This is a standard councillor casework privacy policy for a ward councillor.

Your councillor may use this policy or their own. It is best to check with them to confirm.

I am ____________________________________________

I am your elected councillor for ____________________________________________

My role is to represent residents and help with issues affecting our community.

When you contact me, I may need to use your personal information to look into your concern, raise it with the council or another organisation, or keep in touch with you about the outcome.

When you get in touch with me, I may collect:

• Your contact details (name, address, phone, email).

• Details of the issue you raise, including sensitive information if you choose to share it (such as health, family, or financial details).

I use this information only to help with your casework or to keep you updated on local issues where you have asked me to.

The law allows councillors to use personal data where it is necessary for:

• Casework and community issues (legitimate interests).

• Democratic engagement (substantial public interest).

• Consent – for example, where you ask me to keep in touch or share updates.

To progress your case, I may need to share information with organisations such as the borough council, county council, or other public bodies. I will only share what is needed.

Councillors within Basingstoke & Deane Independents (BDI) sometimes work together on issues – both within the same ward and across different areas. When we do this, the councillors involved may act as joint controllers for your data.

I may use secure online tools to keep track of casework. These systems are provided by trusted suppliers, sometimes purchased centrally by BDI, but the data remains under my control.

Casework information is kept while I remain a councillor so I can follow up with you if needed. If my term ends, BDI may help securely transfer casework records to another councillor for continuity, if that is relevant. The new councillor then becomes responsible for the data.

You have rights over your information. You can:

• Ask to see the information I hold about you.

• Ask for it to be corrected or deleted.

• Object to how it is being used.

• Withdraw consent if you have given it.

• Complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) at ico.org.uk.

To support my work, I may use trusted providers, such as:

• IT and cloud services to store data securely.

• Communication tools to keep in touch.

• Casework systems provided through BDI, used only with your agreement.

These providers act only on my instructions and cannot use your data for their own purposes.

If you have questions about how your data is used in casework, please contact me:

📧 ____________________________________________

📞 ____________________________________________

🌐 ____________________________________________

You can also contact the ICO for independent advice: www.ico.org.uk.

Councillors are not required to register individually with the ICO as data controllers for casework. This position is confirmed by the ICO’s guidance on councillors and casework (see: ico.org.uk/for-organisations/political/).