5. Lawfulness, Fairness, Transparency

5.1 Lawfulness and Fairness

Personal Data must be Processed lawfully, fairly and in a transparent manner in relation to the Data Subject.

You may only collect, Process and share Personal Data fairly and lawfully and for specified purposes. The UK GDPR restricts our actions regarding Personal Data to specified lawful purposes. These restrictions are not intended to prevent Processing, but ensure that we Process Personal Data fairly and without adversely affecting the Data Subject.

The UK GDPR allows Processing for specific purposes, some of which are set out below:

(a)  the Data Subject has given his or her Consent;

(b)  the Processing is necessary for the performance of a contract with the Data Subject;

(c)  to meet our legal obligations;

(d)  to protect the Data Subject's vital interests;

(e)   necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority;

You must identify and document the legal ground being relied on for each Processing activity. It is very important that you do not seek to rely on consent where you have another lawful purpose (many of our services are, for example, tasks carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority).

5.2  Consent

A Data Controller must only process Personal Data on the basis of one or more of the lawful bases set out in the UK GDPR, which include Consent.

A Data Subject consents to Processing of their Personal Data if they indicate agreement clearly either by a statement or positive action to the Processing. Consent requires affirmative action so silence, pre-ticked boxes or inactivity are unlikely to be sufficient. If Consent is given in a document which deals with other matters, then the Consent must be kept separate from those other matters.

Data Subjects must be easily able to withdraw Consent to Processing at any time and withdrawal must be promptly honoured. Consent may need to be refreshed if you intend to Process Personal Data for a different and incompatible purpose which was not disclosed when the Data Subject first consented.

Unless we can rely on another legal basis of Processing, Explicit Consent is usually required for Processing Sensitive Personal Data, for Automated Decision-Making and for cross border data transfers. Usually we will be relying on another legal basis (and not require Explicit Consent) to Process most types of Sensitive Data. Where Explicit Consent is required, you must issue a Fair Processing Notice to the Data Subject to capture Explicit Consent.

You will need to evidence Consent captured and keep records of all Consents so that the Council can demonstrate compliance with Consent requirements.

5.3  Transparency (Notifying Data Subjects)  

The UK GDPR requires Data Controllers to provide detailed, specific information to Data Subjects depending on whether the information was collected directly from Data Subjects or from elsewhere. Such information must be provided through appropriate Privacy Notices or Fair Processing Notices which must be concise, transparent, intelligible, easily accessible, and in clear and plain language so that a Data Subject can easily understand them.

Whenever we collect Personal Data directly from Data Subjects, including for human resources or employment purposes, we must provide the Data Subject with all the information required by the UK GDPR including the identity of the Data Controller and DPO, how and why we will use, Process, disclose, protect and retain that Personal Data through a Fair Processing Notice which must be presented when the Data Subject first provides the Personal Data.

When Personal Data is collected indirectly (for example, from a third party or publicly available source), you must provide the Data Subject with all the information required by the UK GDPR as soon as possible after collecting/receiving the data. You must also check that the Personal Data was collected by the third party in accordance with the UK GDPR and on a basis which contemplates our proposed Processing of that Personal Data.

You should always check for any guidelines on drafting Privacy Notices/Fair Processing Notices.