Adult Social Care Fair Cost of Care privacy notice
We keep this privacy notice under regular review and it was last updated on 15 August 2022.
Kent County Council respects your privacy and is committed to protecting your personal data. This privacy notice will inform you as to how we look after your personal data and tell you about your privacy rights and how the law protects you.
Who we are
Kent County Council collects, uses and is responsible for certain personal information about you. When we do so we are regulated under the United Kingdom General Data Protection Regulation (‘UK GDPR’) and the Data Protection Act 2018. We are responsible as ‘controller’ of that personal information. Our Data Protection Officer is Benjamin Watts.
On 7 September 2021, government set out its new plan for adult social care reform in England. As part of the Fair Cost of Care exercise the local authority will need to determine the sustainable rates in Kent and identify how close the Local Authority is to it. This will include engaging with local providers for 65+ residential and nursing care and 18+ homecare to determine a sustainable fee rate for different care settings. Exercises will need to accurately reflect local costs such as staff pay and travel time and provide for an appropriate return on capital or return on operations.
This will also include a provisional market sustainability plan setting out local strategy for the next 3 years (2022 to 2025) – using the cost of care exercise as a key input, this provisional plan will demonstrate the pace at which local authorities intend to move towards a sustainable fee rate, in particular taking account of the impact of section 18(3) as well as other pressures they have identified.
Kent County Council will publish the exercises on Kent.gov.uk
For more information view the Market Sustainability and Fair Cost of Care Fund: purpose and conditions 2022 to 2023 policy paper on the GOV.UK website.
Personal information we collect and use
Information collected by us
In the course of the Fair Cost of Care project, we collect the following personal information when you provide it to us:
- service details
- financial information
- organisation name
- impact on services information.
All data will be extracted using the following tools:
- Homecare created by ADASS and LGA.
- Care Home created by iESE - providers can register their interest for the tool
- Survey built through Snap Surveys (view Snap Surveys' privacy notice).
How we use your personal information
We use your personal information to determine the sustainable rates in Kent and identify how close the Local Authority is to it. This will include engaging with local providers for 65+ residential and nursing care and 18+ homecare to determine a sustainable fee rate for different care settings. Exercises will need to accurately reflect local costs such as staff pay and travel time and provide for an appropriate return on capital or return on operations. This information will be used within the Market Sustainability plan to demonstrate the pace at which local authorities intend to move towards a sustainable fee rate, in particular taking account of the impact of section 18(3) as well as other pressures they have identified.
Reasons we can collect and use your personal information
We rely on Article (6)(1)(a) consent – you have given your clear consent for us to process your personal data for a specific purpose.
How long your personal data will be kept
We will only hold your personal information for as long as necessary. To work out how long we need to keep your information for we use our retention schedule (see retention MN10.1.04 for this project). The criteria for determining retention periods are statutory or other industry requirements, legal liability or other legal requirements and best business practice.
Who we share your personal information with
We routinely share information in the following ways:
- External provider to create a modelling for the Fair Cost of Care in Kent.
- Adult Social Care Fair Cost of Care team.
- The output report will be shared with the government.
We will share personal information with law enforcement or other authorities if required by applicable law or in connection with legal proceedings.
We will share personal information with our legal and professional advisers in the event of a dispute, complaint, or claim. We rely on Article 9(2)(f) where the processing of special category data is necessary for the establishment, exercise, or defence of legal claims or whenever courts are acting in their judicial capacity.
Your rights
Under UK GDPR you have a number of rights which you can access free of charge which allow you to:
- know what we are doing with your information and why we are doing it
- ask to see what information we hold about you (subject access request)
- ask us to correct any mistakes in the information we hold about you
- object to direct marketing
- make a complaint to the Information Commissioner's Office
- withdraw your consent at any time.
Depending on our reason for using your information you may also be entitled to:
- ask us to delete information we hold about you
- have your information transferred electronically to yourself or to another organisation
- object to decisions being made that significantly affect you
- object to how we are using your information
- stop us using your information in certain ways.
We will always seek to comply with your request however we may be required to hold or use your information to comply with legal duties. Please note, your request may delay or prevent us delivering a service to you.
For further information about your rights, including the circumstances in which they apply, see the guidance from the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) on individuals’ rights under the United Kingdom General Data Protection Regulation.
If you would like to exercise a right, please contact the Information Resilience and Transparency Team at data.protection@kent.gov.uk.
Your right to withdraw your consent
Where we rely on your consent to process your personal information, you can withdraw your consent to our use of your data at any time. You can do this by contacting the Fair Cost of Care mailbox at faircostcare@kent.gov.uk.
Keeping your personal information secure
We have appropriate security measures in place to prevent personal information from being accidentally lost or used or accessed in an unauthorised way. We limit access to your personal information to those who have a genuine business need to know it. Those processing your information will do so only in an authorised manner and are subject to a duty of confidentiality.
We also have procedures in place to deal with any suspected data security breach. We will notify you and any applicable regulator of a suspected data security breach where we are legally required to do so.
Who to contact
Please contact the Information Resilience and Transparency Team at data.protection@kent.gov.uk to exercise any of your rights, or if you have a complaint about why your information has been collected, how it has been used or how long we have kept it for.
You can contact our Data Protection Officer, Benjamin Watts, at dpo@kent.gov.uk.
UK GDPR also gives you right to lodge a complaint with Information Commissioner, who may be contacted via the Information Commissioner's website or call 03031 231113.
Read our corporate privacy statement.