Alternative energy payments scheme privacy notice - Privacy notices

The Energy Bills Support Scheme (EBSS) Alternative Funding is for households who did not receive the original Energy Bill Support Scheme payment automatically, such as those without their own electricity supply or those without a direct relationship with the electricity supplier.

The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) and local authorities are the independent data controllers for this data.

The BEIS privacy notice.

To deliver the Energy Bills Support Scheme (EBSS) Alternative Funding service (Great Britain), we will use personal information in order to:

• Confirm your identity
• Facilitate payment
• Prevent, detect, and investigate errors and fraud

The types of information we hold, and process includes:

• Names
• Addresses
• Contact information
• Dates of birth
• Financial information and bank account details
• Housing costs
• Landlord and tenancy information
• Appointees and representatives details
• Information contained on documents that are provided as evidence of identity and residence:
  • Utility bills
  • Driving licences
  • Care home invoices
  • UK driving licence

All personal data held, is processed in accordance with data protection law. The data controller for the information outlined in this privacy notice is Herefordshire Council.

Hoople Ltd is the data processor who will process your information on behalf of Herefordshire Council.

We will collect information about you (where applicable) from:

• The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS)
• Applicants and their appointees/representatives
• Landlords and care homes
• Other council departments
• Professionals at other organisations

The legal basis for processing your personal data is Article 6(1)(e) of the UK GDPR - 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 data controller. In this case, to ensure support this coming winter to around 1 percent of households that will not receive £400 through EBSS automatically.

Special category data

Special category data will not be expressly requested in connection with applications for the scheme, but it is possible that co-incident collection and sharing of special category data could occur as a result of information provided by applicants (or third party individuals acting on your behalf) in connection with the applications, including, but not limited to, information relating to the ethnic origin of applicants or data concerning applicant's health or age.

To the extent that special category data is collected, it will be processed under Article 9(2)(g) of the UK GDPR – Substantial Public Interest.

More particularly in the context of the exercise of governmental functions, preventing or detecting unlawful acts, regulatory requirements relating to unlawful acts and dishonesty, and preventing fraud, as set out in Part 2 of Schedule 1 to the DPA.

In particular, this processing is necessary for:

• The administration
• Delivery
• Reporting
• Monitoring
• Evaluation of the scheme

As well as in connection with fraud prevention, and pre- and post- payment assurance and financial management activities to be undertaken in connection with the scheme.

We will share information with agencies in accordance with the prevailing data protection statute for the detection, prevention and prosecution of fraud and criminal activity. Examples are:

• The Department for Work and Pensions
• HM Revenues and Customs
• The Police
• Health and social care organisations
• Environmental health section for Herefordshire Council for homes in multiple occupation
• For the purpose of performing any of our statutory enforcement duties
• To make any disclosures required by law
• Other bodies responsible for detecting or preventing fraud or auditing or administering public funds
• Other organisations who handle public funds and assist in the processing of other benefits

On occasions, your information may be accessed by contracted IT support organisations in the delivery of IT support for both the IT infrastructure and associated systems, for the processes detailed in this privacy notice. Access by IT support will only be for such reasons as fixing any technical issues with software, and any viewing of data will be incidental to this.

We will not share your information with organisations unless there is a legal gateway to do so. However, there may be certain circumstances where we would share without your consent, such as where we are required to do so by law, to safeguard public safety, and in risk of harm or emergency situations. Otherwise outside of the conditions stated, we will only share your information as detailed where you have provided your written consent to do so.

We will only keep your information for the minimum period necessary. The information outlined in this privacy notice will be kept for the period required by the council for legal and audit purposes. All information will be held securely and destroyed under confidential conditions.

You have a number of rights under data protection law, including the right to request your information and to request that the information is amended or erased if incorrect.

To request your records, you will need to provide proof of identification and write to the Information Governance Team, Herefordshire Council, Plough Lane, Hereford HR4 0LE or email informationgovernance@herefordshire.gov.uk

You also have the right to make a complaint about our handling of your personal data to the Information Commissioner's Office.

If you have any questions or concerns about how your information is used, please contact the revenues and benefits service - Council Tax team at counciltax@herefordshire.gov.uk in the first instance. You can also contact the Data Protection Officer, Herefordshire Council, Plough Lane, Hereford HR4 0LE, email informationgovernance@herefordshire.gov.uk

You can find more information about data protection and how it applies to you on the Information Commissioner's Office website.

Energy Bills Support Scheme Alternative Funding page