Oldham Council's disclaimer, Website Privacy Policy, and e-Trust Charter.

Disclaimer

Oldham Council is committed to the highest standard of quality information and every attempt has been made to present up-to-date and accurate information.

However, the Council gives no warranty as to the accuracy of the information on this website and accepts no liability for any loss, damage, or inconvenience caused as a result of reliance on such information.

Although the Council takes all reasonable measures to ensure that the information provided to it from third parties is not defamatory or offensive, the Council cannot control the content or take responsibility for pages maintained by external providers.

Oldham Council will use its best endeavours to safeguard the privacy of its website visitors. The Web Site Privacy Policy explains the website data processing practices of Oldham Council.

Website Privacy Notice

Oldham Council will use its best endeavours to safeguard the privacy of its website visitors. This notice explains the website data processing practices of Oldham Council.

What information do we collect?

In some areas, we may ask you to register your name, e-mail address and postal address.

We will also collect information from you if you complete any other forms on our site or if you contact us with comments or specific requests. 

This includes My Account.

All Local Authorities have a duty to improve the health of the population they serve.

To help with this, we use data and information from a range of sources including hospitals to understand more about the nature and causes of disease and ill-health in the area.

What do we use personal information for?

If you choose to complete any of our online forms, Oldham Council will not use the personal information you provide us with for marketing purposes unless we clearly ask for your consent to do so.

We may pass your details on to third-party service providers who are contracted to Oldham Council in the course of dealing with your request.

These third parties are obliged to keep your details securely and will use them only to fulfill the request and will dispose of the details when the request is complete.

My Account  

My Account provides access to a number of council services to complete a range of transactions.

Once you have signed up and logged in you will be able to:

  • Report and track issues such as litter, graffiti and fly-tipping
  • Set up a direct debit for your Council Tax and Business Rates
  • View your Council Tax, Business Rates, and Housing Benefit details 

We will ask you to sign up using your e-mail address.

We will collect information from you to verify your identity if you sign up to view your Council Tax, Housing Benefit or Businness Rate details, or if you register for Landlord Services.

We will only use this information to process your request.

We will not use the personal information you provide us by using My Account unless we clearly ask for your consent or where the law permits us to do so. 

It is important that we properly coordinate your transaction.  

As a result, if you are moving house, change your name, or if your circumstances change it is important that you let us know so we can update our records.

We will try and keep all of records up to date with the changes you make. 

Benefit claim and calculator

The Benefit claim and calculator online application allows you to:

  • see how much Housing Benefit and Council Tax Reduction you could get if you rent and make claim.
  • check and claim Council Tax Reduction if you own your home
  • find out if you're entitled to Income Support, Pension Credit or Tax Credits

The Benefit claim and calculator is only as accurate as the information you put in. So make sure you answer every question carefully and check what you have entered before you go to the next question. You can always check what you have put by going to 'show your answers' at the bottom of every screen. This allows you to alter an answer if you spot a mistake.

The calculator is not an official application for benefit. It is a guide to show you what you should be entitled to if you make an official application. When you do apply for benefits you will need to produce things like proof of income so that the council's benefits unit can work out your entitlement accurately.

If your circumstances change you must tell the benefits unit immediately as your entitlement may also change.

The calculator is updated and checked regularly for accuracy. As long as you give accurate answers the calculator should give you correct entitlement results. But benefit regulations are very complicated and change frequently, so it is not possible to guarantee 100 percent accuracy in all cases. We can't accept responsibility for any errors, so please treat the results as a guide only.

The rent and benefit calculator asks questions about your personal and financial circumstances. But because you don't need to enter your name and address to use it, your answers remain confidential.

If you want help and advice, or want to return to a calculation later, there is a facility for saving what you have done by using a password and reference number (Your password must be at least eight characters long and include both letters and numbers).

This double security means the information could only be seen by you.

You can print the information allowing you to discuss the calculation with your official housing advisor, or with your consent, permit your housing advisor access to the calculation by sharing your password (which will not be retained by the Council).

If you choose to save a calculation or claim the information will be stored for 12 weeks.

The content of the calculator is protected by copyright, trademark, and other intellectual property laws. It may be downloaded, displayed, reformatted and printed for your personal, non-commercial use only.

Change in Circumstances

The Change in Circumstances online application allows you to: 

  • update the details about you and your household
  • inform us of any change to your benefits and income

This change in circumstances system asks questions about your personal and financial circumstances.

Make sure you answer every question carefully and check what you have entered before you go to the next question. You can always check what you have put by going to 'show your answers' at the bottom of every screen. This allows you to alter an answer if you spot a mistake.

If you want help and advice,  or want to return to a change later, there is a facility for saving what you have done by using a password and reference number (Your password must be at least eight characters long and include both letters and numbers).

This double security means the information could only be seen by you.

You can print the information allowing you to discuss the change in circumstances with your official housing advisor, or with your consent, permit your housing advisor access to the change in circumstances by sharing your password (which will not be retained by the Council).

If you choose to save a calculation or claim the information will be stored for 12 weeks.

When you report a change in circumstances with this site you must make sure that you report the changes as accurately and fully as possible, as changes to your circumstances can affect your entitlement to benefits. We cannot accept responsibility for any errors you make, so please check that your answers are correct before submitting your information to the Council.

The content of the Change of Circumstances application is protected by copyright, trademark, and other intellectual property laws. It may be downloaded, displayed, reformatted, and printed for your personal, non-commercial use only.

Emails

You may receive occasional email messages from Oldham Council on matters that we consider may be of interest to you, if you have provided your email address to us for this purpose. 

You will have the opportunity to unsubscribe from the email list with each email.

Information to improve our site

We collect web statistics automatically about your visit to our site.

This information is used to help us follow browsing preferences on our site so that we can regularly improve our website.

These statistics do not contain personal data and cannot be traced back to an individual.

Cookies

Cookies enhance your experience using our website and help to personalise the service you receive.

Oldham Council will not use cookies to collect personally identifiable information about you.

We do not use cookies to access data from your hard drive, to determine your e-mail address, or to view data in cookies created by other websites.

Cookies only store information that a web server places in them.

They cannot look at other cookies on your hard drive nor can they look at any other information on your computer.

We do not use cookies to harvest information from your computer.

For a list of the cookies used on www.oldham.gov.uk please view our Cookie Policy.