Privacy notice - website and cookies

We are committed to protecting the personal information you provide, and recognise the importance of being clear about how we intend to use it.

All personal information provided by you through this website (the Website) will be under the control of Wheatley Homes South acting as Data Controller and in line with the General Data Protection Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018.

This privacy notice explains how we may use any personal information we collect about you when you use the website. You should check this page from time to time to ensure you are happy with any changes. This notice is effective from 1 November 2018.

What is personal information?

Personal information is information that alone or combined with other information may identify you. Under the GDPR personal data is defined as:

“any information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person ('data subject'); an identifiable natural person is one who can be identified, directly or indirectly, in particular by reference to an identifier such as a name, an identification number, location data, an online identifier or to one or more factors specific to the physical, physiological, genetic, mental, economic, cultural or social identity of that natural person”.

We do not consider personal information to include information that has been anonymised so that it does not allow you to be identified.

What personal information we may collect

When you visit this website, we may ask you for personal information to allow us to contact you to deal with your request or enquiry. This may be collected when you enter your details into any of the online forms within this website. It may also be collected when you correspond with us by telephone, email or otherwise.

We may also collect information about your activity while you use the website or if you share any of its content by clicking the social media buttons.

The information we may collect from you includes the following personal information:

*           if you ask us to contact you - your full name, email address, telephone number and any personal data you may choose to include within the free text box

*           if you submit your postcode or location to find a service and your home is the only property that uses that postcode – your full postal address

*           When you visit the website and have chosen not to disable cookies – technical information such as your Internet Protocol (IP) address, the browser type and version, time zone setting, browser plug-in types and versions, operating system and platform as well as information about your visit including the full Uniform Resource Locators (URL) clickstream to, through and from the website, the pages viewed or searched for, page response times, download errors, page interaction information and methods used to browse away from the page and any phone number used to contact us.

What is an Internet Protocol (IP) address?

An IP address is a number that can uniquely identify a computer or network device on the internet.

How we intend to use your personal information

We process the information held about you for a number of reasons and upon different legal bases depending on the reason for which we have collected or obtained your personal information.

The main reasons we process your information in relation to this website are:

Contract:

*           to provide a service: this is necessary for the performance of, or to take steps at your request prior to entering into, a contract with you. Our privacy notices for our customers and potential customers can be accessed via the following links.

*           if you are enquiring on behalf of someone else, we may need confirmation you are authorised to act on their behalf before we can discuss their personal details.

In our legitimate interest:

*           to keep our records up to date

*           to improve our understanding of our customers and their needs

*           to administer, support, improve and develop our services to ensure our service to you is as good as it can be

*           to support strategic development

*           to recover any monies owed

*           to prevent and detect fraud and other criminal activities

*           to safeguard and maintain our property

*           to send you further information about our services or survey your opinion: we may also retain your details to provide you with information about our own service we think you may find interesting or send you a survey about your experience with us. We will do this using the contact details you have provided. This is necessary in order to fulfil our legitimate interest in providing you with this information.

*           to ensure that content on this website is presented effectively, administer this and keep it safe and secure: this is done in order to comply with our legal obligations and in accordance with our legitimate interests.

The personal information you give to us via this website may be transferred to our third-party providers who undertake the following online services on our behalf. These organisations include:

*           Google maps - if you enter your geographical information should you need directions to any of our locations

*           Share This - if you choose to share any content of the website by clicking the social media buttons such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube or Google+

*           organisations who host the Website on our behalf.

We may also share your information with other organisations in the following circumstances:

*           if we are required to do so by law

*           if Wheatley Homes South or substantially all of its assets, are acquired by a third party, in which case personal data held by us about our clients will be one of the transferred assets

*           if we transfer our rights and duties under this privacy notice.

Any third parties we share your data with are obliged to keep your details securely and to use them only to fulfil the service they provide to you on our behalf. When they no longer need your data to fulfil this service, they will dispose of it in line with our procedures. If we wish to pass your sensitive personal data onto a third party, we will only do so once we have obtained your consent unless we are legally required to do otherwise.

All the above organisations will process your personal information inside the EEA.

All about cookies and how to disable them

Cookies are text files or pixel tags which are placed on your computer when you visit this website to help us analyse website traffic, usage, and behaviour so we can improve the visitor experience to this website. We use cookies to give you the best experience on our website. The cookie information we collect for these purposes is anonymous and is used:

*           to track visitor use of this website and to compile statistical activity using Google Analytics, a service provided by Google Inc. Google automatically collects a partial IP address which ensures you remain anonymous for the purpose of monitoring website traffic and improving the user experience of the website. Google undertake not to associate your IP address with any other data held by their organisations.

*           to gather non-personal, demographic and behavioural information and if you choose to share any content using the social media buttons on this site.

A cookie doesn't give us access to your device or any information about you, other than the data you choose to share with us. We do not read cookies left by other websites. You can disable cookies at any time (see below).

The table below explains the cookies this website may use and why. It also shows which cookies are third party cookies. These are cookies that are set by a domain other than the one being visited by the user.

