Right to erasure
Under Article 17 of the GDPR, you may, in some circumstances have a right to have your personal data deleted from our records. The right to erasure is also known as the ‘right to be forgotten’.
When a data subject has the right to have their personal data erased
- the personal data is no longer necessary for the purpose for which it was originally collected or processed
- consent was the lawful basis for processing and this consent has been withdrawn by the data subject
- the data is being unlawfully processed
- the data is being used for direct marketing purposes and the data subject now objects to that processing
- the council is using ‘legitimate interests’ as the basis for processing, the data subject is now objecting and there is no other overriding legitimate interest to continue the processing
- to comply with a legal obligation or
- if the data was provided online when the data subject was a child and they or the parent(s) gave consent at the time
If we have disclosed your data to another organisation we will endeavour to contact them to notify them of the erasure. However, where data has been made available in an online environment, reasonable steps, taking into consideration cost and technical measures, will be taken to inform other controllers/processors that they are to erase links to, copies or replication of the data.
When your rights for erasure may not apply
Your rights for erasure do not apply if processing is necessary for one of the following reasons:
- to exercise the right of freedom of expressions and information
- to comply with a legal obligation
- for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority
- for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims, or
- for archiving purposes in the public interest, scientific or historical research purposes or statistical purposes where erasure is likely to render impossible or seriously impair the achievement of that processing
Requesting right to erasure
If we refuse to comply with a request we will notify you within one month of receipt of the request to let you know the reasons why we are not taking action, your rights to make a complaint to the Information Commissioner and your ability to seek to enforce your right through a judicial remedy.
In most cases we will not charge a fee to process your request, however if your request is considered to be repetitive, manifestly unfounded or excessive we may charge a fee for the administrative costs of complying with the request. We will notify you of our decision, the fee applicable and your request will not be actioned until the fee has been received.
We will respond to your request within one month. We can extend the time limit for a further two months if the request is complex or there is more than one request for the individual.