Cheshire East Councillors privacy notice

When elected as a Councillor, you become the holder of a public office. You will, as part of that role, be required to complete a number of forms to enable your public profile to be created on the Council’s website and to register you as a Councillor.

What personal information is being processed and what for

The personal information we will request from you, or collect about you will be processed by Cheshire East Council for any purpose relating to your role as a Councillor.

This will include:

Your image (for your security personal ID, use in Council communications and your profile on the Council’s website)
Your signature (signing your Declaration of Acceptance of Office form)
- Your name, your address and contact details (both private for internal use and those you wish to make public)
- Date of birth and National Insurance number (for payroll and taxation purposes)
- Make, model and car registration number (for car park pass) and confirmation of business use/passenger liability insurance (for mileage claims)

We will use the personal information we have requested from you, or collected about you to publish on the website:

Your Councillor profile. Your address and telephone number may be withheld on request to the Monitoring Officer, from this page but may still appear on the Cheshire East website on any legally published notices that have been produced in connection with the election
Members’ Register of Interest form, which will include your occupation and other financial information, unless the Monitoring Officer has agreed that the information is sensitive (i.e. disclosure of the details of the interest could lead to you or a person connected with you being subject to violence or intimidation) and can be withheld
Gifts and hospitality received in your role
Your election record, including any political groups you belong to
The Committees on which you serve and the outside organisations to which you may be appointed
Your record of attendance at meetings and training events
Meeting recordings made by the Council where you have asked a question or have participated in a debate
The allowances you have received
Any complaints about your conduct which the Hearings Sub-Committee has determined should be made public

In addition, the following information will only be processed with your explicit consent for any relevant purpose relating to your role as a Councillor in respect of the following:

Ethnic origin, disability status
Relevant knowledge and experience e.g. professional, business or community roles
Interests and skills

Why we are allowed to use your information

We will share employment/bank details with Recruitment and Pay at Cheshire East Council to enable payment of your Members’ Allowance to be made to you. This information may also be used by government bodies such as HMRC and DWP in respect of taxation matters and any pension entitlements.

Your personal details will be shared with Democratic Services staff who will manage your profile on the Council’s website, register you as a Councillor via a secure Content Management System and process your allowances claims via a secure Content Management System

Your personal details, Register of Interests form, attendance records, payment of allowances and committee/outside organisations appointments are shared with the public via the Council’s website and may be used by other members of staff. The website can be seen around the world, not just in the UK, where UK law applies.

Your contact details may be shared with the Council’s Monitoring Officer, Deputy Monitoring Officer, an Independent Person appointed to the Audit and Governance Committee to deal with standards (Councillor complaints) matters and an external investigator (should a complaint be made against you which requires investigation), in accordance with the Cheshire East Council’s Code of Conduct Complaints procedure.

We may disclose your information to others in accordance with Council policy for the prevention and detection of crime or as required by law.

We many also be required to release information about you if we are required to do so under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, and when an exemption does not apply.

Where we get your information from

From you directly as described above.

We collect information from the Council’s finance department in order to be able to publish the total amount of allowances paid to you during each financial year of your term of office.

This information is provided to us electronically. Your individual entry will be emailed to you as part of a consultation exercise, prior to publication on the Council’s website as part of a collective document containing payment of allowances records for all Cheshire East Councillors.

How long we will keep your personal information

Your personal information will be held securely until you cease to be a Councillor, at which point it will be destroyed in accordance with the Council’s Information Asset Policy i.e. information held as a written record will be securely disposed of, information held electronically will be deleted from the Council’s secure server.

Your Register of Interests form will be retained on the Council’s website until you cease to be a Councillor, at which point it will be destroyed in accordance with the Council’s Information Asset Policy i.e. information held as a written record will be securely disposed of, information held electronically will be retained for three years then deleted from the Council’s secure server.

Some non sensitive information (such as agendas and minutes in which you may be named) will be maintained indefinitely and will become part of the historical public record deposited with the Cheshire Records Office.

How your information is stored

Information held in electronic form is stored securely on a Council server to which only certain individuals have access e.g. Democratic Services staff. The systems are encrypted and protected by passwords. Information held in written form is stored in a secure office.

What happens if you don’t provide us with your information

If you fail to sign your Declaration of Acceptance of Office form within 2 months of your election, you will cease to be a Councillor.

If you fail to sign your Members’ Register of Interest form, you may not be able to attend Council meetings and may be subject to a Code of Conduct complaint.

If you fail to supply your bank details/HMRC information, we will not be able to pay you your basic allowance or any other entitlement or reimbursement, as we would not be able to process your claim.

Will your information be used to make automated decisions

Will this information be transferred abroad

Your rights

You have a number of rights regarding your personal data, including withdrawing your consent where we have asked for it. You can also ask for a copy of the information we hold about you and ask us to correct anything that is wrong. For detailed information about your rights please see our privacy notice at Cheshire East.

Page last reviewed: 09 January 2024