Children and families service privacy notice
This privacy notice sits beneath the Council’s top level privacy notice and provides information about how personal data is used by Hackney’s children and families services including:
- children’s social care
- early help and prevention
- clinical services
- fostering and adoption
Please see the main privacy notice for details on your rights and who to contact about use of personal data.
What personal data do we collect and handle?
Information we may collect includes:
- personal information eg name, address and postcode, date of birth, telephone details, email address
- private and sensitive information eg family background, cultural and identity information
- housing information
- significant events and dates
- educational information
- medical information
- religious or other beliefs of a similar nature
- criminal proceedings, offences (including alleged offences), outcomes and sentences
This list is not exhaustive however the information we gather, collect, store or share will always be proportionate and only used in support of our public authority duties under law.
What legally allows us to collect and handle information about you?
Children’s social care
Children’s social care has a ‘legal obligation’ as defined within the General Data Protection Regulations to use personal and sensitive data where necessary to establish whether or not there is a need to safeguard the wellbeing of children and young people within the authority area. Special category data is processed under the provision of health and social care treatment and management as defined in Art.9 of the General Data Protection Regulations.
Early help and prevention
Early help and prevention services uses personal and sensitive data where necessary to perform their ‘public task’ as defined within the General Data Protection Regulations to support the wellbeing of children and young people within the authority area. Special category data is processed under the provision of health and social care treatment and management as defined in Art.9 of the General Data Protection Regulations.
Where the lawful basis for the use of data can not be considered as a ‘public task’ under the General Data Protection Regulations, consent will be requested as the lawful basis.
Clinical services
Clinical services uses personal and sensitive data where necessary to perform their ‘public task’ as defined within the General Data Protection Regulations to support the wellbeing of children and young people within the authority area. Clinical services may also have a ‘legal obligation’ to use personal and sensitive data where that is in relation to the safeguarding of a child or young person. Special category data is processed under the provision of health and social care treatment and management as defined in Art.9 of the General Data Protection Regulations.
Where the lawful basis for the use of data can not be considered as either a ‘public task’ or ‘legal obligation’ under the General Data Protection Regulations, consent will be requested as the lawful basis.
Fostering and adoption
As the provision of a fostering and adoption service is required by law (The Fostering Services (England) Regulations 2011, regulations 30 to 33), the service will use ‘legal obligation’ as the lawful basis to use personal and sensitive information for the sourcing and support of families for looked after children. Special category data is processed under the provision of health and social care treatment and management as defined in Art.9 of the General Data Protection Regulations.
Where there is no ‘legal obligation’ to use the personal and sensitive information ie. the recruitment of prospective foster carers, consent will be sought as the lawful basis.
How we may process your information
Please read the documents below for further information about how we may process your information:
- Hackney Children and Families Service (CFS) peer group mapping information sharing protocol
- lawful basis for use of social media-derived information in safeguarding
Who do we share your data with?
When we have a reason under the law or with your consent, we may share information with:
- police
- health partners
- other departments of the Council
- other councils
- other government departments such as HMRC; DWP and the Cabinet Office (as part of the National Fraud Initiative)
- Ofsted
- Department for Education
- residential care providers
- education providers
- advocacy services
- mental health services
- local government
- police, fire and rescue services
- probation services
- community rehabilitation services
- external evaluators (evaluating our service to support continual improvement)
This list is not exhaustive however we will only share information proportionally and will only ever do this lawfully, in line with data protection legislation.
What rights do you have?
Please see our main privacy notice for more details on your right:
- to be informed
- to access your personal data
- to rectify your personal data
- to restrict our processing of your personal data
Rectification (changing) of information
You have the right to have inaccurate personal data we hold about you changed (rectified) or to have incomplete information completed. You also have the right to have information completed or incorrect information changed for a child or young person for whom you have parental responsibility. You can make a request for rectification either in writing or verbally.
We will usually correct your information within one month. If we can’t correct your data, we will explain why it is not possible within one month. If your request is complex, we may extend the time we take to respond by a further two months. We will inform you within one month of receiving your request if we need more time and explain why an extension is necessary.
We may need evidence from you that the information we hold is incorrect and will contact you if this is the case.
We will take reasonable steps to ensure that the information is accurate. The steps we take will depend on the nature of the information and what it will be used for. The more important the information is, the greater effort we will make to correct it. This will be especially important for information collected and processed for the purposes of safeguarding children & young people or in relation to statutory functions, such as those covered by The Children Act 1989.
In the Children and Families Service, we may hold data about you that is a matter of professional opinion or the testimony of a third party. Where it is clear that information is recorded as professional opinion or decision-making, or where it is the view of a third-party, we are unlikely to alter the record because you disagree with it, although we will make a note about your disagreement on your record.
Where we correct information held about you that has been shared with other agencies or parties, we will make reasonable efforts to inform them of any rectification.
Erasure
As outlined in our Council privacy notice, sometimes you may have a right to ask for your data to be erased.
Important notice
The ongoing Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse has placed an obligation on all local authorities to retain records relating to a wide range of functions, as listed at Appendix 1 of the following document:
Further clarification from the inquiry is given in the below linked document:
Given the wide range of information that could be requested by the inquiry, in particular paragraph d of Appendix 1 – Any material relevant to statutory responsibilities for the care of children in public or private care – Hackney has indefinitely suspended the destruction of all information it holds on children, young people and their families in the performance of the Children and Families Service’s work. Requests for erasure – sometimes referred to as the ‘right to be forgotten’ – will be logged but not acted upon until the inquiry announces the end of the moratorium on the destruction of records.
Erasure notice
In this notice, we have explained what legally allows us to process individuals’ information. Where information is processed as ‘legal obligation’ or ‘public task’, the right to have this information erased – sometimes called ‘the right to be forgotten’ – does not apply.
In some situations, you may have the right to request that your information is erased. We will usually erase your information, or explain why this is not possible, within one month. If your request is complex, we may extend the time we take to respond by a further 2 months. We will inform you within one month of receiving your request if we need more time and explain why an extension is necessary.
Where we correct information held about you that has been shared with other agencies or parties, we will make reasonable efforts to inform them of the erasure.
You can make a request for erasure either in writing or verbally.