How to access your data

You have the right to ask us whether your personal data is being processed, why it's being processed, the category the data falls into and who receives it.

You also have the right to ask for all the information we have about you and the services you receive from us. This is called a subject access request.

When we receive a subject access request from you, we must give you access to all the data we hold about you, including paper and electronic records.

However, there are a number of considerations to be made before we release your data and the following information may be edited out of it:

• Confidential information about other people
• Data that a professional thinks will cause serious harm to your, or someone else’s, physical or mental wellbeing.
• Information that could prevent or detect a crime.

If you consider that certain information we hold is in accurate you can ask for it to be rectified. We may not always be able to change or remove that information but we’ll correct factual inaccuracies and may include your comments in the record to show that you disagree with it. 

In some circumstances you can ask for your personal information to be deleted, for example where:

• Your personal information is no longer needed for the reason why it was collected in the first place.
• You have removed your consent for us to use your information (where there is no other legal reason us to use it).
• There is no legal reason for the use of your information.
• Deleting the information is a legal requirement.

We can’t delete your information where:

• We’re required to retain it by law.
• It is used for freedom of expression.
• It is used for public health purposes.
• It is for, scientific or historical research, or statistical purposes where it would make information unusable.
• It is necessary for exercise or defence of legal claims.

Find out more about what we do with your data and how long we keep it.

You have the right to ask us to restrict what we use your personal information when:

• You have identified inaccurate information and have told us about it.
• We have no legal reason to use that information but you want us to restrict what we use it for rather than erase the information altogether.

You have the right to ask for your personal information to be given back to you or another service provider of your choice in a commonly used format. This is called data portability.

However, this only applies if we’re using your personal information with consent, not if we’re required to by law, and if decisions were made by a computer and not a human being. It is more than likely that data portability won’t apply to most of the services you receive from the council.

You have the right to question decisions made about you by a computer, unless it’s required by a contract you have entered into, by law, or you’ve consented to it.

You also have the right to object if you are being profiled. Profiling is where decisions are made about you based on certain things in your personal information, e.g. your health conditions.

If and when Liverpool City Council uses your personal information to profile you, in order to deliver the most appropriate service to you, you will be informed.