Guidance

Building Safety Fund: privacy notice for new 2022 applications

Updated 25 April 2023

Applies to England

The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC, we, our) is committed to protecting the privacy and security of your personal information. This privacy notice describes how we collect and use personal information about you in accordance with data protection law (including the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act (DPA) 2018).

We are the data controller responsible for the processing of your personal data. For more information on how we collect, use and store your personal data, you can contact our Data Protection Officer at dataprotection@levellingup.gov.uk.

You can also contact them by writing to the Data Protection Officer, Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, Fry Building, 2 Marsham Street, London SW1P 4DF.

We are required under UK data protection legislation to notify you of the information contained in this privacy notice. If there are changes to this privacy notice it will be updated on this page.

Why we are collecting your data?

The government is dedicated to ensuring that buildings are safe – and people feel safe in their homes – now and in the future, and has committed to support leaseholders, hold industry to account and embed a proportionate approach. DLUHC is responsible for administering the Building Safety Fund, part of the package of measures to support leaseholders and make buildings safe, alongside other remediation programmes within the Building Safety Programme. The purpose of the Building Safety Fund is to drive pace of remediation and to make sure eligible high-rise residential buildings with unsafe non-ACM cladding systems are made safe. This is for buildings which are 18 metres (less a tolerance of 30cm) or taller. For more information, please visit: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/remediation-of-non-acm-buildings.

We are collecting and processing your personal data in order to manage and administer the Building Safety Fund, and where relevant our other remediation programmes, as part of the wider Building Safety Programme as described above. In particular, when applying for the Building Safety Fund, we will collect the applicant’s full name, job title, organisation, address, phone number and email. We will be requiring the same level of contact details for the responsible entity (in case the applicant is an agent acting on their behalf) and the freeholder (in case the applicant is not the freeholder).

This is so we can contact the applicant and also the responsible entity or freeholder (if they are not the applicant) when needed after an application is made for the Building Safety Fund (2022). This includes communicating during the first part of the application process with the applicant, then if the building is confirmed for funding, during the next part of the application process. We will use your data for deciding your eligibility for the fund and for allocating the fund for eligible buildings. We may, where relevant, pass on your details to teams leading our other remediation programmes if the building is found to be ineligible for the Building Safety Fund, but possibly eligible for funding through an alternative fund within DLUHC’s Building Safety Programme.

Finally, we are collecting and processing your data to advance other departmental objectives as described above, including in connection with steps we may take to pursue parties who may have contributed to building safety issues, or who may be responsible for making buildings safe (including your building).

We collect this data as you are the organisation or company legally responsible for addressing the fire safety risks for the building or the agent acting on their behalf.

We are also collecting and processing:

• the [name and] contact information of the original developer of the building.

The objective of this is to continue identify and correlate information on buildings that have safety issues, including for the purposes of identifying buildings which a developer has pledged and / or contracted with DLUHC to remediate.

• the [name and] contact information of a lead leaseholder.

The objective of this is to identify and be able to contact a leaseholder to receive emails from DLUHC and distribute information provided to other leaseholders and residents in the building.

Legal basis for processing your data

DLUHC will rely on article 6(1)(e) of the UK GDPR as processing your data is ‘necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority vested in the controller’.

DLUHC is a ministerial department set up in order to support communities across the UK to thrive. DLUHC’s work includes investing in local areas to drive growth and create jobs, delivering homes, supporting communities and faith groups, and overseeing local government, planning and building safety. As part of its role, DLUHC has established the Building Safety Fund [within the wider Building Safety Programme] in relation to addressing fire safety risks related to cladding on high-rise residential buildings, and the processing of personal data is necessary for the effective management of the administration of the Building Safety Fund and wider Building Safety programme [and to support wider departmental objectives]. The collection and processing of your personal data is therefore carried out under DLUHC’s common law powers to administer the Building Safety Fund [and the Building Safety Programme].

How we store your data?

Your personal data will be stored in a secure government IT server and will be downloaded directly onto the server.

