Common Ground Award: privacy notice
Updated 28 October 2025
Applies to England
© Crown copyright 2025
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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/common-ground-award-prospectus/common-ground-award-privacy-notice
The following is to explain your rights and give you the information you are entitled to under UK data protection legislation.
1. The identity and contact details of the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) and our Data Protection Officer
MHCLG is the data controller. The Data Protection Officer can be contacted at dataprotection@communities.gov.uk.
2. What personal data we are collecting and why
- lead contact full name
- lead contact organisation and role
- lead contact email address
- lead contact telephone number
The lead contact is the individual who is making an application to the fund on behalf of an organisation.
This data will enable MHCLG to complete the following tasks:
- contacting all organisation applicants using their provided contact details with notification of the result of their application
- contacting successful organisations using their provided contact details in order to make arrangements for payment of funding
- contacting successful organisations throughout the funding period, including to ask them to complete monitoring and evaluation forms
- share the data with Cabinet Office for use in their Spotlight tool to complete due diligence checks on applicants
3. Lawful basis for processing the data
The data protection legislation sets out when we are lawfully allowed to process your data. The lawful basis that applies to this processing is Article 6(1)(e) of the GDPR – the processing is necessary for MHCLG to perform a task in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority.
The data to be processed by MHCLG is required for the delivery of the Common Ground Award. The data is necessary to ensure that organisations will be able to bid for and receive funding.
4. With whom we will be sharing the data
Your personal data will be shared with the Cabinet Office for use in their Spotlight tool which completes due diligence checks on applicants.
Public announcements: Personal data, for example an individual’s name or contact details, will not be published as part of any potential announcement unless the individual(s) whom the data relates to have given their permission to their data being published. We would contact you in advance of any announcement to seek such permissions.
5. For how long we will keep the personal data, or criteria used to determine the retention period.
Your personal data will be held solely by MHCLG for the purposes of delivering the scheme. Personal data will only be held until the scheme is delivered.
6. Your rights, e.g. access, rectification, erasure
The data we are collecting is the organisation’s lead applicant’s personal data, and they have rights that affect what happens to it. Applicants have the right to:
a. know that we are using their personal data
b. see what data we have about them
c. ask to have their data corrected, and to ask how we check the information we hold is accurate
d. object to particular types of use of their data
e. complain to the ICO (see below)
7. Sending data overseas
Your personal data will not be sent outside of the EU/EEA.
8. Automated decision making
We will not use your data for any automated decision making.
9. Storage, security and data management
MHCLG will ensure that there are appropriate technical and organisational controls (including physical, electronic and managerial measures) in place to protect personal details. For example, their network is protected and routinely monitored. Any data held by MHCLG will be stored in a secure government IT system.
10. Complaints and more information
When we ask applicants for information, we will keep to the law, including the Data Protection Act 2018 and UK General Data Protection Regulation.
If they are unhappy with the way the Department has acted, they can https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ministry-of-housing-communities-local-government/about/complaints-procedure
If they are not happy with how we are using their personal data, they should first contact dataprotection@communities.gov.uk.
If they are still not happy, or for independent advice about data protection, privacy and data sharing, they can contact:
The Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow, Cheshire,
SK9 5AF
Telephone: 0303 123 1113 or 01625 545 745 https://ico.org.uk/