Privacy notices

Who we are

We help parents, children and young people aged 0 to 25 years with Special Educational Needs (SEN) to find information about specialist and targeted services and activities within the borough of Croydon.

The SEN service is responsible for carrying out duties under the Children and Families Act  2014 (CFA) in relation to statutory assessments, and the ongoing monitoring of children and young people who have Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plans. This includes providing you with information about annual reviews, disagreement resolution or mediation processes, and appeals made to the First-tier Tribunal (Special Educational Needs and Disability).

We work in a co-ordinated way with other children and young people’s services within the Council and with our partner organisations (statutory and non-statutory) to make sure we deliver the best possible outcomes for children and young people with SEN in Croydon, and to make sure we are fully compliant with the CFA 2014 and associated regulations and the SEND code of practice: 0 to 25 years.

For more information about the work we do, please go lto our website.  

SEN privacy notice

We are committed to the responsible handling and security of your personal data, and committed to protecting your privacy when you use our services.

This Privacy Notice explains how we use your personal information and how we protect your privacy in compliance with our requirements under the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA) and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). We are required to give you this information under data protection law.

Personal data is data which identifies a living individual directly or indirectly, in particular by reference to an identifier such as their name, address or date of birth. It does not include information relating to dead people, groups or communities of people, organisations or businesses.

Our notice applies to any activity involving our use of your personal data, for example, when collecting, storing, using, sharing and destroying it. This notice also provides information that relates specifically to the SEN service and should be read together with the Council’s corporate Privacy Notice available on our website at www.croydon.gov.uk/privacy which provides general information about how the Council uses your information and your data rights.

What information we collect

We routinely collect a range of information including some or all of the following:

• personal information e.g. name, address, contact details, date of birth, parent/carer; name(s) and contact details, gender, NHS number, unique pupil number;
• details about your special educational needs and disabilities;
• ethnicity;
• information about your physical or mental health;
• your medical history;
• your accommodation;
• details about your physical and emotional well-being and parenting;
• details of any risk issues;
• health, social care or other services you are getting;
• information about your situation given to us by your family/carers and/or other; organisations (e.g. GP, school nurse, hospital);
• reports relating to your situation e.g. safeguarding and other assessments;
• any documents sent to us relating to you;
• your educational progress and attainment information;
• your school attendance, exclusions and behavioural information; and
• information such as from court/tribunal orders or judgments and professional involvement.

Why we collect your information

We use your data to:

• allow us to carry out our statutory functions and duties e.g. to identify and clarify your child’s SEN needs;
• make decisions about whether to conduct a statutory needs assessment or issue an EHC Plan;
• make decisions about the content of an EHC Plan including outcomes, placement and provision;
• support the ongoing monitoring of the provision specified in an EHC Plan, where one is issued;
• inform EHC Plan annual review and monitor your child’s progress;

• identify the support they require in order to help them achieve the best possible outcomes;
• know who we need to speak to, so we can ask them to send us information and advice relating to your child;

• support disagreement resolution or mediation and procedures relating to appeals to the First-tier Tribunal (Special Educational Needs and Disability);
• make decisions about whether to provide additional funding to the establishment  where your child is educated;
• produce statistics and reports to research and plan new services. When statistics are used we make sure that individual children/young people or family members cannot be identified;
• comply with government department research and statistical returns;
• investigate complaints;
• assess for specialist equipment; and
• inform future commissioned services and educational placements requirements.

Who we share information with

We may need to make your personal data available to other organisations including but not limited to:

• Other Croydon Council teams e.g. Finance, Legal, Housing, Education, Children and Adult Social Services and Complaints so they can carry out their statutory roles and support our service;
• Other local authorities and social care or health providers outside of Croydon;
• Department for Education, Ofsted, Department of Health and Social Care, Education & Skills Funding Agency, Information Commissioner’s Office;
• NHS Trusts, Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) and community health services;
• HM Courts and Tribunals Service e.g. First-tier Tribunal (Special Educational Needs and Disability);
• Lawyers and advocates;
• Your lawyer or representative (if you have instructed one);
• Children and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS);
• Education and training providers including your child’s school/college;
• Educational psychologists;
• Occupational therapists, Speech and Language therapists and any other appropriate professionals;
• Youth Offending Services;
• Mediation services;
• Youth support services; and
• Other local organisations we work in close partnership with to deliver our service.

To safeguard your rights, we will only ever use and share the minimum amount of personal data as is possible.

We will share personal information with law enforcement and/or other authorities if required by law.

The lawful basis on which we use this information

• Compliance with our legal obligations under primary legislation, associated regulations and statutory guidance
• Tasks carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority
• Consent

Whenever your consent to share information is required, we will always ask you and explain why we are asking.

When we need to collect and share special category (sensitive) personal information, we rely upon reasons of substantial public interest (equality of opportunity or treatment), for social security or social protection law, and for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims whenever courts are acting in their judicial capacity. Overriding your privacy rights may also be justified where the processing is necessary to protect you or others from the risk of harm.

Where the SEN Service has a statutory responsibility to process your personal data, your consent is not required as we are using your information to provide you with a statutory service.

Storing this information

Personal data will not be retained for longer than necessary. There is usually a legal reason for keeping your personal information for a set period of time. If you require more information, please contact us at SENEnquiries@croydon.gov.uk or 020 8604 7263.

Providing us with accurate information

It is very important that you provide us with accurate information to enable us to process your enquiry for our services more quickly. If any of your details have changed, or change in the future, please inform us as soon as possible so that we can update your records.

Requesting access to your personal data

Under GDPR and the DPA 2018, parents/carers and young people have the right to request access to information that we hold about them. To make a request for your (or your child’s) personal information, contact the Council’s Information Management Team at SAR@croydon.gov.uk.

The parent/carer is responsible for their child’s consent up to age 16. From age 16 onwards the young person can provide their own consent.

Further information

The GDPR and the DPA 2018 give you a number of rights to control what personal information is used by us and how it is used. For more information about your data rights, read the Council’s Corporate Privacy Notice available at www.croydon.gov.uk/privacy.

If you have any questions or concerns about the way we collect, store or use your personal information, please contact in the first instance SENEnquiries@croydon.gov.uk or 020 8604 7263.

For independent advice about data protection issues, you can contact the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) at www.ico.org.uk .

We reserve the right to amend this Privacy Notice at any time and will keep it under review. If we do make any changes, we will post the current version to our website at this address.

Last updated: October 2018