Our Customer Service Centre provides many different functions for the residents of West Sussex. It supports calls for 23 services and our customer service officers have a wealth of knowledge that enables them to resolve calls at the first point of contact or support the customer journey.
This privacy notice explains:
- how personal information is going to be used
- what it is used for
- who it might be shared with and why
- how long it is kept
Personal and special category data
We collect a range of information from our communications with you, which include, but not limited to:
- name and contact details
- date of birth
- additional verification details to help you quickly and effectively
- why you are calling the council
- any accessibility needs
- information you provide voluntarily
- financial data
- NHS numbers
- equalities information
This data may be collected during your calls with us, emails via our applications or enquiry forms and other channels such as chats.
Call recordings
Recording calls allows us to assess customer satisfaction, train and develop staff, review call quality, review complaints and understand and plan how we design our services to be responsive to the needs of our residents.
When you make a payment over the telephone, the recording function is switched off and there are no payment information recorded to comply with Payment Care Industry Security Standards (PCI DSS).
Data Controller
West Sussex County Council (WSCC) complies with the Data Protection Act and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). It is registered as a ‘Data Controller’ with the Information Commissioner’s Office (Reg. No. Z6413427).
You can find details for the WSCC Data Protection Officer (DPO) on our Privacy Policy.
We ensure that your personal data is accurate, processed fairly and lawfully, kept secure and retained for no longer than is necessary.
The legal basis for processing personal data
Processing is necessary for:
- compliance with our legal obligations
- performing a function or providing a service required by statute (Public task)
- explicit consent - where necessary
The legal basis for processing special category data
Special category data (sometimes referred to as sensitive data) may be captured as part of the nature of the call and is processed in line with the council’s statutory duty to support its residents and provide services which meets the needs of our residents for equalities monitoring purposes.
If a child or other person is considered to be at risk of significant harm, people working with you will have a duty of care to share the information with the relevant services without consent.
How we use your personal information
Our Privacy Policy determines how we use personal data. We use it specifically to:
- to respond to your communication with the Customer Service Centre including queries, compliments, complaints and feedback
- train and develop our staff to support its residents and improve their customer journey
- provide anonymous data to inform future service and improvement to ensure that the council designs its services to meet demand and needs of our residents
Who we share your information with
We may pass data, where legally permitted, to:
- other WSCC teams so they can carry out their statutory role and support the customer and the council
- other local authorities
- external organisations who can support you
- partners we work with, such as health
- partner agencies that provide services on our behalf
- voluntary agencies/third sector
- government departments
- law enforcement agencies
If a child or other person is considered to be at risk of significant harm, people working with you will have a duty of care to share the information with the relevant services without consent.
See our Privacy Policy if you require more information about how we use this data.
How long we keep your personal data
Personal data will not be retained for longer than is necessary in relation to the purposes for which they are collected.
Call recordings, transcripts and chat transcripts are held for 6 months. Recordings and transcripts older than 6 months are deleted by an automated process.
The council is currently reviewing and updating its retention policies. See our records management page for published retention schedules.
Transfer outside the European Economic Area
If your data needs to be transferred, we will make sure that an adequate level of protection is in place.
Your rights
See our Privacy Policy for more information on your rights.
Complaints
See our Privacy Policy for information about making a complaint.