How we collect and use your information
Aberdeen City Council collects and records information about you so we can arrange and support your relocation to Aberdeen. We receive information about you from the Scottish Government. The information we receive may include:
• Name
• Date of Birth
• Sex and relationship status
• Contact details email address, phone number (including second contact details if known), and preferred method of contact
• Number of dependents
• Current location and planned date and place of arrival in the UK
• Languages spoken
• Mobility issues, and further details if known
• Date and point of arrival
• Visa application number
• Names and ages of family members
• Mobility assistance required
• Information about pets and number of pets they are travelling with
• Pregnancy status
We also receive information about your Host Sponsor. This information is held separately to your own.
The reasons we use your information are:
• To ensure all requirements are in place for relocated families arriving in Aberdeen
• To ensure that all relevant services are in contact with Hosts and Guests
• To ensure that the complex needs of Guests are met in a timely fashion
• To ensure local services have the capacity to support Guests and identify where there may be accessibility issues
• To help ensure the safety of both our Guests and Hosts, including making sure appropriate checks are carried out, including Enhanced Disclosure Checks and Home Checks
• To ensure that Hosts (where eligible) are paid their Thank You Payment, and that Guests, where eligible, receive their welcome payment
How we share your information
We will share this information with the necessary services to ensure appropriate safeguarding checks are carried out and to support the preparation of and your stay once in Aberdeen.
We share information with:
- Education services (where you have school age children)
- Social work and wellbeing services (where a social work referral or support is required in relation to Guests or Hosts)
- Police Scotland (relevant addresses - to help ensure the safety of Guests or Hosts)
- Health services or the NHS (to ensure you are able to access relevant Health services)
- The Anti-Social Behaviour Investigation Team (to help ensure the safety of Guests and Hosts)
- The Private Sector Housing Team
We will also receive information from each of these organisations or Council services if it is necessary to ensure that our Hosts and Guests receive the right support or if it is necessary to ensure the safety of our Hosts and Guests.
Once these organisations and services have reviewed your information, necessary information is also shared with other Council services and supporting agencies, who the Council employ, to provide support to you when you arrive in Aberdeen:
- The Resettlement Team
- The Council’s Community Development Team
- The Council’s Youth Work team
- Action for Children
- Grampian Regional Equality Council
- English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) classes to support you to learn English
- One to one support to help you access healthcare, education and welfare support
- One to one support for young adults, progressing through education
- Group support and information sessions tailored to your relocation needs
The Resettlement Team will maintain a record of the support you receive. This record is kept to ensure essential support tasks are completed and ensure the quality of support your receive. The other services will have their own information processing methods which they will share with you during initial appointments.
The reason we provide these teams and agencies with information is to ensure we meet support matches made through the Homes for Ukraine scheme, and other Home Office and Scottish Government expectations. We may also share information about the support you receive or any issues which arise during resettlement process with the UK and Scottish Government.
We will share statistical information with the Department of Work and Pensions about the number of families who arrive in Aberdeen and when, but this will not identify you as an individual.
Finally, we may share some of your information with interpreters who provide you with language or personal support to help your integration in Aberdeen. The information we share with interpreters and volunteers is limited to the minimum information needed for them to carry out their support assignment.
We only use registered interpreters bound by the code of practice of community interpreters. We also use registered and trained who may help with interpretation services, under the supervision of Council staff.
How long we’ll keep your information for
We will keep your information for at least 5 years after your resettlement date, your information will be retained if there is opportunity for you to engage in optional services past this point.
Your rights
You have rights in relation to your data, including the right to ask for a copy of it. See the Your data page for more information about all the rights you have, as well as the contact details for the Council’s Data Protection Officer. You also have the right to make a complaint to the Information Commissioner's Office if you think we haven’t handled your data properly.
Our legal basis
Wherever the Council processes personal data, we need to make sure we have a legal basis for doing so in data protection law. We consider refugee resettlement as part of our public task, in accordance with the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999. This means that we understand our legal basis for processing your data as Article 6(1)(e) of the UK General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), and our powers under social work, housing and local government legislation.
In delivering this service we will process special category personal data. We understand our legal basis for doing so as Article 9(2)(g) of the GDPR as we consider that it is in the substantial public interest to fulfil our obligations that we have considered all relevant information when planning resettlement activities and making decisions relating to your housing situation, we do this under the Housing (Scotland) Acts 1987 and 2001 and the Homelessness etc. (Scotland) Act 2003.