General information
The Local Welfare Assistance Scheme helps those who are experiencing financial hardship through the government funded Household Support Fund. In order to process applications for this fund, we will need to collect and use personal data.
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 Local Welfare Assistance 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 the Local Welfare Assistance Scheme is collecting or using your personal data, you can contact the service on:
localwelfareassistance@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, 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
The categories of information that we collect, process, hold and share include:
- Personal information - such as your name, address, date of birth and where you live
- Health information – such as those who have disabilities and special educational needs within your household
- Financial details – such as your household income and savings
- Benefits and employment details – such as your national insurance number and any benefits you receive
- Household make-up – how many adults and children live in your household
Why do we process your personal data?
We collect and use your personal information to provide an effective Local Welfare Assistance Scheme and to meet our duties in administering services and funds from central government allocations. These duties include:
- Making assessments of eligibility for financial support
- Making payments to successful applicants
- Monitoring usage of the Local Welfare Assistance Scheme to improve the service
- Sharing information with other Suffolk local authorities to assess your eligibility for other financial support
The lawful basis on which we use this information
Personal data
Under data protection law, the Local Welfare Assistance Scheme 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:
- 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:
- 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)
Sharing your information
We use some of your information to check your eligibility using the Department for Work and Pensions central government systems. We also use your information to check against data held within Suffolk County Council to qualify your applications.
We may share your information with district and borough councils in Suffolk to check your eligibility for the Local Welfare Assistance Scheme and other future schemes that may be available from district and borough councils.
SCC has robust processes in place to ensure the confidentiality of our data is maintained and there are stringent controls in place regarding access and use of the data. In some cases, the law may require that personal information has to be shared with other agencies without prior agreement, this will be to protect people who may be at risk of harm.
Any personal information will be shared on the basis that it is:
- necessary for the purpose for which it is being shared
- shared only with those who have a need for it
- accurate and up to date
- shared securely and in a timely fashion
- not kept for longer than necessary for the original purpose
We share this information to ensure:
- We comply with public task and our legal obligations
- Allow district and borough councils to make a thorough assessment of eligibility for any cost-of-living support they administer
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 or 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 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.
At the end of its retention period all personal data will be securely destroyed.
Automated decision-making and profiling
The Local Welfare Assistance Scheme 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
