Data retention - google mojo malfunction

Anyone got any in depth knowledge of the Data Protection Act and
associated acts and regs?

I need to know if there are any minimum retention periods for
documents, in general and also specifically relating to complaints
about, or to public bodies, housing associations and the like.

Myself and several neighbours are pursuing a complaint with a local
housing association, who claim not to have documents relating to a
series of previous complaints relating to the present one.

If it has any bearing, these documents contain some personal
information - names, addresses, etc.

If the housing association have fucked up, we intend to make a
complaint about them, too, because we're sick of their foot-dragging
and incompetence.

TIA

 

Depends. For some Local Authority documents the retention period is
subject to a legislative framework. Social Services for example.
Otherwise it may depend on the organisation's policy - which ought to be
published.

We used to keep 'complaint' stuff for a minimum of seven years. Longer
if a complex case. Best way to keep the LG Ombudsman happy is good
record keeping.

You need to look in to Freedom of Information Act requests as well as
Data Protection Act stuff.

Go to the Housing Ombudsman:
http://www.housingcorp.gov.uk/server/show/nav.364

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Using the patented Mavis Beacon "Hunt&Peck" Technique, Fr Jack

^^^^^^

Ooh, you're going to catch some shit for that...

 

<fx: Checks carefully for FrJ's 'give a shit' expression>

Nope.

P.

 

Fr Jack being illiterate is hardly a shock, is it.

 

Perzackly!

 

I've had a really good trawl through their site, but I think I need to
have another look. However, I did find plenty of stuff to beat them
with, if necessary.

The thing I found with most LG/public body sites was they seemed to
default to around 3 years for most stuff, which matches up with the
position in the DWP, when I worked for them.

Noted, ta.

Yup, over the past month, we've been drafting a letter and collating
evidence for a submission, ready for when they **** up sufficiently.

The main issue, ATM is getting the prior complaints found, or an
admission that they are either lost or destroyed. The other neighbours
forgot to keep copies of the various forms they had to fill in - but
that doesn't excuse "having no trace" of complaints they made as
recently as 9 months ago.

 

I was noted for being super obsessive about keeping history. Even the
commonly quoted Statute of Limitations 7 year limit doesn't always apply
in some cases. We would file a carbonless copy of the salient details of
a complaint (or more accurately service request), as well as having a
file for all the documents. We might bin the documents sooner, or as you
can imagine our cabinets got pretty bulgy. We always had that potted
history to go on though in the event of an Ombudsman complaint. It saved
my bacon a few times. Nowadays it is all done on a database with links
to PDFs of outgoing documents and PDFs of scanned incoming letters etc.

Unfortunately, the Housing Corporation site says HAs are exempt from the
FOIA.

The good news as far as can see is that all registered HAs are part of
the Housing Ombudsman setup.

Naming no names, but that seems to be a common failing in other
organisations dealing with social housing.

Forewarned is forearmed, get them to copy everything from now on, and if
necessary post it recorded delivery or take it by hand and ask for a
receipt.

The 'big lie' of "we never got it" is often employed. Any good
organisation should have an incoming mail logging system. That doesn't
exclude the chance that the Royal Mail cocked up if the forms were
submitted by post.

Best of luck.

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| Pete Fisher at Home: |
| Voxan Roadster Gilera Nordwest * 2 Yamaha WR250Z |
| Gilera GFR * 2 Moto Morini 2C/375 Morini 350 "Forgotten Error" |
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