Devon County Council (DCC) is collecting and or processing your personal data as a Data Controller under Data Protection Legislation and our ICO registration number is Z6475582. This privacy notice concerns the processing of personal data that takes place by the Early Years and Childcare service.

This notice explains what information we collect, why we collect it and how we keep it secure. It also explains your rights and our legal obligation. Should you wish to find out more about Devon County Council’s data protection policies please contact our Data Protection Officer.

We will notify you of any changes to this privacy notice

We will notify you of any changes to this privacy notice This privacy notice was last updated on 7 September 2022. If we use your personal data for any new purposes, updates will be made to the policy information and changes communicated, where necessary in accordance with current data protection legislation. For any queries relating to this privacy notice please contact the Data Protection Officer.

What information are we processing?

We may collect, store, or otherwise process information about you which may include:

parent or carer and child’s names
parent or carer and child’s date of birth
child’s gender
parent or carer and child’s contact details
childcare provider names
child’s ethnicity
child’s CLA and adoption status
parent or carer details of state benefits
parent or carer details of immigration status
parent or carer details of income
child’s DLA code

Who is collecting and using your personal data?

Devon County Council will process personal information that the Department for Work and Pensions provide us in line with our organisation’s Data Protection Policies and in line with your rights under the UK General Data Protection Regulations and associated data protection laws currently applicable in the UK.

Two named members of Devon County Council staff are securely emailed the names and addresses of potentially eligible parents and carers by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). This is known as the ‘DWP list’. From September 2022 additional data (email addresses, phone numbers and preferred contact method) were introduced to the DWP lists. The state benefits these parents and carers with two-year-old children receive could mean that they are eligible for a funded place for their child. This includes the Disability Living Allowance that may be given to them for their child. These lists are sent to us approximately every six weeks.

From September 2022 there was an extension to the three-week period for contacting parents. Parents and carers on the DWP list can now be contacted up to 8 weeks from the date of issue of the DWP list or until the next list is due to be issued (whichever is sooner). The date for the full erasure of the data remains 8 weeks from the date of issue. The local authority must not have access to more than one list at any one time.

Devon County Council sends all parents on the DWP list an invitation to check their eligibility for 2-year-old funding on the Citizen Portal – Sign in (devon.gov.uk)

Why are we collecting your personal data?

To make eligible parents aware of the entitlement and ensure that only eligible parents can claim the funding.

Aggregated data on the number of children eligible is used for planning and assessing the sufficiency of provision.

Follow-up letters or emails and texts may be sent to parents who were sent an invitation, checked their eligibility on the Citizens Portal – been found to be eligible – but who have not yet taken up a place. Communications may be sent at other times if the parent has not checked their eligibility to ensure that all children that are eligible can access a funded place if the parent/carer wishes.

Where possible, the latest DWP list is matched with the previous DWP list so that parents do not receive two follow up letters, emails or texts in close succession.

Purpose of collecting or processing your personal data

We collect personal data:

for statistical purposes
to secure sufficient childcare to improve the outcomes of all children under 5
to check eligibility for means-tested entitlement for 2-year-old children
to ensure accuracy of records across the local authority and to check against fraud
to share information with our local partner organisations and agencies, where there is a safeguarding concern

The legal basis for us collecting your personal data

Where we are collecting personal data about you for the provision of one of the purposes outlined in this privacy notice, we rely upon the following legislation which grants us official authority to process this data.

