KNOWES HOUSING ASSOCIATION

WEBSITE USERS’ PRIVACY NOTICE

How we use your personal information

Preamble

This notice explains what personal information we process, when we collect it and how we use it. During the course of our activities, we will process personal data (which may be held on paper, electronically, or otherwise) about you and we recognise the need to treat it in an appropriate and lawful manner.

Introduction

The purpose of this privacy notice is to explain to you the reasons why we may hold and use your personal data and explain your rights under the current data protection laws. This privacy notice explains how we collect and use personal information about users of our website.

Separate versions of Privacy Notices are issued to our tenants, employees, committee members, suppliers, contractors, and other business contacts.

Your personal information will be processed by:

Knowes Housing Association of: 10 Field Road, Faifley, Clydebank, G81 5BX

We are registered as a data controller with the Information Commissioner’s Office (‘ICO’) and our registered number is Z5301532.

When you visit our website, we collect the following information:

• Name;

• Contact Details, including phone numbers, addresses and email addresses;

• Username and password;

• IP address; and

• Payment details.

We collect this information when you:

• visit our website

• report a repair to us;

• pay your rent;

• make a complaint to us;

• complete and submit a “contact us” form to us; and login.

If you apply for housing via the website, we collect the following information:

• Name;

• Contact Details, including phone numbers, addresses and email addresses;

• Date of Birth;

• Gender;

• Details of any dependents;

• National Insurance Number

• Protected characteristics data, as defined by the Equality Act 2010;

• Health and medical details;

• Employment details;

• Previous addresses;

• Passport number;

• Criminal convictions; and

• Whether you have served in the Armed Forces.

Please note that our website uses Cookies. You can change your Cookies setting using the ‘Cookies Setting’ tool and review our cookies usage within our Cookie Notice.

Depending on your relationship with us, we may use this personal information to:

• provide you with the services that you have requested from us;

• communicate with you, including in response to any of your enquiries;

• improve our services and respond to changing needs;

• process your rent payments;

• carry out repairs to your property;

• handle and resolve complaints made by, or, against you;

• keep the personal information that we hold about you accurate and up to date (if you provide any new personal information to us via the website);

• signpost you to organisations that can offer benefits and debt advice and support;

and

• potentially enter into a contract with you and for the administration of that contract.

If you do not wish to provide your personal data

If you have a contract/potential contract with us, you have obligations under your contract / potential contract to provide us with the necessary data. If you do not provide this information, this may prevent the Association’s ability to enter into or maintain a contract with you.

Who do we share your personal information with?

We may disclose your personal data to any of our employees, officers, contractors, insurers, professional advisors, agents, suppliers or subcontractors, selected third parties,

government agencies and regulators and healthcare providers so far as reasonably necessary, and in accordance with data protection legislation.

We may also disclose your personal data:

• with your consent

• to the extent that we are required to do so by law

• to protect the rights, property and safety of us, our customers, users of our website and other persons

• in connection with any ongoing or prospective proceedings

• if we are investigating a complaint, information may be disclosed to solicitors, independent investigators, including auditors, the Scottish Housing Regulator and other regulatory bodies, whether investigating the complaint or otherwise;

• to the purchaser (or prospective purchaser) of any business or asset that we are, or are contemplating selling;

• to another organisation if we enter into a joint venture or merge with another organisation

• If we are conducting a survey of our products and/ or service, information may be disclosed to third parties assisting in the compilation and analysis of the survey results.

• to organisations providing benefits advice and support; and

• to Police Scotland, local authority departments, Scottish Fire & Rescue Services and others, in relation to complaints involving anti-social or other criminal behaviour.

What are the legal bases for us processing your personal data?

We will only process your personal data on one or more of the following legal bases:

• When we are entering into a contract with you, or performing our obligations under it, such as when you have a tenancy or factoring agreement with us.

• Where we perform a task in the public interest, such as the provision of housing services for the prevention and alleviation of homelessness, and the management of housing accommodation where we have granted a Scottish secure tenancy;

• Where necessary so that we can comply with a legal or regulatory obligation to which we are subject;

• Where it is necessary your vital interests, for example in the case of medical emergency suffered by an individual on our premises, or a safeguarding issue which requires us to share your information with the emergency services; and

• Where we have obtained your consent to do so.

Processing special category personal data

Special categories of personal data means information about your racial or ethnic origin; political opinions; religious or philosophical beliefs; trade union membership; health; sex life or sexual orientation; criminal convictions, offences or alleged offences; genetic data; or biometric data for the purposes of uniquely identifying you.

The special categories of personal information referred to above require higher levels of protection. We need to meet additional legal requirements for collecting, storing, and using this type of personal information.

