Debt recovery privacy notice

All personal information is held and processed by East Ayrshire Council as Data Controllers in accordance with data protection law.

For information on the role of Data Controller, Data Protection Officer and contact details for the Council, please refer to our Privacy Statement.

In order to recover outstanding debt owed to the Council, it is necessary for us to collect and hold personal information about you. The information collected, held or shared will vary and depend on the nature of the service.

This may include the following information from you and any other person in your household:

• name
• address
• date of birth
• telephone number
• email address
• health information
• employer details
• income details
• expenditure details 
• financial details
• power of attorney details

The lawful basis for processing your data under data protection legislation is:

• legal obligation - the processing is necessary for the Council to comply with the law
• contract – the processing is necessary for the performance of a contract between the Council and individuals requesting various non-statutory services
• public task - processing is necessary to perform a task in the public interest or for official functions, and the task or function has a clear basis in law

Data Protection legislation defines Special Category Data as data relating to the processing of personal data regarding:

• racial or ethnic origin
• political opinions
• religious or philosophical beliefs
• trade union membership
• processing of:
  • genetic data
  • biometric data
  • data concerning health
  • data concerning a person’s sex life or sexual orientation

Special Category Data may be processed for debt recovery purposes in limited circumstances.

Lawful basis for processing Special Category Data

When Special Category Data is collected by us, the lawful basis for processing is the processing is necessary for reasons of substantial public interest, on the basis of Union or Member State law which shall be proportionate to:

• the aim pursued
• respect the essence of the right to data protection
• provide for suitable and specific measures to safeguard the fundamental rights and the interests of the data subject

We will make any disclosures required by law, and may also share information with other bodies or Council services that are:

• detecting or preventing fraud
• auditing/administering public funds, or
• carrying out the assessment or collection of a tax or duty or an imposition of a similar nature

For the purpose of debt collection, we may also share your details with external enforcement agents, collection agents and tracing agents.

We will only keep your information for the minimum period necessary.

After this time, information is deleted/destroyed in accordance with our Council approved Retention Schedule (PDF 814 KB) which explains how long we keep information for.

It is important that we hold accurate and up-to-date information.

If any details have changed, or change in the future, then individuals should ensure that they inform the Council’s as soon as possible so that they can update their records accordingly.

Under data protection legislation, individuals have the right to request access to information about them that the Council holds.

Individuals also have the right to:

• object to processing of personal data that is likely to cause, or is causing damage or distress
• prevent processing for the purpose of direct marketing
• object to decisions being taken by automated means
• in certain circumstances, have inaccurate personal data rectified, blocked, erased or destroyed
• in certain circumstances, transfer their data to another organisation (data portability)

How to contact us

Individuals can contact us:

• regarding their data protection rights and the processing of their data
• if they have a concern about the way the Council is collecting or using their personal data

They should raise their concern with our Data Protection Officer in the first instance. Contact details can be found on our Privacy Statement.