Corporate data privacy notice
The reasons why we process your information
Southwark Council processes your personal data to provide a wide range of services. For instance, we will collect information such as your name and address for Council Tax. Data protection legislation states that we can only process your data, if we have one of the following reasons to do it.
- It is necessary to comply with a legal obligation, eg planning applications
- It is necessary to fulfil a contract, for example commercial waste collection
- It is in the vital interests of the data subject, for example life or death situations
- It is in the official authority/public interest to process your data, for example activities that benefit society as a whole
- We have your consent, for example signing up for a newsletter
Most of the personal information that is held by the council will be processed either because we're required to use the data to comply with a legal obligation, or because we have official authority, or it is in the public interest to do so.
For example, we process your personal information in our council tax team because there is a legal requirement that we tax residential properties in the borough. You're required to tell us your personal information and failure to inform us may result in prosecution.
Some products and services which you may be offered will rely on us having your consent to process your data. These are services such as a newsletter from our libraries team. It's your choice whether or not you receive the newsletter, as there's no legal obligation for us to send you one.
Some services, such as the complaints team, process your information to respond to a complaint. Whilst there is no legal requirement for you to provide us with your information, if we do not receive your data, we may not be able to investigate and respond to you. It is your choice if you engage with the service and provide your information. However once you have given us your data, we have a legal requirement to process it to comply with our obligations under the Local Government Act 1974. In this circumstance, we are not relying on your consent to process the data.
Many of the services provided by the council will be provided under legislation. Where there is no specific law which requires us to carry out your request, we may process your data under the Localism Act 2011 and the Local Government Act 1974. These laws allow us to carry out day to day tasks which are expected from the council.
We can also process your data for archiving, research, or statistical purposes without consent and can retain your information indefinitely. When you use any of our services, you will be informed of the legal basis for processing your data. If you're unsure why we're processing your data, speak to the team directly and they can provide you with a data privacy notice.
Page last updated: 10 May 2023
