Financial assessment unit privacy notice

The Financial Assessment Unit carries out personal financial assessments to see how much you could afford to pay towards adult care and support services.

A full financial assessment involves:

• Collecting information about your financial situation and
• Processing that information within a set of rules (national Regulations and local Policy) to work out your assessed maximum weekly contribution towards adult care and support services (such as care and support at home and in the community, or in a care home accommodation).

If you have any questions, please complete the financial assessment enquiries form or call 020 8496 4142/6323.

You can also contact us by post. Please write to:

Financial Assessment Unit

Families Business Hub (Room 201)

Waltham Forest Town Hall

Forest Road

Walthamstow E17 4JF

Please note that face-to-face meetings are by appointment only and can be arranged with the service by email.

The amount and detail of information we collect will vary depending on your circumstances.

We will collect personal data about you in order to help us work out your ability to contribute towards the cost of care and support services. The personal data we will collect can include but is not limited to:

• Name, date of birth, national insurance number, address and contact details
• Employment details
• Pension details
• Information regarding your property or land
• Details of your income streams
• Details of your expenses and debts
• Details of your capital, savings, investments and assets

Details of your care and support services including dates and costs.

We require your data to correctly assess the financial contribution you will make for the package of social care you receive.

Assessments are carried out adhering to the Council’s Fairer Contribution policy, so benefit checks are carried out and financial data is used to establish the amount of savings you have (to obtain a copy of the Council’s Fairer Contribution policy please contact the Financial Assessment Unit).  

We will process your data in accordance with the official authority vested in us by the Care Act, 2014 and the Care and Support (Assessment of Resources) Regulations.

We will only share information when it is necessary to do so and in accordance with the law.

Information held by the Financial Assessments Unit is used by other departments of the Council to enable them to undertake their statutory duties where the law allows it.

We will not disclose with anyone else without appropriate permission unless we have a legal reason to do so (for example, disclosure may be necessary to prevent or detect crime).

In the event of a fraudulent application, we will share your information with those organisations we are legally required to share information with through the National Fraud Initiative.  You can find more information about this on the GOV.UK website. 

We will hold your personal information on our systems for the duration that you receive services through adult social care and for 6 years after any outstanding care charges have been settled.

Our Data Protection Officer

Our Data Protection Officer is Mark Hynes, you contact him by email at data.protectionofficer@walthamforest.gov.uk

Protecting your information

Please see the relevant section of the Corporate Privacy Notice.

Your information choice and rights

Please see the relevant section of the Corporate Privacy Notice.

Complaints and contact details

These are included in the relevant section of the Corporate Privacy Notice.

Information Commissioner’s Office

If we’re unable to resolve your complaint to your satisfaction, you can complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO)