Post Office (Horizon System) Offences Act 2024: Privacy Notice
Published 24 June 2024
Applies to England and Wales
© Crown copyright 2024
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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/post-office-horizon-system-offences-act-2024-privacy-notice/post-office-horizon-system-offences-act-2024-privacy-notice
The Ministry of Justice (MOJ) is committed to the protection and security of your personal information.
It is important that you read this notice so that you are aware of how and why we are using such information. This privacy notice describes how we collect and use personal information during and after your relationship with us, in accordance with data protection law. They will be updated regularly.
MOJ is the data controller for the personal data used for the purposes of identifying individuals whose convictions will be quashed by the Post Office (Horizon System) Offences Bill.
The type of personal data we process
We currently collect and use the following information:
- Names
- Dates of Birth
- Addresses
- Criminal Conviction data
- Employment data
- Personal Representative (Next of kin) data
We also collect special categories of information, such as:
Criminal convictions
How we get your personal data and why we have it
Most of the personal information we process is provided to us directly by other government and law enforcement agencies, and Post Office Ltd, for one of the following reasons:
- Identifying individuals whose convictions are quashed by the Post Office (Horizon System) Offences Act 2024
- Contacting individuals to inform them of their quashed convictions as laid out in the Post Office (Horizon System) Offences Act 2024
We also receive personal information from the following sources:
- ACRO Criminal Records Office
- Post Office Limited
- Department for Work and Pensions
- Driver and Vehicle Licence Agency, Home Office (Live Event Verification, Universal Enrichment Service)
- His Majesty’s Passport Office
- Equifax
We use the personal data we receive in order to identify the people in scope of the Act and whose convictions have been quashed. This is to ensure we capture every conviction relevant to the conditions in the legislation. There is a duty in the Act, placed on the Secretary of State, to take all reasonable steps to notify the eligible individual that their conviction has been quashed. In order to do so, the Ministry of Justice requires addresses from different sources to ensure that the relevant person is made aware of the quashing of their conviction(s) and that their criminal records have been updated.
We may share this information with:
- The Department for Business and Trade
- Post Office Limited
- ACRO Criminal Records Office
- Department for Work and Pensions
- Driver and Vehicle Licence Agency
- Home Office (Live Event Verification, Universal Enrichment Service)
- His Majesty’s Passport Office
Any other Government department as required.
Under the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR), the lawful bases we rely on for processing this information are:
(e) We need it to perform a public task.
Post Office (Horizon System) Offences Act 2024 – provision under General Data Protection Regulation (Article 6(1)(e))
The legal bases on which the MoJ processes special categories of information you have provided, is on the basis of:
- The substantial public interest in the MOJ - Administration of justice and parliamentary purposes.
International Data Transfers
There are no international transfers
How we store your personal data
The data will be held in line with the retention schedules.
Personal data is stored securely and in accordance with our data retention schedule Record retention and disposition schedules - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). At the end of this period your data will be disposed of.
Your Rights
- Your right of access - You have the right to ask us for copies of your personal information
- Your right to rectification - You have the right to ask us to rectify personal information you think is inaccurate. You also have the right to ask us to complete information you think is incomplete
- Your right to erasure - You have the right to ask us to erase your personal information in certain circumstances
- Your right to restriction of processing - You have the right to ask us to restrict the processing of your personal information in certain circumstances
- Your right to object to processing - You have the right to object to the processing of your personal information in certain circumstances
- Your right to data portability - You have the right to ask that we transfer the personal information you gave us to another organisation, or to you, in certain circumstances
Depending on the lawful basis on which your personal data is being processed, not all rights will apply.
You are not required to pay any charge for exercising your rights. If you make a request, we have one month to respond to you If you wish to exercise your data protection rights please contact:
Disclosure Team
Post point 10.38
102 Petty France
London
SW1H 9AJ
Email: data.access@justice.gov.uk
How to complain
If you have any concerns about our use of your personal data, you can contact the MOJ data protection officer;
Data Protection Officer
Ministry of Justice
5th Floor, Post Point 5.18
102 Petty France
London
SW1H 9AJ
Email: dpo@justice.gov.uk
You can also complain to the ICO if you are unhappy with how we have used your data.
Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Helpline number: 0303 123 1113
ICO website: https://www.ico.org.uk