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Payments Privacy Notice

Who we are and what we do

Forest of Dean District Council is a data controller under the Data Protection Legislation as we collect and process personal information about you in order to process payments or refunds. This notice will explain how we use your payment information. This covers payments made over the telephone as well as online.

Any questions regarding our privacy practices should be sent to:

Data Protection Officer (DPO)
Forest of Dean District Council
Council Offices, Coleford GL16 8HG
Email: data.protection@fdean.gov.uk
Tel: 01993 861194

Why we need your information and how we use it

We collect your personal information for the following purposes:

  • accepting payments
  • administering payments
  • tracing payments to ensure the money is allocated to the correct service

We use this information in order to provide council services to you for (this list is not exhaustive):

  • Council tax
  • Business rates
  • Environmental
  • Waste
  • Planning and Building Control

Any debit or credit card details that you might supply us for any payments are not retained by the Council, and are not accessible by any Council employee. 

Our Lawful basis for processing your information

The law allows us to process your personal data in order to:

  • Enter into a contract with you,
  • Provide a service to you,
  • Exercise our official authority

What type of information is collected from you

  • Account or reference number
  • Credit or debit card details
  • Name and address
  • Email address and telephone number

Who your information may be shared with (internally and externally)

We will share payment information with other council departments and third parties to recover debt, allocate payment to accounts, or for provision of a service.

The information you give us may be used to maintain and improve the services which we deliver, this includes developing and upgrading the systems which we use to process your information.

We may also share information with our auditors, central government departments or the police to protect public funds and detect and protect against fraud.

How long we keep your information (retention period)

We will retain your personal information for 6 years to fulfil the purposes we collected it for, and in accordance with relevant legislation.

How we protect your Information

We will not transfer your personal data outside the EU without your consent.

We have implemented generally accepted standards of technology and operational security in order to protect personal data from loss, misuse, or unauthorised alteration or destruction.  

Please note however that where you are transmitting information to us over the internet this can never be guaranteed to be 100% secure.  

For any payments which we take from you online we will use a recognised online secure payment system. We have strict security measures in place to prevent the alteration, loss or misuse of your payment information on our systems. We also comply with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI-DSS).

We will notify you promptly in the event of any breach of your personal data which might expose you to serious risk.

Your rights 

You have rights under the Data Protection Legislations:

  • to access your personal data
  • withdraw consent
  • to be provided with information about how your personal data is processed
  • to have your personal data corrected
  • to have your personal data erased in certain circumstances
  • to object to or restrict how your personal data is processed
  • to have your personal data transferred to yourself or to another business in certain circumstances
  • to be told if we have made a mistake whilst processing your data and we will self-report breaches to the Commissioner

Will this information be used to take automated decisions about me?

No.

Withdrawal of Consent

Where personal data is processed on the basis of consent, you will have the right to withdraw that consent. However, the Council process personal data that it is necessary to do so in order to comply with our legal obligations and to enable us to perform tasks carried out in the public interest. 

How you can access, update or correct your information

The Data Protection law gives you the right to apply for a copy of information about yourself. This is called a ‘Subject Access Request'.

If you wish to see a copy of your records you should contact the Data Protection Officer. You are entitled to receive a copy of your records free of charge, within a month.

The accuracy of your information is important to us to be able to provide relevant services more quickly. We are working to make our record keeping more efficient. In the meantime, if you change your address or email address, or if any of your circumstances change or any of the other information we hold is inaccurate or out of date please email us or write to us at:

Forest of Dean District Council
Council Offices, Coleford GL16 8HG
Tel: 01594 810000
Email: customer.services@fdean.gov.uk

Further information

If you would like to know more about how we use your information, or if for any reason you do not wish to have your information used in any of the ways described here, please tell us. Contact the Data Protection Officer.

You can also complain to the Information Commissioner: https://ico.org.uk

We reserve the right to update this privacy notice from time to time by publishing a new version on our website.

© Forest of Dean District Council 2024