We haven't had our Council Tax Dept doing this, but we did have some members
of our legal team circulating details people that had been made bankrupt to
all staff on the email system, asking whether they owed money to their
services. They also used the argument that this information was in the
public domain.
My advice to them was that we still have to use information fairly and
lawfully. A: it's not in our statutory powers to indiscriminately publicise
someone's financial situation, even if it has been made public in the back
of the local newspaper and read by a handful of people at most and B: We
should be acting fairly. That means in this case thinking about how we
would want the information treated if it was about us (that old data
protection officers' mantra).
Luckily the staff concerned agreed and stopped this practice.
The long and the short is: I agree with you that putting "IN BANKRUPTCY" on
the address line of letters is insensitive and against the spirit of the
Act.
Regards
Vincenzo
Date: Wed, 15 Oct 2003 12:38:14 +0100
From: Ian Harrison <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Bankruptcy details-further information
Further to my original query, some more information, It's not quite Friday
yet!
The data is held in a shared file use by both Council Tax and Housing
Benefits for the administration of CTB. Therefore the use in this
case is legal - at least it is according to the Commissioner's Office.
Council Tax's working practice is to put "IN BANKRUPTCY" next to the
appropriate name on the shared address field.
When HB produce letters for CTB purposes using this field the
"IN BANKRUPTCY" comes out after the name.
Council Tax's view is that bankruptcy data is in the public domain and
they can therefore use this data this way and they will not change
working practices unless compelled to by law.
HB and I feel this is at the least
- insensitive;
- against the spirit of the Act (remember it is an EU emanation); and
- could cause considerable issues - especially if someone went to the
press or this was "the last straw that broke the camel's back" and led
them to commit suicide.
I am essentially asking if anyone else has encountered this and if so
what did they decide?
Any comments gratefully received
Thanks
Iain Harrison
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