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Creditors and debtors privacy notice

Last Updated: 25th September 2020

This notice explains what personal data (information) we hold about you, how we collect and how we use and may share information about you.  We are required to give you this information under data protection law.

Who we are

Kent County Council provides a range of statutory and other services to local people and businesses and needs to collect, use, and process personal data, including personal information about you, to deliver these services.

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 ‘data 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 the course of offering and purchasing services we collect your personal information from either you or third parties. When gathering and using this personal information, we will comply with the data protection principles, as set out in the KCC data protection policy.

Creditors

We may collect the following types of personal information.

For incorporated companies:

  • Company details (Director and Secretary Information), names of individuals working on behalf of the company, address, contact information and bank account information.

For Sole Traders:

  • Your name, address, contact information and bank account details.

Debtors

  • Your name, address, contact information and bank account details, we may also access credit reference data.

How we use your personal information

Creditors

It is used to enable the performance of a contract whereby we have agreed to pay for goods or services. The payment may be made by Bacs transfer or by cheque.

If we are not supplied with the information set out above, we may not be able to make payments to you.

Debtors

Debtors are people who owe Kent County Council money. This could be an organisation or individual to who we have provided a service which we are obliged to render a charge for.

We use your personal information:

  • For the prevention and detection of crime/ fraud
  • For service planning, delivery, and improvement

Occasionally it may be necessary to provide certain information to us to comply with one of our legal duties. We will let you know if this is the case and the possible consequences of not giving us the information we ask for.

How long your personal data will be kept

Copies of invoices and related creditor or debtor information is kept for the current year plus six years, in line with our retention schedule, however, if required we will hold your data for longer in order to support any debt recovery action.

Reasons we can collect and use your personal information

Creditors

We rely on Article 6 (1) (b) 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.

Debtors

We rely on Article 6 (1) (b) 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.

We also rely on Article 6 (1) (c) for the compliance with a legal obligation to which the controller is subject.

Who we share your personal information with

Creditors

Some information may be published as required by the Public Contracts Regulations 2015, the Local Government (Transparency Requirements) (England) Regulations 2015 legislation, and the recommended requirements for greater disclosure in the Local Government Transparency Code.

Creditors and Debtors

We may share this information with internal departments or with external partners for business processing, analysis and the prevention and detection of fraud.

We will also share your information with Cantium Solutions Ltd who process payments and raise sundry debts on KCC’s behalf.

We may also share certain data with other public bodies, such as DWP, HMRC and the Police and will do so where required.

We share data with the Cabinet Office as we are required to by law for the purpose of the National Fraud Initiative to assist with the prevention and detection of fraud.

We will also generally comply with requests for specific information from other regulatory and law enforcement bodies, both national and international..

We may also share certain data with financial organisations, debt collection and tracing agencies, and credit reference agencies.

Your rights

Under GDPR you have rights which you can exercise 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 (subject access request)
  • 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.

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, 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 the Information Commissioner who may be contacted on 03031 231113.

Read our corporate privacy statement.