Notice

Warm Homes: Local Grant: privacy notice for end-users (householders, landlords and installers)

Published 17 April 2025

Applies to England

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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/warm-homes-local-grant-privacy-notice-for-end-users-householders-landlords-and-installers/warm-homes-local-grant-privacy-notice-for-end-users-householders-landlords-and-installers

The Warm Homes: Local Grant (WH:LG) is a government-funded scheme delivered by local authorities to deliver energy performance and low carbon heating upgrades to low income homes in England.  

This privacy notice sets out how the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero processes your personal data under the WH:LG Scheme. It is made under Articles 13 and/or 14 of the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR).  

For information about how your local authority or their delivery partner process your personal data please see their privacy notice.

Your data

We will process the following personal data provided to us by your local authority and our contracted delivery partners:  

Householders and landlords 

  • names and contact details 
  • installation details 
  • postal address and details of your property expressing interest for, or receiving the energy performance or low-carbon heating installation(s) under the Scheme   
  • unique Property Reference Number  
  • the household income status, benefit receipt status, home ownership or tenure status and any other scheme eligibility information  
  • details about the installation(s) applied for or installed at your property under the Scheme, including date of installation, type, size and cost and installer details including their contact details and any relevant accreditation or registration information  
  • characteristics of your property  
  • scheme allocated grant amount and any financial contribution you or others have made towards the installation(s) under the Scheme  
  • lodgement certificate number, lodgement date, installations details from TrustMark and the Microgeneration Certification Scheme for your installation under the Scheme    
  • customer referral source or customer source for initial awareness of the Scheme  
  • other scheme participation information, such as your local authority, scheme reference number, unique property reference, property type and characteristics including information of the property from Energy Performance Certificate such as the property rating, banding, features, floor area from any EPC Certificate recorded. Additional fields may be processed such as assessor details, assessment date, heating, lighting and other related information   
  • information of previous access to government grant schemes  
  • details about how and why you were identified for participation in WH:LG   
  • details of any additional funding used to support the installations, for example from the owners, landlords or other third parties
  • pre- and post-installation property Standard Assessment Procedure (SAP) or Reduced data SAP (RdSAP) assessments with scores
  • fraud, error and non-compliance case details such as dates, value of risk, information regarding the property, relevant installers details etc  
  • if you are a landlord who owns the property in a personal capacity or as a co-owner, we will collect your National Insurance number
  • if you own a privately rented property through a company, we will collect your company registration number
  • information on current monthly rent being received by the landlord/s for the property and date when rental agreement was signed  
  • information on how many of the landlord/s’ properties have been funded through the scheme
  • declaration that landlords are within the Minimum Financial Assistance limit of £315,000, which will not be exceeded by the landlord receiving the proposed assistance to comply with subsidy rules under the Subsidy Control Act (2022)  
  • declaration of a landlord/s’ understanding that rents are not expected to be increased directly as a result of the property being improved with upgrades funded by government under this scheme 

Installers

  • name, contact business address, email address and phone number  
  • Trustmark/MCS accreditation details or other relevant certification information, including other low carbon heating certification  
  • business information, including name, type of business and number of employees   
  • details of installations delivered under the Scheme, including but not limited to type, size, date, manufacturer number and cost and details of the properties at which the installations are installed  
  • whether directly contracted or sub-contracted to install installations under the Scheme

Purpose

The purpose(s) for which we are processing your personal data is:   

Research and Evaluation  

  • to monitor and support the progress and administration of the scheme, including monitoring and supporting the effective use of scheme funding and the operational delivery of the scheme
  • to support an assessment of WH:LG performance and whether the scheme has achieved its objectives for statistical purposes
  • to review and develop government policy, research, evaluation, and service delivery and  This may include to inform the publication of official statistics. Where the research involves processing of personal data in addition to that already collected for delivery of the Scheme, you will be given the opportunity to opt-in to that research at the point of contact
  • for DESNZ and its appointed contractors to contact you to take part in further research 
  • to gather baseline information from landlords to evaluate the impact on rents and churn from funding the private rented sector. You may be contacted by DESNZ and/or its appointed contractors to follow up for evaluation purposes  

Keeping you informed about future government Energy Efficiency Schemes 

  • for beneficiaries of government grant schemes to be informed about future government energy efficiency support that becomes available, as relevant, as well as relevant advice and information about energy efficiency measures. This may include you being contacted by DESNZ and/or its appointed contractors to draw your attention to relevant information and resources

Fraud and Error  

  • for the prevention and detection of fraud, error and non-compliance the data listed will be processed for activity including but not limited to: 
    • preventing, detecting and investigating fraud, error and non-compliance 
    • preventing  landlords from claiming more than their limit of one home as fully funded  
    • conducting other activities such as linking WH:LG data across other schemes (to prevent/detect breaches of schemes rules) 
    • statistical, audit, research, monitoring and evaluation purposes 
    • assurance audit activity to understand fraud and error exposure and how to reduce it
    • controls testing and assurance of oversight and delivery of the scheme to inform improvements  
    • progressing civil or criminal proceedings as a result of fraud 
    • taking administrative actions in connection with fraud   
    • debt recovery, prosecution and any other related activities  

See the Fraud and Error Privacy Notice for further details: Using home retrofit scheme data to manage fraud and error 

To support the above purposes, DESNZ may link your personal data with other data sources and may share your personal data with our contracted providers who will process your personal data on DESNZ behalf in line with the purposes set out above.

