Transparency data

Privacy notice for the Help with Fees form EX160

Updated 27 November 2023

1. Purpose

This privacy notice sets out the standards that you can expect from the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) and HM Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) when we process personal information (‘personal data’) about you in the context of Help with Fees applications using the EX160 form; how you can get access to a copy of your personal data; and what you can do if you think the standards are not being met.

HMCTS is an Executive Agency of MoJ. MoJ is the data controller for the personal data held. HMCTS also collects and processes personal data for the exercise of its own and associated public functions and legal obligations.

This privacy notice does not apply to the processing of personal data which is collected and controlled by the court/tribunal and their judges when they are acting in their judicial capacity. The judiciary are independent from MoJ and HMCTS and data protection law applies differently to them as a result. For more information, see www.judiciary.uk/data-privacy-notices/data-privacy.

2. About personal data

Personal data is information that relates to a living individual who can be identified from the data.

It does not include information relating to dead people, groups or communities of people, organisations or businesses. It can be your name, address or telephone number. It can also include information about your gender, your financial circumstances, your cultural background or your social status.

We know how important it is to protect the privacy of all individuals involved in proceedings and to comply with data protection laws. We will safeguard your personal data and will only disclose it where it is lawful to do so, or with your consent.

3. Types of personal data we process

We only process personal data that is relevant for meeting our legal obligations and for the administration of justice. The types of data collected in the form includes:

Your full name, your postal address, your email address, your National Insurance number, your marital status, your date of birth and that of your partner, your partner’s full name and your partner’s National Insurance number. We also collect how much you and your partner have in savings and investments, whether you receive qualifying benefits for Help with Fees, the number and age of any dependent children you have and the type and the amount of total monthly income you and your partner receive. If relevant, we may collect your Home Office reference number, the name and address of your Litigation Friend or name, address and position of your Legal Representative.

The personal data will usually be obtained directly from you or from another person who has included your data in an application which they have completed.

4. Purpose of processing and the legal basis for the processing

The legal basis on which we collect the data is for the administration of justice and, anonymously, for research and statistical purposes.

We use your personal data collected and held in Help with Fees forms and uploaded onto a secure database to complete a claim for Help with Fees. Any email or postal address you supply to us will be used by HMCTS to contact you with regards to your application. We may also use your details to contact you for research purposes or to prevent or detect fraud. Your personal data may be shared with other government departments, specifically the Department of Work and Pensions and HM Revenue & Customs, for the purpose of validating or assisting you in progressing your application.

Help with Fees forms

We also process personal data for statistical purposes. The personal data is anonymised.

5. When we ask you for personal data we:

• promise to inform you why we need your personal data
• will ask only for the personal data we need and not collect information that is irrelevant or excessive
• will protect it and make sure no unauthorised person has access to it
• may share it with other organisations but only where necessary and permitted by the law (see below)
• will make sure we don’t keep it longer than is necessary

You can:

• request access to your personal data or ask for it to be corrected
• object to our processing of your personal data or ask for the processing to be restricted
• lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner (see below)

6. Who the information may be shared with

Where we share personal data, we will comply with all aspects of data protection laws. The categories of organisations with whom we may share your personal data obtained in Help with Fees forms may include agencies contracted by HMCTS (e.g. interpreters, intermediaries, transcription or translation agencies), other Government departments, tribunals or courts and public authorities within or outside the UK or EU.

We’ll never share your data with other organisations for their marketing, market research or commercial purposes, and we don’t pass on your personal data to any other websites.

7. Access to personal information

You can find out if we hold any personal data about you by making a ‘subject access request’. You can make a subject access request by emailing [email protected].

8. You can get more details on:

• agreements we have with other organisations for sharing personal data
• circumstances where we can pass on personal data without telling you, for example, to help with the prevention or detection of crime or to produce anonymised statistics
• our instructions to staff on how to collect, use or delete your personal data
• how we check that the personal data we hold is accurate and up-to-date
• how to make a complaint

For more information about the above issues or for any other queries, please contact our Data Protection Officer by email at [email protected]

9. Complaints

When we ask you for information, we will keep to the law. If you consider that your information has been handled incorrectly by MoJ or HMCTS, you can contact the Information Commissioner for independent advice about data protection. You can contact the Information Commissioner at:

Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Tel: 0303 123 1113

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