Children's services privacy notices

Purpose for processing your information

The Supporting Families programme is the council’s response to the government’s national Supporting Families programme (2022-2025). The programme aims to improve the lives of families who have multiple, complex needs by providing co-ordinated help and support.

We collect the following information

By working closely with partner organisations and sharing information with them we can identify families who are experiencing difficulties to ensure they receive co-ordinated help and support.

From October 2022, to be eligible for the programme, one or more members of a family must assessed to be in need of support from services to address at least three of the following outcomes:

• Getting a good education
• Good early years development
• Improved mental and physical health
• Promoting recovery and reducing harm from substance use
• Improved family relationships
• Children safe from abuse and exploitation
• Crime prevention and tackling crime
• Safe from domestic abuse
• Secure housing
• Financial stability

Information shared is only used for the intended purpose of identifying families who are experiencing difficulties to ensure they receive co-ordinated help and support. Where a family meets Supporting Families criteria but are not receiving coordinated support, we will share contact details of the family with the Westminster City Council’s Family Hub programme. This will mean that a worker from a relevant agency can make contact with the family and, with agreement, make sure that the services based in the hub work with the family so that, where possible, any problems identified are addressed.

However, if we intend to use information 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, such as to provide further services to you, or if there is a risk of serious harm or threat to life.

Information will be held securely and will only be used and shared on a strict need to know basis with authorised partners in Westminster for the purpose of identifying, supporting and evaluating the work with families who have the most need.

How we use information to identify families who meet the criteria

For the Supporting Families programme we collect data from internal departments and partner organisations to identify families who are experiencing serious difficulties and ensure they receive co-ordinated help and support. These organisations are:

• Department for Work and Pensions
• Children’s Centres
• Metropolitan Police Service
• Partner agencies in the voluntary sector

Who the information is shared with

In order to identify families who may need help and the kind of support they may require, the council will share information with partner organisations as follows:

• Department for Work and Pensions

Full addresses and unique property reference numbers will be shared for individuals who meet any of the eligibility criteria listed above. The purpose of this information sharing is to enable the local authority to confirm which families include adults who are receiving out of work benefits and so may benefit from support relating to finding employment.

• The Metropolitan Police Service

Personal data restricted to name, date of birth and postcode will be shared. The purpose of this information sharing is to identify which individuals (who may benefit from a wider service from the local authority) may need help to avoid future involvement in crime or anti-social behaviour.

All information will be used in accordance with the Data Protection Act 2018, as informed by the UK General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) legislation, Crime and Disorder Act 1998, Children Act 1989 and 2004, Welfare Reform Act 2012, Localism Act 2011, Local Government Act 1972 and other relevant legislation.

How long do we keep your information?

We will only keep your information for as long as is required by law and to provide you with the necessary services in line with our retention schedule.

The Government wishes to understand whether the Supporting Families programme has been effective in helping families turn their lives around, whether it is a good use of public money and the degree to which services improve over time. All information gathered for the purposes of the programme will be retained for up to one year after the end of the programme to allow for evaluation. It will therefore be deleted when no longer needed under strict information security arrangements.

Your rights and access to your information

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

The UK General Data Protection Regulation also gives you additional rights about the information we hold about you and how we use it:

• you have a right to withdraw consent (where applicable) and the right to object and restrict further processing of your data; however, this may affect service delivery to you.
• you have a right to 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.
• you have a right to request your data to be rectified if it is inaccurate or incomplete.
• you have a right to have your data transferred or copied should you move to another authority, where applicable.
• you have a right not to be subject to automated decision-making including profiling, where applicable.

If you have any concerns

If you have any questions about this privacy statement or data protection issues generally, you can contact [email protected].

You have a right to complain to us if you think we may not have complied with our obligations as to how personal information should be handled; please see our fair processing notice page or our complaints section.

If you think we may not have complied with our obligations regarding the handling of your personal information and should you remain dissatisfied with the council’s response, you have a right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office Report a concern by visiting the ICO.

Changes in your circumstances

You should notify us immediately if there are any changes in your circumstances and personal details in order for us to maintain an accurate and up to date record of your information.