Privacy Policy

Privacy Policy
At Ongo we take our responsibility of protecting your privacy very seriously. We protect any personal information you give us while you are using our website. This privacy policy tells you what to expect when we collect personal information from visitors to our website.

Important information about us:
Our website is managed by Ongo Homes Limited.  Ongo Homes Limited is a registered co-operative and community benefit society with registration number 7639 with its registered office at Ongo House, High Street, Scunthorpe, North Lincolnshire, DN15 6AT.  Ongo Homes Limited is part of the Ongo Group (‘Ongo Group’) is made up of different legal entities, details of which can be found here. This privacy notice is issued on behalf of the Ongo Group so when we mention Ongo, “we”, “us” or “our” in this privacy notice, we are referring to the relevant company in the Ongo Group responsible for processing your data. Different entities within the Ongo Group are data controllers and Ongo Homes Limited is responsible for this website.

We have appointed a data protection officer (DPO) who is responsible for overseeing questions in relation to this privacy notice. If you have any questions about this privacy notice, including any requests to exercise your legal rights, please contact the DPO using the details set out in the “Contact Us” section below.

Purposes For Processing

Tenancy and Lease Management

We process personal data to assess housing applications, allocate properties, and manage tenancy or lease agreements.

Lawful basis:

  • Performance of a contract

Rent Collection and Arrears Management

We use personal data to administer rent accounts, collect payments, and manage arrears and recovery processes.

Lawful basis:

  • Legitimate interests

Legitimate interest:

  • Ensuring the financial sustainability of the organisation and recovering debts owed to enable continued provision of housing services

Property Maintenance and Repairs

We process personal data to arrange and manage repairs, maintenance, and inspections of our properties.

Lawful basis:

  • Performance of a contract

Health, Safety and Safeguarding

We process personal data to comply with legal obligations relating to health and safety, including gas safety, fire safety, and safeguarding individuals at risk.

Lawful basis:

  • Legal obligation

Anti-Social Behaviour Management

We process personal data to investigate complaints, prevent anti-social behaviour, and take appropriate enforcement action.

Lawful basis:

  • Legitimate interests

Legitimate interest:

  • Maintaining safe and sustainable communities and preventing nuisance or harm to residents

Customer Services and Complaints Handling

We use personal data to respond to enquiries, provide support, and manage complaints.

Lawful basis:

  • Legitimate interests

Legitimate interest:

  • Improving services, addressing concerns, and resolving disputes efficiently

Regulatory Compliance and Reporting

We process personal data to comply with obligations to regulators, government bodies, and auditors.

Lawful basis:

  • Legal obligation

Fraud Prevention and Security

We use personal data to verify identity, prevent fraud, and protect our services and systems.

Lawful basis:

  • Legitimate interests

Legitimate interest:

  • Protecting public funds, housing assets, and preventing unlawful activity

Data Sharing with Contractors and Partners

We share personal data with contractors and partners where necessary to deliver housing management and support services.

Lawful basis:

  • Legitimate interests

Legitimate interest:

  • Ensuring effective and efficient delivery of services through trusted third parties

Equality Monitoring and Social Housing Duties

We process personal data to monitor equality and ensure fair access to housing.

Lawful basis:

  • Legal obligation

Communications and Engagement

We use personal data to send service-related communications and updates about our services.

Lawful basis:

  • Legitimate interests

Legitimate interest:

  • Keeping tenants informed about services that affect them and supporting engagement with housing services

IT Systems, Security and Website Use

We process personal data to operate, maintain, and secure our IT systems and websites.

Lawful basis:

  • Legitimate interests

Legitimate interest:

  • Ensuring system security, preventing unauthorised access, and maintaining system performance

Recruitment and Employment

We process personal data for recruitment and employment administration.

Lawful basis:

  • Performance of a contract

Special Category Data

Where we process special category data (such as health or vulnerability information), we do so in accordance with Article 9 UK GDPR. This includes where processing is necessary for reasons of substantial public interest, safeguarding individuals at risk, or providing appropriate housing and support services.

Legitimate Interests

Where we rely on legitimate interests, we ensure that such processing is necessary and proportionate. We carry out a Legitimate Interests Assessment (LIA) to ensure that our interests are not overridden by the rights and freedoms of individuals.

