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Perinatal mental health peer support groups privacy notice

We keep this privacy notice under regular review and was last updated on 16 December 2024.

Kent County Council respects your privacy and is committed to protecting your personal data. This privacy notice will inform you as to how we look after your personal data and tell you about your privacy rights and how the law protects you.

Who we are

Kent County Council collects, uses and is responsible for certain personal information about you. When we do so we are regulated under the United Kingdom General Data Protection Regulation (‘UK GDPR’) and the Data Protection Act 2018. We are responsible as ‘controller’ of that personal information. Our Data Protection Officer is Benjamin Watts.

This grant is to fund local organisations who deliver, or could deliver, targeted perinatal mental health support groups for new or expectant mothers who fall under the following protected characteristics:

  • Age (young parents)
  • Disability
  • Gender reassignment
  • Race
  • Religion or belief
  • Sexual orientation

Grants will commence on 8 January 2025 and complete on 31 March 2025.

It is expected that the programme will meet the following outcomes for expectant mothers or new mothers;

  • Feeling safer when interacting with the health system more widely
  • Increased awareness of the services that are available to them, particularly with regards to their mental health
  • Increased confidence to access support and knew when and how to this access support
  • Formation of strong relationships with other mothers
  • The collection of outcome data from the GAD7 Anxiety Test Questionnaire , Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) or WEMWBS to measure change in mental health and wellbeing in mothers who access the group

Personal information we collect and use

Information collected by us

In order to manage the Perinatal Mental Health Peer Support Groups Grant Scheme, we collect the following personal information (that relates to your business) when you provide it to us:

  • Personal information for example, first, and last name, job title, address of business
  • Contact details such as, email address, telephone number, postal address
  • Financial information, for example, annual accounts, financial statements.
  • Business case for example, reasons for applying for the grant

How we use your personal information

We use your personal information to:

  • enable us to answer questions that you have asked about Perinatal Mental Health Peer Support Groups Grant and to answer questions that you have asked about other sources of funding
  • provide you with Peer Support and assistance during the development of your application to the Perinatal Mental Health Peer Support Groups Grant Scheme
  • process and assess grant applications
  • administer and manage any grants that are awarded
  • to carry out and fulfil a grant agreement between us and the grantee.
  • carry out financial checks

Reasons we can collect and use your personal data

We rely on the following provision as the lawful basis on which we collect and use your personal information:

  • Article 6(1)(e) - processing is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest
  • Article 9 (2) (g) - reasons of substantial public interest.

How long your personal data will be kept

We will hold your personal information for:

  • up to 6 years if you contact us (by email, telephone or by letter) to keep a record of that correspondence for future reference.
  • 6 years from the date of the last payment of the grant at which point your data will be permanently deleted. If your application is unsuccessful, your completed application will be stored for 6 years and then permanently deleted.

Read our Retention Schedule for more information.

Who we share your personal information with

We require your personal information to enable us to provide grants for Perinatal Mental Health Peer Support Groups. Without this information we are unable to process your application for funding. Additionally, we would not be able to award your business a grant, as processing of your personal information is required to carry out and fulfil a contract (the grant agreement) between us and the grantee.

Your information will be accessible by Commissioners, Public Health Specialists and Consultants, Finance, Panel Representatives, and Business Peer Support staff (our employees) who working on grants. Panel representatives will be a small group of internal staff who will be reviewing received grant applications. They will be required to sign Conflict of Interest forms and confidentiality agreements.

High level information may be seen by elected members of the Council. We will also share basic information on grant recipients (amounts/name of group/purpose), however this will be anonymised information only.

We only share your personal information to third parties where:

  • other organisations are part of the match funding in respect of your application. For example funding organisations, third party IT suppliers, NHS Providers, Family Hub wider workforces etc,
  • to confirm accuracy of information you have provided in respect of your application, for example if you tell us that your project is exempt from VAT, we may ask HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) to confirm the exemption.

We will only share personal data that is relevant and necessary.

Each organisation listed above will ensure they have the relevant agreements in place to be able to process your personal information.

The council is required by law to protect the public funds it administers. We may use any of the information you provided for the prevention and detection of fraud. We may also share information with other bodies that are responsible for auditing or administering public funds, including the Cabinet Office. The Cabinet Office requires councils to participate in data matching exercises to assist in the prevention and detection of fraud.

We will share personal information with law enforcement or other authorities if required by applicable law or in connection with legal proceedings.

We will share personal information with our legal and professional advisers in the event of a dispute, complaint or claim.

Your rights

Under the UK GDPR you have a number of rights which you can access free of charge which allow you to:

  • know what we are doing with your information and why we are doing it
  • ask to see what information we hold about you
  • ask us to correct any mistakes in the information we hold about you
  • object to direct marketing
  • make a complaint to the Information Commissioner’s Office.

Depending on our reason for using your information you may also be entitled to:

  • object to how we are using your information
  • ask us to delete information we hold about you
  • have your information transferred electronically to yourself or to another organisation
  • object to decisions being made that significantly affect you
  • stop us using your information in certain ways.

We will always seek to comply with your request however we may be required to hold or use your information to comply with legal duties. Please note: your request may delay or prevent us delivering a service to you.

For further information about your rights, including the circumstances in which they apply, read the guidance from the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) on individuals’ rights under the United Kingdom General Data Protection Regulation.

If you would like to exercise a right, please contact the Information Resilience and Transparency Team at data.protection@kent.gov.uk.

Keeping your personal information secure

We have appropriate security measures in place to prevent personal information from being accidentally lost or used or accessed in an unauthorised way. We limit access to your personal information to those who have a genuine business need to know it. Those processing your information will do so only in an authorised manner and are subject to a duty of confidentiality.

We also have procedures in place to deal with any suspected data security breach. We will notify you and any applicable regulator of a suspected data security breach where we are legally required to do so.

Contact

Please contact the Information Resilience and Transparency Team at data.protection@kent.gov.uk to exercise any of your rights, or if you have a complaint about why your information has been collected, how it has been used or how long we have kept it for. You can contact our Data Protection Officer, Benjamin Watts, at dpo@kent.gov.uk.

The United Kingdom General Data Protection Regulation also gives you the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner or telephone 0303 123 1113.

For further information, read our corporate privacy statement.