Heat & Save Referral Hub Service Privacy Notices

The Council provides services for local communities and the people who live in them.  Undertaking this work means that we must collect and use information about the people we provide services to and keep a record of those services. Because we collect and use personal information about individuals we must make sure that they know what we intend to do with their information and who it may be shared with. 

We have summarised in this privacy notice some of the key ways in which we use your personal information for the Heat & Save Referral Hub purposes. This information should be read in conjunction with the Council’s corporate privacy notice.

1. Who we are, what we do.

The Heat & Save Service provides advice and assistance to residents about energy efficiency grant applications for their homes, either provided by the Council or from our external partners. 

The advice service is a first point of contact referral hub, providing a holistic support package to residents, working together to assess their eligibility of available grants and to provide direct referral (where required) to other partners for further advice and/or financial assistance available from external schemes/projects.

The Service allows residents to access in-house free, impartial advice.  Where we are able to, the Heat & Save Service will provide the support/advice you need or will refer you to the most suitable agency/organisation who can help you. Support packages include assessing your eligibility towards a variety of financial schemes that are available at that time, which help residents install energy efficiency measures within homes to reduce money spent on energy bills, mitigate against the impact  of fuel poverty and achieve affordable warmth. . Providing information on your household circumstances which includes health and financial information is required for some grant assistance to allow us to assess your eligibility based upon the scheme criteria, even when not required for all grants it can help us determine what schemes are most relevant to your circumstances.

2. What and whose personal information we hold?

When you contact the service, we will hold yours (and where applicable, anyone living in your home) information.  

The types of information will include;

• Name and address
• Contact information including mobile or landline telephone number and email address
• Date of birth
• Financial Information (where applicable) to evidence eligibility including; bank account statements, saving account statements, evidence of earnings from business self assessment details, mortgage details or rental agreements, benefit entitlement and supporting information as relevant to each grant criteria.
• Utility Bills
• Details of other persons related to your application, this can include your partner and other members of your household
• Information on health condition relating to you/other members of your household that are relevant to your application

We may receive/collect the following information from other council departments and partners in support of your application: 

• Energy Performance Certificates (from national EPC register or from a Domestic Energy Assessor)
• Technical survey data from 3rd partner company to support recommendations for energy measures

• Council tax confirmation of your occupancy of your property
• Title deed check regarding ownership of property where applicable
• Information relating to what improvements can be made to your home, such as financial savings/reductions, energy savings

3. Where does the service get my information from?

The service obtains your information from a number of sources, such as:

• You, the applicant when you make an enquiry via telephone, email, letter or online application,
• Land Registry Search
• Other Council services, such as Council Tax, Housing Benefits, Legal Services, Public Health and Protection, Resilience Team
• Information from installers, energy companies ECO funders or their Agents
• Other national schemes such as Welsh Government’s NEST, Arbed am Byth Scheme or UK wide ECO Flex Scheme. 
• Information provided by other public sector organisations such as referrals from Health Services including GP, Health Visitors, as well as DWP, Care & Repair, Citizen’s Advice etc 

4. What will we do with your personal information?

To process your enquiry, grant application and assess your eligibility to receive the grant funding, we will

• Provide pre-application advice and a triage service to  refer you to the appropriate support based on your needs, circumstances and eligibility
• Administer grant assistance for energy efficiency measures from the Capital Housing Programme
• Administer application for Flexible Eligibility under the Energy Company Obligation (ECO Flex), to allow residents to access external funding from installers, energy companies or their agents.
• Liaise with other partners to determine your eligibility for other types of grant assistance
• Register your details on Priority Service Registers with energy suppliers and/or network operators, which will ensure you receive extra support from energy suppliers should you experience a power cut if you are vulnerable due to age, health or disability.
• Make a payment to you or your chosen contractor in respect of your grant application
• Refer to other council departments or external agencies that can provide assistance or services based on your needs or circumstances
• Gather customer feedback information in respect of service users and grant applications
• Contact you (if you agree) for research purposes to enable us to improve the services we offer
• Maintain an expression of interest list of residents interested in domestic energy schemes and use this list to develop potential energy schemes and initiatives and inform those residents, when schemes become available.
• 5. What is the legal basis for the use of this information?

As the Heat & Save Team promote and deliver local actions and interventions to mitigate the impacts of fuel poverty and decarbonisation in line with Welsh Government and UK Government objectives for these areas information will be  processed from the following as they apply;

• Housing (Wales) Act 2014
• Housing Grants, Construction & Regeneration Act 1996
• Housing Renewal Grants Regulations
• Regulatory Reform Order, Private Sector Housing Renewal 2002
• Rhondda Cynon Taf County Borough Council Private Sector Housing Policy 2014
• The Electricity and Gas (Energy Company Obligation) Order 2014
• Energy Act 2016
• Climate Change & Sustainable Energy Act 2016
• The Home Energy Efficiency Schemes (Wales)(Amendment) Regulations 2018
• Planning & Energy Act 2008
• Well Being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015
• Warm Homes & Energy Conservation Act 2000
• The Clean Growth Strategy 2018 (BEIS)
• Fuel Poverty Strategy 2010 (WG)
• Vulnerable Consumer Strategy 2013
• WG Prosperity for All: A Low Carbon Wales (2019)
• Environment (Wales) Act 2016

UK Housing: Fit for the Future? Committee on Climate Change (2019)

• WG Better Homes, Better Wales, Better World: Decarbonising existing homes in Wales (2019)

6. Does the service share my personal information with any other organisation?

Yes, the Heat & Save Service may require additional information about you to ensure we are providing you with the correct advice and the relevant energy grant. 

If, depending on your needs the Council are unable to assist you, we will refer you to one of our external partners who will be able to provide you with the support you need.

Other Council departments:

• Council Tax
• Housing Benefits
• Legal Services
• First Response/Social Services (if additional social care is needed or safeguarding)
• Environmental Health – Public Health & Protection
• Trading Standards
• Communities into Work
• Resilient Family Service

Other organisations:

• Department of Work and Pensions
• Welsh Government
• Welsh Government (NEST & Arbed am Byth)
• Fire Service
• Care and Repair Agency
• Interlink
• Citizens Advice Agency
• Priority Services Register – energy suppliers and/or network operators
• Energy Saving Trust & Power Up Scheme
• Dwr Cymru ( Help You Scheme)
• Warm Wales (Energy Champion Project & Gas Connection Voucher Scheme)
• National Energy Action
• Ofgem
• FoodBanks
• Age Concern
• Department of Business Energy & Industrial Strategy
• Energy Suppliers and/or their Nominated Agents (e.g. SWALEC/British Gas)
• Speakeasy
• Ofgem approved tariff cost comparison sites

Other individuals;

• Contractors, Agents or 3^rd parties nominated/appointed by yourself

7. How long will my information be kept?

We will only keep your personal information for as long as we need it, to provide the relevant service and to deal with any questions or complaints that we may receive, this will be for a period of 10 years.

8. Your information, your rights

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) gives you important rights, including the right to access the personal information the services hold about you.

Click here  for further information on your information rights and how to exercise them.  

9. Contact us

If you have any concerns or would like to know more about how the service using your personal information please contact us in one of the following ways:

In writing: