Adult Social Services privacy notice
How Adults Social Services use your personal information
What this document is for
This privacy notice provides information on how Norfolk County Council's Adult Social Services uses your personal information. By 'use' we mean the various ways it may be processed, including storing and sharing the information.
Further details
We also provide further details regarding:
- Who we are
- How long we use your information for
- Your rights under the General Data Protection Regulation (the GDPR) and
- How to exercise them
You can see this information in Norfolk County Council's general privacy notice or you can ask us for a copy of this information.
What we use your information for
We use personal information primarily to provide advice and guidance, assessments, services, support and safeguarding for eligible adults over the age of 18 and their families.
This includes:
- Assessments and reviews of current needs at home and in hospital because of age, illness and vulnerability and how best to meet them
- Deprivation of liberty assessments
- Carers' assessments
- Assessments of migrants, refugees and other people who have arrived in the UK from abroad
- Eligibility for continuing health care assessments
- Assessments and reviews under the Mental Health Act 1983
- Assessments and reviews for after care services under the Mental Health Act 1983
- Mental capacity assessments
- The provision and commissioning of services arising out of these assessments including
- Residential care
- Supported living
- Housing with care
- Respite care
- Self-directed support
- Domiciliary care
- Day care
- Housing
- Adaptations and equipment
- Occupational therapy
- Transport
- Financial assessments for the services
- The protection and safeguarding of vulnerable adults
- Assessing the quality of our services and evaluating and improving our policies and procedures (including the effectiveness of Assistive Technology)
- The completion of statutory government returns
- In situations where the emergency services need immediate access to your property (to protect the lives of householders) we may provide them with key safe numbers to ensure there is no delay in accessing the property
- Support social care providers with their workforce strategies and to support people to secure work in social care.
We may also use information in other ways compatible with the above. This will include supporting the work of other public bodies providing services to members of the public.
You do not have to provide information to us but, if you do not provide information, we may not be able to or it may inhibit our ability to provide services to you.
The National Data Opt-Out: Confidential patient information is used to provide you with support and care and to organise the services you need. It may also be used for wider planning or research in health and social care. To find out more or to stop your confidential patient information being used for this, see our national data opt-out privacy notice.
The kind of information we collect and use about you
The information we collect and use may include:
- Basic details about you such as name, address, telephone number, email address and date of birth
- Key safe numbers (where applicable)
- National Insurance number
- NHS number (if appropriate) as it helps to uniquely identify you when sharing information between health and social care
- Communication needs
- Social care services and support including social care assessments, mental health assessments, reviews and care and support plans
- Personal history including educational and employment history
- Family history and social relationships generally including relationship information such as next of kin, agent, attorney and other information as necessary
- Accommodation and housing needs
- Financial details if necessary including income and details of property ownership
We may also collect information about the following which is classed as "special category data" under the GDPR:
- Physical or mental health including details of your disability/medical conditions and mental health and wellbeing
- Religious beliefs
- Sexual life or sexual orientation
- Race or ethnic origin
We may also collect information about criminal convictions and offences.
Who provides this information
The information we hold includes information you have provided to us.
We also receive information from:
- Your family, carers, personal assistants and friends
- Relevant teams within the County Council
- District councils as housing authorities and administering housing benefits and council support benefits
- Housing associations and housing support providers
- Education providers including schools, 6th form colleges, higher education colleges and other post 16 educational providers
- The voluntary sector
- Government departments (eg Department for Work and Pensions, Department of Health, Home Office)
- Health bodies and providers including local GPs, hospitals, mental health trust, community health and care trust, and ambulance service
- Courts and other judicial agencies including Office of the Public Guardian and the Court of Protection
- Immigration advisers
- Substance misuse teams
- Police
- Probation service
- Your employer (if you are a member of the social care workforce)
- Organisations providing care and support, such as home care agencies, care homes, nursing homes
- Other Local Authorities (to support us in providing and facilitating local services for care, support and related services)
- Norse, N-Able (provided with contact details to collect feedback and comments about Assistive Technology which has been provided for your use)
- ICS Operations, Xlya (may conduct care assessments on our behalf)
How the law protects you and the legal basis for processing your information
We have legal grounds to process this information because it is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest.
The tasks we carry out in the public interest are under the:
- Care Act 2014
- Mental Health Acts 1983 and 2007
- Mental Capacity Act 2005
- Housing Grants Construction and Regeneration Act 1996
- Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002
- Criminal Justice Act 2003
- National Health Service Act 2006, and
- Health and Social Care Act 2012
We have legal grounds to process (including share) special category data and criminal convictions data where it is in the exercise of a statutory function and it is in the necessary for reasons in the substantial public interest. The statutory functions are the same as the tasks in the public interest set out above.
We may also seek specific consent to use your information in certain ways. This will normally be where the use of the data is not necessary for the above purposes but may be very useful or helpful to us to provide services and you have a free and genuine choice about the way in which your data is used (for example where it is not necessary for services you need to maintain your health or well-being, but we think it may be helpful to you or others).
Who we share your information with
We may also share personal information with families and other organisations, in particular:
- Teams within the County Council where necessary
- District councils as housing authorities and administering housing benefits and council support benefits
- Housing associations and housing support providers
- Voluntary sector
- Government departments (eg Department for Work and Pensions, Department of Health, Home Office)
- Health bodies and providers including local GPs, hospitals, mental health trust and community health and care trust
- Education providers including schools, sixth form colleges, higher education colleges and other post 16 educational providers
- Police
- Substance misuse agencies
- Advocacy services
- Courts and other judicial agencies including Office of the Public Guardian and the Court of Protection
- Equipment providers and suppliers
- Approved building contractors
- Organisations commissioned to provide care and support, such as home care agencies or care homes
- Adult safeguarding board
- Other Local Authorities (to support us in providing and facilitating local services for care, support and related services)
- Norse, N-Able (provided with contact details to collect feedback and comments about Assistive Technology which has been provided for your use)
- Xlya (trading as ICS Operations), and Carers Matter Norfolk (may conduct care assessments on our behalf)
We share hospital discharge data with the NHS via the system OPTICA
We share this information without your specific consent as it is reasonable and necessary to do so to fulfil our public tasks or in respect of special category data it is in the substantial public interest to do so. The law imposes safeguards to protect your privacy in these circumstances.
We will also share your information, subject to contractual and other legal safeguards, with organisations contracted by us to provide a service to us or directly to you. These service providers are known as data processors and have a legal obligation under GDPR and to us to look after your personal information and only use it for providing that service.
How we keep your information
The information is stored electronically, on the County Council's records management system, known as Liquid Logic. Information is also securely stored in other mediums, including email accounts and in paper files.
We do not process your information outside of the European Economic Area.
Automated decision making
We do not make automated decisions in respect of these services but if we do we will let you know.
We may use profiling to help us more accurately identify those who would benefit from additional contact and support. This means that a computer algorithm helps us to better identify any risk you may face, the level of that risk, and your needs by analysing your information.
The computer algorithm will also use your personal information and other available information such as: census information, survey information and information from local councils to help us understand the needs of different areas and predict where additional resources and services may be required. This means that the computer algorithm will combine your information and the other available information to create a map which suggests how to better allocate our resources. This is so that we can more effectively provide our services to you and other people in Norfolk, using the resources available to us.
All of the suggestions which the computer algorithm provides are always reviewed by a human before any action is taken and will never replace our duty to complete an individual Care Act assessment.
Date of notice
This notice was updated on 27 August 2024.
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