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Guidance

Local Authority Housing Fund process evaluation: privacy notice

Published 26 May 2026

Applies to England

The following is to explain your rights and give you the information you are entitled to under UK data protection legislation.

1. The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) are the data controller. The Data Protection Officer can be contacted at dpo@communities.gov.uk. Verian are the data processors. The Data Protection Officer can be contacted at compliance@veriangroup.com.

2. Your personal data (name and contact details) are being collected to enable us to gather feedback on your experiences of the implementation and delivery of the Local Authority Housing Fund (LAHF) process.

The following personal data is being collected and processed for this purpose: names; organisation name; email addresses; telephone numbers.

We may also use it to contact you about research and evaluation activities relating to research, monitoring and evaluation activities for the LAHF throughout the evaluation period (up to the end of September 2026).

No personally identifiable information will be included in any report, presentation or other output.

3. The data protection legislation Article 6 (1)(e) sets out when we are lawfully allowed to process your data. The lawful basis that applies to this processing is that it is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest. Your data needs to be processed to understand the wider societal impacts and value for money of the LAHF, hereby informing future iterations of this and similar programmes.

4. With whom we will be sharing the data:

The data is being collected by Verian, who are the data processors for this project. They will provide MHCLG with the results.

5. For how long we will keep the personal data, or criteria used to determine the retention period:

Your personal data linked to this evaluation will be held by Verian on behalf of MHCLG, until the end of evaluation at the end of September 2026. MHCLG have the right to ask Verian to delete your personal data before this time. MHCLG will retain your information for this purpose until the end of evaluation, by the end of  September 2026.

6. Your rights, for example, access, rectification, erasure:

The data we are collecting is your personal data, and you have rights that affect what happens to it. You have the right to:

 a. know that we are using your personal data

 b. see what data we have about you

 c. ask to have your data corrected, and to ask how we check the information we hold is accurate

 d. complain to the ICO (see below)

In some circumstances you may also have the right to withdraw your consent to us having or using your data, to have all data about you deleted, or to object to particularly types of use of your data. We will tell you when these rights apply.

7. Sending data overseas:

Verian will store all personal data and contact details for research participants on a secure internal server located in the EU (data servers are in Ireland and The Netherlands). EU countries provide an equivalent protection to the UK for your rights and freedoms about your personal data. 

MHCLG stores your data in the UK. 

8. Automated decision making:

We will not use your data for any automated decision making.

9. Storage, security and data management:

Verian will store your details on secure internal servers. Verian and will delete all personal data from their systems at the end of the evaluation, which will be the end of September 2026 at the latest.  

10. Complaints and more information:

When we ask you for information, we will keep to the law, including the Data Protection Act 2018 and UK General Data Protection Regulation.

If you are unhappy with the way the department has acted, you can make a complaint.

If you want to make a Subject Access Request, another request in relation to your rights, or If you are not happy with how we are using your personal data, you should first contact dataprotection@communities.gov.uk

If you are still not happy, or for independent advice about data protection, privacy and data sharing, you can contact:

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

Telephone: 0303 123 1113 or 01625 545 745

ico.org.uk