Privacy policy

When we use your personal data, Arun District Council is the data controller.

As the data controller, we must:

only keep the data that we need to provide services and do what the law says we must
keep your records safe and accurate
only keep your data as long as we have to
collect, store and use your data in a way that does not break any data protection laws

Things you can do to help us:

tell us when any of your details change; and
tell us if any of the information we hold on you is wrong

Our privacy policy tells you what to expect when we collect personal information. It is important that you read this policy together with any other privacy notice we may give you when we are collecting or processing personal information about you. In doing so you can be fully aware of how and why we are using your personal information. Privacy notices for individual departments can be found using the links on this page.

How we look after your personal information

We try to meet the highest standards when collecting and using personal information in accordance with data protection law. We have put measures in place to prevent your personal data from being lost, destroyed, used or accessed in an unauthorised way or from being disclosed inappropriately. We also limit access to your personal data to those employees, agents, contractors and other third parties who have a need to know in order for our services to be provided.

We have procedures to deal with any suspected breach of data protection law and will notify you and the Information Commissioner’s Office (the ICO) of a breach where we are required to do so.

We do not capture or store any personal information about individuals who access this web site, except where you voluntarily choose to give us your personal details via online forms, email, or by enquiring about any of our services. In the latter case, the personal information you give us will be used exclusively for providing you with the service you have requested.

Arun District Council is registered as a Data Controller with the Information Commissioner’s Office (Ref: Z5626915).

For further information contact our Data Protection Officer: data.protection@arun.gov.uk

What information we collect and how we use it

We will collect information about you in order to provide you with services. We will keep this information for as long as it is needed for the service you have requested and destroy it when that purpose has been met.

We will only use your personal information when the law allows us to. Most commonly, this will be in the following circumstances:

a legal obligation – to comply with the law
a public task – to perform a task in the public interest or for an official function
a contract – that we have entered into with you
vital interests – to protect someone’s life
legitimate interests – to protect the interests of Arun District Council or someone else
consent – because you have specifically agreed to our use of your personal information and we have no other legal basis for processing it

Who we share your information with

Your personal information may be shared with internal departments or external organisations and agencies involved in delivering services on our behalf. Where we have these arrangements, there is a contract or information sharing agreement in place to ensure that we comply with data protection law.

For legal reasons we may have to share personal information with organisations or individuals outside of the council if that access, use, preservation or disclosure of the information is reasonably necessary to:

meet any applicable law, regulation, court order, legal process or enforceable governmental request
for the detection and prevention of crime/fraudulent activity
if there are serious risks to the public, our staff or to other professionals
to protect a child or to protect adults who are thought to be at risk

We do not pass any personal data to third parties for marketing, sales or any other commercial purposes without your prior explicit consent.

National Fraud Initiative

The National Fraud Initiative is an exercise that takes place every two years to match electronic data within and between public sector bodies to prevent and detect fraud. It does not require the consent of the individuals concerned.

We have a legal obligation to take part in the exercise, which also includes police authorities, local probation boards, fire and rescue authorities and other local councils.

You can find out more from https://www.arun.gov.uk/fraud

Using social media

We use a range of social media services to publicise our news, stories, offers and events and to receive comments and feedback from residents including through direct messages (which are private) and through posts which are public to other social media users.

The information you provide via social media is subject to the social media service providers' privacy notices and policies. Any information you post on our social media platforms is also subject to our social media policy.

Our contact centre

When you contact us by phone, including when you call our contact centre, your call may be recorded. The reasons for this include to help with staff training, to maintain records of conversations, to help with the detection, investigation and prevention of crime. Internal and external calls from our staff are recorded. We will tell you if your call is being recorded.

During a call where an advisor seeks advice from the back office whilst the customer is on the line, that interaction would also be recorded. This will provide a fuller picture of the call including the advice given in the event there was a query or complaint at a later stage. Any call (internal and external) made from an Arun Direct extension with call recording attached to that particular extension would also be recorded.

Please note that during calls where you give your credit/debit card details, the call recording is stopped as soon as the screen reaches the point where card details are requested.

Recordings are retained in line with the requirements of each of our service areas.

To make a request for a call recording, you will need to make a Subject Access Request. Please follow the guidance offered on our Data Protection page.