Council tax privacy notice

Who is the data controller for the information we collect

This privacy notice is provided to meet the requirements of the UK General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA) to explain how we process your personal data in delivering the Council Tax Service.

Leeds City Council is the data controller for the purposes of the Data Protection Act 2018 and other regulations including the UK General Data Protection Regulation, which means it determines what your data is used for and why it is collected. The purpose of this privacy notice is to tell you about what information we collect about you when you use our service, how we use that information and who we may share it with. The contact details of the data controller are Leeds City Council, Merrion House, 110 Merrion Way, Leeds, LS2 8BB.

The data we will collect

  • Name
  • Address (including care of or forwarding addresses)
  • Household members
  • Income
  • Bank details
  • Personal circumstances

Special Category

  • Health and disability

How do we collect information from you

We collect information about you from you directly (eg by asking you to complete one of our forms, via the telephone through our contact centre or face-to-face). We may also obtain your information from other sources such as:

  • our family members, carers or other persons acting on your behalf
  • Internal Council Departments
  • Other public authorities
  • Landlords or managing agents
  • Educational Institutions
  • Employers
  • Enforcement agencies
  • Land registry 

Why we process your data

We use your information to

  • Administer the collection of council tax
  • Process financial transactions
  • Prevent and detect of crime (including fraud)
  • Carry out regulatory and enforcement functions
  • Carry out research including consultations
  • Provide service delivery
  • Carry out statutory requirements, for example, reporting to central government

All the data collected will be treated in strict confidence and in accordance with the requirements of the Data Protection Act 2018 and UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR). The data provided by you will only be used for the purpose(s) specified.

Lawful basis for processing

We will process your data in accordance with UK GDPR. The processing shall be lawful only if and to the extent that the following applies:

Article 6(1)(c) – processing is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation to which the controller is subject and

Article 6(1)(e) – processing is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority vested in the controller.

This is supported by the following legal framework:

  • The Council Tax (Administration and Enforcement) Regulations 1992
  • The Local Government Finance Act 1992

The lawful basis for processing your special category data is in accordance with the following:

Article 9(2)(g) - Processing is necessary for reasons of substantial public interest

The processing of Special Category Data under Article 9 is further supported by the following condition in Schedule 1, Part 2:6. Statutory and government purposes.

This condition requires an Appropriate Policy Document to be in place, which sets out and explains the procedures for securing compliance with the principles in Article 5 and policies regarding the retention and erasure of such personal data. 

Our Appropriate Policy Document provides further information about this processing and supplements this privacy notice 

Data retention, storage and destruction

Our data retention policies and procedures are designed to help ensure that we comply with our legal obligations in relation to the retention. This means that your information will be kept for 7 financial years after we cease to provide a service to you unless the law says that we need to hold it for longer or if there is a business requirement to do so. After this, your information will be deleted or archived. 

Who can we share your data with

We share your data with agencies shown below as follows

  • Debt collection and tracing agencies
  • Elected members and MPS (as your representative)
  • Government departments. For example, Department of Work & Pensions and Valuation Office Agency
  • Judicial agencies. For example, courts
  • Other council departments
  • Other local authorities
  • Police
  • Govtech  
  • CAPITA
  • NEC  

In addition, we will share your personal data:

  • where such disclosure is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation to which we are subject
  • in order to protect your vital interests or the vital interests of another natural person
  • for the purposes of security and prevention of fraud and other criminal activity
  • where such disclosure is necessary for the establishment, exercise, or defence of legal claims, whether in court proceedings or in an administrative or out-of-court procedure

Automated decision making

Some of our processes such as setting up direct debits, applying single person discount and processing people moving properties are now automated. The system automatically checks the information provided on one of our online forms against a set of criteria and produces an outcome. In some cases, the system does require human intervention to make the final decision.

Your rights

The following rights under data protection law are available under the UK GDPR

  • the right to access - you can ask for copies of your personal data
  • the right to rectification - you can ask us to rectify inaccurate personal data and to complete incomplete personal data the
  • the right to erasure (where you can ask us to erase your personal data)
  • the right to restrict processing - you can ask us to restrict the processing of your personal data
  • the right to data portability (where you can ask that we transfer your personal data to another organisation or to you
  • the right to object to processing (where you can object to the processing of your personal data) and
  • the right to complain to a supervisory authority - you can complain about our processing of your personal data the right to
  • withdraw consent (to the extent that the legal basis of our processing of your personal data is consent, you can withdraw that consent

Where we process your information under legal obligation certain rights to do not apply, such as erasure, data portability, objection to processing and the right to withdraw consent.

Where we process your data under the public task basis, certain rights to do not apply, such as erasure, data portability and the right to withdraw consent. 

These rights are subject to certain limitations and exceptions. You can learn more about your rights through Your individual rights and how to exercise them and the Information Commissioner's Office website. You may exercise any of the above rights in relation to your personal data by writing to us, using the contact details provided below

When your data gets sent to other countries

The information you provide will not be transferred to another country outside of the UK.

Contact us

Any queries in relation to this Privacy Notice should be forwarded to:

Email: General.Enquiries@leeds.gov.uk

Data Protection Officer

Aaron Linden
Head of Information Management and Governance - Data Protection Officer
Leeds City Council
Merrion House
110 Merrion Way
Leeds
LS2 8BB

DPO@leeds.gov.uk

The Council privacy notice is available to view privacy notice.

Changes to this notice

We keep our privacy notice under regular review. We will notify you of significant changes to this notice by email or other means as appropriate. This privacy notice was last updated 4 December 2024.