What personal information we collect:
We may collect, store and use the following types of personal information from visitors to our website:

  • Identity data – names, usernames or similar identifier, marital status, title, date of birth and gender;
  • Contact Data – includes billing address, delivery address, email address and telephone numbers;
  • Financial Data – includes bank account and payment card details;
  • Transaction Data – includes details about payments to and from you and other details of products and services you have purchased from us;
  • Technical Data – includes internet protocol (IP) address, your login data, browser type and version, time zone setting and location, browser plug-in types and versions, operating system and platform and other technology on the devices you use to access this website;
  • Profile Data – includes your username and password, purchases or orders made by you, your interests, preferences, feedback and survey responses;
  • Usage Data – includes information about how you use our website, products and services;
  • Marketing and Communications Data – includes your preferences in receiving marketing from us.

We use different methods to collect your personal information. These include:

  • Direct interaction with you – You may give us your Identity, Contact and Financial Data by filling in forms or by corresponding with us by post, phone, email or otherwise. This includes personal data you provide when you apply for our services, create an account on our website, request marketing materials be sent to you, enter a competition, promotion or survey, or give us some feedback; and
  • Automated technology or interaction – As you interact with our website, we may automatically collect Technical Data about your equipment, browsing actions and patterns. We collect this personal data by using cookies and other similar technologies.

Automated Decision Making

We do not use information relating to you for any profiling nor do we have any have systems that take automated decisions about you.

How we use personal information:
We will only use your personal information when the law allows us to. Most commonly, we will use your personal data in the following circumstances:

  • Where we need to perform the contract we are about to enter into or have entered into with you;
  • Where it is necessary for our legitimate interests (or those of a third party) and your interests and fundamental rights do not override those interests; or
  • Where we need to comply with a legal or regulatory obligation.

Generally, we do not rely on consent as a legal basis for processing your personal data other than in relation to sending third party direct marketing communications to you via email or text message. You have the right to withdraw consent to marketing at any time.

For some of your personal information you will have a legal, contractual or other requirement or obligation for you to provide us with your personal information. If you do not provide us with the requested personal information, we may not be able to engage you or we may not be able to properly perform our contract with you or comply with legal obligations and we may have to terminate your engagement. For other personal information you may not be under an obligation to provide it to us, but if you do not provide it then we may not be able to properly perform our contract with you.

 

Analysing visits to our website:
When someone visits www.ongo.co.uk we use a third party service, Google Analytics, to collect standard internet log information and details of visitor behaviour patterns. We do this to find out things such as the number of visitors to the various parts of the site. This information is only processed in a way which does not identify anyone. We do not make, and do not allow Google to make, any attempt to find out the identities of those visiting our website. If we do want to collect personally identifiable information through our website, we will be up front about this. We will make it clear when we collect personal information and will explain what we intend to do with it.

Use of cookies:
We use cookies on this website to give you a better online experience. This includes recognising you when you sign into your account, remembering previous actions such as text entered into a form and understanding how users access our website in order to improve online services. You can set your browser to refuse all or some browser cookies, or to alert you when websites set or access cookies. If you disable or refuse cookies, please note that some parts of this website may become inaccessible or not function properly.

Our search engine:
Our website search feature is powered by WordPress. Search queries and results are logged anonymously to help us improve our website and search functionality. No user-specific information is collected by us or any third party.

E-newsletters and marketing:
Where you have consented for us to do so, we may send you e-newsletters to tell you about important information affecting you as a customer or alerting you to an event or issue you may be interested in. You can unsubscribe to these newsletters by clicking on the ‘unsubscribe’ button which appears at the bottom of the email at any time.

We use a third party provider, MailChimp and Qualtrics to deliver our e-newsletters and surveys. We gather statistics around email opening and clicks using industry standard technologies to help us monitor and improve our e-newsletter.

Blogs and comments:
The posting of personal information as a comment to an article or as a blog means your information will be publicly accessible and can be viewed and collated by third parties. We are not responsible for the behaviour of any third party or for the publication of any information you have published on our website. We strongly advise you against publishing any personal information, such as full name, age and address.

Sharing your personal information:
Where necessary or required, we may share your personal information as follows:

  • With third party service providers, in connection with services performed on our behalf. For example, our email provider, our IT provider, our platform provider and analytics and search engine providers that assist us in the improvement and optimisation of our website.
  • With other members of the Ongo Group.
  • With government bodies, our regulators and law enforcement agencies.
  • With our insurers and professional advisers.
  • With utility companies.

With third parties to whom we may choose to sell, transfer or merge parts of our business or our assets. Alternatively, we may seek to acquire other businesses or merge with them. If a change happens to our business, then the new owners may use your personal data in the same way as set out in this privacy policy.

