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Privacy Notice - Early Help

Privacy Notice - Early Help Service

What this privacy notice is for

Our core data protection obligations and commitments are set out in the council’s primary privacy notice at www.oldham.gov.uk/DataProtection  

This notice provides additional privacy information for users of the Targeted Early Help Service and organisations making referrals to the service.

To ensure that young people, and families get the early help that they need to enable them to improve their lives, the council and its partners are committed to working across organisations to coordinate help and support when it is most needed.

Updating our privacy notices

We may update or revise our privacy notices at any time so please refer to the version published on our website for the most up to date details.

What we use your information for

We collect your personal information for the following purpose(s):

  • to identify children, young people and families who are eligible for help and support
  • to understand and meet the needs of children, young people, and families
  • to ensure services across a range of organisations are coordinated and focussed on children, young people families with the most pressing and complex needs
  • to participate in local and national research to assess how well the services are working in delivering better long-term outcomes for children, young people, and families and in making services more effective

What categories of personal information we use

Personal information can be anything that identifies and relates to a living person. This can include information that when linked with other information, allows a person to be uniquely identified. For example, this could be your name and contact details.

The law treats some types of personal information as ‘special’ because the information requires more protection due to its sensitivity. This information consists of:

  • Racial or ethnic origin
  • Sexuality and sexual life
  • Religious or philosophical beliefs
  • Trade union membership
  • Political opinions
  • Genetic and bio-metric data
  • Physical or mental health
  • Criminal convictions and offences

In order to carry out these purposes we collect and obtain the following personal information shown in the following table:

Category of personal data

Special/ Sensitive

Name, gender and date of birth

Yes

Address and telephone number

Yes

Ethnicity and language spoken

Yes

Reason for referral (e.g. relating to financial and social

circumstances, lifestyle and behaviour, physical and mental health)

Yes

Involvement with other services

Yes

In addition to this, personal information will be used to evaluate how successful and effective early help services are at both local and national level.

National research

At national level, the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) and Department for Education commissions research to evaluate the effectiveness of the national Supporting Families (previously known as Troubled Families) programme.

Local Authorities are being asked to contribute to this research study. This means that basic pseudonymised family level information about those issues listed earlier, will be shared with researchers undertaking the evaluation. Pseudonymised means that the data has a unique reference number for each family, but this does not identify the families or individuals.

Collecting the data at a national level will help to provide a holistic picture of all the issues faced by families supported in Early Help and/or Childrens Social Care. This will also help inform improvements to the service over time.

The final reports will relate to national and local level and will only include cohort level data.

Personal information linked for research purposes at national level will:

  • only be used for research
  • will be anonymised so the researchers will not know whose data they have
  • be kept securely to prevent any unauthorised use
  • will not be used for making decisions about families or individuals
  • not be shared back with the local authority
  • be destroyed once the research project is concluded

The national departments involved in this research are listed below:

  • Ministry of Justice (Police National Computer and prison database)
  • Department for Education (national Pupil Database and individualised learner record)
  • Department for Work and Pensions (Work and Pensions Longitudinal Study)

We will only receive information about the local authority results of the national research in anonymised form and any reports published by the DLUHC will ensure that families and individuals are not identifiable.

Further information about the national programme:

Supporting families - GOV.UK web page

Local Research

If the Council by itself or together with other Greater Manchester local authorities decide it is necessary to supplement the above national research and this involves personal information, this will be carried out in line with the safeguards listed above.

Statistical analysis may also be undertaken from time to time using only anonymised information.

Legal basis for processing

The Council has identified the following reasons for processing and sharing personal data and additional special category data below:

  • Lawful basis for processing personal data under Article 6 GDPR; the process is necessary for this reason:

(c) processing is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation to which the controller is subject

(e) the processing is necessary to perform a task in the public interest or for official functions, and the task or function has a clear basis in law

  • Additional condition for processing special category data under Article 9 (2) GDPR special category personal data may be processed if:

(g) processing is necessary for reasons of substantial public interest on the basis of Union or Member State law which shall be proportionate to the aim pursued, respect the essence of the right to data protection and provide for suitable and specific measures to safeguard the fundamental rights and the interest of the data subject

  • The DPA 2018 will provide a lawful basis to process criminal offence data (as required by Article 10 GDPR). The local authority will collect the personal data under the public task basis to improve services for families.

We have legal grounds to process this information because it is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest. These tasks we carry out are under the following UK legislation:

  • Working Together to Safeguard Children 2018
  • The Children’s Act 2004
  • The National Health Service (NHS) Act 2006
  • The Children’s and Families Act 2014
  • The Crime and Disorder Act 1998
  • Offender Management Act 2007
  • The Education Act 2002
  • The Localism Act 2011
  • Local Government Act 2000
  • Criminal Justice Act 2002
  • Sexual Offences Act 2003.
  • Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984
  • The Children (Leaving Care) Act 2000
  • Special Educational Needs and Disability Regulations Act 2014
  • Immigration and Asylum Act 1999
  • Education and Skills Act 2008
  • School Discipline (Pupil Exclusions and Reviews) (England) Regulations 2012
  • Education (Information about Individual Pupils) (England) Regulation 2013
  • Protection of Children Act 1998 statutory gateways
  • Welfare Reform Act 2012

If you do not provide us with your information, we may be unable to provide you with the support you require.

Information sharing/recipients

We may share personal information about you with or obtain or receive information from the following types of organisation/partners:

  • Commissioned providers (e.g. a charity or other organisation that we ask to provide services on our behalf)
  • Nurseries and pre-school providers, schools and colleges
  • Clinical Commissioning Groups
  • Healthcare and Hospital Trusts
  • GPs and Health Visitors
  • Greater Manchester Police
  • Youth Offending Service
  • National Probation Service
  • Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service
  • Domestic Abuse services
  • Substance Misuse services
  • Registered Housing Providers
  • Other Local Authorities

Information will only be shared where it is relevant to do so, and the level of information shared will be proportionate to the needs identified.

Data Transfers beyond European Economic Area

We do not transfer any of your personal information outside the European Economic Area (‘EEA’).

Automated Decisions

All the decisions we make about you involve human intervention.

How long do we keep your data?

We will retain your personal data for only as long as is necessary and in line with our organisation’s record retention schedules.

Where can I get advice?

More information on how to seek advice in order to exercise your rights, raise a concern or complain about the handling of your personal information by the council can be found in the council’s privacy notice which can be found at: