Schools and education

School Wellbeing Service Privacy Notice

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 2026.

CYC is committed to ensuring that information 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 process your information, and it applies to the School Wellbeing Service.

CYC is the controller for this information, unless we state otherwise in this privacy notice.

You can contact the council’s Data Protection Officer at:

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 specific privacy notices that are available in our Privacy Notice.

When appropriate we will provide a ‘just in time’ notice to cover any additional processing activities not mentioned in this privacy notice.

How we collect your information

We get information about you from the following sources:

  • directly from you
  • when you take part in our surveys or consultation
  • meetings with you, and your child / young person
  • from other professionals such as other council services, schools, NHS, and others
  • post, email, and telephone conversations as appropriate
  • from our commissioned partners or contractors who undertake work on our behalf

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What personal data we process and why

We will collect and process the following personal data and special categories of personal data:

  • name
  • date of birth
  • contact details
  • characteristics such as gender, language, and ethnicity
  • details of any special educational needs for children and young people
  • where appropriate, relevant medical information for children and young people or parents/carers
  • where appropriate, relevant information regarding a child’s status as a looked after child/young person
  • attendance/exclusion data from the child/young person’s educational setting
  • any additional personal information (including the name/contact details of the parent/carer) that is necessary for us to assess and provide our services to you
  • details of previous involvement with specialist services
  • your comments, feedback and opinions if you choose to take part in our surveys, consultation etc.  This may include photos, video recordings, Communications Team including photos, filming and recording Privacy Notice – City of York Council

We will use your information to:

  • ensure that services and practitioners understand how they can best help you, or your child or young person
  • support our work with your child in his or her school or setting
  • provide the child or young people with appropriate services
  • measure the impact of our services on children and young people
  • help us develop and improve our services
  • help inform which services and interventions require commissioning across the City of York to support families and communities
  • create statistics and reports that are anonymous and cannot be linked back to you or your family for the purposes of evaluation and funding reports, local and national surveys. We could use these statistics to see how the School Wellbeing Service, the wider Council and its partners are supporting families and individuals, to help design better services and to contribute to national surveys and government returns, for example to the Department for Education (DfE), or to NHS clinical commissioning groups.
  • administer and protect public funds

We will ask for your consent:

  • to take part in surveys, consultation or other events to get your feedback, comments and opinions about the service and support you have received
  • to take your photo, video and audio record. You can find more information about how the council may use photos, videos and audio recordings in the Communications Team including photos, filming and recording Privacy Notice

We also send an annual survey to schools and settings to gather views and experiences relating to the School Wellbeing Service delivery to find out what they find helpful and areas to improve. We use their feedback as part of a self-review of how we are meeting our responsibilities as required by School Forum, the Integrated Care Board, and the Local Authority. This will help to assist in the future planning of the service and help us understand what kind of impact we have on children, families, and educational settings.

You can withdraw your consent to the above at any time by contacting schoolwelbeingservice@york.gov.uk

When we ask for equalities, diversity and inclusion (EDI) information sometimes called “About you” information, this may include some or all of the following

  • age, gender, if the gender you identify with is the same as your sex registered at birth, how you think of yourself, religion or belief, ethnic group, if you consider yourself disabled, if you are a carer, experience of being in care

EDI information is only used to help us understand the EDI makeup of our customers and will be anonymised which means it cannot be linked back to you or individuals.

If attending a council site or attending an event at a council venue that is covered by our public space CCTV you can find details at CCTV Privacy Notice – City of York Council

Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI)

We may use Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies to support or enhance council services. Where AI is involved in a process that directly affects your interaction with us, we will inform you before your user journey begins. This ensures transparency and helps maintain trust in how we use AI.

Our use of AI complies with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR), including the principles of lawfulness, fairness, transparency, accountability, and accuracy. We conduct Data Protection Impact Assessments (DPIAs) where AI systems are likely to result in high risks to individuals’ rights and freedoms, such as automated decision-making or profiling.

If generative AI tools are used, we do not use personal or end-user data to train AI models. This helps ensure compliance with the purpose limitation and data minimisation principles under UK GDPR.

AI for Staff Productivity and Accessibility

Where AI tools are used solely by staff to assist with drafting, research, or accessibility - for example, to improve writing efficiency or summarise information - these uses do not form part of a business process that affects service delivery or decision-making. As such, no specific notification will be provided for these internal productivity uses.

These uses are considered low-risk and do not involve automated decision-making that produces legal or similarly significant effects. They are also subject to internal governance and safeguards to ensure responsible use.

Examples include:

  • Drafting internal reports or meeting notes
  • Summarising lengthy documents for quicker review
  • Assisting with spelling, grammar, or formatting tasks

We may use your information to create reports and statistics that are anonymous and cannot be linked back to you or individuals such as:

  • for statistical analysis
  • for statutory returns
  • for audit frameworks
  • to see how the council and its partners are supporting individuals
  • to help design better services
  • to inform funding decisions

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Automated decision-making

We do not carry out any automated decision-making in the School Wellbeing Service

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Collecting information automatically

Please see our Cookies Policy for further information about the information we collect automatically when you use our website.

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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.

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Lawful basis for processing your personal data

Any personal data including 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).

The legal basis for processing your personal data and special categories of personal data is in accordance with the following:

  • Article 6(1)
    • (a) Consent: the individual has given clear consent for the council to process their personal data for a specific purpose.
    • (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.
    • (f) Legitimate interests: the processing is necessary for the council’s legitimate interests or the legitimate interests of a third party, unless there is a good reason to protect the individual’s personal data which overrides those legitimate interests. (This cannot apply if you are a public authority processing data to perform your official tasks.)
  • Article 9(2)
    • (a) Explicit consent
    • (g) Reasons of substantial public interest (with a basis in law)

This is supported by Schedule1, Part 2 (6) of the Data Protection Act 2018 and the following legal framework:

  • Education Acts 1996 and 2002
  • Equality Act 2010

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.

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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 Retention Schedule.

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Data sharing

We will only share your information where it is appropriate to, with:

  • other CYC services
  • other councils, government departments and agencies
  • third parties including our data processors, partners or contractors, who undertake work on our behalf
  • internal and external auditors

We may share information about you/your child with other relevant professionals who are already involved, or who become involved, during the time that they're known to the SWS to provide coordinated support and to improve multi-agency working.

In some circumstances, such as under a court order or safeguarding, we are legally obliged to share information. We may also share information about you with third parties including our data processors, government agencies and external auditors.

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.

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Data processors and/or third parties

Where we have third parties providing part or all of our services for us, we have contracts in place with them.

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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.

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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

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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 Officer
City of York Council
West Offices
Station Rise
York YO1 6GA

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Also see

Data Protection Officer

West Offices, Station Rise, York, YO1 6GA

Telephone: 01904 555719

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