Make a request to access your personal information

Make a request to access your personal information

Make a Subject Access Request

To make an effective request you should:

• provide a clear description of the information you are requesting
• tell us where the information might be found and the date range (if known) – for example, my social care file from 1 January 1990 to 31 December 1999
• not include complaints about the council – we don’t treat these as information requests
• avoid using threatening, offensive, or abusive language, as we may refuse your request

What we need

We need you to provide:

• an email or home contact address we can send the information
• one proof of identity, such as a:
  • passport
  • driving licence
  • national identification card
  • residence permit issued by Home Office
• one proof of address, such as a:
  • utility bill dated in the last three months
  • Council Tax statement dated in the last six months
  • bank account, building society, or pension statement dated in the last three months

If you are making the request on behalf of someone else (including lawyers), you need to provide evidence that you’re allowed to make the request for them. For example:

• a signed letter of consent
• a power of attorney document
• proof of parental responsibility, such as a birth or adoption certificate

Requesting information for a child

If your child is under 16 and in your care:

• we don’t need their consent
• we do need proof of your parental responsibility

If you are making a request on behalf of a child who is not in your care then we need their consent. This is to make sure you don’t access information the child wouldn’t want or expect you to have.

To protect children, we may contact the social worker to ensure the parent is acting in the child’s best interests.

After you submit your request

We respond within one calendar month, but sometimes we may need more time. We’ll let you know if we need more time.

Delays can happen due to:

• broad requests that cover a long period, especially if only a small amount of information is requested
• not responding on time to our requests for clarification or more information
• overlapping or confusing requests

Information we cannot provide

Sometimes we may not be able to provide you with the information if:

• your request is excessive or unreasonable – for example, you have said that you will withdraw your request in return for a financial payment
• your request is designed to harass or frustrate the council or its officers
• we or another authority are using it for the prevention and detection of crime
• it relates to health or social care information that we think could cause serious harm to you or others
• it contains someone else’s personal information, and we don’t have their consent – we often remove information so we can still make a disclosure to you, without affecting the rights of others
• it is legally privileged (communications between a lawyer and council officers)
• it includes management information like restructures or corporate and personnel planning
• it relates to negotiations we have entered into with you

Tell us if you’re unhappy with how we’ve handled your request

We would like the opportunity to address any issues.

Let us know by responding to one of the emails you’ve received from us.

The Information Commissioner’s Office is unlikely to accept a complaint unless you first give us a chance to resolve the issue.

If you’re unsatisfied with our response, you can make a complaint to the Information Commissioner’s Office:

Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF