Privacy Policy

mhs homes is committed to complying with UK Data Protection Legislation and ensuring we uphold your rights under the Act. The accuracy and security of your personal information is a key responsibility of mhs homes and is recognised as an essential part of maintaining your trust and confidence. mhs homes will only collect the minimum information necessary to provide you with the services you request and for the purposes of establishing, managing and maintaining your Tenancy.

We never sell, rent or lease information about our Tenants and service users but may disclose or exchange personal information where necessary with other authorities and organisations where we are required to do so by Law, for example, the Police, Courts, Benefits and other Government agencies and local authorities.

We operate contracts with the third party organisations and business partners that provide services on our behalf and may share some of your personal data with them where it is legitimate for us to do so for the purposes of:

• Property management, maintenance and repairs, out of hours’ repair services and property valuations
• Social Care and support services
• Billing Agents for the purpose of preparing and submitting rent accounts, rent administration and statement production
• Financial Management, arrears support, out of hours arrears and debt recovery, fraud prevention and detection
• Credit reference agency searches, affordability and credit risk assessments
• Identity verification, validation of personal data accuracy and tracing tenants/former tenants
  Community Development Schemes
• Complaints, Mediation and Arbitration services
• Research, statistical analysis and service Improvement

 

Sensitive categories of personal data such as physical or mental health records will not be disclosed without your consent and we will not supply our business partners with your personal information unless we are satisfied that it is legitimate for us to do so and only in accordance with strict data sharing protocols designed to maintain your Rights and keep your data secure.

What is Personal Data?

Personal Data is information that relates to a living individual who can be identified either:

1. From the information or
2. From the information combined with any other information which is already in the possession of, or likely to come into the possession of, the person or organisation holding information.

The information includes any expression of opinion about the individual, and any indication of the intentions of the data controller or any other person in respect of the individual. Personal data will therefore cover basic details such as name, address, telephone number, and date of birth.

All organisations handling personal information need to have a nominated person responsible for the information known as the Data Controller. mhs homes is a Data Controller and must satisfy certain conditions before we are lawfully entitled process your Personal Data. We satisfy these conditions in a number of ways, for example, we limit the use of your data to necessary purposes connected with:

• The legitimate business interests of mhs homes
• Fulfilling the services you request
• Performance of a Contract (i.e. Tenancy) to which you are a party

Complying with other Laws and Regulations

We have a duty to inform you about how we use any personal data you entrust to us, particularly if this is for any purposes that might not be immediately obvious to you and with whom it will be shared. Generally this is achieved by informing you when we collect your personal information, e.g. when you make an application for mhs homes services or sign a Tenancy Agreement, but it can also be achieved by providing you with information, for example in a letter, via Resident awareness campaigns or via a Privacy Notice on our Web-site In all circumstances mhs homes must comply with the 8 Principles of Data Protection when handling your personal information.

What is Sensitive Personal Data?

Certain data is categorised as ’Sensitive Personal Data’, for example:

The law says that for mhs homes to use your Sensitive Personal Information we must gain your explicit consent for how these special categories of information will be used and with whom it will be shared. Generally this is achieved by seeking your consent when we ask you to provide the information, for example, when you make an application for services that will require us to process your Sensitive Personal Data.  In all circumstances mhs homes must comply with the 8 Principles of Data Protection when handling your Sensitive Personal Data. .

Why Does mhs homes Need to Collect and Store Personal Data?

In order to provide you with adequate services we need to collect personal data for correspondence purposes and/or detailed service provision. mhs homes may also need to share your personal data with other service providers who are contracted to carry out services on our behalf. These providers are obliged to keep your personal details secure and use them only to fulfil your service request.

mhs homes will process, i.e. collect, store and use the information you provide in a manner that is compatible with the Data Protection Act. The aim is not to be intrusive, and we undertakes not to ask irrelevant or unnecessary questions. Moreover, the information you provide is subject to rigorous measures and procedures to minimise the risk of unauthorised access or disclosure.

Once your service has been delivered or your tenancy ended, your information will be retained for a specified period to enable any further related services to be delivered to you or to allow you or mhs homes to deal with any follow up issues about the quality of the service provided and where we have other legal obligations to retain the data. The information will then be destroyed in a controlled manner except where we have other legal obligations to retain the data

Joined Up Services – Sharing Basic Details Across mhs homes Services

mhs homes is serious about delivering accessible, appropriate, timely and effective services. To achieve this it aims to improve its centralised customer database so that it acts as a hub for all services. This means, for example, that the system can report any change of address to all the services that use the database, so you won’t have to repeat it every time you contact us. Our aim is to ensure that we have one master record containing your details, together with relevant information about you. This helps mhs homes to maintain the accuracy of your personal information, tailor services to meet your needs and provide us with an opportunity to continually seek service improvements

You will always have the right to give your consent for sharing your sensitive personal data. However, remember that mhs homes is only collecting it for the purpose of providing the services you need.   We will not use your information for other purposes without your permission and will never supply it for third party marketing purposes.　

