Who we are
Ƶapp Council is a local authority established under the Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994. Its head office is located at Kilmory Lochgilphead, PA31 8RT and you can contact our Data Protection Officer by post at this address, by email at: data.protection@argyll-bute.gov.uk and by telephone on 01546 605522
Why do we need your personal information and what do we do with it?
Ƶapp Council is working with the UK Government’s Department for Business Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) to administer The Energy Bills Support Scheme Alternative Funding which provides support to households not eligible for the automatic Energy Bills Support Scheme GB(£400 payment paid by energy suppliers). In addition the Council and the UK Government will also administer a similar scheme for an Alternative Fuel Payment Alternative Fund which makes available £200 payments to households that use fuels other than gas to heat their homes and cannot be paid automatically by their electricity supplier.
The Council needs your data to conduct eligibility checks for both schemes. Notification of each decision will be made by BEIS and payments to successful applicants will be made by the Council. Unsuccessful applicants will be informed of the reason for the decision by BEIS and will be given their rights to challenge such a decision. BEIS will deal with the challenge initially but if the reason for the rejection is on the Council side of the process the challenge will be referred to us and we will notify you of the reason for the rejection and reconsider the decision if necessary.
Your data
We will process the following personal data:
- your name, where you live, date of birth, postcode and address, including when using the address lookup function
- your email and phone number when you have provided them
- bank account details to help us identify you and facilitate payment
- questions or feedback you leave, including your email address if you contact us
- evidence of power of attorney or other legal evidence to act on the applicant's behalf
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.
Legal basis for using your information
The legal basis for processing your personal data is processing as 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, such as the exercise of a function of a government department, BEIS. In this case, to ensure support this coming winter to around 1% of households that will not receive £400 through EBSS automatically.
If you do not provide us with the information we have asked for then we will not be able to provide this service to you.
Special category data
As referenced under sub-section “Your data” above, 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.
Recipients
We will share the following data with the UK Government and HMRC:
- your name, address, date of birth, postcode and address
- bank account details
- documents you upload as proof of address
The purpose of this is to:
- confirm your identity
- facilitate payment
- prevent, detect and investigate fraud and errors
We have a data sharing agreement with the BEIS so that we can share your personal data with them to deliver this service. BEIS will also share your personal data with the Council during the processing of your application. The sharing of the data between the Council and BEIS is for the purpose of administration, delivery, reporting, monitoring, evaluation and fraud prevention necessary within the scheme. This may also include an assessment of your liability for council tax on the property you have stated as your sole and main residence on the application.
We will share your data with other government bodies if we are required to do so by law - for example, by court order, or to prevent fraud or other crime.
Who do we share your information with?
We are legally obliged to safeguard public funds so we are required to verify and check your details with other service areas within the Council for fraud prevention. We may share this information with other public bodies (and also receive information from these other bodies) for fraud checking purposes. We are also legally obliged to share certain data with other public bodies, such as HMRC and will do so where the law requires this. We will also generally comply with requests for specific information from other regulatory and law enforcement bodies where this is necessary and appropriate. Your information is also analysed internally to help us improve our services. This data sharing is in accordance with the terms of the Data Protection Act 2018 and the General Data Protection Regulations 2016 (GDPR) and our privacy notices which you can find on our website. It also forms part of our requirements in line with our Records Management Plan approved in terms of the Public Records (Scotland) Act 2011.
Your information will be shared with the UK Government for the purposes of determining your application and administering it.
How long do we keep your information for?
We will only keep your personal data for as long as required to support the delivery, evaluation and scrutiny of the service. These data will be securely deleted no later than 7 years after collection in line with UK government Ƶapp.
Automated decision making
Your personal data will not be subject to automated decision making.
Your rights under data protection law
- You have the right to request information about how your personal data are processed, and to request a copy of that personal data.
- You have the right to request that any inaccuracies in your personal data are rectified without delay.
- You have the right to request that any incomplete personal data are completed, including by means of a supplementary statement.
- You have the right to request that your personal data are erased if there is no longer a justification for them to be processed.
- You have the right in certain circumstances (for example, where accuracy is contested) to request that the processing of your personal data is restricted.
- You have the right to object to the processing of your personal data where it is processed for direct marketing purposes.
- You have the right to object to the processing of your personal data including the right to object automated processing.
Please contact us as stated above if you wish to exercise any of these rights.
Information you have given us about other people
If you have provided anyone else’s details on this form, please make sure that you have told them that you have given their information to Ƶapp Council. We will only use this information to process and administer your claim. If they want any more information on how we will use their information they can visit our web site at
Complaints
We aim to directly resolve all complaints about how we handle personal information. If your complaint is about how we have handled your personal information, you can contact the Council’s Data Protection Officer by email at data.protection@argyll-bute.gov.uk and by telephone on 01546 605522
However, you also have the right to lodge a complaint about data protection matters with the Information Commissioner's Office, who can be contacted by post at: Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF. By phone on 0303 123 1113 (local rate) or 01625 545 745. Visit their website for more information at