Council tax - privacy notice
Read the privacy notice for council tax.
This notice is provided for clarification on what information the Council needs in order to process Council tax liability, reduction, discounts, exemptions and payments, and to collect or recover funds due to the Council. It is necessary for the Council to gather, collect, store (process) personal information to assist in the running and provision of this service.
- Process council tax liability
- Administer council tax
- Communicate with you about your council tax
Data protection law gives certain types of information special significance because of its sensitivity such as health information. This is known as special category data. If we process this type of information about you in relation to council tax we do so on the basis that it is necessary for reasons of substantial public interest.
Without the correct information we may charge you the incorrect rate of council tax and you may not receive the benefits, reductions or discounts which you are entitled to. If we ask you to give specific information in order to assess the correct amount of council tax payable and you do not give this information we may fine you. Deliberately giving false information in order to avoid or reduce council tax is also a crime.
- your name & address
- your age
- contact details such as email or telephone (including mobile)
- your status (in order to assess relevant exemptions) such as being a student
- dates of residence in particular premises and details of any past and / or present interest you may have in a particular property
- health or medical information (in connection with reduction claims)
HM Revenue and Customs officials may also give information they hold about you to us relating to council tax reductions. This information can be provided for the purpose of determining an application for council tax reduction, reviewing or appealing a determination and / or preventing or detecting fraud or an error in connection with the council tax reduction or as a result of an attempt to obtain council tax reduction fraudulently..
Your information may also be shared with other departments within the council, bodies responsible for auditing or administering public funds, other councils, public sector agencies, governmental departments and other private companies or entities (such as credit reference agencies or service providers). We also meet requests for specific information from other regulatory and law enforcement bodies where this is necessary and appropriate. Organisations who we may share data with include:
- The Department for Works and Pensions and other UK Government departments
- Scottish Government
- Social Security Scotland
- Health & Social Care Organisations such as East Renfrewshire Health & Social Care Partnership
- Registered social landlords
- External enforcement, collection or tracing agents
- National Fraud Initiative
- Renfrewshire Valuation Joint Board
- GBG Plc - ID3 global bank details verification
- Council tax benefit claim processing 6 years
- Council tax collection 6 years
- Council tax debtors 20 years
Further information about how we manage our records can be found within our Integrated Business Classification and Records Retention Schedule (PDF) [2MB] .
If you have concerns about the processing of your personal data, by the council, you can contact the Data Protection Officer at dpo@eastrenfrewshire.gov.uk.
For independent advice about data protection, privacy and data sharing, visit the Information Commissioner's Office website
This notice will be kept under regular review and was last updated on 15 March 2023.