Your privacy

Why we use your personal information

We are committed to protecting your privacy when you use our services.

This privacy notice explains how we use information about you and how we protect your privacy.

Each of our service areas have their own individual privacy notice with more detailed information about how we handle your information for specific council services, including who we may share your information with and why.

Our Data Protection Officer makes sure we follow the law. If you have any concerns or questions about how we look after your personal information, please contact our Data Protection Officer.

Data Protection Officer

Telephone: 0345 743 0430 (ask to speak to the Information Governance Team)

Email: DPO@essex.gov.uk

We have also produced easy read and child friendly versions:

What is personal information?

Personal information is anything that identifies and relates to a living person. This can include information that when put together with other information can identify a person. For example, this could be your name and contact details. See definition of personal data on Information Commissioner's Office.

Special category information

Some information is more sensitive and therefore needs more protection. It’s often information you would not want widely known and is very personal to you. This is likely to include anything that can reveal your:

criminal history
ethnicity
genetic or biometric data
physical or mental health
political opinion
religious or philosophical beliefs
sexuality
sexual health
trade union membership

Why do we need your personal information?

We may need to use some information about you to:

deliver services and support to you
manage those services we provide to you
train and manage the employment of our workers who deliver those services
help investigate any worries or complaints you have about your services
keep track of spending on services
check the quality of services
to help with research and planning of new services
prevent and detect crime and fraud

We only use what we need

We only collect and use personal information if we need it to deliver a service or meet a requirement.

If we don’t need personal information we’ll either keep the information anonymous if we already have it for something else or we won’t ask you for it. For example in a survey we may not need your contact details.

If we use your personal information for research and analysis, we’ll always keep your information anonymous or use a different name unless you’ve agreed that your personal information can be used for that research.

We will not sell your personal information to anyone else.

How the law allows us to use your personal information

There are a number of legal reasons why we are allowed to collect and use your personal information. The reason why we are allowed to use the information is different for each council service.

The reasons we may use your personal information are set out below. You can also see the rights you have when we use your personal information.

Article 6. Schedule: personal information

Legal basis and applicable subject rights	Inform	Access	Rectify	Erase	Restrict	Object	Automated Decisions /Profiling	Portability
Consent	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Contract	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes
Vital Interests	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	No	No	No
Legal Obligation	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No	Yes	No
Public Task	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Legitimate Interests	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No

Article 9. Schedule: special category (sensitive) personal information

Legal basis and applicable subject rights	Inform	Access	Rectify	Erase	Restrict	Object	Automated Decisions /Profiling	Portability
Explicit Consent	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Employment, Social Security/Social Protection	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No
Vital Interests	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No	No	No
Not for Profit	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Public Domain	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Legal Defence/Claims	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No	Yes	No
Substantial Public Interest	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No	No	No
Health and Social Care	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No	Yes	No
Public Interest in Public Health	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No	Yes	No
Scientific/historical Research, Statistics or Public Archiving	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Additional considerations	None	None	None	Will always apply to direct marketing	None	Will always apply to direct marketing	Where it places a legal effect on an individual	Only where use of data is solely by automated means

Legal condition explanations

More detail on when each legal basis may apply, please see below.

Personal information

This would apply when:

you, or your legal representative, have given consent for us to use your personal information. If you have agreed (given your consent) to us to use your personal information, you have the right to ask us to stop using it at any time. If you wish to withdraw your consent, please contact our data protection officer, and tell us which service you’re using so we can deal with your request.
we need the information because you have entered into a contract with us
we need to have the information to perform our legal obligations
we need to have the information to protect someone in an emergency (Vital Interests)
we are required by law to do something and we need information about you in order to do this (Public Task)
is necessary for us to have the information to conduct our legitimate business for non-statutory services (Legitimate Interests)

Special (sensitive) personal information

This would apply when:

it is necessary for employment purposes (Employment and Social Security)
it is necessary to have the information in order to deliver health or social care services
you have made your information publicly available (In the Public Domain)
it is necessary to have your information to defend or make legal claims
it is to the benefit of society as a whole (Substantial Public Interest)
it is necessary to protect public health in the public interest
it is necessary for archiving, research, or statistical purposes

Print this page