Data protection
East Ayrshire Council is a local authority established under the Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994.
We need you to give us your personal information in order to allow us to provide services to you as the local authority for East Ayrshire. We also use your information to verify your identity where required, contact you by post, email or telephone and to maintain our records.
We provide these services to you as part of our statutory function as your local authority. For some activities, we also need to process more sensitive personal information about you for reasons of substantial public interest as set out in the Data Protection Act 2018.
It is necessary for us to process more sensitive personal information for a number of reasons, these include:
- to carry out key functions as set out in law
- in order to meet our legal obligations in relation to employment, social security and social protection law
- in order to protect your vital interests or the vital interests of others in circumstances where we will not be able to seek your consent
- where this is necessary for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims
- for the purposes of provision of social care systems and services where this is necessary in the public interest in the area of public health
- for archiving, research and statistical purposes
If we are using your information because it is required for us to have a contract with you, or you have consented to give it, then if you do not provide us with the information we have asked for we will not be able to provide that service to you.
The precise lawful basis for the Council using your personal information will vary depending on which service we are providing to you.
Further details, including your rights under data protection law, can be obtained from our Privacy Statement.
Data Protection Complaints
In June 2025, the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025 came into effect and instructed data controllers to put in place a formal process to deal with data protection complaints from June 2026.
We regard a data protection complaint as any expression of dissatisfaction about a failure to meet any of the seven data protection principles outlined in the UK General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). In brief, data protection complaints relate to any concerns you have about the way your personal information has been used, managed or shared, including who it was shared with, how we have responded to a Subject Access Request or where there has been a data breach of your information.
We will acknowledge your complaint as soon as possible and no later than 30 calendar days and let you know which service will be investigating the matter for you.
Your complaint may also include questions or requests for information, which do not fall under the data protection complaints procedures. These parts of your complaint will be dealt with separately by the teams that deal with such requests. In such cases, we will let you know if we need to treat your complaint through more than one process and how that will be done.
After we have fully investigated your complaint, if you are still dissatisfied with our decision or the way we dealt with your complaint, you can ask the UK Information Commissioners Office to look into the matter on your behalf.
You can make a data protection complaint to East Ayrshire Council by emailing : information.governance@east-ayrshire.gov.uk
You can also write to us at the address detailed below.
Freedom of information
The Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 came into effect on 1 January 2005, and aims to increase openness and accountability by ensuring people can access information held by Scottish public authorities - including, East Ayrshire Council.
Any individual or organisation can make a request for information we hold, and will be entitled to receive it, provided we hold the information and provided no exemptions apply and that locating and supplying the information would not exceed the maximum amount allowed by the Fees Regulations.
Find out more about freedom of information.
Security camera images
External agencies or members of the public requesting copies of closed circuit television (CCTV) footage should contact the Freedom of Information Officer.