CookieNamePurpose
Squiz matrix sessionSQ_SYSTEM_SESSIONThese session cookies allow the site to identify a unique user visit. These do not contain any human readable personal data and are used for website functionality. They expire after a browser session.
Google AnalyticsGoogle Analytics _gaThis third-party cookie helps us count how many people visit the website by tracking if you've visited the site before. It expires after two years.
Google AnalyticsGoogle Analytics _gatThis third-party cookie is used to manage the rate at which page view requests are made. It expires after 10 minutes.
Google MapsGoogle Maps APISID, GMAIL_RTT, HSID, NID, PREF, SAPISID, SID, SSIDThese cookies are used by Google wherever Google Maps is embedded on our website.

Google Analytics uses "cookies", which are text files placed on your computer, to help the website analyse how users use the site. The information generated by the cookie about your use of the website (including your IP address) will be transmitted to and stored by Google on servers in the United States.

Google will use this information for the purpose of evaluating your use of the website, compiling reports on website activity for website operators and providing other services relating to website activity and internet usage. Google may also transfer this information to third parties where required to do so by law, or where such third parties process the information on Google's behalf.

Google will not associate your IP address with any other data held by Google.

How to disable cookies

You may refuse the use of cookies by selecting the appropriate settings on your browser, however, please note that if you do this you may not be able to use the full functionality of this website.

Most web browsers allow some control of most cookies through the browser settings. To find out more about cookies, including how to see what cookies have been set, visit www.aboutcookies.org or www.allaboutcookies.org.

Find out how to manage cookies on popular browsers:

*           Google Chrome

*           Microsoft Edge

*           Mozilla Firefox

*           Microsoft Internet Explorer

*           Opera

*           Apple Safari

To find information relating to other browsers, visit the browser developer's website.

To opt out of being tracked by Google Analytics across all websites, visit http://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout.

For further information about cookies and how to disable them from your device, please visit the websites: www.aboutcookies.org or www.allaboutcookies.org.

Gaining your consent to use tracking cookies

We are required to gain your consent before we store and use any cookies which are not intended to be used solely for the operation of this website. We do this by providing a cookie notice each time you enter this website and a link to this privacy notice which tells you how to disable cookies if you wish to do so. If you enter the site after reading this notice, and do not disable them, we will regard this as your consent for use of those cookies described in the 'The cookies that this website may use' above.

Other websites that can be accessed by the website

The website and this privacy notice may contain links to other websites. When you click any of these links and leave our site, we cannot be held responsible for the protection and privacy of any information you provide while visiting those sites, this privacy notice applies to the website only. Please make sure you read the privacy policy or notice of the website you are visiting.

Sharing information through social media

If you choose to share any content of this website, or your personal information by using the social media buttons (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube or Google+) you should be aware that any personal information you may choose to share could be accessed by the public. We cannot be held responsible for any damaging actions or behaviours which may result following your use of this or any other related subsequent social media activity.

How long will you keep my personal information?

Your personal information will be retained by us, and those organisations that process your data on our behalf, for as long as is necessary for the required service to be provided to you.

We have a data retention policy that sets out the periods for retaining and reviewing all information that we hold. This sets out different retention periods for all information we hold about your tenancy. You can request a copy by contacting us at InformationRequests@wheatley-group.com

Where will my personal information be kept?

Your personal information will be under the control of Wheatley Homes South as detailed in this notice.

However, the security of your data transmitted to and from the website cannot be guaranteed and is entirely at your own risk, as the internet is never completely secure.

Changes to our privacy statement

We will regularly review our privacy statement to ensure it reflects the personal information that we may request from you, and how we may process it. The date of subsequent revisions of this privacy notice will be recorded at the beginning of this notice.

Your rights as a data subject

You can exercise any of the following rights by writing to us at InformationRequests@wheatley-group.com.

Your rights in relation to your personal information are:

*           you have a right to request access to the personal information that we hold about you by making a Subject Access Request

*           if you believe that any of your personal information is inaccurate or incomplete, you have a right to request that we correct or complete your personal information

*           you have a right to request that we restrict the processing of your personal information for specific purposes

*           if you wish us to delete your personal information, you may request that we do so.

Any requests received by us will be considered under applicable UK Data Protection Legislation. If you remain dissatisfied, you have a right to raise a complaint with the Information Commissioner's Office.

The accuracy of our information is important to us. Please help us keep our records updated by informing us of any changes to your personal information.

Complaints

In the event that you have any questions about our privacy notice or information we hold about you, or you wish to make a complaint about how your personal data is being processed by us or third parties as described above, please contact our Data Protection Officer by:

*           writing to the Data Protection Officer at Wheatley House, 25 Cochrane St, Glasgow G1 1HL

*           email: #wheatleydataprotectionofficer@wheatley-group.com

*           using the contact us section of the website

*           telephoning our Customer First Centre on 0800 011 3447.

Please note that if you contact us by telephone, your call maybe recorded for training and quality purposes.

You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (the ‘ICO’) about how we have processed your personal data.

The ICO can be contacted at Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF, by telephone on 0303 123 1113 or through the website www.ico.org.uk.

Changes to this privacy notice

Our privacy notice is regularly kept up to date and this version was updated on 14 April 2021. The latest full version is always available from our website at www.wheatleyhomes-south.com.