Statement of Truth
When you begin the Housing Needs application process, the Brent Council Housing Needs Service will collect information in order to assess your housing needs. This information might include personal and sensitive data. Any data obtained during the online and face-to-face interview(s) will be held in strictest confidence in accordance with the Data Protection Act and the General Data Protection Regulation 2018 (GDPR), for the sole purposes of dealing with your housing enquiry, delivering services and for managing quality within the service.
In order to provide assistance or investigate your housing situation it may be necessary to:
- contact relevant people or other organisations and share personal and sensitive data with them
- refer you to other agencies
- cross check the information you have given with other Council sections as well as other Council and benefit agencies
- use the information you have provided for verification by data matching companies. This will include credit reference agencies that will provide us with information for the purpose of verifying your identity, housing circumstances, and address history disclosed, if appropriate, for the purpose of preventing or detecting fraud.
All contacts will be made in the strictest confidence and only relevant data will be shared. In order to assist you with your situation, Brent Council will contact you by phone or email, or both, using the contact details you have provided.
Please be aware that Brent will require to take a photograph of you to process this application.
You will also need to confirm that the below statements are true:
- I have approached Brent Council for advice and assistance regarding my housing situation.
- I certify that the information I give is true and accurate, to the best of my knowledge.
- I authorise Brent Council to share my information with relevant third parties in relation to my housing situation.
- I authorise third parties to disclose information to Brent Council in relation to my housing situation.
- I have read and fully understand the notice above. By signing this declaration, I authorise for Brent Council and its representatives to contact me by email and/or phone, to contact relevant people and organisations and to share relevant data, in order to investigate and/or provide assistance with my housing situation.
Privacy Policy
- We share some of the information and personal details you provide with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) so that they can learn more about the help provided to people who are homeless or threatened with homelessness in order to improve services. This information is shared in a safe and confidential way, handled with care and in accordance with the law.
- We may share information with other public bodies that are responsible for auditing or administering public funds including but not limited to other local authorities, HM Revenue and Customs and the Police.
- We do not process your information with countries outside of the UK or EU zone.
- Your information is also collected to protect against fraud and to ensure the safety of Brent Council Staff members (required by the Council’s duties under Housing Act 1996 and the Data Protection Act 1998). In addition to protecting fraud within Brent Council, we are required to take part in national data matching that is undertaken by the National Fraud Initiative (carried out under powers in Part2A of the Audit Commission Act 1998). This does not require the consent of the people involved.
If you are not satisfied with the way your information is handled, you can contact the Council’s Data Protection Officer via phone: 020 937 1402 or email: dpo@brent.gov.uk. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office (www.ico.org.uk).
If you wish to contact Brent Housing Needs Service you can contact us via phone: 0208 937 2000 Option (3) or by email: housing.options@Brent.gov.uk
Further information on any of the above can be found in Brent Council's privacy policy