Who is the Data Controller for the information I provide?
Wirral Council is the Data Controller for the personal information you provide.
Our address is:
Wirral Council
PO Box 290
Brighton Street
Wallasey
Wirral
CH27 9FQ
Issues of how data is handled are dealt with by the Council's Data Protection Officer Jane Corrin who can be contacted by email at DPO@wirral.gov.uk
Wirral Council’s Comments and Complaints page is the central point of recording most corporate complaints, comments, concern’s and compliments. We also deal with complaints about adult social care under the Local Authority Social Services and National Health Service complaints (England) Regulations (2009) and complaints, comments and compliments about children’s social care under the Children Act (1989).
Why do you need my information?
In order to consider and respond to your feedback it is necessary for us to collect and hold personal information about you, a person you represent, or a child you have responsibility for. It is very important that Wirral Council is able to plan and realign its delivery of services to meet the needs of our customers, residents, businesses, visitors and our children and young people. To do this, we carefully use the information we collect about how services are delivered and who is using these services.
What legal basis allows you to use my information?
The legal basis that allows us to process your information under these schemes is 'consent' as you have given consent for Wirral Council to process your personal data for the specific purpose of dealing with feedback you send to us using the Comments and Complaints page.
Do I have to provide this information and what will happen if I don’t?
If you do not provide us with information, we will not be able to deal with your feedback. If you contact us on behalf of another person, we may ask that person if they are happy for you to contact us on their behalf. If you contact us on behalf of a child, we may check that you have a legal right to contact us on the child’s behalf
Who will my information be shared with?
Your information will only be passed to officers within the relevant departments who are responsible for handling, investigating and responding to customer feedback. They may contact you for further information.
We will normally share your information with internal departments and organisation’s that we are contracted with or who are currently working with you.
For example, if your complaint was about a service that is provided by a third-party organisation on behalf of the council, we may need to contact them to verify information during the course of an investigation.
These partners will also include organisations that we commission to provide services on behalf of the council, such as the organisations that deliver our waste services, education providers, care and support services, such as home care agencies or care homes. You will hear these called providers.
As they are delivering services on our behalf the council, they must keep your details safe and secure, and as the data controller we will make sure that they comply with our required information sharing standards and protocols.
Even though we are required to share your information with authorised partner organisations, we will ensure this is done in a secure manner, and the information is proportionate in order for us to deal with your case.
How long will you keep this information for?
Your information will only be kept for six years after the date we close your complaint, comment or compliment. After this your information will be deleted from our records.
How will my information be stored?
Information will be held within a secure electronic Case Manager System.
How we protect your data
We will take appropriate steps to make sure we hold records about you (on paper and electronically) in a secure way, and we will only make them available to those who have a right to see them. The Council takes security measures such as, but not limited to:
Logical Security Control
- encryption
- anonymisation
- partitioning
- paper document security
Physical Security Control
- managing workstations
- website security
- backups
- network security
- physical access control
- monitoring network activity
- hardware security
Organisational Control
- monitoring committee
- policies
- managing Privacy risks
- integrating privacy protection in projects (PIA)
Will this information be used to take automated decisions about me?
No.
Will my data be transferred abroad and why?
No, your details will not be transferred abroad.
What rights do I have when it comes to my data?
Right to be informed – through this Privacy Notice.
Right to rectification – you have the right to have personal data rectified if it is inaccurate or incomplete.
Right to erasure – you have the right to have personal data erased and to prevent processing however the right to erasure does not apply in some circumstances.
Right to restrict processing – you have the right to block or suppress processing of your data, however this right does not apply in some circumstances.
Right to data portability – you have the right to obtain and reuse your data for your own purposes (copy or transfer personal data to another environment) in certain circumstances
Right to object to processing (to certain types of processing only)
Right to withdraw consent (This would mean we would be unable to assess your needs and prevent us from making any award)
Right of Access - you have the right under the Data Protection Act 1998 (General Data Protection Regulation 2018) to request a copy of your information and to know what it is used for and how it has been shared. This is called the right of subject access. To request a copy of your data or ask questions about how it is used please email informationmanager@wirral.gov.uk
Who can I complain to if I am unhappy about how my data is used?
Informal resolution
In the first instance we would ask that you try and resolve data handling issues directly with the relevant department before applying for a formal resolution.
Formal resolution
If you are dissatisfied with the informal resolution of your complaint you can request a review by the Data Protection Officer, Jane Corrin, by email DPO@wirral.gov.uk
If you remain dissatisfied following an internal complaint, you can lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner:
Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Changes to our Privacy Notice
We regularly review our privacy notice and suggest you check for any changes from time to time. This notice was reviewed November 2022.