Council Tax privacy notice

This page was last updated on 18 August 2025.

Our contact details

Name: Andrew Wilcock

Address: Council Tax, Gravesham Borough Council, Civic Centre, Windmill Street. Gravesend, Kent DA12 1AU

Phone Number: 01474 33 78 12

The type of personal information we collect

We currently collect and process the following information:

Identifiable Personal Data

Full name, Address, email address, telephone number, move in/out date, forwarding address(es), council tax number, council tax band, details of employer, landlord, income/expenditure, payment, Power of attorney, additional occupants, liability order(s), Bank details for direct debit payments, and recording of payment made.

Special category data

Health related information.

How we get the personal information and why we have it

Most of the personal information we process is provided to us directly by you for one of the following reasons:

To provide the service, it is necessary for us to collect and hold personal information about you. The information collected and held will vary and depend on the nature of the service. In general terms, we process personal information relating to: 

  • administration
  • billing
  • payment(s)
  • debt recovery
  • discounts
  • exemptions
  • data matching
  • general correspondence between you and us on matters related to the administration, billing, collection and enforcement of Council Tax
  • investigating and if applicable, prosecuting for fraudulent activity

We also receive personal information indirectly, from the following sources in the following scenarios:

  • Department of Work and Pensions
  • HM Revenue and Customs
  • Electoral Registration Officer
  • National Fraud Initiative
  • Landlords/Lettings Agents
  • Housing Associations
  • Enforcement agents
  • Other Local authorities

Information from these organisations is used to

  • Maintain liability for Council Tax
  • Determine an application for Council Tax Reduction
  • Review or appeal a determination
  • Prevent or detect fraud or error in connection with a Council Tax Reduction, Council Tax discounts and exemptions

HM Revenue and Customs may also provide information they hold about you to us for the purposes of, reviewing or appealing a determination, preventing or detecting fraud or error in connection with a council tax exemption/ discount or as a result of an attempt to obtain council tax exemption/ discount fraudulently.

We may share this information with

  • Internal council department(s)
  • other local authorities
  • Cabinet Office (as part of the National Fraud Initiative )
  • National Audit Office 
  • Police
  • Health and social care organisations
  • Valuation Office Agency
  • His Majesties Court Service
  • National Fraud Network
  • His Majesties Custom and Revenues
  • Department of Work and Pensions
  • Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
  • Judicial Agencies e.g. Courts, Tribunals
  • Enforcement Agents
  • Contractors providing revenues and benefits services and IT support services
  • Signatories of Kent and Medway Information sharing agreement.

Sharing your information with the Office for National Statistics: an ONS feasibility study in 2017 identified the benefits of using Council Tax Data to help meet its transformation goals. As the required data is beyond what is collected centrally by any government department, ONS is therefore acquiring council tax data from every local authority in Great Britain. Our lawful bases for sharing your information with the ONS is as set out below.

We have a legal obligation to share information with the Valuation Office Agency and enforcement agents to manage and enforce council tax liability orders.

If you have given us your permission in writing, some of your information may be shared with:

  • a named friend or family member
  • support worker or other individual authorised by you to act on your behalf

We subscribe to a tracing system called LoCTA which allows us to search a subset of all subscribing local authorities’ revenues systems to trace individuals who have an outstanding council tax debt and to prevent duplicate council tax claims.
We may share information with Kent County Council to deliver the local tracing partnership. We may be asked for contact details (limited to address, phone and email information). See the Kent County Council’s Kent Local Tracing Partnership Privacy Notice.

Under the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR), the lawful bases we rely on for processing this information are:

We have a legal obligation

Legal obligation under various UK laws including but not limited to:

  • our legal obligation(s) under the Local Government Finance Act 1992 (as amended) (to levy and collect council tax)
  • our legal obligation(s) for the administration of the council tax reduction scheme under S13A and Schedule 1A of the Local Government Finance Act 1992
  • our legal obligation(s) for the administration of council tax under the Council Tax (Administration and Enforcement) Regulations 1992 (as amended)
  • our legal obligation(s) under the Social Security Administration Act 1992
  • our legal obligation(s) under the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007
  • our legal obligation(s) for the administration of council tax under the Local Government Finance Act 2012

We need it to perform a public task

  • where needed for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest (under the above legislation)
  • the exercise of official authority vested in us under the Serious Crime Act 2007 (where needed to disclose information to prevent fraud)
  • where needed for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority vested in us (Article 6(1)(e) UK GDPR and section 8(c) Data Protection Act 2018) in service to section 45A Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007 (SRSA 2007) – ONS data sharing
  • where processing is necessary for reasons of substantial public interest (Article 9(2)(g) UK GDPR and section 10(3) & Schedule 1, para.6(2)(a) Data Protection Act 2018) justified by section 45A SRSA 2007 – ONS data sharing
  • processing of data relating to criminal convictions and offences (Article 10 UK GDPR and section 10(5) & Schedule 1, para.6(2)(a) of the Data protection Act 2018) justified by section 45A SRSA 200 – ONS data sharing

We need it to perform a public task

In some instances, the Council may collect your consent for sharing of personal information with a named friend or family member and support worker or other individual authorised by you to act on your behalf. You are able to remove your consent at any time. You can do this by contacting:council.tax@gravesham.gov.uk

How we store your personal information

Your information is securely stored in our internal database management system.

Retention period

We keep your personal information for the 7 years after Council tax liability has ended, after any recovery and enforcement action has been completed and the period required by us for legal and audit purposes has expired, unless exceptional circumstances require longer retention e.g. a pending court case. All information will be held securely and disposed of confidentially.