Children missing education privacy notice

Purpose for processing your information

The children missing education officers sit within the admissions and access to education service. The purpose is to fulfil the legal duty under section 436A of the Education Act 1996 to make arrangements to identify, as far as it is possible to do so, children missing education (CME).

We collect the following information

In order to carry out activities and obligations as local authority officers, we process personal information in relation to parent/carers and children:

• Personal contact details such as name, title, addresses, contact numbers, and personal email addresses.
• Personal demographics (including date of birth and gender)
• Education information including any Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) and previous or current school information.
• Involvement with statutory services such as Social Care, Access and Early Help, MASH, School Admissions, Exclusions, Data Team, Housing, Ormiston Academy Trust Alternative Provision,  Academy (OAT), SEND, and Youth Justice Service.
• Receipt of benefits
• Council tax
• Involvement with the Home Office
• Involvement with the Police and/or probation

We also obtain personal information from other sources including personal details, characteristics, educational history and professional involvement, from previously attended schools, NHS, other local authorities.

This information is only used for the intended purpose but if we intend to use it for any other purpose; we will normally ask you first. In some cases, the Council may use your information for another purpose if it has a legal duty to do so, to provide a complete service to you, to prevent and detect fraud, or if there is a risk of serious harm or threat to life.

How we collect your information

The initial CME notification may come from other local authorities, your child’s current or previous school, NHS, other professionals such as Social Services, Metropolitan Police. We may also be notified by anonymous referrals made by members of the public.

Who the information is shared with

The Children Missing Education Officers may also use your information for other legitimate purposes and may share (where necessary) with other Council departments and external bodies responsible for administering services to children and young people. Reasons for sharing information with the internal and external bodies will be; to enable the tracking and monitoring of children missing education residing within the Bi-Borough (Westminster, Kensington and Chelsea local authorities), to fulfil the council’s safeguarding duty and comply with the Prevent Strategy, the Home Office to notify of potential illegal immigration and the Police may request information at any time as part of a criminal investigation.

Internal bodies are; Admissions and Access to Education that covers Children Missing Education (CME), Elective Home Education (EHE) Exclusions and Child Licensing, the Data Team, the Early Help Service, the MASH Team and Safeguarding service, Governance and Legal Services.

External bodies are; schools/academies, including independent and boarding, other Councils/boroughs and the Police. The Home Office and the Department of Work and Pension.

For the purpose of validating proof of address, Officers within the Admissions Team will refer to data held by any of the services mentioned above, internal Council Tax records, the Housing Team, Parking Services and the Fraud Team.

How long do we keep your information?

We will only retain your personal information for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes we collected it for, including for the purposes of satisfying any future legal, accounting, or reporting requirements.

We must continue to retain necessary information in accordance with our corporate records policy to fulfil legal, statutory and regulatory requirements.

How is your information retained?

Article 6 (1) of the UK GDPR states that processing shall be lawful only if and to the extent that at least one of the following applies. The Act lists 6 lawful basis. In this instance, the council asserts that it is processing data under 6 (1)( e) “processing is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority vested in the data controller”. In line with the ICO, the term Public Task to signify, reference is made to Article 6 (1)(e ).

The public task for CME is the law which states that the LA has a statutory role and responsibility  to fulfil the legal duty under section 436A of the Education Act 1996 to make arrangements to identify, as far as it is possible to do so, children missing education (CME).

The above establishes that the council has both a public interest task and duty to respond to EHE Assessments. Processing (including documenting) assessments takes place under the Public Task basis. The data protection regulator, Information Commissioner’s Office [ICO] notes that a specific power is not needed to establish the Public Task lawful basis. Please note, under the Public Task basis, the right to erasure is set aside. The right to object remains, but the right to rectification will only apply to factual content, rather than a difference of opinion. The council may consider accepting addendums to be placed on records where there is a dispute based on opinion, but this will be on a case by case basis.

In addition, the council has other duties associated with maintaining adequate records of its transactions (activities, correspondence) as set out under the Local Government Act 1972 section 224. Specifically, evidencing its transactions, requires considering the integrity of those records. The council is also subject to the Code of Practice on the Management of Records issued under section 46 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000. Included in the Code is the requirement to adhere to “three principles of value, integrity and accountability… to manage information and maintain a record of their (Public Authorities) activities”. When viewed together the council must be able to maintain records of its transactions as they happened.

Your rights and access to your information

You have the right to request a copy of the information that we hold about you.

The new General Data Protection Regulation also gives you additional rights about the information we hold about you and how we use it, including the right to:

• Withdraw consent and the right to object and restrict further processing of your data; however, this may affect service delivery to you.
• Request to have your data deleted where there is no compelling reason for its continued processing and provided that there are no legitimate grounds for retaining it.
• Request your data to be rectified if it is inaccurate or incomplete
• Have your data transferred or copied should you move to another authority
• Not be subject to automated decision-making including profiling
• To submit a Subject Access Request email the CME Officers at:

To submit a Subject Access Request email the CME Officers at [email protected].

If you have any concerns

Please contact us if you would like to know more about the information we hold about you and how we use it. The Children Missing Education Officers can be contacted on 020 7745 6439 (RBKC) or 0207 745 6448 (Westminster) between 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday.

You have a right to complain to us if you think we have not complied with our obligation for handling your personal information; email the Children Missing Education Team: [email protected]. Your concerns will be investigated via the respective Council’s complaints procedures.

If you are not satisfied with the council’s response you have a right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). Visit the ICO website.

Changes in your circumstances

You must notify us immediately if there are any changes in your circumstances and personal details so we can maintain an accurate and up to date record of your information.