Schools and education

Special Educational Needs and Inclusion Services 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 October 2025.

CYC is committed to ensuring that your 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 Special Educational Needs and Inclusion Services including the SEND CENTRAL Hub.

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

CYC is the controller for the personal data we process, unless otherwise stated. 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
  • from third parties acting on your behalf such as family members, advocates
  • from our commissioned partners or contractors who undertake work on our behalf
  • completion of the Request for Statutory Assessment, either electronically or a paper copy
  • gathering of information in a My Support Plan or My Agreed Outcomes
  • meetings with you, and your child/young person
  • consultation with other professionals
  • Section 23 notifications from health partners
  • other local authorities where appropriate

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What personal data we process and why

We will only process the information that is necessary such as:

  • names
  • contact details
  • any special educational needs
  • why the referral has been made
  • school history
  • progress, attainment, attendance, any exclusions
  • Unique Pupil Number (UPN)
  • information relating to relevant social care needs
  • information about family, household and/or carers of the child or young person
  • medical information
  • NHS patient number
  • gender
  • ethnic group
  • disabilities
  • religion
  • sexual orientation

We will also process details of other professionals working with your child, including the details of the SEN coordinator in setting or their counterpart.

We use your information to:

  • ensure that services and practitioners understand how they can best help you
  • support our work with your child in their school or setting, or in your home or another setting for those children who are unable to attend school because of ill health
  • complete the detail needed in an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) to describe your child’s needs, the provision, outcomes and actions from planning meetings
  • consult education settings to ask if they can meet your child’s needs, prior to naming a school, early years setting or college in an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP)
  • provide the child or young people with appropriate services
  • ‘sign post’ the child, young person and family to appropriate support

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 have received; when you complete a paper survey and return it to us, we will transfer the information you have given us onto the council’s secure network and then destroy confidentially the paper copy
  • 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

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.

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:

  • for statistical analysis
  • for statutory returns
  • audit framework
  • to see how the council and its partners are supporting families and individuals
  • to help inform and design better services and interventions
  • to inform funding decisions
  • to ensure compliance and high quality standards through audits and quality monitoring
  • to contribute to national surveys and government returns, for example, to the Department for Education (DfE)

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Automated decision-making

We do not carry out any automated decision-making without any human intervention in providing this 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, special category data and criminal offence data that we process about individuals is done so in accordance with one or more of the following Articles 6, 9 and 10 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.
  • (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.
  • (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.
  • (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:

  • Children and Families Act 2014
  • Fulfilling our statutory duties:
    • statutory advice to the Local Authority as part of an education, health and care needs assessment
    • monitoring of provision and outcomes as part of the annual review process for children and young people who have an EHCP
    • monitoring of the quality of provision for children and young people with special educational needs

Where we process information relating to criminal convictions and offences, this is under Article 10 UK GDPR that covers processing in relation to criminal convictions and offences or related security measures. In addition, section 11(2) of the DPA 2018 specifically confirms that this includes personal data relating to the alleged commission of offences, or proceedings for an offence committed or alleged to have been committed, including sentencing.

Some of the Schedule 1 conditions for processing special category and criminal offence 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 in the City of York Council 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 such as DfE
  • other organisations such as NHS, educational settings, vocational settings, York Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) Specialist Services, professionals from Health, Social Care and Early Help teams
  • 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 your information.

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

When we have third parties providing parts or all of our services, systems, software, platforms, applications (apps) for us, we have contracts or agreements in place with them. These include:

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Transfers of personal data

We don’t routinely transfer 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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