Personal Data & Privacy at Housing Options Scotland
Our privacy notice explains who we are, what information we collect from you, and what we do with the information.
Who we are
We are Housing Options Scotland, a registered charity (No. SC027335) and we are registered in Scotland as a company limited by guarantee (NO. SC180581).
The Melting Pot, 15 Calton Road, Edinburgh, EH8 8DL
Telephone: 0131 510 1567
Email: info@housingoptionsscotland.org.uk
Our data protection officer is Sarah Franklin.
Housing Options Scotland is a registered data controller (ICO registration Z3221210)
Why we collect information from you
Housing Options Scotland’s mission is to help disabled people, older people, and members of the armed forces community make informed decisions about their housing. We do this by asking you questions about your current housing situation and why it is unsuitable, in order to provide bespoke advice on suitable housing options. To ensure we provide the most accurate advice, we have to collect information (data) from you that will help us understand your circumstances.
The lawful basis for our data processing is your consent. You can withdraw your consent at any time.
Information we collect from you
When you register with Housing Options Scotland, we ask you to provide information through our Get Help form. Here is a list of the information we collect from you, and why.
Your name and contact details: For us to be able to get in touch with you. If someone is contacting us on your behalf, we will also ask for their name and contact details.
Information on your current housing including address, local authority and housing tenure: We ask this to help us provide you with bespoke and personalised advice on your housing options. For example, every local authority has different housing providers.
Date of Birth: We ask this to determine if there is any age-appropriate housing that may be suitable to you.
Name and date of birth of those within your household: To understand what size and type of housing may be appropriate for your family.
Health and financial information: We ask this to help us understand your personal circumstances in order to provide you with personalised advice. We only ask for information, we will never ask for proof or evidence of your financial information.
Which organisations you have registered your housing needs with, including reference numbers for applications: We ask this to see if there are any additional organisations you could register with. With your written permission, we may contact the organisations to ensure your applications are up to date.
Your IP Address: We collect your computer’s IP address to help us prevent or detect possible abuse of our website.
We keep your data safe, secure and confidential. We will only share it if we have your consent. But if we believe that there is an immediate risk of serious harm or loss of life to you, or to someone else, we may share your information with a healthcare provider or with the police.
How long do we keep your information?
We are here to support you for as long as you need help from us and will work at a pace that suits you. We will keep your information safe and secure while your case is open in order to provide you with ongoing support. When you no longer require our help or if there is no further advice we can offer, we will close your case. Your information will be deleted after 6 months, in line with GDPR.
If our Housing Options Brokers contact you but have not received any response, they will attempt to contact you again, using your preferred method of contact. If they have not had a response from you after 2 attempts, we will close your case and your information will be destroyed after 6 months.
If you get in touch to review your options within 6 months, we can reopen your case. If we no longer hold your data, we will ask you to complete a new Get Help form to reregister with us.
Who we share information with
- Organisations we need to share information with for safeguarding reasons, including emergency services (where necessary)
- Other relevant third parties including housing providers, local authority, charities, advisory organisations, with your express permission
We may also share some of your information as statistics through our quarterly and annual reporting, but we do not share this about you as an individual. For example, our report might say “50% of clients are over 55 years old”. Our reports never include your individual personal information, unless you have taken part in a client story/case study and provided written consent to taking part and sharing your personal information.
Your data protection rights
Under data protection law, you have rights including:
Your right of access – You have the right to ask us for copies of your personal data.
Your right to rectification – You have the right to ask us to rectify personal data you think is inaccurate. You also have the right to ask us to complete information you think is incomplete.
Your right to erasure – You have the right to ask us to erase your personal data in certain circumstances.
Your right to restriction of processing – You have the right to ask us to restrict the processing of your personal data in certain circumstances.
Your right to object to processing – You have the right to object to the processing of your personal data in certain circumstances.
Your right to data portability – You have the right to ask that we transfer the personal data you gave us to another organisation, or to you, in certain circumstances.
Your right to withdraw consent – When we use consent as our lawful basis you have the right to withdraw your consent.
You don’t usually need to pay a fee to exercise your rights. If you make a request, we have one calendar month to respond to you.
To make a data protection rights request, please contact us using the contact details at the top of this privacy notice.
How to complain
If you have any concerns about our use of your personal data, you can make a complaint to us using the contact details at the top of this privacy notice.
If you remain unhappy with how we’ve used your data after raising a complaint with us, you can also complain to the ICO.
The ICO’s address:
Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Helpline number: 0303 123 1113