Privacy statement

We are committed to making sure we protect your privacy. This means we will:

• collect information about you fairly
• only collect information about you that we need
• tell you why what we will be doing with the information
• use it only for our business and to comply with the law
• make sure the information we hold is accurate
• not keep it for longer than we need to and keep it securely
• share it only with companies and organisations who’ll keep it secure
• not send it out of the UK without ensuring its security
• make sure we meet your rights under the Data Protection Act

Under the Data Protection Act 2018, we must tell you who’s responsible for deciding how your personal information is used. Peaks & Plains Housing Trust is the data controller.

We use your information in a few different ways but to summarise these are:

• to help us maintain and provide you with our services
• to deal with administration
• to contact you with details of changes to services you are receiving
• for business analysis, and research and testing to ensure the integrity of our systems
• for marketing, about products and services we think might be suitable for you unless you tell us not to send you information
• to comply with the law, this may include sharing your information with our regulator
• to identify you if you need to contact us

We record some telephone calls so we can check we’ve acted on your instructions correctly and to make sure that we provide the very best service. We may also monitor calls for security and training purposes. All recordings are kept for 12 months then securely deleted.

We use cookies to:

• Remember you when you visit this website to keep track of your browsing patterns and to build up a profile of how you and other users use the website
• Make our website work as efficiently as possible
• Administer services to you and to advertisers such as online forms and Google translate

Most browsers allow you to turn off cookies. To do this look at the "help" menu on your browser. Switching off cookies may restrict your use of the website and/or delay or affect the way in which it operates.

The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) is an industry body that provides in depth information about cookies. For further information visit https://www.aboutcookies.org website.

The information you give us will be added to any other details we hold about you. Other services managed by Peaks & Plains Housing Trust may also have access to your information (e.g. our contractors).

This is to make sure we can:

• set up and administer your account correctly
• give you a high standard of service
• understand your needs and preferences
• offer you relevant products and services unless you tell us not to
• design new products and services which we think will appeal to you and people like you

These subsidiaries may contact you (by mail, email, telephone or other appropriate means) to tell you about carefully selected products, services or offers that they believe might interest you. The products and services may not be related to your housing needs.

You can ask us not to contact you in this way by telling us when you apply for a product or by writing to us at any time. This won’t end your relationship with Peaks & Plains Housing Trust

If we were unfortunate to lose you as a customer and you apply for another property with a different landlord, we may have to pass information on to help your move happen as smoothly as possible. The information we share in this case is your payment history, any anti-social behaviour and how long you have been in your property.

The office of the Information Commissioner is the government appointed office with responsibility for data protection. They can assist with any complaints or questions you may have. You can contact them on 01625 545740 or online at ico.org.uk

We will keep your personal data on file for as long as your tenancy continues with us, and a maximum of 10 years after your tenancy has ended. This does not affect your rights under the Data Protection Act 2018.

You have certain rights under the Data Protection Act 2018. These include the right to:

• ask for a copy of the information we hold about you
• stop us sending you marketing material about products and services
• have information that is wrong, put right
• prevent processing where it may cause damage or distress
• object to automatic decision making
• claim compensation for damage and distress caused by our failure to comply with the terms of the Act.

To help us prevent fraud or money laundering, your details may be passed to other companies, local authorities or other public bodies including the police. You can ask for more details about the information sharing agreements that Peaks & Plains Housing Trust has in place by emailing privacy@peaksplains.org.

Former employee data is kept for a period of six years from the date of leaving and is therefore cleansed following this period. Data submitted in relation to an online application for an advertised role will be held on the system for three months. After this time it will be cleansed. We process this information in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulations 2018.

If you want more information about how we keep your information safe, how we use it or if you need to complain please get in touch.

privacy@peaksplains.org

The Data Protection Officer
Peaks & Plains Housing Trust
Ropewalks
Newton Street
Macclesfield
SK11 6QJ