Keyways housing register privacy notice

1 North Northamptonshire contact details

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

2 Information that we hold

2.1 Applicants interested in living in social/affordable housing in the council area are registered on one housing register called ‘Keyways.’ All your information relating to your housing application is kept here. This notice explains what we do with the information that either you provide us with when using this service, or which is collected from other organisations as part of the application process.

2.2 The Keyways Housing Register holds the following data:

Identification details including name, date of birth, gender, national insurance number, address, email address and telephone number
Equality data including racial background, ethnicity, physical and mental health, religious views and sexuality
Financial and employment information including data on income, savings, capital assets and debt
Contact details of professionals working with an applicant eg Social Worker, Probation Officer, Community Psychiatric Nurse, or other Agencies, if applicable
Guarantor contact details if applicant is under 18
General information regarding the applicant and their housing circumstances to support their application
Special category information regarding health issues and police record information including criminal convictions if applicable

3 How the information is obtained

3.1 Most of the personal information we process is provided to us directly by you to consider and administer your application for housing. We may receive personal data about you from third parties. For example, if we are partnering with another organisation (eg you provide your information to the Department of Work and Pensions or other government authorities).

3.2 The Council has a legal obligation to provide housing functions under the following laws:

Housing Acts 1985; 1996; 2004 and 2006;
Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996;
Housing (Homeless Persons) Act 1977;
Homelessness Act 2002; and
Homelessness Reduction Act 2017.

3.3 We may also process your information under the following:

Schedule 6.1 paragraph (c) and (e) of the GDPR. These state that data may be lawfully processed if processing is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation to which the controller is subject; and 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 controller.
Article 9 of the GDPR Processing of special categories of personal data.

All processing of your information will be done in accordance with data protection legislation and the Acts contained in s3.2 above

4 What we do with the information

4.1 The information you provide, along with the additional information we gather, will be used to assess whether you are eligible to join, and qualify for Keyways. If approved; your application will be placed in a priority band depending on your circumstances. Assessment will be both automated and manually checked.

4.2 As part of your application, your Keyways priority band may be automatically calculated by the software system depending on your answers; however, all applications are manually assessed by an officer before being activated.

4.3 We will only share information with other organisations where it is necessary, either to comply with a legal obligation, or where permitted under data protection legislation, for example where sharing is necessary for us to process your application for housing. We may also share your information if there is a public interest to do so such as the prevention and / or detection of crime, including fraud.

4.4 We may share information that is given to us with other organisations such as:

The Police
Community Safety Partnership
Multi-Agency Risk Assessment Conference
Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements
Housing Providers eg Housing Associations (Registered Providers), Private Landlords, B&Bs, and Hotels
Other Local Authorities; and
Other external agencies eg Sunflower Centre, Women’s Aid, Citizens Advice Bureau

4.5 This is necessary for the Parties to fulfil their duty of Part VI of the Housing Act 1996, and the Localism Act 2011 and to verify information you have provided or to gather further information to complete the assessment of your application.

4.6 Your information may also be used for the prevention / detection of crime, including false representation in accordance with the Fraud Act.

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

5.1 We will only keep your information for the minimum period necessary. The information outlined in this privacy statement will be kept in line with our Retention Schedules.

5.2 All information will be securely destroyed when it is no longer required in line with the retention periods.

6 How we store your information

6.1 The Council takes your data security seriously. The information you provide will be held securely on the council’s systems.

7 Your data protection rights

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

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

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.

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

8.3 If you wish to make a complaint which does not directly relate to your data protection and privacy rights, you can do so in accordance with the Councils general Complaints Policy.

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 29 April 2022