Special Educational Needs and Disabilities privacy notice
Who is the data controller for the information I provide?
Liverpool City Council is the data controller for the information that you provide. Liverpool City Children and Families Service is committed to protecting your personal information.
Why we collect your data
The Special Education Needs and Disabilities (SEND) service is responsible for carrying out duties under the Children and Families Act 2014 in relation to statutory assessment processes, and the ongoing monitoring of children and young people who have Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plans.
This includes information and advice sought for annual review, tracking information, disagreement resolution or mediation processes and processes relating to appeals to the Special Educational Need and Disability Tribunal (SENDT).
We also administer and approve additional high needs funding applications for children and young people in relation to the special educational provision they may require across early years, school and post compulsory settings. We work in a coordinated way with other children and young people’s services within Liverpool City Council and with partner organisations to ensure we deliver the best possible outcomes for children and young people with SEND
It is very important that we are able to plan, monitor and realign our delivery of services to meet the needs of Liverpool’s children and families. To do this, we carefully and responsibly use the information we collect. Where personal information is used for statistical purposes we will ensure it is anonymised.
In certain cases, such as safeguarding inquiries and criminal investigations we are legally obliged to provide information to the police. However we have procedures in place that allows this to be carried out in a secure and confidential manner.
What is the legal basis for collecting and processing this data?
All organisations must provide a legal basis for processing your information. In most cases this is found in the new data laws of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018.
The Children and Families Act 2014 allows Liverpool City Council to provide SEND services but in many cases we will only process your information based on your explicit and informed consent.
Information we may collect
In the course of assessing and planning SEND support, and providing the most suitable educational provision, we collect the following personal information when you provide it to us:
- personal information - such as name, address, contact details, date of birth, parent/carer name(s) and contact details, gender
- details of special educational needs and disabilities
- ethnicity
- information about physical or mental health
We also obtain personal information from the following other sources:
- other organisations or teams that can provide us with advice and information - such as Adult or Children’s Social Services, educational psychologists, mental health services, doctors, school nurses and other NHS providers
- schools or post-16 settings currently or previously attended
- early education providers currently or previously attended - such as nurseries, pre-schools, childminders
We may also collect information for authorised partner agencies in order to assist us in providing you with your services.
Who will your information be shared with?
We share information that we have gathered as part of a statutory needs assessment to identify the setting to be named in section I of a child or young person’s EHC Plan, this includes consulting in accordance with parental or young person choice as well as with those providers we feel would be suitable. We may also share your information with:
- authorised teams within Liverpool City Council working to improve outcomes for children and young people
- commissioned providers of local authority services - such as education or health services
- schools, colleges and early years providers as well as wider education or training providers
- local multi-agency forums which provide SEND advice, support and guidance - such as Local Inclusion Forum Team (LIFT)
- educational Psychologists
- partner organisations signed up to our Information Sharing Agreements, where necessary, which may include NHS teams, health visitors, midwives, district councils, housing providers, Police, school nurses, doctors and mental health workers
- other local authorities and social care or health providers outside the Local Authority
- Department of Education
- providers of independent advice and guidance - such as contracted SEND consultants
- mediation services
We will share personal information with law enforcement or other authorities if required by applicable law.
How long will you keep this information for?
We keep children and young people’s information from their date of birth until they reach the age of 25. Additionally, the SEND and Educational Psychology services keep information for 6 years after the date of last involvement, which will go beyond the age of 25 for those young people supported between the ages of 20 and 25. After this time the information is archived or securely destroyed will only keep your information for as long as it is required to deliver the services that we provide. Please see What we do with your data for the council's full retention schedule.
How will my information be stored?
Your information will be stored securely on our computer databases. Access to these databases will be restricted to those who are entitled to view and process your data. If the information is collected in a paper format we will also ensure it is kept secure and destroyed when no longer required
Will my data be transferred abroad?
No.
What rights do I have when it comes to my data?
You have a number of rights that are set out on the How to access your data page of this section.
Where can I get advice?
View ourHelp and advice page for more information.