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Information and public services for the Island of Jersey

L'înformâtion et les sèrvices publyis pouor I'Île dé Jèrri

Housing Control's privacy policy

The Service Hub team sits within Customer and Local Services (CLS). CLS is registered with the Office of the Information Commissioner as a Processor.

The Service Hub team is responsible for determining your residential and employment status under the Control of Housing and Work (Jersey) Law 2012. The team administers the Law under delegated powers on behalf of the Chief Minister. The Chief Minister is the Controller for this information. CLS is the Processor on behalf of the Chief Minister.

The Data Protection Law requires us to have a privacy policy which tells you how we process your information. This is the privacy policy for the processing we undertake to determine your residential and employment status.

Personal information is anything that can identify you as an individual, either on its own or by reference to other information. 

We are serious about looking after your personal information and protecting your privacy because we want you to have trust and confidence in us and the work we do.

We'd like to explain how we look after your personal information and protect your privacy.

There are rules about w​hat personal information we process. When we say "process" we mean how we collect, record, hold, use, share and ultimately dispose of your information.

You have rights relating to your personal information. Your rights here in Jersey are explained in the Data Protection (Jersey) Law 2018. They are also described below.

All personal data processing we undertake is carried out under the requirements of the Data Protection (Jersey) Law 2018.

Our records are held in electronic format on our secure systems.

Why we process your personal information

We process your information to provide a public service and meet our statutory obligations under the Control of Housing and Work (Jersey) Law 2012.

When we process your application for a new or updated registration card, we will need to determine your residential and employment status. We will access information available to us, where possible and if required, in order that the administrative burden on you is reduced. This information may be held by other teams within CLS. For example, if you live or work in Jersey, our Social Security system should hold a record about you. This may include information which could help us to establish, confirm or review your residential and employment status should the need arise. This means that some of your information may be shared by and with another Controller within the Government.  

In addition, we process your information so that we can:

  • make decisions which affect you
  • respond effectively to your enquiries
  • investigate complaints

Automated decision making

There is no automated decision making. All decisions with regard to determining your residential and employment status are made by our Officers.

Sharing your information

Information relating to Housing Control (which includes residential and employment status), and Business Licensing is administered through the same database. This means the relevant teams can access each other's data and this is controlled through access permissions. The database is linked to the Social Security database. This means that changes to your name, address, date of birth, place of birth and residential and employment status are automatically updated between the systems.

Other types of information which may be shared

We will only share data if we have a legal basis to do so, or if we have your consent to do so.

Data shared between Government departments may include:

  • movement history (for example, dates you arrived or left the Island)
  • comments held on our systems: this might include dates spent in prison or in hospital
  • evidence already held on our database which was provided by someone else such as your school, landlord or another Government of Jersey department
  • employer contribution record
  • contribution history

If information we are provided with does not match information already held by us, then you may be asked to provide an explanation and possibly further evidential proof of your ordinary residence in Jersey for the required period.

We won't pass on your details to any marketing companies.

Legal basis for sharing

Control of Housing and Work (Jersey) Law 2012

Article 3 – Application for a registration card

Article 4 – Registration card

Article 7 – Requirement for a registration card

Article 10 - Power to obtain information from other departments

Personal data is processed in accordance with the following processing conditions:

Schedule 2, Article 9, Part 1 – Conditions for processing personal data, Paragraph 4(b) - Public Functions:  The processing is necessary for the exercise of any functions conferred on any person by or under any enactment.

How we use information

Sometimes we may use your personal information to:

  • respond to Freedom of Information Requests
  • enable the maintenance and upgrade of our computer systems by external suppliers

When this occurs, we make every effort to protect your personal information ensuring that the data does not directly identify you.

Types of personal information we process

Information about you that we may process includes:

  • your name
  • your contact details such as telephone, address or email
  • your residential and employment status
  • your employer contribution history
  • records of Doctor's visits which will prove your residency in Jersey
  • records of visits or contacts you've had with us

Where we get your personal information from

We get your personal information from:

  • when you speak to us on the phone, meet with us face to face or communicate with us by letter or email
  • information you provide to us by using our website
  • other areas of Government for example Children, Young People, Education and Skills (CYPES) (school attendance dates) and Immigration (for your Immigration permission to live and work in Jersey)
  • from third parties who have submitted a reference for you via email or letter in support of your application for residential and employment status, e.g., landlord, GP, employer or neighbour
  • business Licensing with regard to a business licence that you may hold or be named on, to determine if you have been granted a Registered or Licensed permission.

Emails

We may use email to communicate with you. For security reasons we will keep any personal information to a minimum in any email we send to you.

If you email us, we may keep a copy of the email as part of your record.
We suggest that you keep the amount of confidential information you send to us via email to a minimum.

We will not share your email address, or your email contents unless it is:

  • to provide a service to you
  • comply with a legal obligation
  • permitted under other legislation
  • permitted because you have given your consent

How your information is protected

Protecting your privacy and looking after your personal information is important to us. We work hard to make sure that we have the right policies, training and processes in place to protect our information systems from loss, corruption or misuse.

We take every reasonable step to make sure that we keep your personal information safe in line with best practice, the Data Protection (Jersey) Law 2018 and any other relevant Laws.

Our staff:

  • have a legal duty to keep your information confidential
  • receive annual training in Data Protection

We hold your personal information according to our retention schedule.

Transferring your information to other countries

There is no requirement to transfer any of your information to countries outside of the European Economic Area. 

Telephone calls

Calls to or from our office may be recorded for monitoring and training purposes.

If you leave a message on our voicemail systems, your message will be kept until we are able to return your call or make a note of your message. File notes of when and why you called may be taken for record keeping purposes. We will not pass on the content of your telephone calls, unless is it necessary for us to do so either to fulfil your request for a service, to comply with a legal obligation or, where permitted under other legislation.

Your rights regarding the personal information we hold about you

Under the Data Protection (Jersey) Law 2018 you have certain rights relating to the information we process about you. These rights are to:

  • be told and understand what your information is being used for
  • access your record and receive it in an easy-to-use format
  • ask us to make amendments to information we hold about you which is incorrect. We may ask you to provide evidence of information that needs to be changed
  • withdraw any consent you may have previously given us
  • object to us processing your information. If you do object, then we can only stop processing your information if the Law allows us to

If you want to find out more about your rights or make a complaint about how your information is being handled, contact the Government of Jersey Data Protection Officer using the contact information below.

If you are not satisfied with our response you can contact the Office of the Jersey Information Commissioner.

Access to your record

Information we hold about you can be accessed by:

  • you
  • staff carrying out their duties

Your personal details will only be given to a third party with your consent, or when the law requires it.

On rare occasions there may be legal restrictions which mean staff may not be able to share some information with you. 

You can ask us for a copy of the information we hold about you

You are legally entitled to request a copy of any information that we hold about you. You can submit a subject access request (SAR) using our online form

Complaints

If you have an enquiry or concern regarding the Government of Jersey processing your personal data, you can:

You can also complain to the Information Commissioner about the way your information is being used by:

  • calling +44 (0) 1534 716530
  • email enquiries@oicjersey.org
  • writing to Office of the Information Commissioner, Second floor, 5 Castle Street, St Helier, Jersey, JE2 3BT
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