Privacy statement
Homeseekerplus is a group of councils and housing providers who work together to provide homes across Gloucestershire and West Oxfordshire. We will use your personal information to provide those services to you and will need to share your information with each other to enable us to do this. This information would could include your household’s medical, financial and housing history which you would have provided on your application.
- Who is collecting the data?
Your data is collected by each local authority for where you apply to, this is collected by you filling in the homeseekerplus application form. We sometimes also need to gather further information from 3rd parties such as medical practitoners, other councils and housing associations.
- What data is being collected?
The data collected is only data which is relevant to your housing need.
- What is the legal basis for processing the data?
Data is processed under the housing and homelessness legislation and the processing condition is a task vested in the authority or task carried out in the public interest. Special Categories of personal data such as medical information or sexual orientation is processed as it is necessary for social protection law and is necessary for a substantial public interest.
- Will the data be shared with any third parties?
The information on the Homeseekers system is shared will the council and landlords that advertise properties on the Homeseeker System.
We may also share information with government depts., other councils, housing providers for statistical and strategic purposes, however, all personal data is removed when we do this.
We may also share your data to prevent and detect crime or to prevent fraud and where we are required or allowed to do so by law.
Your data is processed by locata housing services who run the IT system.
- Is there any information transfered to or stored on servers based outside the EEA?
our data is stored on servers which are located within the UK and Western Europe.
- How will the information be used?
Your data is used to allow you to bid for social housing across Gloucestershire and West Oxfordshire.
- What are the consequences if we do not collect the data?
If we cannot collect or use your personal data we will be unable to provide housing service to you and you will be unable to bid on properties on the Homeseekerplus System.
- How long will the data be stored for?
Data retention across the partnership is outlined below:
For active applications, your data is stored for as long as your application is active. If you are housed through homeseekerplus then we will keep your data for 3 years, if you do not use homeseekerplus for a period of time, then your case will be set to removed and removed after 6 months. Data for homeless applications are kept for 3 years.
Any data kept after these dates will have no personal data in and only be kept for statistical needs.
You have rights to your data and can request a copy from your local council or request “the right to be forgotten” to be invoked. You have the right to retract your authorisation to use your data.
- How can the data subject raise a complaint?
You can raise complaints with your local council and find out more information on privacy on the links below.
Find your council page HERE
Find your housing provider page HERE