Care Experienced Support Privacy Notice

This notice explains what personal data (information) we hold about our young people who are care experienced, how we collect it, how we use it and how we may share information that we hold about the young person in order to deliver our services. 

Who we are

As a service withing the Trust, we understand leaving our care is a time of big changes in your life. We want you to leave our care at a time that is right for you.

The table below explains the statutory duty placed on the Trust to help and support you after you leave our care.

Put simply, we will help you with:

  • Your money
  • Where you live
  • Your education, employment, training, and activities
  • Living healthily
  • And lots of other practical support too

You can contact our team on corporateparenting@birminghamchildrenstrust.co.uk

Purposes of collecting this personal information

Definitions

Main Statutory Obligations

Eligible children

Defined in paragraph 19B of Schedule 2 to the 1989 Act, and regulation 40 of the Care Planning

Regulations as a child who is:

  1. looked after,
  2. aged 16 or 17, and
  3. has been looked after by a local authority for a period of 13 weeks, or periods amounting in total to 13 weeks, which began after he reached 14 and ended after he reached 16.

The Trust has the same statutory obligations in relation to eligible children as we do towards other children looked after by us, including a duty to maintain their care plan, carry out regular reviews of their case and appoint an independent reviewing officer for the child.

 

Relevant children

Defined in section 23A(2) of the 1989 Act as a child who is:

  1. not looked after,
  2. aged 16 or 17, and
  3. was, before he last ceased to be looked after, an eligible child.

Regulation 3 of the Care Leavers Regulations prescribes a further category of relevant child who is:

  1. not looked after,
  2. aged 16 or 17, and
  3. at the time he attained the age of 16 was detained (i.e. detained in a remand centre, a young offenders institution or a secure training centre, or any other centre pursuant to a Court order), or in a hospital, and immediately before he was detained or in hospital he had been looked after by a local authority for a period or periods amounting in all to at least 13 weeks which began after he reached the age of 14.

Regulation 3 of the Care Leavers Regulations also provides that a child who has lived for a continuous period of six months or more with:

  1. his parent,
  2. someone who is not his parent but who has parental responsibility for him
  3. where he is in care and there was a residence order in force immediately before the care order was made, a person in whose favour the residence order was made then that child is not a relevant child despite falling within section 23A(2). Where those living arrangements break down and the child ceases to live with the person concerned, the child is to be treated as a relevant child.

 

If the Trust as a local authority last looked after the relevant child must, we must:

  • take reasonable steps to keep in touch with the relevant child
  • prepare an assessment of the relevant child’s needs with a view to determining what advice assistance and support it would be appropriate for us to provide him (unless they already did so when he was an eligible child)
  • as soon as possible after any assessment of needs is completed, prepare a pathway plan
  • keep the pathway plan under regular review
  • appoint a personal adviser for the child (unless they already did so when he was an eligible child)
  • safeguard and promote the relevant child’s welfare by maintaining him, providing him with or maintaining him in suitable accommodation and providing assistance in order to meet his needs in relation to education, training or employment as provided for in his pathway plan

Former relevant children

Defined in section 23C(1) of the 1989 Act as a young person who is:

  1. aged 18 or above, and either
  2. has been a relevant child and would be one if he were under 18, or
  3. immediately before he ceased to be looked after at age 18, was an eligible child.

The Trust must:

  • take reasonable steps to keep in touch with the former relevant child, and if they lose touch with him, to re-establish contact and continue to keep the pathway plan under regular review;
  • continue the appointment of the personal adviser for the child
  • if his welfare requires it, provide financial assistance by contributing to the former relevant child’s expenses in living near the place where he is, or will be, employed or seeking employment; if his welfare and educational and training needs require it, provide financial assistance to enable him to pursue education or training
  • if the former relevant child pursues higher education in accordance with his pathway plan, to pay him the higher education bursary

Former relevant children pursuing further education or training

Defined in section 23CA(1) as a former relevant child who is:

  1. aged under 25,
  2. in relation to whom the duties in23C(2)(3) and (4) no longer apply, and
  3. he has informed the local authority that he wants to pursue or is pursuing a programme of education or training.

