Customer Services Customer records and forms

We maintain a customer record for the contacts you make with us in our Customer Record Management System; this allows us to work efficiently to provide Council services. Your basic record consists of your name and address, contact information (telephone numbers, email addresses) and a brief summary of the contact you have with us. All of the details about your interactions with the Council are contained within this individual person record; a unique case reference number is generated for every contact and this is used to locate relevant information when you contact us and so don't have to repeat your requests

The system will record personal information in a form associated with your customer record if you:

  • subscribe to or apply for services that require personal information
  • report a fault and give your contact details for us to respond
  • contact us and leave your details for us to respond

Telephone calls

We no longer routinely record telephone calls and do not record any financial card details when you make a payment via the telephone. Card details are input into a secure system and once entered, the details are not visible to staff.

Web Chat

When using Web Chat, your information you enter is recorded along with the responses from Council staff. You can request an email transcript of the conversation following the closure of the Web Chat and a summary of the conversation will be held on our records for a period of one full calendar month after the conversation took place.

Emails

When you email the Council we will keep a record of your email address for future contact. We will not include any confidential information about you in the emails we send you unless you consent for us to do so and would ask that you keep the amount of confidential information you send us via email or our on line forms to a minimum. Emails will also be held in our records for a period of one full calendar month after the email has been received.

CCTV Surveillance

CCTV is installed in our One Stop Shop for the purpose of public and staff safety and the prevention and detection of crime. Our CCTV has no audio function. Signs are displayed to notify you that CCTV is in operation with details of who to contact for further information.

Images captured on CCTV are held for a period of three weeks before being automatically deleted. However, on occasions, we may need to keep images for longer, for example, when a crime is being investigated. Images may be shared with the Police or a partner organisation for the purpose of crime prevention or detection.

CCTV images will not be released to the media or uploaded to the Internet.

You have a right to see images about yourself and to be provided with a copy. Please email customerservices@northwarks.gov.uk.

We operate CCTV and disclose images only in accordance with the codes of practise issued by the Information Commissioner and the Home Office.

Social Media

The Council uses Facebook and Twitter, however, any information entered into these systems is not held by the Council and we cannot be held responsible for the content.

Payments

Customer Service staff process payments for all Council departments either over the telephone or via a chip and pin devices in the One Stop Shop. The Council also provides an automated telephone service and an on-line payment service so that customers can make payments at any time of the day.

Security Information

All card payments are protected by Secure Socket Layer (SSL) with an encryption key length of 128 bits, which is the highest level commercially available. Your payment card details are directly processed by the Payment Management Division of Capita Software Services, a leading provider of secure online payments services to local government, and are not collected nor accessible by the Council.

Capita Software Services' online payment management solutions are independently and rigorously security assessed, and are certified by Visa and MasterCard as a Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) Level 1 payment processor. Further information about this payment card security standard can be found at https://www.pcisecuritystandards.org/pci_security/