General information
Suffolk County Council’s Public Health, Communities and Public Safety Directorate is responsible for co-ordinating and supporting the Homes for Ukraine scheme in Suffolk. On occasions we may need to collect and use personal and special category data 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), collectively referred to as data protection law.
This privacy notice explains how Public Health, Communities and Public Safety Homes for Ukraine Scheme 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 Public Health, Communities and Public Safety is collecting or using your personal data, you can contact the service by email to refugeesupport@suffolk.gov.uk
Contact details for the council’s Data Protection Officer and Compliance Manager can be found in the council’s corporate privacy notice.
The types of personal data that we process and where it comes from
We collect the following personal and special category data from sponsors and/or hosts as part of the application to provide a home for Ukrainian refugees, or as part of on-going checks throughout the hosting term:
- Name
- Address
- Length of time at address
- Contact details including email address and telephone number
- Date of birth
- Place of birth
- Gender
- Disability
- Nationality
- Primary and other languages
- Children under 18 and other adults living in your household
- Passport number or other certification of nationality information
- Driving licence number
- National insurance number
- Current employment or occupation
- Current employer/organisation
- Current hours of work
- Household finance
- Bank details
- Pets and animals in the household
- Support networks
- Any other personal information that you provide that is relevant to your contact
We collect the following personal and special category data from Homes for Ukraine guests during the period of support under the scheme:
- Name
- Contact details including email address and UK telephone number
- Date of birth
- Gender
- Disability
- Schooling
- Benefit and Healthcare registration
- Employment
- Visa and Immigration status
- Leave to Remain permission dates
- Bank details (for Independent Living Payment Applications)
We receive the following information about sponsors/hosts and guests from other sources:
- Information about your eligibility to work/live with vulnerable groups of people, including criminal offence data, (DBS checks) – from law enforcement agencies
- Information about hosts, including name, age, gender, address, email address and telephone number – from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government Case Management System
- Information about refugee guests that has been provided as part of the Home Office visa application process – from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government Case Management System
Why do we process your personal data?
Our reasons for using personal information include:
- Recording and managing host families.
- Ensuring the safety and welfare interests of host families and refugee guests staying as part of the scheme.
- Supporting guests under the scheme to find alternative accommodation.
- Supporting refugee guests to access services including health, English language classes, education provision, benefits, employment advice.
- Providing financial grants and payments for hosts and refugee guests.
- Providing updates and guidance via an email newsletter.
Our legal basis for processing your information
Personal data
Under data protection law, the Homes for Ukraine Scheme (Suffolk) can only process your personal data if it is lawful to do so. Please see the details below of the lawful bases that we rely on for processing different types of personal data.
For processing personal data, we rely on the following lawful basis(es):
- UK GDPR Article 6(1)(e) – where processing is necessary for us to perform a task which is in the public interest (public task)
Special category data
When we process special category data, we rely on the following additional lawful basis(es):
- UK GDPR Article 9(2)(b) – where processing is necessary for Homes for Ukraine Scheme (Suffolk) to carry out specific obligations or exercise rights relating to employment, social security, and social protection (Schedule 1, Part 1, section 1, DPA 2018)
- UK GDPR Article 9(2)(g) – where processing is necessary for reasons of substantial public interest, specifically:
- for statutory and government purposes (Schedule 1, Part 2, section 6, DPA 2018)
- for the safeguarding of children and of individuals at risk (Schedule 1, Part 2, section 18, DPA 2018)
- UK GDPR Article 9(2)(h) – where processing is necessary for the provision of health and/or social care purposes (Schedule 1, Part 1, section 2, DPA 2018)
Criminal offence data – general processing
Homes for Ukraine Scheme (Suffolk) also processes criminal offence data which may include:
- Information about any criminal record or criminal history
- Allegations of criminal behaviour, including unproven allegations
- Absences of convictions, for example the results of DBS checks, or Police National Computer checks
- Personal data of victims and/or witnesses
- Personal data about criminal penalties that may have been awarded
In addition to the lawful bases that we have identified under “Personal data” above, we process criminal offence data under the following condition(s) of Schedule 1 of the DPA 2018:
- where processing is necessary to carry out specific obligations or exercise rights relating to employment, social security, and social protection (Schedule 1, Part 1, section 1, DPA 2018)
- where processing is necessary for the provision of health and/or social care purposes (Schedule 1, Part 1, section 2, DPA 2018)
- for the safeguarding of children and of individuals at risk (Schedule 1, Part 2, section 18, DPA 2018)
Sharing your information
To provide an effective service, the Homes for Ukraine Scheme (Suffolk) does share personal data (as identified above in this notice) with the following recipients:
- East Suffolk Council
- West Suffolk Council
- Ipswich Borough Council
- Babergh District Council
- Mid Suffolk District Council
- Suffolk Refugee Support
- Suffolk Police
- Clinical Commissioning Groups
- Health Outreach
- Department of Work and Pensions
- Bottomline.
How long we keep your information
We keep personal data 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.
Data will be retained for 3 years beyond the closure of the Suffolk County Council support service for Homes for Ukraine. At the end of the retention period the data will be destroyed securely.
Automated decision-making and profiling
The Homes for Ukraine Scheme (Suffolk) 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
