Blue badge privacy notice

We have a legal duty to protect your personal data.

The use of your personal data is controlled by the Data Protection Act, which relates to any living individual.

The council has a Data Protection Officer who has overall responsibility for data protection in the council, and acts in an impendent manner in line with legislation. The council's Data Protection Officer can be contacted via email at dataprotection@sthelens.gov.uk.

This privacy notice tells you what to expect when the council collects personal information. This privacy notice covers contact with the council and its officers directly, through email, telephone and this website.

The information you provide will be processed mainly in connection with the administration of the council services.

When you contact us by phone, email or through the council's website we may need to collect personal information about you or your family so that the appropriate service can be provided. The information we require from you may include personal information, such as:

• First name
• Family name or surname
• Address
• Telephone numbers
• Date of birth
• National Insurance number
• Email address
• Payment information
• Medical conditions relating to mobility
• Medications relating to mobility
• Medical care relating to mobility
• Benefits and allowance awards relating to mobility
• Photographic ID
• Authentication of ID and residence in St Helens

We use your personal data within the rules set out in the Data Protection Act 2018. We process this data for the following reasons:

• where you have consented to the processing
• to ensure we meet our legal requirements
• to allow us to communicate and provide services appropriate to your needs
• to allow us to assess your eligibility for and award of the Blue Badge concession

If we are required to, we will only share your information with internal departments and other service providers, contractors and/or partner bodies, but only where it is necessary:

• to comply with a legal obligation
• where permitted under the Data Protection Act 2018
• where the disclosure is necessary for the purposes of the prevention and/or detection of crime/fraud
• where it is necessary to allow a third party working for or on behalf of the council - such as occupational therapists who will carry out your mobility assessment in relation to your application

We will strive to ensure that any personal data in our care will be kept safe and that where your information is disclosed to a third party, we will seek to ensure that the third party has sufficient systems and procedures in place to prevent the loss or damage of personal data.

We will not use your personal data for third party marketing purposes.

Your application and associated documents are kept as a scanned image for a period of three years from the point of contact.

When you submit your application online, you may use the GOV.UK form or the council's own online form.

When using the council's form, the information comes directly into our Blue Badge Management system, and is accessible only by the Blue Badge team.

Applicants using GOV.UK, will have their information stored in a third party system to which the council Blue Badge team have access.

This system is used to produce your badge, once your application has been authorised.

When someone visits the council's website, we use third-party services to collect standard internet usage log information. This information is only processed in a way which does not identify anyone.

We are required by law to protect the public funds we administer. We may use the information you provide to us for the prevention and detection of crime. We may also share this information with other bodies that are responsible for auditing or administering public funds including, the Department for Work and Pensions, other local authorities, HM Revenue and Customs and the Police. 

We are required to take part in national data matching exercises undertaken by the Cabinet Office. The use of data by the Cabinet Office in a data matching exercise is carried out under its powers in Part 2A of the Audit Commission Act 1998. It does not require the consent of the individuals concerned.

We recognise that the information you provide may be sensitive and we will respect your confidentiality. We keep information about you confidential. This means we store it securely and control who has access to it. We will not store any information where we are not legally required to do so. All the information you provide us is held within the European Economic Area (EEA). 

For more information around data protection and the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR), you can check the following reference points:

• St Helens Borough Council data protection
• Information Commissioner's Office

If you require further information please contact us.