Hitting the cold spots

Hampshire County Council complies with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and is a registered Data Controller (Reg. No Z7534309). Further information about our data protection policies.

Information we ask for

Hampshire County Council will not ask for information directly from clients. This will be the responsibility of our Service Provider, the Environment Centre, who must also comply with GDPR. The Environment Centre will seek your consent prior to passing on any information to us.

If you are applying for ECO Flex funding, the Environment Centre believe you are eligible, and you have given consent to share. The following information will be passed to Hampshire County Council: your address and confirmation that you are either a household likely to be living in fuel poverty or on a low income and vulnerable to the effects of living in a cold room. In addition, the Environment Centre will send Hampshire County Council the evidence of your eligibility. This may include financial information, health information, or information on your entitlement to certain benefits. This information will be used for Hampshire County Council to declare that you are eligible for ECO flex funding. We will maintain a record of your address including postcode and evidence of your eligibility along with the installation measures required for audit purposes for a period of 7 years. The declaration form will be passed back to the Environment Centre for processing. In addition, Hampshire County Council will need to send a return to Ofgem outlining your address and under what route we are declaring your eligibility for funding. If you do not give consent to the Environment Centre for them to access information regarding your eligibility, such as entitlement to free school meals or for us to receive this information, we may not be able to verify eligibility and this particular funding opportunity will not be available to you.

If you are seeking support for practical measures through other funding routes, the Environment Centre will send some anonymised information about your needs to Hampshire County Council. Hampshire County Council will use this information to monitor the contract with the Environment Centre, but also to support future planning. We cannot trace the applications and information back to you.

What we use this information for

The Environment Centre will initially determine a client’s eligibility for funding. If they think you are eligible and you give consent, they will send your information (as listed above) to Hampshire County Council.

Households can only access ECO Flex funding where a Local Authority has confirmed eligibility. Where the Environment Centre has your consent and passes your information to Hampshire County Council, we can confirm if you are eligible. The funding itself is not provided by Hampshire County Council and the final decision on whether a household can benefit from energy saving improvements under ECO Affordable Warmth will be made by the energy suppliers, or their agents/contractors.

Hampshire County Council must send confirmation of those who they believe are eligible for funding to Ofgem. This information will include your address and postcode and what route through which we are declaring you eligible.

For non-ECO Flex funding requests, the Environment Centre will pass anonymised information about your requirements to Hampshire County Council. This information will be used to make decisions on eligibility and levels of funding.

How long we keep this information for

We will keep your personal data for up to 7 years unless you request that we delete it earlier.

You can change your mind at any time

You can change or withdraw your consent for us to hold or use your personal data for the Hitting the Cold Spots service at any time by writing to: Hitting the Cold Spots service, Adults’ Health and Care, Hampshire County Council, Third Floor West, EII Court, The Castle, Winchester, Hants SO23 8UQ.

You can also phone 0300 555 1375 or e-mail [email protected]

Withdrawing your consent may affect the service we can provide if you withdraw consent while still wanting to use the service.