Cambridgeshire County Council provides a Blue Badge service through our Customer and Digital Services Directorate.
Everything we do with information about living people – such as how we collect it and who we share it with – has to comply with the Data Protection Act. A key part of this is being open about how we use information and what rights you have in respect of information we hold about you.
If anything in this notice is not clear, or if you have further queries, please get in contact with the Data Protection Officer using the details at the end.
What information we hold
In the course of delivering the Blue Badge service, we collect the following personal information when you (or others on your behalf) provide it to us:
- Name
- Date of birth
- Contact details
- Gender
- Place of birth
- Contact details for members of your family and support network if you wish them to advocate for you
- Your photograph
- Financial information to process your application, if you pay by credit/debit card.
If you do not choose to use the automatic identity verification process, or this is unable to verify identity, we will collect copies of documents showing your proof of identity (for example, passport, birth certificate) and copies of documents showing your address (for example, council tax bill, benefit letter, driving licence, pay slips).
We also collect the following special category data:
- Medical information you provide in support of your claim
- If applicable, copies of documents showing your eligibility to a benefit which automatically qualifies you for a Blue Badge
Why we have it and what we use it for
The Blue Badge service is designed to enable disabled people who have a condition which impacts their mobility to access goods and services, by allowing them to park close to their destination.
Under the Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons Act (1970), we have a statutory obligation to maintain a register showing the holders of badges issued by the authority. We are responsible for determining and implementing administrative, assessment and enforcement procedures in accordance with the governing legislation, Disabled Persons (Badges for Motor Vehicles) (England) Regulations 2000, as amended.
We collect and use the personal data to consider and process Blue Badge applications under this legislation. This may include accessing data held by the Department for Work and Pensions, Home Office and HM Revenue and Customs to confirm your eligibility.
Whenever we use information, we always limit this to only the details that are needed and we ensure that it is used safely and securely. We require anyone we share information with, or who uses it on our behalf, to do so too. All staff receive training on data protection and information security.
Who we share information with and why
In the course of working with you, we may share your personal information with some of the following third parties when necessary.
- Access Independent (AI) to carry out an Independent Mobility Assessment (IMA) or desktop assessment, if required.
- Commissioned providers of local authority services (payment services)
- Partner agencies for the processing of applications. If you opt to have your identity automatically verified this will include sharing details with a third party, Northrow, who carry out a checking service against credit reference agencies and electoral register on behalf of the Council.
- Others in relation to enquiries raised on behalf of applicants (such as local councillors, family members, voluntary organisations)
- Parking Services and Police for parking enforcement and the prevention and detection of crime
- Other local authorities who administer or enforce the Blue Badge service if you move to their area or use the Blue Badge in their area
- Your name, address, date of birth, contact information and Blue Badge details will be shared with the Cabinet Office for data matching under the National Fraud Initiative
- The DVLA if there are concerns over a person’s fitness to drive
This data sharing enables us to process and safeguard the Blue Badge scheme for yourself and other applicants.
We will share personal information with law enforcement or other authorities if required to do so by applicable law. All information sharing is done with reference to the principles set out in the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Information Sharing Framework.
How long we keep hold of information for
We only keep information for as long as it is needed. This will be based on either a legal requirement (where a law says we have to keep information for a specific period of time) or accepted business practice. This is set out in our retention schedule. For Blue Badges, this usually means the information will be retained for the duration of you having a valid badge and then an additional year after this.
What rights you have
You have various rights around the data we hold about you.
- Right of access (to receive a copy of your personal data)
- Right to rectification (to request data is corrected if inaccurate)
- Right to erasure (to request that data is deleted)
- Right to restrict processing (to request we don’t use your data in a certain way)
- Right to data portability (in some cases, you can ask to receive a copy of your data in a commonly-used electronic format so that it can be given to someone else)
- Right to object (generally to make a complaint about any aspect of our use of your data)
- Right to have explained if there will be any automated decision-making, including profiling, based on your data and for the logic behind this to be explained to you.
Any such request can be submitted to the Cambridgeshire County Council Data Protection Officer. Whether we can agree to your request will depend on the specific circumstances and if we cannot then we will explain the reasons why.
If you are unhappy with any aspect of how your information has been collected and/or used, you can make a complaint to the Data Protection Officer.
You can also report your concerns to the Information Commissioner’s Office.
