SEND and Inclusion Service privacy notice

1. Introduction

Camden’s SEND and Inclusion Service delivers early intervention and statutory assessment services for children who have or may have special educational needs or disabilities. There are seven teams within the SEND and Inclusion Service:

  • SEN Team
  • Early Years Inclusion Team
  • Sensory Advisory Team
  • Educational Psychology Service
  • Engagement Team
  • Finance
  • Commissioning and Place Planning

Teams within the SEND and Inclusion Service will hold a wide range of information about your child and your family. We use this to:

  • provide early intervention and assessment services for children with special educational needs and disabilities
  • process requests for statutory assessment under the Children and Families Act 2014 for children who may have special educational needs and disabilities
  • write and maintain Education and Health Care Plans (ECHP)
  • make funding decisions so that children can access the support they need without the need for an EHCP (e.g. through an Exceptional Needs Grant)

This privacy notice explains how we use any personal information we collect about you.

2. The Data Controller and Data Protection Officer

The Data Controller is London Borough of Camden, Judd Street, London, WC1H 9JE. Find more information here.

The Council’s Data Protection Officer is Andrew Maughan, who is the Council’s Borough Solicitor. He can be contacted at dpo@camden.gov.uk.

3. What information do we process (collect, keep, use, share, delete, etc)?

We process a range of information about your child and your family. This will include some or all the following:

  • you and your child’s personal information (name, date of birth, unique pupil number, address, telephone, email and NHS number)
  • personal information about other members of your household
  • details of family relationships in and outside of your household
  • legal status, such as immigration status
  • details about your physical and emotional wellbeing and parenting
  • details about your social circumstances
  • details about employment and education
  • details of any risk issues
  • services and/or support you are getting from partner agencies, both historically and currently
  • information about your child and family given to us by yourself or referring organisations (such as schools, early years settings, further education providers, health services, Early Help/Social Care, GP, school nurse, the police, including educational progress and attainment information, school attendance, exclusions and behavioural information
  • reports from professionals involved with your child about their special educational needs or disabilities
  • reports relating to your situation (such as safeguarding, assessments and plans including Early Help assessments and plans, Child Protection Plans and Looked After Children reviews)
  • records of phone conversations, emails, and meetings between parents/carers and your child/young person and council staff
  • photographs and videos sent to us by education and training providers
  • other information as individual circumstances require, to allow the council to undertake its duties (such as tribunal requests and judicial reviews)

We also process a range of special category (sensitive) information about you. This will include some or all the following:

  • details about your child’s physical or mental health
  • details about you and your child’s ethnicity, sexuality, gender, and disability
  • details about your child’s physical and emotional wellbeing
  • information about your child’s situation which may include health, sexuality, disability, given to us by you and/or other organisations (such as education providers, Early Help, Social Care or Health, GP, school nurse and police)
  • details about any substance misuse
  • other information as individual circumstances require to allow the council to undertake its duties

We also process criminal offence data as follows:

  • details of any criminal offences you or a member of your family have been suspected of, investigated for, charged with, acquitted of, or convicted of, together with any sentences or penalties involved where this is relevant to our work
  • whether individuals are a victim/survivor and/or a perpetrator (alleged or proven) where this is relevant to our work
  • other information as individual circumstances require to allow the council to undertake its duties

4. The purpose for which data is processed

We use the data we have and collect for the following uses:

  • to provide your child with services to support their inclusion and access to education, employment and training
  • to identify your child’s special educational needs or disabilities so that the right support can be put in place
  • to administer statutory requirements in accordance with the SEND Code of Practice, such as assessment requests and the monitoring of Education, Health and Care plans
  • to provide your child with support at school via Camden’s alternative route to SEND funding (Exceptional Needs Grants/ ENGs)
  • monitor take-up of the service and programmes and ensure that services and programmes are meeting the needs of local families effectively
  • evaluate the impact of specific activities and programmes on improving outcomes for children
  • help the council and wider government improve services for children in the borough in the future
  • prevent crime and fraud and assist other public bodies to do their work safely and effectively
  • comply with other legal requirements such as Freedom of Information Act requests and Subject Access Requests

5. Agencies we may share your data with

Information listed in section 3 may also be requested from other parties, to allow the council to undertake its duties effectively.

The Council does not need consent to share data with other organisations because consent is not the legal basis, as explained in Section 12. We aim to tell you what data is being shared and the reason why, but in some cases, this is not appropriate. This may be due to safeguarding concerns where information is shared with other organisations e.g. the police, if a child may be at risk of harm.

We also undertake general data matching or data sharing in certain areas for the prevention or detection of crime. More details on this are available on the Council’s general privacy page.

The Council has a number of data sharing agreements with agencies to cover data sharing. The main ones are available to view on the Council's Data Sharing Agreements (DSAs) page:

  • education, employment and training providers your child attends or may attend in the future, on a need to know basis
  • other Council services which may provide a service to your child and family such as the Integrated Early Years Service (such as Family Hubs), Early Help, Social Care, Housing, Primary Learning Support Service, Language and Communication Service, Camden Learning, Youth Justice Services, Short Breaks, Housing, Adult Social Care, Legal Services, Data Protection, and Information Rights
  • other services commissioned by Camden Council to provide your child and family with a service such as transport services
  • health services, such as GPs and other health professionals like Health Visitors, Speech and Language Therapy Services, Occupational and Physiotherapy Services, Camden MOSAIC (such as the Child Development Team and Social Communication Assessment Service), mental health services and Community Paediatricians
  • other local Councils if a child no longer resides in Camden

Specific projects:

Specific statutory returns to the Department for Education (annual SEN2 census) or for Ofsted inspections if they require pupil level personal data.

Anonymised and aggregated data may also be shared with Ofsted and the Department for Education.

6. Storing and retaining personal data

Camden SEND and Inclusion Service holds data securely on our electronic case recording systems (MOSAIC, IMPULSE from CACI, HP TRIM/Content Manager) and in Microsoft Office applications as necessary. The Council use technical and organisational measures to keep information safe and secure.

We will keep information about your child until their 31st birthday if they have an EHCP (the Children and Families Act states that EHCPs are valid up to the age of 25, plus an additional six years for limitation). If your child does not have an EHCP, we will keep their information until they are 25.

7. Do I have to provide this information, and what will happen if I don’t?

If you do not provide us with your information, it will impact on the services we are able to provide.

8. Transferring data out of the EU/EEA

Early Help Services will not transfer data out of the EU/EEA unless a child goes to live in a country outside the EU/EEA. In these circumstances, we will liaise with the appropriate authority in that country to facilitate the lawful and secure transfer of data.

9. Automated decision-making

We do not use automated decision-making or profiling to process your personal data.

10. Your data subject rights and requesting access to personal data

Under data protection legislation, parents, carers and children have the right to request a copy of information we hold about them. Parental access to a child’s data is not automatic and may be restricted where appropriate. If a child is aged 13 and over, the child must consent to a parent having access if they are Gillick competent (have the capacity to consent based on their understanding).

There are other Data Subject rights which can be viewed on the 'Your rights' page.

Visit the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) website for more information.

To make a request for your personal information or to exercise other Data Protection rights, complete our Data Subject Rights form.

11. The right to lodge a complaint with a Supervisory Authority

You can complain to the ICO if you are unhappy with how we have handled your personal data. It would be helpful if you contacted us first by emailing dpo@camden.gov.uk to see if we can resolve the problem. You can contact the ICO without charge, by phone on 0303 123 1113, live chat or web form.

12. Legal basis for processing information

Our legal basis for processing is:

  • personal data: UK GDPR article 6(1)(c) (Legal duty) and article 6(1)(e) (public task).
  • special category data: 9 (2) (g) Reasons of substantial public interest (with a basis in law). The Data Protection Act 2018, Schedule 1 Part 2 conditions are paragraphs 6 (Statutory and Government purposes), and 18 (Safeguarding of children and individuals at risk) with the relevant legislation listed below:
  • Criminal offence data: UK GDPR Article 10 requirements met by the Article 6 legal basis above and the Data Protection Act schedule conditions as described above.
  • Children Act 1989 sections 17 and 47, and schedule 2 part 1
  • Children Act 2004 sections 10 and 11
  • Childcare Act 2006, section 1
  • Children and Families Act 2014, sections 23 and 25
  • Welfare Reform Act 2012
  • Criminal Justice and Court Services Act 2000
  • Crime and Disorder Act 1998 sections 17,37 and 115
  • Equality Act 2010
  • National Health Service Act 2006, section 82
  • Education Act 2002
  • Education and Skills Act 2008
  • Localism Act 2011
  • Digital Economy Act 2017
  • Special Educational Needs and Disability Code of Practice 0-25 years, 2015
  • Special Educational Needs and Disability Regulations 2014
  • Immigration and Asylum Act 1999

Last updated

This privacy notice was last updated April 2025.