Who is responsible for your data?

Fylde Borough Council is the Data Controller for the personal information you have provided. The Council’s Data Protection Officer can be contacted at dpo@fylde.gov.uk or by writing to Data Protection Officer, Town Hall, Lytham St Annes, FY8 1LW.

 

What information do we need?

When determining liability for the Business Rates we can request information, including your name and address, (contact phone number and/or email if you choose to provide this), the address of the property subject to the Business Rates, owner and/or tenant details. We may also request information relevant to the award of rate reliefs, such as if the property is occupied or unoccupied or used for charitable purposes. We may also request details of other commercial premises and awards of relief received elsewhere to determine entitlement to a reduction. If you choose to pay by Direct Debit, we will request and retain your bank details. This information will be used to calculate the Business Rates amount for the address and, if applicable, we will use the bank details to collect payments. If you do not provide this information or provide false information you may be charged the wrong amount and may be subject to an offence.

 

Why do we need this?

We are allowed to ask for your information as the Council has a statutory duty to administer and collect National Non Domestic Rate (commonly known as “Business Rates”) which is a task carried out in the public interest. We use the information to assess and collect Business Rates and to keep the records that we are required to keep by law. If we believe that information that you have given us is inaccurate, we will use the information to consider whether to take formal action such as prosecution or civil recovery. The requirement to raise Business Rates is contained within the Local Government Finance Act 1988.

 

What is the lawful basis we are relying on?

We collect and use this information to make sure we can undertake our public duties in the administration and collection of Business Rates (Art 6(1)(e) of the General Data Protection Regulation, and where we are under a legal obligation to do so (Art 6(1)(c) of the General Data Protection Regulation.

 

We collect and use special category personal information for reasons of substantial public interest based upon the law. (Art 9(2)(a)).

 

Who will we share your information with?

We will share your information with Blackpool Council, who collect and administer Business Rates on our behalf, and we will share your information with other Council Services where this is permitted by legislation or is necessary to ensure you are receiving services to help you.

 

We will also share your information with external organisations if we are required, or able, to do so by law.  This includes the National Fraud Initiative, the Police, the Crown Prosecution Service, HM Revenue and Custom, the Valuation Office Agency and the Office for National Statistics. We will also share your information if ordered to do so by a Court. Data may also be disclosed for the purpose of preventing and detecting fraud, and used to do this in accordance with Part 6 (Schedule 9) of the Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014.

 

How long will we keep your information?

We retain information from 2005, which helps us to calculate Business Rate liabilities in line with the Non Domestic Rating (Collection & Enforcement) (Local Lists) Regulations 1989, Regulation 9 (as amended). More information on retention can be found on our website (www.fylde.gov.uk).

 

Other

We publish regular datasets on our website containing the names, addresses, rateable values and details of any reliefs paid to local ratepayers.

 

Your Rights

You have a number of rights relating to the processing of your information, including the right to access the information we hold about you (via a Subject Access Request), the right to erasure (the right to be forgotten) and the right to have inaccurate data corrected. More information about your rights can be found on the Council’s website (www.fylde.gov.uk), the Information Commissioner’s website (www.ico.org.uk) or you can ask for information about these rights from the Council’s Data Protection Officer.

 

Complaints

If you are not happy with how the Council has handled your personal information, you can complain to us to give us an opportunity to resolve this with you. You should contact the Data Protection Officer if you have a complaint. Alternatively, you can complain to the Information Commissioner. Their contact details are: Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF, Telephone 0303 123 1113 (local rate) or by email to casework@ico.org.uk.