Kent Integrated Domestic Abuse Service (KIDAS) privacy notice

We keep this privacy notice under regular review and was last updated on 13 August 2025.

We respect 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

We collect, 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.

Under the Domestic Abuse Act (2021), Local Authorities have a statutory duty to provide support within Safe Accommodation and must offer support to survivors (adults and children) residing in Safe Accommodation this means anyone residing in a property under a Sanctuary Scheme will be offered a package of specialist domestic abuse support. Additionally, KCC have a duty to assess local need, develop strategies and commission appropriate support.

The data evidences the scale and nature of domestic abuse in local areas including demographics, risk levels, types of abuse, barriers to access and ensures resources are utilised to target areas and people with the greatest need.

The data also allows tracking of outcomes such as reduction in risk, engagement with services and supports continuous improvement.

Aggregated data helps identify trends enabling early intervention. Anonymised data is also submitted to national bodies such as Office of Police and Crime Commissioner, Housing and Home Office etc.).

The personal information we collect and use

Information collected by us

In order to manage the KIDAS service, Clarion Housing Association Ltd, Oasis Domestic Abuse Service and Look Ahead Care and Support processes data on behalf of KCC and collect the following personal information:

• Name
• Date of birth
• Contact details
• Information about your racial or ethnic origin, religious or philosophical beliefs, physical or mental health, sexual orientation or sex life or other protected characteristics (where you choose to share this).
• Abuse and details (such as type of abuse, perpetrator relationship, presence of children) to understand prevalence, inform service design, and ensure support is proportionate to need and risk.
• Information about your household, children or dependents.
• Information about your health and wellbeing including mental health, if relevant to your support.

Special category data

We also collect the following ‘special category data (personal data which is more sensitive and is treated with extra care and protection) when you provide it to us:

Integrated Commissioning (Public Health) commission Clarion Housing Association Ltd, Oasis Domestic Abuse Service and Look Ahead Care and Support to deliver a support service to victims and survivors of domestic abuse. For information on how Clarion Housing Association Ltd, Oasis Domestic Abuse Service and Look Ahead Care and Support use your data and why, read the following privacy notices:

• Clarion Housing Association Ltd (North and South Kent)
• Look Ahead Care and Support (West Kent)
• Oasis Domestic Abuse Service (East Kent)

How we use your personal information

We use your personal information in the following ways:

• Assess local needs for domestic abuse services and improve how we deliver them.
• Monitor the quality and performance of services funded by KCC through contract monitoring.
• Meet statutory duties under the Domestic Abuse Act (2021).
• Service access and usage (referral source, service type accessed, length and frequency of engagement) to monitor referral pathways, capacity, and reach.
• Monitor outcomes (such as changes in safety, housing stability, wellbeing, outcomes, victim feedback) to evaluate service effectiveness and meet reporting requirements.

Reasons we can collect and use your personal information

We rely on the following provision as the lawful basis on which we collect and use your personal information:

• Article 6 (1)(c) the processing is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation to which the controller is subject.

In some cases, processing may also be justified under:

• Article 6(1)(e) – Processing is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority vested in the controller. This applies to the local authority’s wider duties in safeguarding, community safety, and public health.

Sensitive Information

Sometimes we need to collect and use sensitive personal information, such as health details, ethnicity for example. The law only allows us to do this in limited situations where there is a clear reason,

in this case necessary for reasons of substantial public interest. Our legal basis for this is:

• Article 9(2)(g) – Processing is necessary for reasons of substantial public interest, with the associated UK Data Protection Act 2018 Schedule 1, Part 2 conditions:
  • Paragraph 6 – Statutory and government purposes (processing necessary for the exercise of a function conferred by legislation).
  • Paragraph 18 – Safeguarding of children and individuals at risk (processing necessary to protect an individual from neglect, physical, mental, or emotional harm, or to protect their physical, mental, or emotional well-being).

Where applicable, processing may also rely on:

• Article 9(2)(f) – Processing is necessary for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims.

We take the following appropriate safeguards in respect of your special category and/or criminal convictions data when relying on the conditions above:

• We have a special category and Criminal Records Appropriate Policy in place when using your special category data.
• This policy is retained throughout the time we use your data and for 6 months after we cease to use it.
• We have a Retention Schedule which explains how long data is retained. Read our retention schedule for more information.
• We maintain a record of our processing in our ‘Record of Processing Activities’ and record in it any reasons for deviating from the periods in our Retention Schedule.

How long your personal data will be kept

We will hold your personal information for:

• up to 5 years if you contact us (by email, telephone or by letter) to keep a record of that correspondence for future reference
• Current year plus 5 years from the date of the information is supplied at which point your data will be permanently deleted.

Who we share your personal information with

As a local authority we have a statutory duty to report de-personalised information and data to relevant government departments.

Information may also be shared with partner agencies involved in your support or protection such as police or NHS etc.

Your rights

Under the 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
• 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.

Depending on our reason for using your information you may also be entitled to:

• object to how we are using your information
• 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
• 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. 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, contact the Information Resilience and Transparency Team at data.protection@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

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.

The United Kingdom General Data Protection Regulation also gives you the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner who may be contacted at https://ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint/ or telephone 0303 123 1113.

For further information read our privacy statement.