Complaints

1. The purpose for which we use your personal data

The information we collect about you will be used only to deal with your complaint about our services.

The legal basis for the processing of your information is to perform of a task carried out in the public interest, or the exercise of official authority under our discretionary powers found in section 111 of the Local Government Act 1972.

We collect and use special category (sensitive) personal data about you for reasons of substantial public interest, on the basis of the legislation referred to above.

If you do not give us the information we need when we ask for it, we may be unable to investigate your complaint and address your concerns.

2. What type of information do we use?

When you make a complaint, we ask you to give us the following information:

• Name
• Address
• Telephone number
• Email address

We also ask you to tell us what your complaint is about and this usually means that other information about you is collected. The type and amount of personal data depends on your circumstances and the nature of your complaint.

3. Do we use information received from other sources?

To deal with your complaint, we collect information directly from you and will also receive information from relevant Council services.

As complaints can relate to many different services and sometimes involve considerable detail about your life, the following types of personal data may be obtained by the Complaints team, depending on what your complaint is about:

• Name
• Address
• Telephone number
• Email address
• Date of birth
• Gender
• Unique reference number
• Financial details
• Your family composition
• Your social circumstances
• Employment and education details
• Your housing needs
• Images/photographs
• Information about your health
• Your racial or ethnic origin
• Political opinions
• Religious or philosophical beliefs
• Trade union membership
• Information about your sex life or sexual orientation
• Criminal convictions and offences

4. Transferring your information abroad

We use Microsoft Office 365 to process our electronic documents under the terms of a strict agreement, which safeguards your information. This personal data is hosted on servers outside the UK, but only in EU countries which are subject to the General Data Protection Regulation.

We don’t transfer any other information about you outside of the UK.

5. Who has access to your information?

We share your information with the following recipients depending on your circumstances:

• Other relevant Council services
• A designated Investigating Officer within the Council
• An external Investigating Officer for social care complaints that are taken to the second stage of the procedure
• The Public Services Ombudsman for Wales, if you choose to make a complaint to them

There are other specific situations where we may be required to disclose information about you, such as:

• Where the Council is required to provide the information by law
• Where disclosing the information is required to prevent or detect a crime
• Where disclosure is in the vital interests of the person concerned

6. How long we will keep your information

We will keep your information for 6 years after your complaint is responded to, in accordance with the Council’s Retention Guidelines.

7. Your Data Protection rights

You have the right to:

• Obtain access to the personal data that Carmarthenshire Council is processing about you
• Have any inaccurate or incomplete information rectified (corrected)
• Withdraw your consent to processing, where this is the only basis for the processing
• Make a complaint to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the independent body in the UK which protects information rights

In some circumstances, you may have the right to:

• Object to the processing of your personal information
• The erasure of your personal data
• Restrict the processing of your personal information
• Data portability

8. Contact details

For more information regarding this privacy notice and your rights, please contact:

Data Protection Officer
Carmarthenshire County Council
County Hall
Carmarthen
SA31 1JP

Email: dataprotection@carmarthenshire.gov.uk

Contact details for the Information Commissioner’s Office along with further guidance on Data Protection legislation can be found on the ICO website .