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Data crisis for council wanting taxpayer cash to clear arrears

A council that recently demanded public cash to help Covid-related arrears has found itself in hot water over its own rent demands on social tenants. 

Oxford council recently introduced a new computer system for its 7,800 council flats and houses - but its run into a problem with its quarterly rent statements.

Chief executive Caroline Green admits: “There were some errors in the data transferred from the old system to the new one resulting in a small proportion of rent statements being sent to the wrong address.”

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The authority is now using staff to override the system but because this error is a potential breach of the Data Protection Act, the council  has reported the matter to the Information Commissioner’s Office to investigate. 

The ICO is an independent authority set up to uphold information rights in the public interest promoting openness by public bodies and data privacy.

Green continues: “The council has also written to those tenants who have been affected, offering our sincere apologies for the error and any inconvenience or concerns this may have caused them.”

 

Last month, after the end of the latest eviction ban, Oxford council lobbied government to give more help to private tenants, issuing a statement which read: “The resumption of evictions could be catastrophic in Oxford as nearly half of our city’s homes are privately rented and the economic impact of Covid-19 will last long after the end of the eviction ban. The government needs to take action now to prevent a potential wave of homelessness among private tenants who have fallen into arrears through no fault of their own.”

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    Is there any such thing as a Data Protection Act, when ever I ring up Organisations, Institutions or Insurance Companies, the story is the same my call is being recorded for training & quality purposes so I have to listen to this prerecording message giving themselves rights over me & not only that they are giving themselves the right to pass it around to who ever they want so where is the protection. I have asked them why are you recording can you not hear me the first time & and they say for training surely they must be trained by now. They hang up if you don’t agree to recording like Virgin Media, its the quickest way ever to get rid of them, not that it matters a carrot what they know whether they ought to or not, just have to take over our lives not that I care I’m not hiding behind the bush.

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    The American big tech companies ride roughshod over the Data Protection act.

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    🤔Do you mean European big tech companies, with branch offices/legal entities in Slovakia, Romania, Germany, France, Poland, Italy, Switzerland, Morocco, Iran, Qatar, Pakistan etc earning income from U.K. operations?
    Majority of Projects, and IT contractors who transferred the
    original data were more than likely EU citizens, got the project completion signed off by the councils, and went back to their homes for the local homeowners to pay the bills for aftermath-standard tactics by EU workers.
    I know many who used to fly over on Monday morning, back on Friday to their home nation.
    Thanks to their shoddy work, I operate as an Change Transformation Risk & Compliance director, correcting these type of data errors affecting locals, and protecting consumers rights.
    American tech co’s have been compliant with DPA from way before GDPR arrived here in 2018, after having faced multi bn$ global law suits from individual as well as corporate customers, speaking from experience as an ex VP of American companies, and consultant of EU organisations who set up outsourced tech co’s.
    Even India based branches of British, American tech companies now enforce GDPR religiously, & have to take a mandatory multi billion $ insurance for GDPR breaches.
    Either way - bottom line accountability lies with the incompetent leadership of Oxford council.
    No surprises that this has happened in Oxford, they probably hire some not so smart ‘leaders’ from Oxford Uni who want to delete the past- British history 🤦‍♀️, destroy Great Britain whilst getting more funding from taxpayers money 💰.

     
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