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KCC Village and Community Halls Grant Scheme privacy notice

This notice explains what personal information we hold about you, how we collect it, how we use it and how we might share information.

Who we are

Kent County Council (KCC) collects, uses and is responsible for certain personal information about you. When we do so we are regulated under the General Data Protection Regulation which applies across the European Union (including in the United Kingdom) and we are responsible as ‘controller’ of that personal information for the purposes of those laws. Our Data Protection Officer is Benjamin Watts.

Personal information we collect and use

Information collected by us

In order to manage the KCC Village and Community Halls Grant Scheme we collect the following personal information when you provide it to us:

  • names, position, job roles, contact details (email, telephone and postal address) of representatives of community halls
  • information about our relationship with you e.g. correspondence, meeting notes, attendance at events.

How we use your personal information

We use your personal information to:

  • enable us to answer questions that you have asked about the KCC Village and Community Halls Grant Scheme
  • answer questions that you have asked about other sources of funding and any other support that may be available to community halls
  • provide you with support and assistance during the development of your application to the KCC Village and Community Halls Grant Scheme
  • process and assess grant applications
  • administer and manage any grants that are awarded
  • to carry out and fulfil a grant agreement between KCC and the grantee

How long your personal information 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.

Reasons we collect and use your personal information

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

  • you (the data subject) have given consent to the processing of your personal data for one or more specific purposes; and/or
  • processing is necessary for the performance of a contract to which the data subject is party or in order to take steps at the request of the data subject prior to entering into a contract

Who we share your personal information with

We require your personal information to enable us to provide activities designed to support your community hall. Without this information we are unable to process your application for funding. Additionally, we would not be able to award your hall a grant, as processing of your personal information is required to carry out and fulfil a contract (the grant agreement) between KCC and the grantee.

Your information will be accessible by those staff working on grants and may be seen by elected members of the Council and/or panel representatives. We will also share basic information on grant recipients (amounts/name of group/purpose) but we anonymise your personal information.

We do not share any information you provide to any third parties except:

  • where representatives of other organisations are part of the application assessment panel, for example representatives of Action for Communities
  • in Rural Kent (as a village halls advisor) or a district or borough council (for example, a local community officer)
  • where other organisations are part of the match funding in respect of your application, for example funding organisations such as the Big Lottery Fund, landfill community trusts (e.g. Biffa Award), charitable foundations (for example, The Roger De Haan Charitable Trust) and district or borough councils, parish councils and town councils)
  • 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.

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.

Your rights

Under the GDPR you have rights which you can exercise free of charge that allow you to:

  • withdraw your consent at any time
  • 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:

  • 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
  • object to how we are using your information
  • 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, see the guidance from the UK Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) on individuals’ rights under GDPR.

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.

Who to 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, or write to: Data Protection Officer, Sessions House, Maidstone, Kent ME14 1XQ.

GDPR also gives you right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority. The supervisory authority in the UK is theInformation Commissioner who may be contacted on 03031 231113.

Read our corporate privacy statement.