Business Rates Privacy Notice

Tunbridge Wells Borough Council
Mount Pleasant Road
Royal Tunbridge Wells
Kent
TN1 1RS

Email: dataprotection@tunbridgewells.gov.uk

Telephone: 01892 526121

We collect information from you when you visit our website and when you communicate with us in any way.  We may also receive electronic transfers of your information from central government departments, mainly Compaines House, the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) and HM Revenues and Customs (HMRC).

We collect your name, e-mail address and telephone number.  We also collect information on your criminal and financial background, court proceedings, and employment.

Like most Council services, ours are mandatory; we must offer them by law.

We offer these services in compliance with a legal obligation:

• compliance with the Local Government Finance Act 1988, Non-Domestic Rating Act 2023 and any subsequent legislation
• The prevention or detection of crime, including fraud

We also process your personal information to meet our legal, compliance and regulatory obligations, such as to respond to a legal claim, summons or regulatory order.

We will use your information to:

To monitor and recover owed business rates.

Combat crime, including fraud, and for the purposes set out in the Kent & Medway Information Sharing Agreement (K&MISA).

Research and statistics:

Anonymised and pseudonymised data may be used for research and statistical purposes. Any data collected may be used for research and statistical purposes that are relevant and compatible with the purpose that the data was collected for.

We may share your data with:

• agencies with whom we have a duty to co-operate, such as HM Courts
• other Council services for purposes compatible with those listed
• Central Government for compatible purposes including, but not limited to, the Cabinet Office, and the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP). Please note that data derived from DWP and HMRC will be used in the testing or development environment
• Maidstone Borough Council/IT on our behalf, and
• K&MISA signatories, for purposes compatible with those listed
• Valuation Office Agency (VOA)
• software providers, including :
  • Amazon Web Services (AWS) 
    Your information will be transferred to Ireland when it is processed by our software provider, AWS.
  • Bottomline Technologies
  • Cammax
  • Capita
  • Civica
  • Granicus

Crime

We may share your data with these organisations for the purposes of fighting crime:

• Destin Solutions
• Intec for Business
• Kent Intelligence Network
• Kent Registrars
• Mid-Kent Fraud and Compliance Partnership
• Police including Action Fraud and other law enforcement agencies
• National Fraud Initiative
• National Anti Fraud Network

What are your rights in relation to the personal information we process?

• Access – you can request copies of any of your personal information that is held by the council.
• Rectification – you can ask us to correct any incorrect information.
• Deletion – you can ask us to delete your personal information. The council can refuse to delete information if we have a lawful reason to keep this.
• Portability – you can ask us to transfer your personal data to different services or to you.
• Right to object or restrict processing – you have the right to object to how your data is being used and how it is going to be used in the future.
• Right to prevent automatic decisions – you have to challenge a decision that affects you that has been made automatically without human intervention, for example an online form with an instant decision.

We keep data only for as long as we need it.  Normally this is between three (3) and six (6) years.

What security precautions are in place to protect the loss, misuse or alteration of your information?

We are strongly committed to data security and will take reasonable and appropriate steps to protect your personal information from unauthorised access, loss, misuse, alteration or corruption. We have put in place physical, electronic, and managerial procedures to safeguard the information you provide to us.

We want to ensure any information we hold is accurate. You can help us by promptly informing us of any changes to the information we hold about you.

There are no automated decisions in this process.

If you are accessing online services and are aged 13 or under‚ please get your parent/guardian's permission beforehand whenever you provide us with personal information.

What are cookies and why are they used?

Cookies are small text files which identify your computer to our servers. They are used to improve the user experience. View what cookies we use and how you can manage them at on our privacy and cookies page.

If you would like to make a complaint regarding the use of your personal data you can email Dataprotection@tunbridgewells.gov.uk

For independent advice about data protection, privacy and data sharing issues, you can contact the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO):

Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF

Local rate telephone: 0303 123 1113
National rate telephone: 01625 545745

Website: https://ico.org.uk/global/contact-us.