Privacy notice

Energy Bills Support Scheme Alternative Funding

The London Borough of Hounslow is committed to protecting and respecting your privacy. Through this Privacy Notice we have sought to be as transparent as possible and fully explain how your personal data is held and processed for the purposes of the Energy Support Payment.

This privacy notice applies to the delivery of the Energy Support Payment by the Council and tells you what to expect us to do with your personal information.

The Energy Support Payment is to ensure support is provided to around 10% of eligible households that will not receive £400/£200 automatically from an electricity supplier through the main Alternative Fuel Payment scheme. The Council will be working alongside the Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy (BEIS).

If you have any questions about this privacy notice or any concerns about how we process your data, please contact the Client Team or email curevenues@hounslow.gov.uk. The privacy notice will continue to be monitored and updated. You are advised to check this page from time to time.

What type of information we have

The information we receive from BEIS to process your application for Energy Support Payment (purposes of processing) is:

  • Name
  • Address
  • date of birth
  • email address
  • phone number
  • bank details (i.e., sort code, account number and name on account)
  • contact details of any third-party individual supporting or making the application on behalf of the applicant
  • Council Tax account number
  • Any other relevant data that may have been provided by you (or third-party individual supporting you)
  • any other information which may be provided by BEIS

Personal Data provided by the Council to BEIS as part of that Authority’s reporting obligations under the Scheme include the following:

  • Application reference number.
  • Applicant’s name (and any contact details for any third-party individual supporting or making the application on behalf of the applicant).
  • Date application received.
  • Outcome of application and reason for decision-making.
  • Assurance evidence in line with the Guidance (such as bank account details, Council Tax records, UK Driving licence, utility bill, care home invoice, tenancy agreement).
  • Payment fraud or error, money recovered and subsequent fraud and error reporting.

How do we get your information?

  • You will have to complete an online application via the Gov.com portal into the BEIS developed and managed Salesforce CRM system.
  • BEIS grant access for nominated Council officers to access the application within Salesforce.
  • All information and evidence is held in the system Salesforce managed by BEIS.
  • BEIS officers will screen shot the evidence you send with your application and upload the evidence into Salesforce and indicate if you meet the eligibility for receiving the payment.
  • Council officers will review evidence provided to BEIS, checking against Council Tax records
  • Council officers will contact residents directly to obtain additional evidence when required.
  • We need the above information to make a correct assessment of the Energy Support Payment application you submit 
  • The personal data we collect helps us to verify that the correct resident is applying for help with the Energy Support Payment.
  • The Personal data we hold  is also used to reduce fraud and to reduce risk for the Council.

Why we need your information (purposes of processing)  

The personal data we collect will be used for the following purposes:

  • The personal data we collect helps us to verify that the correct resident is applying for help with the Energy Support Payment.
  • The Personal data we hold  is also used to reduce fraud and to reduce risk for the Council 

Our Lawful basis for processing your information

The lawful basis we rely on for processing this information is:

  • The lawful basis the Council relies upon to deliver this project is ‘Public Task’: the processing is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority vested in us, pursuant to section 15(1) of the Energy Prices Act 2022.
  • The London Borough of Hounslow is a ‘designated body’ under the Energy Prices Act 2022 and reg. 4 of the Energy Prices (Designated Domestic Energy Price Reduction Schemes for Great Britain and Designated Bodies) Regulations 2022, for the purposes of taking action in support of the EBSS, pursuant to section 15(1) of the 2022 Act.
  • Whilst most elements of the Energy Bills Support Scheme EBSS get settled through the energy suppliers (e.g., the £400 &£200 winter discount), there are some that can’t (an example would be where a domestic end user doesn’t have a relationship with an electricity supplier so the grant can’t be passed through the electricity bills to the end user).  In this case, the money is usually paid from the Government to the Local Authority the designated body who is then responsible for crediting that money back to the resident.  
  • Special category data will not be expressly requested in connection with applications for the scheme, but it is possible that collection and sharing of special category data could occur as a result of information provided by applicants (or third party individuals acting on their behalf), in connection with their application, including, but not limited to, information relating to their ethnic origin or data concerning their 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 and DPA 2018, section 10(3) & Schedule 1, Part 2, para.6(2)(a) and para.10, by virtue of Section15(1) and 15(3)(c), (d) and (e) of the Energy Prices Act 2022 

Who your information may be shared with (internally and externally)

For the purposes of this project, we will share your information with:

  • BEIS - The Central Government department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) requires the Council to validate online application forms for a new Energy Support Payment. The Privacy notice for BEIS is on the link below:

Privacy Notice – Domestic Alternative Fuel Payment (AFP) Alternative Fund (Great Britain) .gov website

  • Liberata officers are our partners who administer services on behalf of the Council under the Corporate Services Contract. For this project Liberata will be administrating the Energy Support payment.
  • Council officers

We will strive to ensure that any personal data in our care will be kept safe and that where your information is disclosed to a third party working on our behalf, we will seek to ensure that they have sufficient systems and procedures in place to prevent the loss or damage of personal data.

How long we keep your information

For the purposes of this project, we will keep your application for seven years.

We will then dispose your information in the most secure manner possible.

Transfers to third countries

All the information you provide to us is held within the UK & European Economic Area

Your data protection rights

The rights available to you depend on our reason for processing your information. For further information about your data protection rights and how to make a request, please see ‘Your rights’

Your right to make a complaint

The Council tries to meet the highest standards when collecting and using personal information. For this reason, we take any complaints we receive about this very seriously. We encourage people to bring it to our attention if they think that our collection or use of information is unfair, misleading, or inappropriate.

If you want to make a complaint you can contact us on:

Complaints Team
London Borough of Hounslow
Hounslow House,
7 Bath Road,
TW3 3EB

 

Data Protection Officer

The Council’s Data Protection Officer can be contacted on:

Email: InformationGovernance@hounslow.gov.uk

Information Governance Team
London Borough of Hounslow
Hounslow House,
7 Bath Road,
TW3 3EB

 

Information Commissioner’s Office

The Information Commissioner is the UK's independent body set up to uphold information rights.

If you would like to know more about your rights under the Data Protection law, and what you should expect, visit the Information Commissioner’s website: https://ico.org.uk/

If you have any concerns regarding any privacy practices or about exercising your Data Protection rights, you may contact the Information Commissioner’s Office:

Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow Cheshire
SK9 5AF

Telephone: 0303 123 1113 or 01625 545 745

Email:  casework@ico.org.uk

A full list of what information we control and process and for what purposes is set out in our notification with the Information Commissioner's Register of Data Controllers. Our registration number is Z5761176. You can view our registration on the Information Commissioner's website.

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