The  Trust must:

  • appoint a personal adviser for that person
  • carry out an assessment of the needs of that person with a view to determining what assistance (if any) it would be appropriate for them to provide him;
  • prepare a pathway plan for him
  • to the extent the person’s educational or training needs require it, provide financial assistance

 

Persons qualifying for advice and assistance

Defined in section 24 of the 1989 Act as a person who is:

  1. aged at least 16 but is under 21,
  2. with respect to whom a special guardianship order is in force (or was in force when they reached 18) and was looked after immediately before the making of that order, or
  3. at any time after reaching the age of 16 but while he was still a child was, but is no longer, looked after, accommodated or fostered.

The Trust must consider whether the person needs help of a kind the we can give:

  • under section 24A - to advise and befriend and give assistance,
  • under section 24B - to give financial assistance – see above; or where the person is in full time further or higher education, is under the age of 25 and qualifies for advice and assistance, or would have done if he was under 21, assistance in relation to securing vacation accommodation

What personal information do we collect to deliver this service?

In order to provide and deliver specialist services we will collect the following personal information (these lists are not exhaustive):

  • personal information such as your name, former names, placement address, date of birth, gender
  • special category information such as ethnicity, religion, nationality, disabilities, languages, immigration status
  • other identifiers including passport, birth certificate, photographs, bank details, NHS number, National Insurance Number, Unique Pupil Number, Biometrics Cards
  • family details, composition, history and contact details
  • education background, current provision and EHC Plan
  • Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND)
  • Pupil Premium Details
  • social care history and needs
  • health information
  • Referral and Assessment information
  • financial information
  • employment history and current details
  • convictions and offences
  • safeguarding information

We will also seek personal information from other sources including:

  • other Council departments
  • your GP in regard to your health
  • other local authorities
  • school
  • agencies that you have received a service from (if applicable)
  • police
  • housing provider
  • Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS)

How we collect this information

We collect personal information in the following ways:

  • face to face
  • telephone
  • undertaking assessments
  • email and letter
  • identity documents (birth certificate, driving licence)
  • insurance documents

How your personal information is stored

We hold data securely for the set amount of time detailed in our records Retention Schedule. For more information in regard to this and how we keep your information safe please check our Records Retention Schedule.

How we use this personal information

Some of the ways we use this personal information are:

  • Help to find somewhere suitable to live that will help you manage in independence as well as to be safe.
  • Help you to get the education, training, work experience or a job, that will help you have a successful adult life.
  • Help you get the financial support you need and get you advice about managing your money
  • Help with advice to keep healthy and get access to good health advice
  • Offer advice and guidance on the issues that you are not sure about
  • We will apply for your birth certificate if you do not already have a copy.
  • We will apply for your National Insurance (NI) number for you. Ask if you do not receive it. Always keep this safe.
  • We will support you to apply for your passport. This is an essential item of photo ID. Please do not lose it.
  • For asylum-seeking young people, we will fund and support with an application for a travel document. We will also contribute £75 towards travel documents for former asylum-seeking young people with refugee status or with humanitarian protection status.
  • If you are entitled to apply for British citizenship, we will support you in how to complete the application.
  • We will discuss with you applying for your provisional driving licence. A provisional licence is an option in terms of photo ID as an alternative to a passport.
  • We will also consider paying for a course of 10 driving lessons if your chosen career path requires you to drive.

How long your personal information is held for

Information which you have provided will be stored securely in line with the retention periods shown below after which time it is archived or securely destroyed, unless we are required by law to retain records for longer than the stated retention period. The information will only be used for the purposes stated when it was collected. Information will not be sold, rented or provided to anyone else, or used for any other purpose than that for which it was originally collected unless required to by law.

Legal reasons we can collect and use your personal information

We collect and use your personal information to carry out tasks to comply with our legal obligations, to carry out tasks in the public interest and in certain circumstances, with your consent. We rely on the following legal bases under UK GDPR:

  • Article (6)(1)(c) - Legal obligation: the processing is necessary to comply with the law (not including contractual obligations)
  • Article (6)(1)(e) - Public task: the processing is necessary to perform a task in the public interest or for official functions (task or function has a clear basis in law)
  • Article (6)(1)(a) - Consent: the individual has given clear consent to process their personal data for a specific purpose.

