures in place to prevent the loss of personal data. At no time will your information be passed to organisations external to the WWH Group for marketing or sales purposes.
De-carbonisation of homes
Wales & West Housing Group works in conjunction with Welsh Government and their partners to support ambitions to achieve ‘net zero’ emissions by 2050 by improving the energy performance of homes. As such we may share your name and address with the Welsh Government and its partners in relation to these projects.
Intelligent Energy Systems (IES) gather data about the energy used in your home. They aim to understand the performance of the systems in reducing energy consumption. Where you reside in a property which has already been fitted with an IES, or if your property needs to be fitted with an IES; it is often part of a Welsh Government grant funded project. In order to meet conditions of any Welsh Government grant that we have obtained to improve the energy performance of the property, we will share your contact details with Welsh Government’s service providers as part of their initiatives (such as the Optimised Retrofit Programme) in order to achieve ‘net zero’. The data collected by the IES is about the property and will not be linked back to your personal data. The data will only be used to provide statistical information to Welsh Government.
You may be offered additional services from the providers in charge of operating the IES, for example to get further support for you in managing your energy consumption and bills. Entering into such agreements for these additional services is entirely your choice and your agreement would be with the provider.
Your rights under current data protection legislation
You have the right to access the personal information that we process about you. If you believe the personal information we hold on you is inaccurate or incomplete, you have the right to have it corrected or completed. Where we are using your information based solely on your consent, you also have the right to withdraw this consent at any time by contacting us. You also have the right, in certain circumstances, to block the processing of your data; object to some types of processing; have your data deleted or in some cases transferred to another organisation of your choice.
More information about all of these rights can be found by visiting www.ico.org.uk
If you have a query or wish to make a complaint about the way the Wales & West Housing Group process your personal data please contact the Data Protection Manager using the details at the top of this page or if you wish you can complain directly to the Information Commissioner’s Office by visiting www.ico.org.uk/concerns or by calling 0303 123 1113.