Privacy notice for the Resident Panel
The Housing Ombudsman Service set up its Resident Panel so that social housing residents could be involved in the development of our service and tell us about their own experiences of complaining to their landlord and accessing our service.
This Privacy Notice is to let applicants and members of the Housing Ombudsman Resident Panel know how we process personal data.
Why we collect personal information from you
We collect and process personal data about you to administer your participation in the panel. This includes:
- reviewing applications to join the panel
- corresponding with you about upcoming meetings
- recording attendance at panel meetings
- video recordings of virtual meetings
- sending you documentation such as meeting minutes or presentations
- sending you questionnaires or surveys to complete as a panel member
Personal data we collect about your protected characteristics will assist us to make sure that the current and future panel is representative of the diversity of social housing residents across England.
It will also help us to ensure we implement any adjustments you need to attend the meetings.
On what basis do we process personal information?
We process your personal information to assist our public task duties in improving complaint handling across the social housing sector and developing accessibility of The Housing Ombudsman Service.
Our lawful basis under the UK GDPR for this purpose is Article 6(e) which states processing is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest.
The lawful basis we rely on to process personal information about you which is defined as ‘special category’ data under the UK GDPR is Article 9(g).
What personal information do we collect about you?
We only collect personal information directly from you which is necessary and relevant to the purposes of the panel.
Through the applications process, we will collect the following personal details:
- name
- contact details
- age range
- gender
- geographical location
- tenancy Information
- skills and experience
Special Category Data
- ethnicity
- health data (through reasonable adjustments requirements)
Access to this personal information is restricted and is used for internal analytics use only.
Who do we share your information with?
We will not share your personal information relating to your participation on the panel with any third-party organisations, unless we are required to by law in line with the exemptions of the Data Protection Act 2018.
How we store and how long we keep personal information
We only store your personal information for the length of time we need it for.
We will store and retain your personal information for 3.5 years. This is the length of the panel term plus 6 months.
Unsuccessful applications to join the panel will be stored for a period of 6 months from the closing date of the application period.
Information may be anonymised and used for statistical purposes at the end of the retention period.
Your personal information will be stored securely on The Housing Ombudsman Service systems with the necessary access restrictions in place.
Meeting recordings
The panel is required to meet virtually in full at least twice per year. We may choose to record some meetings for the purposes of administering the current and future panels. The image and voice of the presenters will be captured and if you actively contribute to a meeting which is recorded then your image and voice will also be captured. These recordings will only be used internally.
You will be informed the meeting is being recorded as early as possible and at least before the recording starts.
We use Zoom as a platform to deliver virtual meetings. Zoom are a third-party supplier and are a global organisation, therefore your personal data may be transferred outside of the EEA.
Zoom Video Communications, Inc. are registered under the UK-US Data Privacy Framework which aims to provide an adequate level of protection to data transferred to the United States.
You can view how Zoom process personal data by viewing their Privacy Notice.
Your legal rights
Under data protection laws you have rights in relation to the processing of your personal data that include the right to request access, correction, erasure, restriction, transfer, to object to processing, to portability of data and (where the lawful ground of processing is consent) to withdraw consent.
You can see more about these rights on the ‘Your rights’ page of this Privacy Notice.
If you wish to exercise any of these rights, please contact the Data Protection Team at DPO@housing-ombudsman.org.uk
If you are not happy with any aspect of how we collect and use your data, you have the right to complain independently to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the UK supervisory authority for data protection issues (www.ico.org.uk). However, the ICO can choose not to progress your complaint if you have not first contacted us to attempt to resolve the issue.
Contact details for the Data Protection Officer
Data Protection Officer
Housing Ombudsman Service
PO BOX 152
Liverpool L33 7WQ
Telephone: 0300 111 3000
Email: dpo@housing-ombudsman.org.uk