City of York Council (CYC) current data protection notification is registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) – reference Z5809563. We regularly review this privacy notice, and it was last updated in August 2025.
CYC is committed to ensuring that personal data is handled in accordance with the principles set out in data protection legislation and guidance from the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).
This privacy notice tells you what to expect when we collect personal information about you, and it applies to the Early Education Funding services.
However, the information we will process about you will vary depending on why and how you are contacting or interacting with us and the service or information you are requesting.
CYC is the controller for this information unless we specifically state otherwise in this privacy notice.
You can contact the council’s Data Protection Officer at:
Data Protection OfficerCity of York Council
West Offices
Station Rise
York
YO1 6GA
Telephone: 01904 555719.
Email: information.governance@york.gov.uk.
This privacy notice should be read in conjunction with other relevant CYC privacy notices and/or policies and procedures.
When appropriate we will provide a ‘just in time’ notice to cover any additional processing activities not mentioned in this document.
- How we collect your information
- What personal data we process and why
- Automated decision-making
- Collecting information automatically
- Children's information
- Lawful basis for processing your personal data
- How long we keep your personal data
- Data sharing
- Data processors and/or third parties
- Transfers of personal data
- How we protect your information
- Your rights in relation to this processing
How we collect your information
We get information about you from the following sources:
- directly from you
- Early Years and Childcare Providers
- completion of the application form for early education places
- completion of the Parental Declaration form for early education places
- completion of the Disability Access Fund application form
- 30 Hours Childcare for Foster Carers application form
- meetings with you and/or provider(s)
- provider portal
- post, email, and telephone conversations as appropriate
- when you take part in our surveys and consultation
What personal data we process and why
We process the personal data and special category personal data such as:
- your contact details
- bank details
- Ofsted registration and inspection details
- personal data about children and young people
- Personal information including name, date of birth, National Insurance number / NASS number and contact details
- Characteristics including gender and ethnicity
- If you take part in our surveys or consultation, we will ask for information about you and your household such as your children’s ages, current and future childcare needs, and your opinions on childcare provision.
The information you give to us, enables us to:
- Make payment of the early education entitlement and related funding
- Check your eligibility for additional funding and benefits such as Pupil Premium and free school meals when your child moves into school
- Complete the statutory Early Years Census annual return
- Assess our own performance and improve our service
- The information you give us in a survey or consultation, will be analysed and the results used to inform our childcare sufficiency analysis and may be included in reports. This is because the council has a duty to ensure there are sufficient high quality early years and childcare places to meet the needs of our families in York and helps us to better understand the childcare needs for parents across the City of York area.
We may use your information to create reports and statistics that are anonymous and cannot be linked back to you, your family, or individuals such as:
- statistical analysis
- statutory returns
- audit framework
- see how the council and its partners are supporting individuals
- help design better services
- inform funding decisions
We could use these statistics for the purposes of local and national surveys, to see how the Education Support Service and the wider Council and its partners, are supporting individuals, providers etc to help design better services and to contribute to national surveys and government returns, for example to the Department for Education (DfE).
When you complete an online form on the council’s website and you have provided your email address, we will send you a copy of your completed online form.
When you make an online payment on the council’s website, you can find details at Online Payments Privacy Notice – City of York Council
We will ask for your consent:
- to take part in surveys, consultation or other events to get your feedback, about the service and support you and your family has received
- to take your photo, video and audio record. You can find more information about how the council uses photos, videos and audio recordings in the Communications Team including photos, filming and recording Privacy Notice
You can withdraw your consent at any time by contacting us by email: earlyyearsfunding@york.gov.uk.
Automated decision-making
We do not carry out any automated decision-making in Early Education Funding services.
Collecting information automatically
Please see our Cookies Policy for further information about the information we collect automatically when you use our website.
Children’s information
Where we provide services directly to children or young people, the information in the relevant parts of this notice applies to children and young people, as well as adults.
Lawful basis for processing your personal data
Any personal data or special category data that we process about individuals is done so in accordance with one or more of the following Articles 6 and 9 of the UK GDPR and Schedule 1 of the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA 2018).
- Article 6(1)
- (a) Consent: the individual has given clear consent for the council to process their personal data for a specific purpose.
- (b) Contract: the processing is necessary for a contract the council has with the individual, or because they have asked the council to take specific steps before entering into a contract.
- (c) Legal obligation: the processing is necessary for the council to comply with the law (not including contractual obligations).
