Elections canvas reform privacy policy

1 Council Contact Details

North Northamptonshire Council
Sheerness House
41 Meadow Road
Kettering
NN16 8TL

Under Regulation 26 of the Representation of the People Regulations 2001 and the Representation of the People Act 1983, The Electoral Registration Officer (ERO) and Returning Officer (RO) are data controllers who collect personal information from you in order to compile the register of electors.

The ERO and RO have a statutory duty to maintain a complete an accurate electoral register throughout the year. The annual canvass is an integral part of the year round registration process.

National reforms to the annual electoral registration canvass were implemented by Government in 2020. Finding new electors throughout the year and consistently maintaining the accuracy of their registers (ie completing additions and deletions throughout the year) is instrumental to the successful implementation of the national reforms.

This Privacy Notice is ancillary to the Electoral Services Privacy Notice.

2 Information that we hold

The names and addresses of persons who are entitled to be registered on the electoral register, but who are not already registered
Those persons who are on the electoral register but who are no longer entitled to be registered at a particular address (normally because they have moved).

3 How the information is obtained

3.1 Most of the personal information we process is provided to us directly by you for one of the following reasons:

To add your details to the electoral register for the purposes of voting in elections and obtaining credit
To remove your details from the electoral register to enable us to maintain accurate and up to date records.
We also receive personal information indirectly, from the following sources in the following scenarios:
Local datasets such as Council Tax and Customer Relationship Management. This to compare information, check details are correct, identify potential new electors and maintain accurate and up to date information in the register of electors
We also receive personal information indirectly from the following sources in the following scenarios: from other members of your household or, in the case of residential care homes or sheltered accommodation, a single responsible officer when we contact them either by phone, email or post, in connection with maintaining up to date information in the register of electors

3.2 Lawful bases - the lawful bases for processing your personal information are:

Consent to use your email and / or telephone number
To comply with a legal obligation(s) under the Juries Act 1974
To comply with a legal obligation(s) under the Representation of the People Act 1983
To comply with a legal obligation(s) under the Representation of the People Regulations 2001
To comply with a legal obligation(s) under the Electoral Registration and Administration Act 2013
To comply with a legal obligation(s) under the Representation of the People (Annual Canvass) (Amendment) Regulations 2019
For the performance of a public interest task which has a clear basis in law (see above) or in the exercise of official authority vested in the ERO and RO as Data Controller i.e. maintaining the register of electors, in the public interest, as provided for in electoral law
Data processor(s) - the data you provide will be processed by the Individual Electoral Registration Digital Service managed by the Cabinet Office. As part of this process, your data will be shared with the Department for Work and Pensions and the Cabinet Office suppliers that are data processors for the Individual Electoral Registration Digital Service.

4 What we do with the information

4.1 Processing activity:

the names and addresses of persons who are entitled to be registered on the electoral register, but who are not already registered
those persons who are on the electoral register but who are no longer entitled to be registered at a particular address (normally because they have moved).

In general terms:

the ERO and RO process personal information relating to data
matching of the information held on registered electors or attainers (ie including 16-17 year olds) against:

a national data base - the Department for Work and Pensions’ Customer Information System (DWP CIS)
and
local datasets - such as council tax and housing benefit records and other datasets held by North Northamptonshire Council.
the ERO and RO conduct canvass communications (written and/or email, SMS or any other form of electronic or digital communication) with you.

Data matching information requirements- the data matching occurs at an
individual elector level, as follows:

matching the name (including previous names and addresses), date of birth (where held) and address (in the form of string address and unique property reference number (where available)) against the DWP CIS data base
matching the name and string address at a minimum for local data
match scores which deem the elector either matched or unmatched (aggregated at household level).
canvass communication information requirements
full name and nationality of each registered elector aged 16 or over, ‘the aged 76 or over’ age indicator and 'the aged under 16/17’ age indicator

4.2 We may share this information with North Northamptonshire Council.

We may also share your information with external companies for the purposes of preparing, printing and despatching canvass communications.

4.3 As part of the electoral registration process your details may be data matched against information held by the Department for Work and Pensions. You may receive different documents or be contacted using different channels by the Electoral Registration Officer depending on the outcome of the data matching process.

5 How long we keep your information for and how we securely dispose of it after use

5.1 We keep your personal information for all aspects of processing in line with the council’s retention schedules.

Retention period – the ERO and RO keep your personal information for the minimum period necessary. The information outlined in this Privacy Notice will be kept in accordance with the retention period(s) referred to in the Information Asset Register unless exceptional circumstances require longer retention e.g. pending legal action. All information will be held securely and disposed of confidentially.

5.2 We will securely dispose of your information in line with retention periods.

6 How we store your information

6.1 Your information is securely stored on the council’s systems.

7 Your data protection rights

7.1 The law gives you a number of rights to control what personal information is used by us and how we can use it. Please see section 15 of the council’s Privacy Policy for further information.

7.2 Please be aware that your rights may differ depending on the lawful basis for processing your personal data.

7.3 The right to withdraw consent (if applicable). You can ask that we no longer use your details for this [processing/groups of processing]. If you wish to exercise this right, please contact the Data Protection Officer detailed in section 8.1 below.

8 Who to contact

8.1 If you would like further information about how we use your personal information, or you wish to exercise one of your data rights, or you wish to complain about the use of your personal information please contact the Data Protection Officer.

Or you can write to:
Data Protection Officer
North Northants Council
Cedar Drive
Thrapston
NN14 4LZ

8.2 If you are still dissatisfied once you have contacted the Data Protection Officer, you have the right to complain to the ICO.

The ICO’s address:
Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF

Helpline number: 0303 123 1113

9 Changes to this privacy notice

9.1 Privacy notices are live documents, which will be updated or revised in line with legislation.

Last updated 05 June 2023