Privacy Policy

Privacy notice

When making a request for housing assistance through this Homechoice Website you are be asked for your name, address, date of birth, household information, housing circumstances and contact details so that we can provide personalised housing assistance. This includes Homechoice Website Registration, Housing Register Application, Housing Options Assessment and Personalised Housing Plans.

South Oxfordshire District Council has a statutory duty to assess your housing circumstances under the 1996 Housing Act and Homelessness Reduction Act 2018. We are required to keep these records for six years.  Therefore the legal reason for holding and processing your personal data is legal obligation.

 You have the right to request at any time:

  1. what data we hold about you; please read our webpage on data subject access requests: “Data Protection and You”

  2. that incorrect or out of date information about you be corrected

The personal and sensitive data we requested from you will be shared with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government for data analysis.  The Ministry will ensure that your personal data (such as your name and date of birth) is removed from your record before they begin the analysis that will allow them to monitor the effectiveness of central government’s homelessness policies.  If you would like to understand more about this, please visit the housing pages of the council’s website or phone 01235 422452.

By requesting housing assistance from South Oxfordshire District Council you are giving the council your authority to contact any relevant organisation/household to provide additional details to support your application.  This might include your doctor, hospital, social services, benefit services, former landlords and anyone else that might be applicable to your circumstances. This could include sensitive or special category data and the council is relying on it being necessary for reasons of substanitial piblic interest.

Our records are regularly monitored by auditors to ensure your information is kept securely and used only for the purposes mentioned above. The council also has a duty under the Public Servants Disclosure Protection Act to prevent misuse of public funds and may review your application as part of that work.

If you believe we have not handled your personal data as we have described here, please either call 01235 422485 or email details to data.protection@southandvale.gov.uk and your concerns will be fully investigated by our Data Protection Officer If, after we have investigated your concerns, you are not satisfied with our conclusion, you have the right to refer the matter to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).  You can reach them at ico.org.uk or call them on 0303 123 1113.  Their mailing address is:

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