This list is not exhaustive as there are other circumstances where we may also be required to share information, for example:

  • To meet our legal obligations.
  • In connection with legal proceedings (or where we are instructed to do so by Court order).

All our third-party service providers are required to take appropriate security measures to protect your personal information in line with our policies. We do not allow our third-party service providers to use your personal data for their own purposes. We only permit them to process your personal data for specified purposes and in accordance with our instructions.

Storing your personal information:
The personal information that we collect is stored within the UK and European Economic Area (EEA). However, there may be some circumstances where it is necessary to transfer and store personal information at a destination outside the UK or the EEA.  In these circumstances, we will take all steps reasonably necessary to ensure that personal information is treated securely and in accordance with data protection law and, in the event that personal information is transferred outside the UK or the EEA, shall ensure that this is carried out subject to the requirements of the retained EU law version of the General Data Protection Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (‘the UK GDPR’)

International Transfers

We do not currently transfer personal data outside of the UK.  If we were to transfer personal data overseas, we would ensure that we have appropriate safeguards in place

Ongo House has a process in place that ensures that suitable arrangements are in place such as Adequacy Regulations set by the UK Secretary of State, Standard Contractual Clauses, or other permitted mechanisms under Chapter V UK GDPR.

If you would like more information about international transfers or the safeguards we implement, please contact us using the details provided in the “How to Contact Us” section below.

How long we keep personal information:
We do not hold any personal data longer than necessary, having considered the purposes for processing and the purposes of satisfying any legal, regulatory, tax, accounting or reporting requirements. We may retain your personal data for a longer period in the event of a complaint or if we reasonably believe there is a prospect of litigation in respect to our relationship with you.

To determine the appropriate retention period for personal data, we consider the amount, nature, and sensitivity of the personal data, the potential risk of harm from unauthorised use or disclosure of your personal data, the purposes for which we process your personal data and whether we can achieve those purposes through other means, and the applicable legal requirements.

Details of retention periods for different aspects of your personal information are available in our Data Retention policy which you can request from us by contacting us.

Your right to access personal information:
You can find out if we hold any personal information about you by making a ‘subject access request’ under the  UK GDPR. If we do hold information about you, we will:

  • Give you a description of it;
  • Tell you why we are holding;
  • Tell you who it has been disclosed to; and
  • Let you have a copy of the information in an intelligible form.

You may also have the right for your personal information to be transmitted electronically to another organisation in certain circumstances.

You can request access to the information we hold about you at any time by contacting us. Find out more about how to do that here. If you are seeking to obtain specific information (e.g. about a particular matter of from a particular time period), it helps if you clarify the details of what you would like to receive in your request. If someone is requesting information on your behalf, they will need written confirmation from you to evidence your consent for us to release this and proof of ID (both yours and theirs). We have one month to provide you with the information you’ve asked for (although we will try to provide this to you as promptly as possible).

Your rights:
If you believe that any of the personal information we hold about you is incorrect, you have the right to ask us to rectify that information at any time.

You may also have the right, in certain circumstances, to request that we delete your personal information, to block any further processing of your personal information or to object to the processing of your personal information. There are some specific circumstances where these rights do not apply and we can refuse to deal with your request.

If we are processing your personal information based upon your consent (e.g. as part of our marketing or promotional activities or to make a voluntary referral to an external agency), you have the right to withdraw your consent at any time.

If you require any further information about your right to rectification, erasure, restriction of or object to processing or you wish to withdraw your consent please contact us (please see contact details section below).

Complaints:
We take any complaints we receive about the collection and use of personal information very seriously. We would encourage you to bring it to our attention if you think that our collection or use of information is unfair, misleading or inappropriate. You can make a complaint at any time by contacting us (see contact details section below).

If you think our collection or use of personal information is unfair, misleading or inappropriate or if you have concerns about the security of your personal information, you also have the right to make a complaint to the Information Commissioner’s Office. You can contact the Information Commissioner’s Office at the following address:

Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF

Contact us: You can e-mail us at enquiries@ongo.co.uk or write to us at the following address:
Ongo House, High Street, Scunthorpe, North Lincolnshire, DN15 6AT.
Tel: 01724 279900

We have appointed a Data Protection Officer to oversee our compliance with this privacy notice. If you have any questions about this privacy notice or how we handle your personal information, please contact the Data Protection Team: dataprotectionteam@ongo.co.uk.