Childcare Act 2006	Childcare Act 2016
Section 6, which places a duty on English local authorities to secure sufficient childcare for working parents.	Section 1, which places a duty on the Secretary of State to secure the equivalent of 30 hours of free childcare over 38 weeks of the year for qualifying children. Children in England will qualify if they are under compulsory school age and meet the description set out in regulations made under Section 2. These regulations also set out the conditions to be met by parents in order for their children to qualify.
Section 7 (as substituted by section 1 of the Education Act 2011), which places a duty on English local authorities to secure early years provision free of charge. Regulations made under s7 set out the type and amount of free provision and the children who benefit from free provision.	Section 2, which allows the Secretary of State to discharge their duty under section 1 of the Act by placing a duty on English local authorities to secure free childcare for qualifying children. This duty is set out at regulation 33 of the Childcare (Early Years Provision Free of Charge) (Extended Entitlement) Regulations 2016. 5 Childcare Act 2006 Childcare Act 2016
Section 7A (as inserted by the Children and Families Act 2014). Regulations made under section 7A make provision about how local authorities should discharge their duty under section 7.
Section 9A (as inserted by the Children and Families Act 2014). Regulations made under section 9A limit the requirements local authorities can impose when they make arrangements to deliver early education places for two-, three- and four-year-olds.
Section 12, which places a duty on English local authorities to provide information, advice and assistance to parents and prospective parents. Section 12 is amended by section 5 of the Childcare Act 2016 to enable the Secretary of State to make regulations placing a duty on English local authorities to publish certain information at prescribed intervals.
Section 13, which places a duty on English local authorities to provide information, advice and training to childcare providers.

Recipients or categories of recipients that we may share your personal data with

The printers, Norse Eastern Ltd (Interprint), are contracted by Devon County Council to print and send out the invitations to parents.

Devon County Council has a contract with Action for Children to run children’s centre services which started on April 1, 2018, and ends on March 31, 2023. Data may be shared with the children’s centres where there are eligible parents/carers that have been sent a Golden or Purple ticket who have not taken up a place. The children’s centre will support the family to take up a place.

We may also share your personal data with:

our own teams, including early years support teams
our local partner organisations
Department for Education
HMRC
early years and childcare providers
children’s centres
health services (anonymised)
parents or guardians

If we feel that it is necessary to share your personal data with professionals to ensure you or someone you work with is safeguarded from harm, we rely upon the provisions of the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006 and Children Act 1989 & 2004. Where it is necessary to share medical or social care information for these purposes, we rely upon article 9(2)(h) of the General Data Protection Regulation (information necessary for medical diagnosis, the provision of health or social care or treatment or the management of health or social care systems).

We may also need to share some personal data about you, so that we can support third party organisations to discharge their regulatory requirements. This includes organisations such as;

The data protection regulator (the Information Commissioner’s Office)
The Care Quality Commission
HMRC
Department for Education

We may also share information to enable us to comply with court orders and other legal obligations. If this is necessary, we will only share the minimum amount of personal data needed for this purpose.

International transfers

Devon County Council does not intend to transfer your personal data to countries where UK data protection laws do not apply. If it should become necessary at any time to transfer your personal data to such countries, we will ensure that one or more of the following controls is in place to legitimise this transfer:

The receiving country has been granted an adequacy decision under data protection laws
A legally binding and enforceable instrument between public authorities or bodies;
Binding corporate rules in accordance with Article 47 of the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR);
Standard data protection clauses adopted by the Commission in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 93(2) of the UK GDPR;
Standard data protection clauses adopted by a supervisory authority and approved by the Commission pursuant to the examination procedure referred to in Article 93(2) UK GDPR;
An approved code of conduct pursuant to Article 40 of the UK GDPR together with binding and enforceable commitments of the controller or processor in the third country to apply the appropriate safeguards, including as regards data subjects’ rights; or
An approved certification mechanism pursuant to Article 42of the UK GDPR together with binding and enforceable commitments of the controller or processor in the third country to apply the appropriate safeguards, including as regards data subjects’ rights.

How long will we hold your personal data?

Devon County Council will retain your personal data for up to eight weeks after the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) list is published. The list includes a date by when the personal information must be destroyed. A copy of the DWP privacy notice is available on the GOV.UK website.

Your data protection rights

Under Data Protection Legislation, you have the right to obtain a copy of their personal records held by us, this is called a Subject Access Request (SAR).

Details on your rights under data protection legislation and how to exercise them.

Complaints

If you have any comments, queries or complaints about this privacy notice or the processing of your personal data please contact our Data Protection Officer.

Alternatively, if you are not happy with the way that DCC is handling your personal data, you are entitled to appeal to the Information Commissioners Office (ICO). The Information Commissioners Office enforces and oversees the Data Protection Regulations.

Contact details are below:

Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF

Email: casework@ico.org.uk

Automated decisions

Devon County Council does not intend to use your personal data to make automated decisions about you or your family.