Skip to main content

Homes for Ukraine Scheme privacy notice

This privacy notice explains how Public Health & Communities uses information about you in relation to the Homes for Ukraine Scheme

General information

Suffolk County Council’s Public Health & Communities Directorate is responsible for co-ordinating and supporting the Home for Ukraine scheme in Suffolk. On occasions we may need to collect and use personal and special category 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), collectively referred to as data protection law. This privacy notice explains how Public Health & Communities 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 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 you as part of your application to provide a home for Ukrainian refugees:

  • Name
  • Address
  • Length of time at address
  • Contact details including email address and telephone number
  • Date of birth
  • Place of birth
  • Gender
  • Disability
  • Clinically extremely vulnerable
  • Nationality
  • Ethnic origin
  • 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 receive the following information 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 Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities
  • Information about refugee guests that has been provided as part of the Home Office visa application process – from the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities

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 in the event of sponsorship breakdown;
  • Supporting refugee guests to access services including: health, English language classes, education provision, benefits, employment advice;
  • Provision of financial grants to hosts and refugee guests;
  • Providing weekly updates and guidance to Sponsors via an email newsletter (added to notice on 13 April 2022)

Our legal basis for processing your information

Personal data

Under data protection law, the Home 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 Home 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

Home 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

In order to provide an effective service, the Home 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 Mid Suffolk District Council
  • Suffolk Refugee Support
  • Suffolk Police
  • Anglia Care Trust
  • Community Action Suffolk
  • Clinical Commissioning Groups
  • Health Outreach
  • Department of Work and Pensions
  • Suffolk Libraries
  • 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 from date of last contact. At the end of the retention period the data will be destroyed securely.

Automated decision-making and profiling

The Home 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