Our legal basis for processing your special category data is:

(a) Explicit consent;

(b) Employment, social security and social protection (if authorised by law);

(c) Vital interests;

(d) Not-for-profit bodies;

(e) Made public by the data subject;

(f) Legal claims or judicial acts;

(g) Reasons of substantial public interest (with a basis in law);

(h) Health or social care (with a basis in law);

(i) Public health (with a basis in law); and

(j) Archiving, research, and statistics (with a basis in law).

Where do we keep your data?

Your information will only be stored within the United Kingdom except where international transfers are authorised by law.

How long do we keep your personal information?

We review our data retention periods regularly and will only hold your personal data for as long as is necessary for the relevant activity, or as required by law and in accordance with our Data Retention Policy and Schedule.

How do we keep your personal information secure?

The security of your personal information is of paramount importance to us, and we use appropriate technical and organisational measures to safeguard your personal information.  However, while we will use reasonable efforts to safeguard your personal information, the use of the Internet is not entirely secure and, for this reason, we cannot guarantee the security of any personal information that is transferred by or to you via the Internet. If you have any concerns about the security of your personal information, please contact our Data Protection Officer (‘DPO’) for more information.

Your rights

You have the right at any time to exercise your data subjects’ rights in relation to the following:

• the right to be informed;;

• the right to access

• the right to rectification;

• the right to object to processing;

• rights in relation to automated decision making and profiling;

• the right to be forgotten;

• the right to data portability; and

• the rights to restrict processing.

When you make a request, we are required to verify your identity and may ask you for specific information to fulfil this purpose. Normally, you will not need to pay a fee when

you make any of the above requests, but we may charge a reasonable fee or refuse to comply if your request for access is clearly unfounded or excessive.

If you wish to exercise you right to access your information, or any other right, please contact our Data Protection Officer (‘DPO’) for more information.

It is important that the personal information that we collect, hold and use about you is accurate and current. Please keep us informed of any changes by contacting our

assigned DPO.

Queries and Complaints

We seek to directly resolve any queries or complaints about how we handle information and would request that they be directed, in the first instance, to info@knowes.org or by telephoning 01389 877 752. Our Data Protection Officer is provided by RGDP LLP and can be contacted either via 0131 222 3239 or info@rgdp.co.uk

You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office in relation to our use of your information. The Information Commissioner’s contact details are noted below:

Telephone: 0303 123 1113

Online: Make a complaint | ICO

We keep this privacy notice under regular review and will place any updates on this website.

This Privacy Notice was last updated on 3 June 2024.

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COOKIE NOTICE

To make full use of the personalised features of our website, your computer, tablet or mobile phone needs to accept Cookies, as we can only provide you with certain personalised features of our Website by using Cookies.

We use cookies for the following reasons:

(i) To estimate our audience size and patterns;

(ii) To ensure that you are not asked to register twice;

(iii) To track navigation around our website in order to improve its usability.

Cookies are small text files containing information sent by a web server to a web browser, and stored on your computer, tablet or mobile phone when you visit certain web pages. The information is then sent back to the server each time the browser requests a page from the server. This enables the web server to identify and track the web browser.

“Session cookies” keep track of you while you navigate our website and will be deleted from your computer when you close your browser. “Persistent cookies” enable our website to recognise you when you visit, and they remain stored on your computer until deleted, or until they reach a specified expiry date. We use both “session” and “persistent” cookies on our Website. Find out more about cookies here: https://www.aboutcookies.org/

We use Google Analytics to analyse the use of our Website. Google Analytics generates statistical and other information about website use by means of cookies, which are stored on users' computers. The information generated is used to create reports about the use of our website. Find out more here: http://www.google.co.uk/intl/en/policies/privacy/. You will have to select “Analytics Cookies” from our Cookie Settings Pop-up.

Cookies do not store sensitive information (for example; your name, address or payment details); they simply hold the 'key' which, once you have logged in to a Website, is associated with this information. However, if you prefer to restrict, block or delete Cookies from our website, or any other website, you can use your browser to do this. Each browser is different, so check the 'Help' menu of your particular browser (or your mobile phone's manual) to learn how to change your Cookie preferences. Most browsers allow you to reject all cookies, whilst some browsers allow you to reject just third-party cookies. Blocking all cookies can have a negative impact upon the usability of many websites, including our website.

THIRD PARTY COOKIES

When you visit Knowes Housing Association you may encounter some Cookies that are not related to our website or company. If you go on to a web page that contains embedded content, for example from YouTube or Google Maps, you may be sent Cookies from these websites. If you 'share' our website content with friends through social networks – such as Facebook and Twitter - you may be sent Cookies from these websites. As we have no control over these Cookies, we recommend you check the third-party websites for more information about their Cookies and how to manage them. You will have to select “You Tube/Video/Google Maps Cookies" from our Cookie Settings Pop-up.

To learn more about the Cookies on your device set by other companies, and opt out of them if you wish, please see the Network Advertising Initiative website. Find out more here: www.networkadvertising.org/choices/

Here is a list of the main Cookies used by Knowes Housing Association, and what they are used for: