Request access to data for crime and taxation
Under the Data Protection Act if you are an agency that has a crime prevention, law enforcement or tax collection function you may require access to information for the following reasons.
- to prevent or detect a crime
- to apprehend and prosecute an offender
- for taxation and benefit purposes
The type of agencies can submit a crime and taxation requests to us are.
- Police
- HM Revenue and Customs
- Child Support Agency
- Health and Safety Executive
- Official Receiver
- Solicitors or another acting on your client's behalf
- Solicitor acting on your client behalf, but asking for another’s data
- Other Local Authorities or Public Bodies, acting under authorised powers
If we have genuine concerns about releasing any personal information (for example, because we think it has other legal obligations such as the information being confidential) then we may ask for a court order before releasing the information.
Before you start
We may need to verify your identify before we can proceed with your request. If this is the case, you will need to provide two copies of ID to confirm who you are. You will be shown a list of ID that is accepted when you apply.
If you are making a request on behalf of another person, you will also need to provide their ID and their permission for you to act as their representative.
What information do I need to provide?
Providing certain information will enable us to identify you as a person with statutory authority to make a request under the exemption. You should include the following information so that we can contact you once a decision has been made.
- name
- job title
- organisation
- address
- secure email address
- telephone number
You should specify the information you are looking for and also provide any other details which would enable us to locate the data such as the following:
- directorate or section the individual has had contact with
- where the data is likely to be held
- the dates when the individual was in contact with us
You can attach any additional documents which may help us to locate the information or identify the data subject.
For the purposes of crime prevention or apprehension and conviction of an offender the requested information should relate to a specific individual. This exemption must not be used for trawling information as these requests will be refused.
You should supply details of the offence. Where you are unable to specify the offence please provide as much information as possible to enable us to make an informed decision.
How can I make a request?
You can make your request to gain access to personal information held by us under the crime and taxation exemption online.
What happens next?
When we receive your request we will assess whether or not this information will be released. For requests from the police the form must be authorised by a person no lower than Police Inspector.
If we do not consider the level of authorisation to be sufficient, we may request further authorisation or to refuse to supply the information.
How long will it take?
We will respond to your request within one calendar month, unless you have made more than one request or the enquiry becomes complex, when this occurs your request can take an extra two months to complete.
If your request is urgent, please indicate the timescale in which you require the information. Dependent on number received, volume and nature of the request it may take up to five working days to process.
What if I am unhappy with your response?
If you are unhappy with how we have handled your request, use one of the methods below to highlight your concerns:
- Contact the DPO
- By post: Data Protection Officer, Cheshire West and Chester Council, The Portal, Wellington Road, Ellesmere Port, CH65 0BA