Privacy notice for business rates

Privacy notice

1. Identity of the Data Controller and contact details

Rushmoor Borough Council is the data controller for the personal information you provide. You can contact the Council by phone on 01252 398331, via email to businessrates@rushmoor.gov.uk or by writing to us at Council Offices, Farnborough Road, Farnborough GU14 7JU.  You can contact the Council's Data Protection Officer at data.protection@rushmoor.gov.uk.

2. What we need your information for and the legal basis for it

As a billing authority we collect, process and store personal information about you in order to administer and enforce council tax and business rates. We also use the data in our council tax and business rate databases for other purposes, including the performance of our statutory enforcement duties and the prevention and detection of fraud.

Our council tax and business rates privacy notice is in addition to, and should be read in conjunction with, our corporate privacy notice covering all services.

We usually only collect basic personal data about you, including your name, address, and contact details. However, if you apply for a reduction, or there is a dispute about the council tax or business rate liability for your property, we may need to collect additional information, such as details of your household or business circumstances, including special category information about your physical or mental health or disability status, where appropriate, to the reduction claimed.

If you choose to pay by Direct Debit, we will also collect some financial information from you.

If we need to take enforcement action we may require additional information, such as any employment or benefit details and household expenditure.

We collect information from you when you fill in one of our forms, or contact us about your property, either in writing, by phone or face-to-face.

We may sometimes obtain information about you from third parties (including previous owners/tenants, landlords, estate agents and other council or government departments) where this is necessary in order to administer and enforce the collection of council tax or business rates.

We use your personal information in order to administer and enforce council tax under the Local Government Finance Act 1992 and business rates under the Local Government Finance Act 1988. The processing of your information is necessary for compliance with the legal obligations contained in these Acts and other supporting Acts, Regulations and Orders.

3. Use for any other purposes

If we need to use your information for any other purpose, we will normally inform you before using it, unless we believe you know about the new purpose already or there are legal reasons that prevent us from telling you.

4. Will you pass my information to anyone else?

We may share your information with other council departments and connected agencies to the extent permitted by law. This will include the processing of your personal data if that is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest. We will comply with the statutory Data Protection Principles and we may share your information for the following purposes: 

• The administration of justice (including the prevention or detection of crime, such as fraud) 
• The exercise of statutory enforcement functions (such as the investigation of breaches of planning control) 
• Activities that support or promote democratic engagement 
• Where we are required to by law (such as where lawfully required to by the police or her majesty's revenues and customs) 
• Improving efficiency and the standard of services we offer 
• Identifying and bringing empty homes back into use 

For enforcement of council tax and business rates this includes passing information to debt collection agencies to recover any council tax or business rates owed.  We may also pass information to the Department of Work and Pensions or your employer where an order for direct deductions is issued. 

We may also share data with companies who undertake data matching exercises to prevent and detect fraud, for example to check single person discount records against credit data agencies etc. We participate in the cabinet office's national fraud initiative. 

We may share your information for other purposes where you have provided consent, for example when making an application for a business improvement grant. 

The council sometimes works and shares personal information with third parties to deliver certain services or carry out statutory functions on our behalf. All our third-party service providers are required to take appropriate security measures to protect your personal information in line with the GDPR regulations. We will always ensure that your information is kept secure, only used for these purposes and not disclosed further unless required by law. 

On occasions, your information may be accessed by internal and external Information Technology (IT) support organisations in the delivery of IT support for both the IT infrastructure and associated systems, for the processes detailed in this privacy notice. Access by IT support will only be for such reasons as support and fixing any technical issues with software, and any viewing of data will only be incidental to these purposes. 

Your personal data is processed (including storage) within the European Economic Area only.  

Examples of the organisations we may need to share information with are below, this list is not exhaustive: 

• BACS - Financial information for the administration of council tax and business rate 
• Banks - Payment processing and payment enquires 
• Cabinet Office - Data matching under the National Fraud Initiative 
• The council's IT provider for parking permit verification for checking entitlement to a resident parking permit 
• The council's Financial System provider including payment and refund processing may have access to systems on occasions where there is a fault or technical issue 
• (Other) councils - For purposes of council tax and business rate administration 
• Courts/Bailiffs - For taking legal action for non-payment of council tax and business rates 
• Department Work and Pensions - For the purpose of enforcing a Court Liability Order to make an attachment to your benefits 
• Valuation office Agency - To obtain or review a council tax band or business rateable value for your property 
• HM Revenues and Customs - As required and/or permittable by law 
• Employers - For the purpose of enforcing a Court Liability Order to make an attachment to your earnings. 
• Other bodies responsible for detecting fraud or auditing or administering public funds  
• Rushmoor Borough Council - Customer services, Elections, Housing benefits, IT, Internal audit, Legal, Licensing, Parking, Planning, Environmental Health, Corporate Investigations 

5. How we will store and look after your information

Your data will be held electronically and will not be stored in a country outside the UK. All paper records containing your personal information will be held securely in our filing systems and archives.

6. How long we will retain your information

We retain data for council taxpayers back to the start of council tax in 1993 because there has yet to be a revaluation of current property bands. Therefore, it is possible for an adjustment to be required back to the start of the tax. 

Business rate records are currently held from 1990. 

We have legal authority to process your information; your right to be forgotten does not apply to these functions and services. 

7. Your rights concerning your information

The General Data Protection Regulation gives you a number of rights concerning your personal information. See the list below. Not all rights apply in every case - it will depend on the legal basis for collecting your information and how we use it.

• The right to be informed
• The right to restrict processing
• The right of access
• The right to data portability
• The right to rectification
• The right to object
• Rights related to automated decision making, including profiling
• The right to erasure

Further details on these rights can be found on our website www.rushmoor.gov.uk/dataprotection.

8. Right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office

If you are not happy with the way the Council is handling your personal information you have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner's Office. (ICO).
You will find details of how to do so on the ICO website at https://ico.org.uk or by phoning their helpline on 0303 123 1113.

9. Why we need your information and the consequences of not providing it

We need your information to carry out our responsibilities under the Local Government Finance Act 1988. If you knowingly provide inaccurate information, then you are committing an offence under the Fraud Act 2006, which could lead to a fine and / or imprisonment.