Privacy and the Homes for Ukraine Programme

This privacy notice explains how the Asylum & Migration service, Homes for Ukraine programme at Buckinghamshire Council (the data controller) will use the personal information we collect about you when you use this service.

We can hold the following information on you:

• your name
• your contact details, including address, phone number and email
• contact we have had with you e.g. reports of phone calls, messages, meetings
• your family members, names, and ages of children (for guests only)
• bank details to make sponsor payments (for Ukraine host families only)

If we undertake an affordability assessment with you, to support your housing options going forward, we may hold the following additional information:

• salary/wage slips
• contract of employment
• bank statements
• income & expenditure analysis

If we apply for a Heart of Bucks funding grant on your behalf, we may hold the following additional information:

• bank details we will share with Heart of Bucks to make the grant payment

We need your information to:

• support Ukraine hosts in the sponsorship/hosting arrangement, including making host payments and organising rematch hosting
• support guests in their lives in the UK including, but not limited to, making accommodation arrangements, applying for benefits, seeking employment, education, learning English
• support next steps in housing and independence for guests
• ensure that our data is accurate for monitoring and reporting to central Government and for liaison with other local authorities, where necessary

The lawful bases for processing the personal information under the Data Protection Act 2018 and UK GDPR is:

• Article 6(1)(e) we need it to perform a public task
• Article 6(1)(a) your consent

We may also process special categories of personal data. For example information about health. Where we do so our lawful basis is

• Article 9(2)(g) substantial public interest

We may share your information with others including, but not limited to:

• relevant Council services including council tax and housing
• partner organisations and providers of commissioned services
• department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities
• bodies in connection with the prevention of crime, criminal or legal investigations or proceedings including fraud (and the National Fraud Initiative) or regulatory functions (such as the Local Government Ombudsman)

We rely upon your consent for the processing of any criminal conviction and offence personal information, for the purpose of conducting the vetting check (DBS) for hosts. If you provide us with this information, we will only process it to the extent that it is necessary for that purpose.

We will not usually share sensitive or confidential information without your consent unless disclosure is allowed by law such as when we have good reason to believe that failing to do so would put you or someone else at risk.

Where applicable, you can remove your consent at any time. You can do this by contacting [email protected].

We will securely hold your information and only keep it for as long as is necessary. Where we no longer require information, we will confidentially dispose of it.

We do not carry out any automated decision making in relation to this information.

You have legal rights over your information. For details of those rights, see our corporate Privacy Policy. Your rights will differ depending on our lawful basis for processing your personal information.

Our Data Protection Officer can be contacted at:

Buckinghamshire Council,
The Gateway,
Gatehouse Road,
Aylesbury,
HP19 8FF

You can also contact our Data Protection Officer by email at [email protected] or by phone at 0300 131 6000.

If you have any concerns about our use of your personal information, you can make a complaint to the Data Protection Officer. You can also then complain to the ICO if you remain unhappy with how we have used your personal information.

Date of publication/last update: February 2024