Emergency Assistance Scheme - Privacy Notice

What personal information is being processed and what for

We hold the following information from your application:

Full name and title
Date of birth
Current address
Gender
National Insurance Number (NINO)
Details of your income and expenditure
Details of your savings
Contact details you have provided including telephone numbers, Email addresses used for contact about your application to ask for more information, update you on progress and for sending the decision to you
Details of household
Where applicable / provided health, medical, disability information.
Details of the emergency / crisis leading to the EA claim.

All processed for the determination of Emergency AssistanCE applications.

Why we are allowed to use your information

This information is required for making decisions on your Emergency AssistanCE application

Relevant legislation:

Cheshire East Emergency AssistanCE scheme introduced by Cheshire East Council following the changes to the Social Fund by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) from April 2013.

Community Care Grants and Crisis loans were abolished and funds transferred to us with the expectation of delivering our own local based provision. The scheme was introduced following a public consultation.

As this is a local scheme consent is required as there is no national legislation covering the service.

Under GDPR:

Article 6 – you have given consent to the processing of your data for Emergency AssistanCE applications

Article 9 - special categories would refer only to information provided by you in support of your claim

Who we share your information with

We will share your information with:

Relevant Council Departments – Council Tax, Housing, Adult Services, Children’s services, Audit, Customer Services to help with your determining your eligibility and also for delivering the services awarded to you or associated support
Your name, address and contact details with Service Providers where relevant e.g. for removals, ordering, delivery and installation of white goods and furniture and emergency food parcels
Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB) where you have given consent for Budgeting advice
Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) where you have confirmed you have a work coach assisting you
Appointed External Auditor

Where we get your information from

You or someone acting on your behalf

How long we keep your personal information

See the Council’s Information Asset Register on the web site for more information.

How your information is stored

We store your information on the following systems:

Information@work – document management system
Emergency AssistanCE inbox (Microsoft Outlook), which are sent via Egress Switch, the Council’s secure email
Central log of applications help on Microsoft Excel

All of these systems have security controls with Individual logins, password protected (with minimum security levels) with the data held on secure servers.

Emails sent securely encrypted via Egress Switch (see above).

If you don’t provide us with your information

We would be unable to process Emergency AssistanCE applications

Your information is not be used to make automated decisions

This information will not be transferred outside the European Economic Area.

Your rights

You have a number of rights regarding your personal data, including withdrawing your consent where we have asked for it.

You can also ask for a copy of the information we hold about you and ask us to correct anything that is wrong.

For detailed information about your rights please see the Cheshire East Council privacy notice.

Page last reviewed: 13 May 2022