Heating oil fund service area privacy notice

1.0 Council contact details

1.1 North Northamptonshire Council

Registered Office:

Sheerness House
41 Meadow Street
Kettering
NN16 8TL

1.2 The Crisis and Resilience Fund was announced by UK Government in June 2025, with the funding period set from April 2026 to March 2029. The fund provides help for people facing financial crisis and build financial resilience. Local authorities administer the fund on behalf of UK Government.

Part of this funding is for Heating Oil Support. Applications are for emergency financial support to North Northamptonshire residents who use heating oil as their main or only heating source.

1.3 Household Support Fund team can be contacted at [email protected].

2.0 Information that we hold

Tell people what type what personal data you collect or hold for this process or group of processes.

Personal Information is any information that can be used to identify a living person. There are examples of personal information on the ICO website.

2.1 We currently collect and process the following information for processing heating oil support applications:

Contact details
Customer financial information
Employment data
Your name, address and contact details, including email address and telephone numbers
How many children live in your household and their ages
Whether any adults of pensionable age live in your household
Whether anyone in your household is registered as disabled
Financial Information for all household members - including proof of any benefit entitlements e.g. Universal Credit, PIP, ESA and proof of your financial situation e.g. bank statement, savings account
The personal details of an official person (a referee) that has agreed to support your application including their name, how you know them, their telephone number and their email address
National Insurance numbers of all household members over 16 years of age
Residential Status
Proof of ID:
- Copies of utility bills
- Driving licence
- Passport
- Biometric Residence Permit - formerly known as identity card
- HM Forces Identity Card or ID card carrying the PASS accreditation logo
- Where the main applicant is unable to provide photographic ID, they will need to provide 2 of the following:
- full birth certificate
- work permit or residency permit
- adoption certificate
- marriage or civil partner certificate
- divorce, dissolution, or annulment papers
- gender recognition certificate
- deed poll certificate
- firearms certificate or licence
- police registration document
- certificate of employment in the HM Forces
- benefit statement, book or card or original notification letter from the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) confirming the legal right to benefit for example, child allowance, pension dated within the last 3 months
- a document from a local or central government authority or local authority giving entitlement such as Employment services, Job centre, Social Security services (UK and Channel Islands) dated within the last 3 months
- most recent tax notification from HM Revenue and Customs (i.e., tax assessment, statement of account, notice of coding, P45 or P60 (UK and Chanel Islands) dated within the last 3 months

2.2 There is further guidance heating oil support.

3.0 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:

Most of the personal information we process is provided to us directly by you when you submit your online application for heating oil - if relevant, you must seek permission from your referee to provide the details we require as part of your application - we may contact your referee to ask them to confirm your personal circumstances and that you are likely to be in need of support
We also receive personal information indirectly, from the Local Authority and Central Government data in the assessment of heating oil applications

3.2 There are a number of reasons why we need to collect and use your personal information. Generally, we collect and use personal information where:

it is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority (including administering the Crisis and Resilience Fund)
it is necessary to comply with a legal obligation (including government guidance, reporting requirements, and audit obligations under the Crisis and Resilience Fund)
you have requested a service from us and we need your information to provide that service
it is necessary to protect public health
it is necessary for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims
it is necessary for the prevention, investigation, and detection of fraud or crime
it is necessary to protect an individual’s vital interests (for example, in an emergency situation)
in limited circumstances, where you or your legal representative have given explicit consent, or where you have manifestly made your personal data public

4.0 What we do with the information

4.1 We use the information that you have given us in order to:

Assess applications for heating oil support - the fund is for emergency financial support to North Northamptonshire residents who use heating oil as their main or only heating source
If you apply, we will need to process your personal data to assess whether you are eligible to receive financial support, and if so to provide to process vouchers and payments for successful applications
We will need to see a copy of a recent bank statement to validate your application - we may need to carry out checks with your referee for verification purposes in validating your application
For audit and monitoring purposes, we will record the number and type of awards made from the Crisis and Resilience Fund - we will also report on how the Crisis and Resilience Fund has been spent to North Northamptonshire Councillors - this monitoring does not include any personal data
UK Government requires local authorities to report on how the Crisis and Resilience Fund is spent using its Management Information (MI) Return Form - they do not require local authorities to provide any personal data
We also use the information to review and evaluate the scheme - we will do this by using anonymised information and will not identify anyone

The information will only be used for the purposes stated when it was collected. Information will not be sold, rented or provided to anyone else, or used for any other purpose than that for which it was originally collected unless required to by law.

4.2 We may share information with appointed partners in the provision of payments, vouchers and advice to eligible households for the fund. When we share your data with appointed partners, we do so in line with UK data protection laws and have agreements in place to make sure your information is kept secure and used appropriately.

We will not disclose any personal information to any other third parties unless required to do so by law or where it is appropriate to support our duty to protect public funds and detect and prevent fraud or other criminal activity or safeguarding requirements.

We will not share your information with third parties for commercial or marketing purposes:

Other council services
Registered charities and voluntary organisations
Schools
Food banks
General practitioners
Organisations providing support in particular circumstances

We will share personal information with law enforcement or other authorities if required by applicable law. Any information sharing is undertaken in accordance with UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018. We have mechanisms in place to share information lawfully and securely.

4.3 We do not use automated decision making for equalities processing. Automated decision-making is where decisions are made about you without any human influence on the outcome. These may affect your legal rights or have an impact on your circumstances, behaviour or choices.

4.4 There is no profiling undertaken in relation to equalities processing. Profiling is where you analyse parts of an individual’s personality, behaviour, interests and habits to identify their preferences, make predictions or decisions about them.

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

5.1 We keep your personal information for this group of processes in line with the council’s retention schedules.

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

6.0 How we store your information

6.1 Your information is securely stored on the council’s systems, in which the servers are UK based.

7.0 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.

For further information, please see section 15 of the council’s Corporate Privacy Notice.

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 - You can ask that we no longer use your details for this processing. If you wish to exercise this right, please contact the Data Protection Officer detailed in section 8.1 below.

8.0 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.

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

9.0 Changes to this privacy notice

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

9.2 This privacy notice was last updated on 11 May 2026.

Last updated 15 May 2026