Guidance

Privacy notice for the Council Housebuilding Support Fund (CHSF)

Published 17 September 2026

Applies to England

1. About this notice

This privacy notice explains how Homes England collects, uses and protects your personal data, and the rights you have with regards to that data.

This notice applies to the processing of your personal data when applying funding provided through the Council Housebuilding Support Fund (CHSF) only. This fund is designed to support councils with the pre-development and enabling work needed to submit a bid to the Social and Affordable Homes Programme.

It covers our role in administering, assessing, monitoring and making recommendations to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) on grant allocations.

Refer to Homes England’s main privacy notice for further information on how we process personal data for other purposes.

1.1 Who is Homes England?

Homes England is the trading name adopted by the Homes and Communities Agency, our legal entity.

We are the data controller of the personal data processed. This means that we are responsible for deciding how we collect, use and store your personal data.

1.2 Information we collect

We collect personal data about you when you apply for funding through the CHSF. Someone else from your organisation may also register your information on your behalf.

We collect, store and use the following categories of personal data:

• name

• work email address

• job title

• work telephone number

1.3 How we process your information

We use the personal data stated above to support the delivery, monitoring and evaluation of the CHSF, including for the following purposes:

• to identify you (and your organisation) when you apply for funding through the CHSF

• to contact you to clarify any aspects of your application

• to make recommendations to MHCLG on grant allocations

• to manage relationships with and monitor delivery

• to contact you as part of the evaluation of the CHSF

• to coordinate wider activity and programmes to support council housebuilding

• to contact you about future opportunities for collaboration with Homes England we think you would be interested in

• to conduct surveys and market research about Homes England and the housing sector

1.4 What lawful basis do we have to process your personal data?

We will only use your personal data when the law allows us to. This is called the lawful basis. Regarding the above purposes, we rely on the following lawful basis:

• public task — 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 us, for example, for one of our statutory functions

• legitimate interests — processing your data is necessary to support a legitimate interest we or another party has, only where this is not outweighed by your own interests

1.5 Who is the information shared with?

Personal data will only be shared where necessary for the delivery of the CHSF in accordance with data protection legislation and agreed data-sharing arrangements.

Your information may be shared with:

Organisation	Controller or processor position	Reason your data is shared
Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG)	Controller	Programme management, policy oversight, funding decisions, monitoring, evaluation, audit and governance
Improvement and Development Agency (IDeA) and authorised Local Government Association (LGA) personnel	IDeA is an independent controller; authorised LGA personnel may support delivery where permitted by the relevant arrangements	Delivery and coordination of the Council Housebuilding Support Service and expanded Pathways to Planning programme, together with associated programme support activities
Microsoft and approved government technology providers	Processor or supplier role according to the relevant departmental contract or platform terms	Hosting, operation and technical support of programme systems, including MHCLG’s Funding Service and other departmental systems.
Research, evaluation or assurance contractors appointed by MHCLG	Processor, independent controller or joint controller depending on the agreed arrangement for the specific activity	Evaluation, research, monitoring and assurance activities

Personal data relating to live Council Housebuilding Support Fund applications will not routinely be shared with Improvement and Development Agency (IDeA) or authorised Local Government Association (LGA) personnel before funding decisions have been made and applicants have been notified. Detailed application assessments, scoring information and narrative feedback will not normally be shared unless there is a clear justification and appropriate safeguards.

Sometimes, we may be legally obliged to provide copies of personal information to other organisations. For example, to provide information to the police, or to a public inquiry. We might not be always able to tell you that we have shared your information in this way, however we will ensure this is only shared in accordance with the law.

1.6 Where is your personal data stored and processed?

All personal data is stored and processed by Homes England within offices in the UK and using systems that utilise data centres in the UK.

Applications for the CHSF will submitted through MHCLG’s Funding Service platform and accessed by authorised MHCLG and Homes England personnel for programme administration purposes.

If one of our service providers ever processes data outside the UK, we will ensure this is only where we can ensure that your personal data is adequately protected.

1.7 How long do we keep your personal data?

For the purposes of the Council Housebuilding Support Fund, Homes England will only retain your personal data for 6 months after the closure of the fund.

1.8 Your rights

Under data protection legislation, in certain circumstances you have the following rights over the processing of your personal data as described in this notice:

• right of access to personal data

• right to correction or rectification

• right to request deletion

• right to data portability

Homes England must respond to a request to exercise these rights within one month. If you would like to submit a request, contact the Data Protection Officer.

2. Data Protection Officer

The contact details for our Data Protection Officer are as follows:

By post:

Data Protection Officer
Homes England 2nd Floor
The Lumen
St James’ Boulevard
Newcastle upon Tyne
NE4 5BZ

By email: DPO@homesengland.gov.uk

By phone: 0300 1234 500

3. Complaints

If you are unhappy with any aspect of this privacy notice, or how your personal data is being processed, contact our Data Protection Officer. If you are still not happy, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO):

By post:

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

By email: icocasework@ico.org.uk

By phone: 0303 123 1113