Privacy notice for corporate billing

What do we use the information for?

Corporate billing collects, processes and holds your personal and financial information in order to provide our services effectively. 

• To administer and collect debts on behalf of the East Riding of Yorkshire Council for goods and services provided to members of the public and businesses. 

We also use information to improve our services so that they are more appropriate to people’s requirements.  We recognise that your personal information is important to you, and we take our responsibilities for ensuring that we collect and manage it proportionately, correctly and safely very seriously.

What information do we hold and use?

We collect and process the following information:

• Personal information ( including full name, full residential address) 
• Location data (including postcode)
• Bank details for invoicing/ payments 
• Information relating to goods/ services the council has provided and is charging for.

On what grounds do we use the information?

• Local Government Act 1972 
• Account and Audit Regulations 2011 
• Debt Respite Scheme (Breathing Space Moratorium and Mental Health Crisis Moratorium) (England and Wales) Regulations 2020.

We process personal data for the following reasons:

• GDPR Article 6(1)(a) – the data subject has given consent to the processing of his or her personal data for one or more specific purposes
• GDPR Article 6(1)(b) – processing is necessary for the performance of a contract to which the data subject is party or in order to take steps at the request of the data subject prior to entering into a contract
• GDPR Article 6(1)(c) – processing is necessary for compliance with legal obligation to which the East Riding of Yorkshire Council is subject.

How do we collect this information?

We may collect information in the following ways:

• From the internal department that the service is received from via paper, electronic or online forms
• Email
• Letter
• Telephone
• Via the national ‘Tell Us Once’ Scheme.

Who do we share your information with?

We may disclose your information to others, but only where this is necessary either to comply with our legal obligations or as permitted by Data Protection legislation. We may share it with other public service bodies including the police, external stakeholders (such as Citizen’s Advice), debt advice providers and other local authorities. 

The reasons why we may share your data with other public bodies are as follows:

• To improve our understanding of your needs to enable us to inform you of other relevant services
• To protect public funds
• To monitor and improve our performance and delivery of services
• To recover debts owed to the council
• For the prevention and or detection of crime
• Where necessary to protect individuals from the risk of harm or injury 
• Where otherwise permitted under the General Data Protection legislation.

We will only disclose your sensitive or confidential information to a third party if we are legally required to do so, or where we have good reason to believe that failing to share the information would put you or someone else at risk of harm.

We will not pass your personal information to external organisations for marketing or sales purposes or for any commercial use without your prior expressed consent.

How long do we store it and is it secure?

Corporate billing has retention schedules in place to ensure that information is only held for as long as it is needed. We will not keep your information for longer than is required to by law. Your information will be disposed of in a controlled and secure manner in accordance with the council’s Records Management and Data Quality Policy. The council’s IT security and confidentiality policies ensure that your information is protected, and accessed only by staff directly involved in your case.

For information on how long your information will be held visit the retention page.

What rights do you have?

The rights that you have depend upon the grounds upon which we collected your information. All rights that you could have are outlined on the data protection rights page. 

In most cases, people who have been involved with corporate billing will be covered by the following rights: 

• The right to access – you are entitled to see the information we hold about you 
• The right to rectification – we will amend information according, if any information we hold about you is incorrect
• The right to restrict processing - you may wish to limit how we use your data
• The right to object – in addition to the right to limit the use of your data, you also have a right to object to the  use of your personal data for certain circumstances 
• The right to erasure/ right to be forgotten – in certain circumstances, you may be able to ask for some of the information we hold to be deleted. The service has determined that all requests to permanently delete a service user record will be dealt with on an individual basis. 

To exercise any of your above rights, please visit the data protection rights page for more information.

Where can I find out more?

If you want to know more about how the council uses information, your rights or have a concern about the way we are collecting or using your personal data, we request that you raise your concern with us in the first instance contact details are available on the general privacy information page.  Alternatively, you can contact the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO). The ICO is the UK’s independent authority set up to uphold information rights in the public interest and they handle public concerns regarding organisations information rights practices. 

Information Commissioner’s Office (external website)

When was this privacy notice last updated?

We will continually review and update this privacy notice to reflect any changes in our services, feedback from customers, and to comply with any changes in the law. This privacy notice was last updated on 14 May 2021.