Sharing Information with Local Authorities, Community Partners and Other Agencies

mhs homes has a responsibility to promote social wellbeing and to work with local authorities and community partners such as the Police, Fire & Rescue Service, voluntary services, charities and Health Services in order to preserve life, reduce accidents, reduce crime and improve our tenants’ life circumstances. To promote our tenants’ social wellbeing mhs homes may need to share your personal and sensitive information with these local authorities and partners.

If mhs homes needs to share your sensitive personal data with a third party it will only do so once it has obtained your consent and in all circumstances mhs homes will be open and informative about why the data sharing is necessary and with whom it will be shared. Wherever possible your consent will be obtained at the time the information is collected, for example on your housing application form or when signing your tenancy agreement. Access to your personal information will also be restricted to authorised individuals on a strictly need to know basis.　

How can I find out what personal information you hold about me, whether it is accurate and whom it is shared with?

You have a right to be provided with copies of your personal information, in readable form, and to have any codes explained to you, together with an explanation of how any automated decisions about you were made. if This is known as a Data Subject Access Request. You also have the right to correct any inaccuracies by contacting mhs homes contact center on 01634 565333

Contact details

If you have any concerns or questions about how we process your personal data please contact:

Data Protection, mhs homes, Leviathan Way, Chatham Maritime, Kent, ME4 4LL

or

email: Dataprotection@mhs.org.uk

The Data Protection Officer will send you a form to complete, which asks you for the type of information you are interested in obtaining. Please help us if you can by being specific.

You will also be asked for proof of your identification to ensure that your personal information is not provided to someone else. A fee of £10 is charged to process your request. Copies of your personal information will then be supplied to you within the 40-day period required by the Act but we strive to provide it well within that period.

You should be aware that in supplying you with your personal information, the Data Controller cannot supply you with the personal information of anyone else and you may find that documents have been edited to remove third party names and addresses.

All organisations that handle personal information need to be registered with the Information Commissioner. The Commissioner is responsible for enforcing the Data Protection Act and providing guidance. The Commissioner’s web-site at http://www.ico.gov.uk/ provides a valuable source of further information about the Act and your Rights.

The 8 Guiding Principles of Data Protection

The Data Protection Act contains eight guiding principles, which all organisations must comply with. mhs homes and its partners will ensure that these are always complied with when processing your personal and sensitive information.

The eight principles are:-

　

Visitors to our website

When someone visits mhs.org.uk we collect standard internet log information, such as your IP address, host name, browser type, operating system, etc. This information may be used to help diagnose problems with our server, to administer our website, as well as identify and help us with your use of the site, we may also use this information for other purposes deemed reasonable and necessary.

This privacy policy does not cover the links within this site linking to other websites. We encourage you to read the privacy statements of the other websites. The below information is provided for convenience and may not be extensive or all-inclusive.

Use of cookies

Most web browsers allow some control of most cookies through the browser settings. To find out more about cookies, including how to see what cookies have been set and how to manage and delete them, visit www.allaboutcookies.org.

Cookies are small text files that are placed on your computer by websites that you visit. They are widely used in order to make websites work, or work more efficiently, as well as to provide information to the owners of the site.

You may delete and block all cookies from this site, but parts of the site may not work as they are intended.

The cookies that we collect on the site are those listed below in Google analytics.

 

Cookie	Name	Purpose	More information
Google Analytics	_utma _utmb _utmc _utmz	These cookies are used to collect information about how visitors use our site. We use the information to compile reports and to help us improve the site. The cookies collect information in an anonymous form, including the number of visitors to the site, where visitors have come to the site from and the pages they visited.	Overview of privacy at Google
Google Translate	utma _utmb _utmc _utmz	These cookies are used to by the Google Translate service. The cookies collect information in an anonymous form, including the number of visitors to the site, where visitors have come to the site from and the pages they visited.	Overview of privacy at Google
mymhshomes		The cookie used by this service only exists until your browser window is closed. After this, the cookie is removed and when you return to the website a new one is issued for that connection only. No personal data is stored through the use of this cookie	Capita privacy policy

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