Privacy Statement

Data controller: Fortunatus Housing Solutions, 9 Colville Court, Winwick Quay, Warrington, Cheshire. WA2 8QT 

The organisation collects and processes personal data relating its tenants (by tenants themselves, or on referral forms completed by mental health professionals) to provide them with supported housing in the community. The organisation is committed to being transparent about how it collects and uses that data and to meeting its data protection obligations.

What information does the organisation collect?

The organisation collects and processes a range of information about its tenants or prospective tenants. This includes:

·       Their name, address and contact details, including email address and telephone number where provided, date of birth and gender;

·       Any Benefits that they receive, for the purpose of claiming Housing Benefit on their behalf. 

·       Any information provided to us on their housing referral in order for us to make a decision about their housing and their eligibility for supported housing funding. This can include personal and medical history. 

The organisation may collect this information in a variety of ways. For example, data might be collected through our housing referral form, or via emails from their social worker, care co-ordinator or CPN or any other mental health professional dealing with their care. We may also be given personal data from the police or hospital. This data is collected under the legal basis that it is in their legitimate interests to do so. 

Data will be stored in a range of different places, including in their housing file, in the organisation's cloud-based housing systems and in other IT systems (including the organisation's encrypted email system).

Why does the organisation process personal data?

The organisation needs to process this data in order to provide supported housing, help with the tenancy, to access mental health services on their behalf and to provide them with a tenancy and to claim housing benefit on their behalf. 

The organisation has a legitimate interest in processing personal data before and during a tenancy. It does this on the legal basis that it is in the tenant’s legitimate interests. Processing tenant data allows the organisation to:

·       Provided a funded and secure tenancy

·       Escalate any health issues or concerns to the relevant medical professionals 

·       Deal with their Utility bills when they are in arrears, or take up a new tenancy, or leave a tenancy. 

·       Claim Housing Benefit on their behalf to ensure they are not in rent arrears and they can access enhanced housing benefit

Some special categories of personal data, such as information about health or medical conditions, is processed to carry out a decision on a housing referral and that tenants meet the organisations criteria to be housed.

Who has access to data?

The information may be shared internally with members of the organisation.

The organisation shares its data with third parties in order to carry out its essential functions, for instance it’s 24 hour on-call service and also to hold details of a tenancy on the housing system. 

 [The organisation will not transfer data to countries outside the European Economic Area.

How does the organisation protect data?

The organisation takes the security of data seriously. The organisation has internal policies and controls in place to try to ensure that data is not lost, accidentally destroyed, misused or disclosed, and is not accessed, except by its employees in the performance of their duties. 

Where the organisation engages third parties to process personal data on its behalf, they do so on the basis of written instructions, are under a duty of confidentiality and are obliged to implement appropriate technical and organisational measures to ensure the security of data.

For how long does the organisation keep data?

The organisation will hold personal data for 50 years in line with safeguarding guidelines.  

Rights

As a data subject, our tenants have a number of rights. They can:

·       access and obtain a copy of data on request;

·       require the organisation to change incorrect or incomplete data;

·       require the organisation to delete or stop processing data, for example where the data is no longer necessary for the purposes of processing; and

·       object to the processing of your data where the organisation is relying on its legitimate interests as the legal ground for processing.

[If you would like to exercise any of these rights, please contact Fortunatus Housing Solutions) 

If you believe that the organisation has not complied with the data protection rights, you can complain to the Information Commissioner.

What if you do not provide personal data?

Tenants have some obligations under their tenancy for supported accommodation to provide the organisation with data. In particular, they are required to provide the organisation with their name, address, date of birth, benefits, details about their residency, their mental health care, their medical status and if they have anyone living with you.  This list also includes anything that means data has to be used to safeguard a vulnerable adult.

If tenants do not provide us with this information, which is needed to provide them with supported tenancy, this will hinder the organisation's ability to house them and may result in their tenancy ending if they already live in a Fortunatus property.