Children's Social Care and Early Help Services Privacy Notice
Who are we and what do we do
Children's Social Care and Early Help Services is part of Gateshead Council. We are based at the Civic Centre, Gateshead. We provide the following services:
advice, support and services for children, young people and families through both statutory (social care) and non-statutory (Early Help) services
We support children, young people and their families from early pregnancy up until the young person reaches the age of 19 years. We offer support for some children and young people who have a disability, up to the age of 25 years.
This privacy notice provides specific information about how we processes your personal data. It is an addition to the information contained in our Corporate privacy notice.
The Children's Social Care and Early Help encompasses the following Teams and Services:
- assessment and intervention
- ASYE Academy
- cared for children
- children's homes
- early help and targeted family support
- Fostering services and kinship care
- integrated referral team
- safeguarding and care planning
- social workers in schools
- supporting children and families
- trauma Informed and innovation
What type of information is collected about you
We collect personal information to understand your needs and provide services. Information may include:
- name
- address
- email address
- telephone number
- date of birth
- education records
- employment details
- family information
- financial details for purposes of receiving or making payments
- housing records
- lifestyle, social and personal circumstances
- national identifiers such as NHS number and National Insurance (NI) number
- proof of identity
- services you receive
- visual images, personal appearance and behaviour
This list is not exhaustive. The information required may depend upon your family circumstances.
We collect the following special category data:
- criminal offences (including alleged offences), including information from the Youth Justice Service
- criminal proceedings, outcomes and sentences
- gender and sexual orientation
- physical or mental health details
- racial or ethnic origin
- religious or other beliefs of a similar nature
- SEN - Special Education Needs
How we collect information about you
We collect information about you from various sources to ensure that we meet your needs, including:
- face-to-face contact
- online referral form (for public or professional use)
- by post
- secure email
- secure health information exchange
- telephone contact
We can source additional specialist information securely from partner agencies. We will record details of the sources of such extra information.
Why we need your information
Our purpose for collecting your personal data is to enable us to:
assess your needs and identify the most appropriate services available
The lawful basis for our processing is:
- consent
- legal obligation to which the data controller is subject
- task in the Public Interest or in exercise of official authority
Our lawful basis for processing of sensitive personal data is:
- employment, social security and social protection (if authorised by law)
- reasons of substantial public interest (with a basis in law)
- health or social care (with a basis in law)
The legislation the service is obliged to comply with includes:
- Adoption and Children Act 2002 and associated regulations
- Childcare Act 2006
- Children Act 1989 and 2004
- Children (Leaving Care) Act 2000
- Children and Social Work Act 2017
- Children and Families Act 2014
- Education (Information about Individual Pupils) (England) Regulations 2013
- Education (Pupil Registration) (England) Regulations 2006
- Education Acts 1944 and 1996
- Education and Adoption Act 2016
- Education and Inspections Act 2006
- Education and Skills Act 2008
- Equality Act 2010
- School and Early Years Finance (England) Regulations 2018
- Transport Act 1985
- Young People's Act 2008
Who your information can be shared with
Our Corporate privacy notice explains information sharing the Council carries out. This sharing fulfils statutory obligations, legal requirements and service delivery. Children's Services and Early Help can share your information with:
- AdoptNE
- Cafcass
- Commissioning Services, to better understand service, care and accommodation needs of families
- Department for Education (DfE)
- Department for Works and Pensions (DWP)
- Disclosure Barring Service
- education providers
- foster carers, including independent fostering agencies
- Gateshead Safeguarding Children Partnership
- health agencies, including the Child Protection Information System (CP-IS) and Great North Care Record's Health Information Exchange
- Home Office
- home to school transport providers
- law enforcement agencies including the Police, Youth Justice Service and Probation Service
- Ofsted
- other Gateshead Council services, such as Housing, Domestic Abuse Team, Benefits and Adult Social Care
- other local authorities
- UK courts
- voluntary organisations providing services
There are other times where we may need to share your information lawfully to individuals as well as organisations. These include:
- for the prevention or detection of crime
- where a court order requires us to share information
- where there is a serious risk of harm to you or to others
- where there are concerns for the welfare of a child
Our lawful basis for this sharing is the performance of a task in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority vested in the controller and your consent is not required. If we wish to share your information with other council services or third parties for purposes outside of those listed above we will ask your permission.
With regards to the Supporting Families Programme: If you are eligible for the Supporting Families Programme (known locally as 'Families Gateshead') we may share personal information for the programme's national evaluation.
The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) has commissioned the Office for National Statistics (ONS) to cross check data sets of other Government departments. This includes the Ministry of Justice (MOJ), DWP and DfE. See further information on the supporting families programme. (opens new window)
How long we will keep your information
We keep your information for as long as we need to provide services to you. We may also need to keep your information in accordance with legal or other obligations. Where we have no need to keep your data it will be securely destroyed. We keep a Record of Processing Activity (a requirement under the GDPR). This sets out the specific retention periods applicable in different circumstances. For more information please contact 0191 433 3000
Please see the table below in relation to retention periods within Children's Services and Early Help:
Business area | Client specific | Retention period (case closure) |
Early help | Early Help Assessment (EHA) | 25th birthday of the person we are working with |
Early help | Children and families | 25th birthday of the person we are working with |
Early help | Youth justice | 25th birthday of the person we are working with |
Early help | Domestic abuse | 25th birthday of the person we are working with |
Children's Social Care | Looked after children | 75th birthday. If the child dies before 18, 15 years from date of death |
Children's Social Care | Foster carer | 10 years from approval ending |
Children's Social Care | Foster carer - not approved | 3 years from refusal or withdrawal |
Children's Social Care | Adoption - where an adoption order is made | 100 years from date of Adoption Order |
Children's Social Care | Adoption - where an adoption order is not made | Adoption agencies keep a children's and prospective adopter's case records for such period as considers appropriate. Where an adoption order is not made and the agency decides to close the child's case record, it should transfer the information from this record to the looked after case record. In which case see Looked After Children. If the child has never been looked after, the agency should destroy the records when no further action is necessary. An example of when this may be appropriate is if the possibility of adoption of a baby was discussed before the child's birth, but the baby remained with the birth parents. |
Children's Social Care | Children's homes | 75th birthday. If the child dies before 18, 15 years from date of death |
Children's Social Care | Child protection | 35 years after case closure |
Children's Social Care | Child in need | 35 years after case closure |
Children's Social Care | Serious case review | 25th birthday |
Where your information is held
We hold personal information in secure electronic systems on Gateshead council servers.
How you can update your information
Our delivery of efficient services depends on the accuracy of your information.
Please inform us of any changes to the following:
email address
personal circumstances
postal address
any of the other information we hold
Please telephone (0191) 433 3380
Your information rights
Please see the relevant section of our Corporate privacy notice.
Marketing and e-newsletters
Please see our email marketing privacy notice.
Business intelligence, profiling and automated-decision making
Please see the relevant section of our Corporate privacy notice.
Protecting your information
Please see the relevant section of our Corporate privacy notice.
Data Protection Officer
Data Protection Officer
Civic Centre
Regent Street
Gateshead
NE8 1HH
0191 433 3000
Information Commissioner's Office
The Information Commissioner is the UK's independent body for upholding information rights. Visit their website (opens new window) to find out more about your rights under Data Protection law, and what to expect from us.
For privacy practices or data protection rights concerns, contact the Information Commissioner's Office:
Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire SK9 5AF
0303 123 1113 or 01625 545 745