The Teams in DLUHC’s part of the Directorate General for Safer and Greener Buildings will have access to this data.

Your personal data will not be sent overseas, and we will not use your data for any automated decision making.

Who your data will be shared with?

Your data may be shared with these third parties:

• the companies working with DLUHC in reviewing the evidence needed to assess your building’s eligibility or if we need more information

• Greater London Authority and Homes England for contacting you after your building’s eligibility has been confirmed or if we need more information, in their roles as our delivery partners for our remediation programmes

• the company supporting the service and who hosts the service

• local authorities and Fire and Rescue services may need your information for addressing the building’s fire safety risk if you are eligible for funding via one of our remediation programmes

• internal and external professionals such as accountants, lawyers and auditors who help DLUHC carry out the activities needed to administer the Building Safety Fund [and activities connected with our other remediation programmes/the wider Building Safety Programme, including to correlate data on buildings with safety issues and in connection with steps we may take to pursue parties who may be responsible for your building being unsafe, or for making it safe].

• police and other law enforcement agencies in connection with the prevention and detection of crime

• regulatory bodies or courts in order to meet legal obligations or instructions from such bodies or courts [or to provide relevant material to bodies or courts in connection with legal proceedings]

• other central government departments and their arm’s length bodies

• the National Audit Office and other entities who supervise or regulate DLUHC

• other internal DLUHC teams as necessary to ensure the safety of buildings

• the original developer or refurbisher of your building, or other parties with a connection to the building, where they have a need to be able to contact the applicant and the responsible entity in connection with taking steps to remediate the building, or in connection with steps we may take to pursue parties who may have contributed to building safety issues, or who may be responsible for making buildings safe

• with mortgage lenders and valuation firms, where we will share buildings details (and if needed your contact details) in respect of applications from buildings that will be remediated through BSF. This to seek to provide lenders with assurance that the building is being remediated through the BSF to facilitate mortgage lending on the building

The external parties who we appoint to process your personal data on our behalf are bound by appropriate agreements and will process your personal data in accordance with data protection law.

How long do we keep your personal data?

For registrations that are not eligible for the fund

Your personal data will be stored in a secure government IT system and held for 12 months after the closure of applications for the Building Safety Fund and/or any appeals stage, whichever is the longer. After this time, your details will be deleted in a secure manner.

We may, where relevant, pass on your details to teams leading our other remediation programmes if the building is found to be ineligible for the Building Safety Fund, but possibly eligible for funding through an alternative fund within DLUHC’s Building Safety Programme.

For eligible registrations

Your personal data will be held for twelve years after the fund has been allocated and completed. Application details are needed for audits of government records on construction project grants.

Your rights

• you have the right to know how we are using your personal data

• you can ask for a copy of your personal data that we have

• you can ask to have your data corrected when it is incomplete or incorrect

• you can request the erasure of your personal data in certain circumstances

• you can ask us to stop using your data but keep it on record

• you can object to how we are using your personal data

• you can make a complaint to the ICO if you are unhappy with how we have used your personal data

To contact us about your rights, for more information, or if you want to withdraw your application; please email dataprotection@levellingup.gov.uk.

You can also find out about your rights from the Independent Information Commissioner (ICO).

We may be required to retain your personal information to comply with our legal obligations, or to enable us to prepare and administer any award of funds to you in relation to the Building Safety Fund. If you do not provide the relevant personal information to us or exercise your right to object to or restrict our processing of your data, we may not be able to process your application or award any funds to you.

If you are not happy with how we have used your personal data

You should contact dataprotection@levellingup.gov.uk

If you are still not happy and would like to make a complaint, please contact the ICO.

You can contact the ICO at https://ico.org.uk/ or by telephone on 0303 123 1113.

You can also contact the ICO for independent advice about data protection, privacy and data sharing.

The Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF

If you have any questions about the Building Safety Fund please email BSFEnquiries2022@levellingup.gov.uk and a member of the Building Safety Fund team will deal with your questions.