When we collect or share special category personal data, we rely upon the following legal bases under UK GDPR:

  • Article 9(2)(f) - Legal claims or judicial acts
  • Article 9(2)(g) - Reasons of substantial public interest. We rely on the ‘safeguarding of children and of individuals at risk’, and ‘equality of opportunity or treatment’ purposes condition from Schedule 1 of the Data Protection Act 2018 when relying on Article 9(2)(g) to process your special category data.
  • Article 9(2)(h) - Health or social care
  • Article 9(2)(j) - Archiving, research and statistics

These legal bases are underpinned by acts of legislation that dictate what actions can and should be taken by local authorities, including:

  • The Children and Families Act 2014
  • The Children and Social Work Act  2017
  • The Children Act 1989
  • The Homelessness Reduction Act 2017

Who we share your personal information with

To meet our statutory obligations under law, as well as to provide the child and family with the appropriate service. In each case The Trust will only share the minimum amount of information where it is necessary, lawful and fair with:

  • Teams within Birmingham Children’s Trust working to improve outcomes for children and young people
  • In house providers of social care services, such as internal foster carers, short breaks, etc
  • Probation Services and prisons where necessary
  • Commissioned providers of local authority services (such as Independent Foster Care Agencies, Children’s Homes, Semi-Independent accommodation Providers, Supported Lodgings Providers, Residential Special Schools and Secure accommodation). Where services are commissioned, the provider would be a processor of information and also be a controller in their own right, where they collect information for their own purpose.
  • Schools
  • Partner organisations signed up to the Birmingham Collaborative Data Sharing Agreement, where necessary, which may include health visitors, midwives, district councils, housing providers, police, school nurses, doctors and mental health workers
  • Other Local Authorities (Children and Adults Social Care and Education Departments)
  • Government departments including the Department of Education, Department of Work and Pensions, and the Home Office
  • Her Majesty's Courts and Tribunal Service
  • Ofsted (in the event of a local authority inspection of children’s services)
  • The Child Protection - Information Sharing service (CP-IS) - visit the CP-IS website for more details.
  • We will share personal information with law enforcement or other authorities if required by applicable law.

No other personal information is routinely sent or held outside the UK. Should the transfer of personal information outside of the UK become necessary, it will only take place if permitted by law, and then only where there are appropriate safeguards in place to protect the information.

Your rights

Under UK GDPR you have rights which you can exercise free of charge which allow you to:

  • Know what we are doing with your information and why we are doing it
  • Ask to see what information we hold about you (subject access request)
  • Ask us to correct any mistakes in the information we hold about you
  • Object to direct marketing
  • Make a complaint to the Information Commissioners Office
  • Withdraw consent at any time (if applicable)

Depending on our reason for using your information you may also be entitled to:

  • Ask us to delete information we hold about you
  • Have your information transferred electronically to yourself or to another organisation
  • Object to decisions being made that significantly affect you
  • Object to how we are using your information
  • Stop us using your information in certain ways

We will always seek to comply with your request however we may be required to hold or use your information to comply with legal duties. Please note, your request may delay or prevent us delivering a service to you.

For further information about your rights, including the circumstances in which they apply, see the guidance from the UK Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) on individuals’ rights under UKGDPR.

If you would like to exercise a right, please contact the Disclosure Team DisclosureTeam@birminghamchildrenstrust.co.uk

Your right to withdraw your consent

Where we rely on your consent to process your personal information to provide care experience support service, you can withdraw your consent to our use of your data at any time. You can do this by emailing corporateparenting@birminghamchildrenstrust.co.uk

Keeping your personal information secure

We have appropriate security measures in place to prevent personal information from being accidentally lost, or used or accessed in an unauthorised way. We limit access to your personal information to those who have a genuine business need to know it. Those processing your information will do so only in an authorised manner and are subject to a duty of confidentiality.

We also have procedures in place to deal with any suspected data security breach. We will notify you and any applicable regulator of a suspected data security breach where we are legally required to do so.

Contact

Please contact the Disclosure Team at DisclosureTeam@birminghamchildrenstrust.co.uk to exercise any of your rights.

If you have a complaint, please contact CustomerRelations@birminghamchildrenstrust.co.uk

You can contact our Data Protection Officer, at dpo@birminghamchildrenstrust.co.uk, or write to: Data Protection Officer, Birmingham Children’s Trust, 1 Avenue Road, Birmingham, B6 4DU

UK GDPR also gives you right to lodge a complaint with the supervisory authority in the UK is the Information Commissioner who may be contacted on 03031 231113.