- (e) Public task: the processing is necessary for the council to perform a task in the public interest or for our official functions, and the task or function has a clear basis in law.
- Article 9(2)
- (a) Explicit consent
- (b) Employment, social security and social protection (if authorised by law)
- (g) Reasons of substantial public interest (with a basis in law)
- (h) Health or social care (with a basis in law)
This is supported by Schedule 1, Part 2 (6) of the Data Protection Act 2018 and the following legal framework:
- Early Education and Childcare Statutory Guidance for Local Authorities 2018
- Childcare Act 2016
- Sufficiency duty within Childcare Act 2006
- SEND code of practice 0-25 years 2015
Some of the Schedule 1 conditions for processing special category data require an Appropriate Policy Document (APD) to be in place, which sets out and explains the procedures for securing compliance with the principles in Article 5 and policies regarding the retention and erasure of such personal data. This document explains this processing and satisfies the requirements of Schedule 1, Part 4 of the DPA 2018 and supplements this privacy notice.
Our Appropriate Policy Document provides further information about this processing.
How long we keep your personal data
We will only keep your information for as long as it is needed then it will be securely and confidentially deleted or disposed of.
You can find details on how long the council keeps records at Council retention schedule.
Data sharing
We will only share your information where it is appropriate to, with:
- other CYC services
- other councils, government departments and agencies such as the Department for Education (DfE)
- other organisations or professionals such as NHS and Educational settings
- third parties including our data processors, partners or contractors, who undertake work on our behalf
- internal and external auditors
In some circumstances, such as under a court order or safeguarding, we are legally obliged to share information.
We are also required by law to pass some of your information to the DfE and they may share individual level personal data that we supply to them, with third parties. This will only take place where legislation allows them to do so, and it follows the current data protection and privacy legislations.
We will always satisfy ourselves that we have a lawful basis on which to share the information and document our decision-making.
Additionally, we are required under the Public Records Act 1958 (as amended) to transfer records to the City or National Archives (TNA) for permanent preservation. Full consideration will be given to Data Protection and Freedom of Information legislation when making decisions about whether such records should be open to the public.
Data processors and/or third parties
When we have third parties providing parts or all of our services, systems, software, platforms, applications (apps) etc for us, we have contracts or agreements in place with them. These include
- Microsoft Teams, to contact you, to gather information from you, or if we are recording or transcribing our discussion or meeting with you, we will let you know. You can find more details about this in the City of York Council Microsoft Office 365 (MS365) Teams Meeting recording and transcription privacy notice.
- SurveyMonkey for surveys or consultation etc. You can find out how they use information at Privacy Notice | SurveyMonkey
- Granicus/Gov Delivery to send you updates, newsletters etc. You can find out how they use information at Privacy Policy | Granicus
- WhatsApp to contact you. You can find out how they use information at Privacy Policy - UK
- Microsoft forms as part of MS365 You can find out how they use information at https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/privacy/privacystatement
- Veritau Public Sector Limited (VPS) who provides services to the council such as internal audit Privacy policy - Veritau
- Specialist or assistive systems, software, platforms, applications (apps) to help provide our services and support to you and our staff
- Where we provide information in British Sign Language via the City of York Council YouTube channel please read YouTube Privacy Settings and Google Privacy Policies
Transfers of personal data
We do not routinely transfer personal data or special categories of personal data outside of the UK but when this is necessary, we ensure that we have appropriate safeguards in place and that is done in accordance with the UK data protection and privacy legislation.
How we protect your information
We're committed to keeping your information safe and secure. There are several ways we do this, such as:
- IT security safeguards such as firewalls, encryption, and anti-virus software
- on-site security safeguards to protect physical files and electronic equipment
- training for all staff and elected councillors
- policies and procedures
Your rights in relation to this processing
To find out about your rights under data protection law, you can go to the Information Commissioner's Office website.
You can also find information about your rights in our Privacy Notice.
If you have any questions about this privacy notice, want to exercise your rights, or if you have a complaint about how your information has been used, please contact us on email: information.governance@york.gov.uk, or on telephone: 01904 555719, or write to:
Data Protection OfficerCity of York Council
West Offices
Station Rise
York YO1 6GA
You can contact the DfE by email: info@education.gsi.gov.uk, telephone: 0870 000 2288, via the Department for Education Website or write to:
Public Communications UnitDepartment for Education
Sanctuary Buildings
Great Smith Street
London
SW1P 3BT