Independent living team privacy notice

The Independent Living Team (ILT) is a part of the Community Wellbeing and Prevention Service from London Borough of Waltham Forest, Adult Social Care, Families and Homes directorate.

Our address is:

Independent Living Team
London Borough of Waltham Forest Council
Willow House
869 Forest Road
London
E17 4UH

You can also contact ILT directly via telephone on 0208 496 1286 during office hours (9am to 5:15pm).

We may collect various types of personal data about individuals depending on the services you receive and your contact with the council, such as your:

• contact details; including name, address, email address, telephone number, etc.
• date of birth
• proof of identity
• national identifiers such as; NHS number and NI numbers
• information about your family
• IP address and information regarding what pages are accessed and when
• lifestyle, social and personal circumstances
• the services you receive
• financial details for purposes of receiving or making payments
• employment details (when you apply for jobs)
• housing information relating your council tenancy
• visual images, personal appearance and behaviour
• licenses or permits held
• business activities

We may also collect sensitive personal data (also known as special categories of data) that may include:

• physical or mental health details
• racial or ethnic origin
• gender and sexual orientation
• trade union membership
• political affiliation and opinions
• offences (including alleged offences)
• religious or other beliefs of a similar nature
• criminal proceedings, outcomes and sentences
• We may also record and monitor telephone calls to our Contact Centre for quality and training purposes.

The Care Act 2014 sets out the duties that we must carry out to assess the needs and eligibility for publicly funded care and support for residents of Waltham Forest Council. In order to fulfil these duties and ensure you receive the correct care, we need to collect relevant information from you.

We also use the information provided to us to assist us when receiving emergency telecare calls.

Adult social care is focused on helping you, and those that support you, to be as independent as possible. Our aim is also to enable you to have as much choice as you can about how you live your life.

In order to effectively and efficiently deliver our services we may need to collect the following information:

• name
• address
• date of birth
• ethnicity
• NHS number
• GP
• relationships information
• health information 
• referral/assessment information
• relevant case information
• mental capacity information
• contact details
• immigration status
• other agencies involved
• financial information for payments
• risks next of kin

This helps us to determine what type of assistance you may require and where to send it to. We also collect information about your contacts so that, with your consent, we can inform them about your interactions with us and other Agencies. 

Your data may be shared with the following:

• health agencies
• adult social care providers (residential and community care providers)
• London Councils (mobility)
• DWP
• police
• education providers
• city/district/borough councils
• prepaid cards providers
• direct payment support services

The data we hold is also shared with the emergency services and our visiting and response service to help provide emergency telecare assistance when required.

The lawful bases for processing are set out in Article 6 of the GDPR. At least one of these must apply whenever you process personal data:     

The GDPR and DPA 2018 have strict controls that need to be met when your information is being processed. The London Borough of Waltham Forest’s principles means we must:

• process your data lawfully, fairly, ensuring it is relevant and accurate
• handle your personal data only in ways you would reasonably expect, and make sure we do not do anything unlawful with the data.
• have legitimate grounds for collecting and using your personal data and ensuring it is accurate.
• be transparent about how we intend to use the data.
• It will never be sold to a third party organisation or used for marketing or insurance purposes.

The Care Act 2014 requires us  to carry out statutory social care functions for which we are legally responsible for:

• to allow us to communicate and provide services appropriate to your needs
• gather information that informs planning and service delivery decisions
• assess performance
• where we are legally obliged to undertake data processing prevention and/or detection of fraud and crime
• to process financial transactions such as the Department for Work and Pensions or where the Council is acting on behalf of other Government Bodies including the Department of Health and Social Care, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government or the Ministry of Justice
• where necessary to safeguard people to protect them from harm or injury
• conduct research or statistical analysis that allows us to target and plan the provision of services for adults
• to identify residents/service users for notifying them of proposed or planned changes to services that may affect them   
• to assist the council in responding to emergencies or major accidents. This allows the council, in conjunction with the emergency services, to identify people who may need additional support
• processing is necessary to protect someone’s life.

In accordance with the data protection act 2018, we need a "lawful basis" for collecting and using information about you. There are a variety of different lawful bases for processing personal data which are set out in the data protection act.

The lawful basis on which we rely in order to use the information which we collect about you for the purposes set out in this notice will be: 

• Consent
• Legal Obligation

We have a statutory obligation to collect, process and share personal or sensitive personal information without consent, with our partners such as the NHS, housing associations, schools, central government, such as DWP, HMRC, Home Office, Dept. Of Education, Dept. of Health, other councils and law enforcement agencies such as the Police and the Crown prosecution service, for the following purposes:

• health and wellbeing and public health
• safeguarding of vulnerable adults and children
• the prevention and detection of crime
• the assessment of any tax or duty
• collection of debt
• if we are required to do so by any court or law
• prevention of fraud
• the national fraud initiative
• protect you or other individuals from serious harm
• protect public funds
• public safety and law enforcement
• criminal or civil prosecution of offenders
• national security

We may also share your information with our partners to deliver national government programmes and initiatives such as the Troubled Families Programme or improve services we deliver or provide the services you agreed to receive. We may share with: 

• NHS (GP’s, Hospital, Mental Health, CCG’s etc.)
• schools
• voluntary sectors
• central government
• other councils
• housing associations

In most cases, this will be done where there is a lawful basis under the conditions set out in the Data Protection Legislation.

We may also share your information with third party service providers working on our behalf for the purposes of completing tasks and providing services to you on our behalf (for example; domiciliary care providers).  However, when we use third party service providers, we disclose only the personal information that is necessary to deliver the service and we have a contract in place that requires them to keep your information secure, as required by the Data Protection Act  2018 and General Data Protection Regulation  (GDPR), and not to use it for any other purposes.

We will never use or share your personal information to third parties for marketing purposes without your permission.

Adult social care records are retained for 8 years or to end of care or client last seen, this is subject to review and if no longer needed, records will be destroyed.

Our Data Protection Officer is Mark Hynes. You can contact him at Data.Protection@walthamforest.gov.uk.

Please see the relevant section of the Corporate Privacy Notice.

Please see the relevant section of the Corporate Privacy Notice.

Please see the relevant section of the Corporate Privacy Notice.

If we’re unable to resolve your complaint to your satisfaction, you can make a complaint to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO).