Housing & Council Tax Benefits

Data Protection, in relation to Benefits

The Data Protection Act 1998 is designed to protect you.

You are entitled, on making a written request, to be given any data we hold about you although we may charge for giving you this information. We may pass the information we hold about you to other agencies or organisations such as the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) but only if allowed by law, we will also check the information you give us against other information we might already have.

We will not give information about your claim for benefit unless;

• You have given us your written consent
• You have an appointee acting on your behalf
• You have asked for your benefit to be paid direct to your landlord

If you have asked for payment of benefit to go direct to your landlord we will tell them

• If we are still waiting for further information from you
• The date your benefit starts and ends
• The weekly amount of benefit
• The dates of payment
• If your claim is suspended
• If you request that future payments be sent to you

We will not give your landlord personal information such as your income, your age or details of your family.

If Housing Benefit payments are being sent to you no details of your claim will be given to your landlord.

If you think that we have given anybody any information about you that we are not allowed to, please tell us. Give us as much information as you can and we will investigate your complaint.