The legal basis for processing your personal data under Article 6 of the UK GDPR is:   

1(a) Consent: You consent to the processing of your personal data for one or more specific purposes such as to take part in further research and keeping you informed about future energy schemes. Should you change your mind, you can withdraw consent at any time by emailing WHLG@energysecurity.gov.uk  

1(e) Public task: Processing is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority vested in the data controller. The public task is the performance of functions under s.31 of the Local Government Act 2003, the duty to ensure public money is used responsibly and functions under fuel poverty and climate change legislation.

Recipients

Your personal data may be shared with:  

  • DESNZ Delivery Partners, and contractors – any contractor or organisation that DESNZ appoints to act on their behalf in connection with WH:LG, including to oversee the management and delivery of WH:LG projects and/or for monitoring and evaluation purposes

  • service providers – other contracted providers may process your personal data on our instructions. These include IT suppliers (including website and software providers), email management service providers, cloud hosting providers, database providers and backup and disaster recovery specialists 

  • professional advisors – we may also appoint third party professional advisors such as legal advisors. These third parties will act as independent controllers and will process your personal data in accordance with their own privacy notice 

  • Delivery/Scheme administrators – such as local authorities, (including their delivery agents/partners if necessary), Ofgem, Energy companies and devolved administrators (e.g. Mayoral Combined Authorities, Welsh/Scottish Government and their delivery agents/partners if necessary) for the purposes outlined in preventing and detecting fraud, error and non-compliance  

  • TrustMark, Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS) and other accreditation bodies 

  • across schemes or DESNZ appointed suppliers where necessary for detection and prevention of Fraud, error, and non-compliance debt recovery, prosecution and other related activities including assurance audit activity to understand fraud and error exposure and how to reduce it 

Our contracted providers process data on behalf of DESNZ and are required to take appropriate security measures to protect personal information in line with our policies. We only permit them to process personal data for the purposes outlined in this Privacy Notice and in accordance with our instructions. 

Your personal data may also be shared by us in certain scenarios such as: 

  • where we are required to do so by law, for example by court order or to prevent fraud or other crime
  • if we are exercising our legal rights and / or defending a legal claim your information may be transferred as required in connection with defending such claim or exercising such legal rights
  • to protect yours’, ours’ or others’ rights, property, or safety  

As part of our IT infrastructure, your personal data will be stored in the UK on systems provided by our data processors - Microsoft and Amazon Web Services. This does not mean we actively share your personal data with these entities; rather, they are technical service providers who host infrastructure supporting our IT systems.

Retention

Your personal data will be kept by us for a period of up to 8 years following the close of the Scheme or, if later, the completion of installations funded under the Scheme, for the delivery, administration and evaluation of the scheme.   

For the purposes of prevention and detection of fraud, error and non-compliance, some data will be stored and shared for a maximum of 25 years. Individual records may be retained beyond this if they relate to ongoing actions such as prosecutions, appeals or debt recovery.

International transfers

Your personal data will be processed in the UK.

Your rights

You have the right to request information about how your personal data are processed, and to request a copy of that personal data.   

You have the right to request that any inaccuracies in your personal data are rectified without delay.   

You have the right to request that any incomplete personal data are completed, including by means of a supplementary statement.   

You have the right to request that your personal data are erased if there is no longer a justification for them to be processed.   

You have the right in certain circumstances (for example, where accuracy is contested) to request that the processing of your personal data is restricted.   

You have the right to object to the processing of your personal data where it is processed for direct marketing purposes.   

Where the personal data is processed on the basis of consent:   

You have the right to withdraw consent to the processing of your personal data at any time.   

Where the lawful basis is Public Task:   

You have the right to object to the processing of your personal data.   

To exercise your rights please contact the Data Protection Officer using the contact details below.

Contact details

The data controller for your personal data is the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ).

Contact the DESNZ DPO:

DESNZ Data Protection Officer
Department for Energy Security and Net Zero
3-8 Whitehall Place
London
SW1A 2EG

If you are unhappy with the way we have handled your personal data, please write to the department’s Data Protection Officer in the first instance using the contact details above.

Complaints

If you consider that your personal data has been misused or mishandled, you may make a complaint to the Information Commissioner, who is an UK independent regulator.

Contact the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO):

Email icocasework@ico.org.uk

Contact form https://ico.org.uk/mak...

Telephone 0303 123 1113

Any complaint to the Information Commissioner is without prejudice to your right to seek redress through the courts.

Updates to this notice

If this privacy notice changes in any way, we will place an updated version on this page. Regularly reviewing this page ensures you are always aware of what information we collect, how we use it, and under what circumstances we will share it with other parties. The ‘last updated’ date at the bottom of this page will also change. 

If these changes affect how your personal data is processed, we will take reasonable steps to let you know.

Last updated: 17 April 2025

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