Ceredigion County Council website

Ceredigion Social Care holds information in relation to you and your family in order to process requests for care and support needs. Some of that information you have told us and some information we have been told by others who know you, for example Health, Education, Police. The Council puts measures in place to protect the privacy of individuals throughout this process.

Anyone receiving information, advice or assistance from Ceredigion County Council Social Care may have a record kept about them.

If a member of staff employed by Social Services provides you with a service, they will record some basic details about you on our computer database as well as a paper file. This document explains why this information is held and with whom it is being shared.

The purposes for which we use your personal data

The information we collect about you will be used for the purposes of:

• To assess and plan for you and your family’s needs
• To ensure you and your family are kept safe
• To share with others working with you and your family
• To improve and plan our services (monitoring and protecting public spending; monitoring the quality of our services to ensure they are delivered in the most efficient and effective way)
• To allow to make payments to you, if and when they become due
• To allow to collect payments from you, if and when they become due
• To Investigate complaints, legal claims or incidents
• To assist in the processing and preparation of Practice Learning Experience and on-going assessment for Social Workers in training.

The lawful bases for the processing of your information are:

• Compliance with a legal obligation (specifically in accordance with Social Services & Wellbeing Act 2014; Mental Health Act 2007; Local Government Act 2000)
• Tasks carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority
• Consent

When the Council process special categories of data it will rely on the following legal bases:

• Processing is necessary for the purposes of preventive or occupational medicine, for the assessment of the, medical diagnosis, the provision of health or social care or treatment, or the management of health or social care systems
• Processing is necessary for the purposes of carrying out the obligations of the controller or of the data subject in the field of employment, and social security and social protection law

This means that we are usually allowed to use your information because we are complying with a specific public task or because the service we are providing is set out in law. However, there may be circumstances (e.g. mailing list for Carers Information Service) when we need your consent to use your information. We will tell you if that is the case and ask you for your permission before you receive a particular service.

What if you do not provide personal data?

If you do not give us the information we need when we ask for it, this may result in less effective planning and delivery of services to help meet your needs. In some circumstances we might not be able to provide a service at all.

What type of information do we use?

We may collect the following types of personal data about you to deliver this service, depending on your circumstances:

• Name
• Address
• Date of birth
• Gender
• Reference number; e.g. Social Care unique reference number / NHS number/ Unique Pupil Number / National Insurance
• Telephone number
• Email address
• Bank/payment details
• Your family composition
• Your social circumstances
• Your financial circumstances
• Employment and education details
• Your housing needs
• Images/photographs
• Student and Pupil Records

We also collect data that is categorised as special information, such as:

• Information about your health (Including Physical or Mental Health details)
• Your racial or ethnic origin
• Religious or philosophical beliefs
• Information about your sex life or sexual orientation
• Criminal convictions and offences

Use of your NHS Number in Social Care

If you are receiving support from social care then the NHS may share your NHS number with us. This is so that the NHS and social care are using the same number to identify you whilst providing your care. By using the same number we are able to work together to improve your care and support.

We store your information within a secure IT database known as Welsh Community Care Information System (WCCIS) which is being rolled out across Wales. All information is stored in accordance with Ceredigion’s Information Security Policy. The access and use of the system is detailed in our contract documentation and is monitored through our contract compliance process.

We keep this information safe as only the staff who need to know about you should view this information.

Do we use information received from other sources?

To provide this service, we collect information directly from you but may also receive information from the following sources:

• Local Health Boards
• Other Ceredigion County Council departments (e.g. Housing Services, Council Tax)
• Other Local Authorities
• Regional Police forces (e.g. Dyfed Powys Police, South Wales Police)
• National Probation service
• GP Practices
• Department for Work and Pensions

We may also record any contact with your family or anyone that knows about you.

The following types of personal data may be obtained, depending on your circumstances:

• Name
• Address
• Date of birth
• Gender
• Reference number; e.g. Social Care unique customer reference number / NHS number/ Unique Learner Number / National Insurance
• Telephone number
• Email address
• Your family composition
• Your social circumstances
• Your financial circumstances
• Employment and education details
• Your housing needs
• Images/photographs

We also obtain data that is categorised as special information such as

• Information about your health (Including Physical or Mental Health details)
• Your racial or ethnic origin
• Religious or philosophical beliefs
• Information about your sex life or sexual orientation
• Criminal convictions and offences

Transferring your information aborad

Your information is not transferred outside of the UK.

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

To enable the Council to process your request and comply with our legal obligations, we may share your information with partner organisations, these include but are not limited to:

• Contractors, associates or representatives of the person whose personal data we are processing
• Students and pupils including their relatives, guardians, carers or representatives
• Other Ceredigion County Council Services (e.g. Housing Services, Day Centre Service, Direct Payments.
• Local Health Boards
• GP Practices
• Other Local Authorities
• Other Local Education Authorities and Schools (e.g. NEET Service, Youth Services)
• Department for Work and Pensions and other Government departments;
• Welsh Government;
• Registered Social Landlords
• Approved Social Care Providers (Private Sector); (e.g. Residential care; nursing; supported housing; domiciliary care?)
• External regulators (e.g. Care Inspectorate Wales)
• Welsh Ambulance Service Trust
• Office of the Public Guardian
• Court of Protection
• Advocacy
• Relevant Third Sector Organisations (e.g. Age Concern, Red Cross…)
• Courts and criminal justice
  • National Probation Service
  • Youth Justice
  • CAFCASS
  • Prisons
  • National and Regional Police forces (e.g. Dyfed Powys Police, South Wales Police, )
  • Coroners
• West Wales Fire and Rescue Services
• Disclosure and Barring Service
• Community Safety Partnerships
• Elected Members and members of parliament
• Public Health

Ceredigion County Council has contracts with some other organisations to help us provide services in certain areas, or to manage information. Those contracts and other arrangements have procedures in place which require the organisations to comply with data protection law, so that the information will only be used to discharge those functions.

(e.g. the Council has a contract in place to provide servicing and maintenance of equipment provided by the Independent Living Centre Service under LOLER (Lifting operations and lifting regulations 1998), PUWER ( Provision and use of work equipment regulations 1998).

We will always aim to share the minimum information that will enable us to fulfil our legal obligation and will try where possible to protect your information by anonymising it. We will keep you informed about what information we have shared and with whom, where we are legally able to do so.

Ceredigion County Council is part of the WASPI Framework. When we work in partnerships we make sure that we have Information Sharing Protocols in place.

• MAPPA
• MARAC

There are also other specific situations where we may be required to disclose information about you, such as:

• Where the Council is required to provide the information by law
• Where disclosing the information is required to prevent or detect a crime
• Where disclosure is in the vital interests of the person concerned