How we manage contact

Information is retained in accordance with the Council's data retention policy.

Visitors to our websites

When someone visits our website we use a third party service called Google Analytics to collect standard internet log information and details of visitor behaviour patterns. We do this to find out information such as the number of visitors to the various parts and pages of the site, to understand your journey through the website, to log how long and how many pages people look at on our website, and to inform our changes to the website to make the user journey better.

Search engine

Our website search is powered by GOSS. Search queries and results are logged anonymously to help us improve our website and search functionality.

Application Forms and Online Payments

We collect information from forms and online payments that have been completed and submitted to allow us to provide the service that you have requested.

Information may be used to compile and publish statistics showing information like the number of forms that we received, types of interactions, etc but not in a form which identifies anyone.

Use of cookies by the Staffordshire Moorlands District Council

You can read more about how we use cookies on our Cookies page.

Security and performance

To help maintain the security and performance of the website we use an SSL Certificate. Typically, SSL is used to make secure payment transactions, data transfers and logins to a website, and is also used when browsing social media sites.

People who contact us via social media

We use a third party provider, Hootsuite to monitor and respond from our twitter account along with tools provided within the social media accounts.

Our social media accounts are monitored Monday to Friday during office opening times excluding Bank Holidays.

All social media accounts adhere to the rules and regulations as set out by the platform provider. We will never ask for personal information on a public page. Any information we need to assist us with your enquiry will be requested as a private message. Staffordshire Moorlands District Council will process your comments and direct messages about our services by sending them to an appropriate officer in order that we can respond with relevant and correct information. Information provided may be transferred to our customer portal so we keep an accurate record of your transactions with the council.

People who Contact us by Phone

When you call Staffordshire Moorlands District Council, Calling Line Identification information is used to identify the telephone number you are calling from. Phone interactions are logged in our customer portal so we have a record of interactions from each individual resident. We use this information to help improve our services and to monitor transactions.

People who email us

We are part of the PSN network. Any emails sent to us, including any attachments, may be monitored for reasons of security and for monitoring compliance with office policy.  Email monitoring or blocking software may also be used if an email sent is thought to be dangerous to our systems.

Please be aware that you have a responsibility to ensure that any email you send to us is within the bounds of the law.

People who make a complaint to us

When we receive a complaint from a person we make up a file containing the details of the complaint. This normally contains the identity of the complainant and any other individuals involved in the complaint.

We will only use the personal information we collect to process the complaint and to check on the level of service we provide. We do compile and publish statistics showing information like the number of complaints we receive, but not in a form which identifies anyone.

We will keep personal information contained in complaint files in line with our retention policy. This means that information relating to a complaint will be retained for six years from closure. It will be retained in a secure environment and access to it will be restricted according to the 'need to know' principle.

Similarly, where enquiries are submitted to us we will only use the information supplied to us to deal with the enquiry and any subsequent issues and to check on the level of service we provide.

Job applicants, current and former employees

When individuals apply to work at Staffordshire Moorlands District Council and High Peak Borough Council Alliance, we will only use the information they supply to us to process their application and to monitor recruitment statistics. Where we want to disclose information to a third party, for example where we want to take up a reference or obtain a 'disclosure' from the Disclosure and Barring Service we will not do so without informing them beforehand unless the disclosure is required by law.

Personal information about unsuccessful candidates will be held for 12 months after the recruitment exercise has been completed, it will then be destroyed or deleted. We retain de-personalised statistical information about applicants to help inform our recruitment activities, but no individuals are identifiable from that data.

Once a person has taken up employment with the Staffordshire Moorlands District Council and High Peak Borough Council Alliance, we will compile a file relating to their employment and store it electronically. The information contained in this will be kept secure and will only be used for purposes directly relevant to that person's employment. Once their employment with Staffordshire Moorlands District Council and High Peak Borough Council Alliance has ended, we will retain the file in accordance with the requirements of our retention schedule and then delete it.

Complaints or queries

Staffordshire Moorlands District Council tries to meet the highest standards when collecting and using personal information. For this reason, we take any complaints we receive about this very seriously. We encourage people to bring it to our attention if they think that our collection or use of information is unfair, misleading or inappropriate. We would also welcome any suggestions for improving our procedures.

Links to other websites

This privacy notice does not cover content on the links within this site that link to other websites. Please make sure you read the privacy statements on other websites you visit.