General information
Suffolk County Council’s External Funding Team (the External Funding team) is responsible for communicating external funding opportunities (grants, social loans, fundraising, good practice and case studies) to Suffolk’s Voluntary and Community Sector and Statutory Partner agencies in order to support the delivery of projects and sustainability of services. On occasions we may need to collect and use personal data in order to fulfil these duties.
The processing of personal data is governed by the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA 2018), as amended by the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025 (DUAA), collectively referred to as data protection law.
This privacy notice explains how the External Funding team uses information about you when you contact us or use our services, and how we protect your privacy.
Suffolk County Council is the controller for the personal information that is being processed. If you have any queries about how the External Funding team is collecting or using your personal data, please contact the service at fundingenquiries@suffolk.gov.uk or by post to:
External Funding Team
Public Health and Communities
Suffolk County Council
Endeavour House
Ipswich
IP1 2BX
Contact details for the council’s Data Protection Officer and Compliance Manager can be found in the council’s corporate privacy notice, which is available on the council’s website.
What is personal data?
Personal data includes information about you, which can be used to identify you as an individual. Examples include:
- Your name
- Your date of birth
- Your contact details
- Your image
Special category data is the most sensitive type of personal data and includes:
- Information about your health or any social care services that you may use
- Information that could identify your racial or ethnic origins
- Information that could identify your political beliefs
- Information that could identify your religious or philosophical beliefs
- Information that could identify your trade union membership
- Genetic data
- Biometric data (where used to identify you, e.g. use of fingerprints to access online services)
- Information about your sex life, or sexual orientation
The types of personal data that we process and where it comes from
We collect personal data from individuals who are either volunteers or employees acting on behalf of a community group, charity or other organisation requesting our assistance. We collect the following details:
- Contact Forename / Surname
- Contact: Email address
- Contact: Telephone number
- Organisation / Group name and website URL
- Organisation / Group name: Service area / Beneficiaries Supported
This information is collected through contact with our service, usually via email, telephone or online meeting where individuals have requested our support and to receive further information.
Why do we process your personal data?
The External Funding Team collects and processes personal data in relation to its four service support functions, which are:
- To communicate funding opportunities: This is in response to individuals, including volunteers and employees of organisations, who have specifically requested to receive this information.
- To deliver funding advice sessions: Basic project details and contact data is collected to enable follow-up information and further support from initial engagement.
- To respond to requests for assistance (advice sessions, by email or telephone): Basic project details and contact data is collected to enable follow-up information and further support.
- Business Reporting: We use the data that we collect to provide reports (quantitative and qualitative) on our activities and impact to Suffolk County Council management teams. These reports do not include personal contact data.
Our legal basis for processing your information
Personal data
Under data protection law, the External Funding team can only process your personal data if it is lawful to do so.
For processing personal data, we rely on the following lawful basis:
- UK GDPR Article 6(1)(a) – where you have provided consent for us to process your information for a specific purpose
Right to withdraw consent
Where we rely on consent to process your personal and special category data, you have the right to withdraw that consent at any time.
If you would like to withdraw your consent, please contact: fundingenquiries@suffolk.gov.uk
Sharing your information
The External Funding team does not share any personal data with any third party organisation.
Whether we intend to transfer your information to another country
We do not transfer any personal data to any countries or international organisations outside of the EU, the EEA (European Economic Area), or any other country that does not have an equivalent level of data protection to the UK.
How long we keep your information
We keep personal data that we use for as long as we need it to fulfil the purpose that it was collected for, and in line with any statutory or locally determined retention periods.
Whilst a lot of our correspondence with project leaders may be short-term, large, complex projects that we have been requested to support may take some time from concept to delivery. Therefore, as part of our support and engagement, we may hold correspondence, plans, reports etc. for up to 3 years.
Automated decision-making and profiling
The External Funding team does not use automated decision-making processes or profiling in respect of your information.
Your rights under data protection law
Under data protection law, you have the right to request access to the information that we hold about you. If you would like to make a request to access your personal information, please contact data.protection@suffolk.gov.uk.
You also have other rights regarding your personal data. You can find out more information about these rights by looking at the council’s corporate privacy notice.
Your right to independent advice
If you would like independent advice on this privacy notice or other matters about how Suffolk County Council processes your personal data, including how to make a complaint, you can contact the Information Commissioner's Office at:
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Telephone: 0303 123 1113
Email: casework@ico.org.uk
