Social Services Privacy Notice

1. Who we are and what do we do?

We are the Social Services Department at the Vale of Glamorgan Council. Our role is to support children, young people, adults, and families to help keep people safe, healthy, and supported.

We provide a range of services, and this includes for example:

• Care and support assessments
• Safeguarding for children and adults
• Help for carers
• Support for families and people with additional needs
• Working with other organisations to make sure you get the right help

To do this, we may need to collect and use personal information about you. We do this to understand your needs and provide the right services at the right time

2. What information do we collect?

This will depend on your personal circumstances, the services you are being provided with and whether you are a child or an adult.

You may be asked for this information and you may provide it to us. On other occasions we may be given your information by other organisations or individuals. For example, if a family member supports you and have your permission they may give us information because it is easier for them to help you in this way. We may receive information from the NHS where your medical needs overlap with social services needs or the police. These are examples only.

If you receive care and support from us, your social care record, which is the record we keep in social services about you is likely to contain all or some of the information below:

• Who you are: Your name, address, date of birth, and any places you have lived before.
• Personal details: Things like your gender, ethnicity, any disabilities, the language you prefer, and your cultural or religious beliefs.
• Your health: Information about your medical history and any health conditions or diagnoses.
• How you communicate: If you need help to communicate, like an interpreter or other support.
• Safety concerns: Anything that could affect your health or safety.
• Your household: Who lives with you.
• Important people: Names and contact details of family, friends, carers, or anyone else you have told us is important to you.
• Your needs: What help you need in different parts of your life - like staying healthy, keeping safe, eating, and drinking, personal care, and emotional support.
• Letters and emails: Copies of messages you have sent us or others have sent us about you.
• Support from others: Information from people or organisations that help you—like your school, doctor, care workers, or charities.
• Meetings: Notes about when we have met with you, what we talked about, and what happened.
• Other useful information: Anything else that helps us give you the right support.

3. Why do we collect your information?

Here are examples of why we may collect your information:

• To understand what support you need so we can do our job properly.
• To stay in touch with you and give you the right help and services.
• To keep you and others safe from harm, neglect, or abuse if needed.
• To protect your rights if you are not able to make decisions for yourself.
• To help with assessments carried out by our teams.
• To keep official records, we are required to by law (like child protection registers).
• To deal with any concerns or complaints if they come up.
• To contact you about financial matters when we need to.
• To plan and make decisions about services and support.
• To check and improve our services, using reports and performance data.
• To help during emergencies, like major incidents, by working with emergency services to find people who may need help.

4. Who may we share your information with?

There are many different reasons why we may need to share your information. We may need to share your information to meet legal requirements or to give you the right support.

This could include sharing with other people or organisations such as:

• Doctors and other health departments, including hospitals and mental health trusts
• Providers who we use to deliver services
• Internal departments within the Vale of Glamorgan Council
• Government departments such as Department for Work and Pensions, Department of Health and Social Care, Communities and Local Government, the Ministry of Justice or the HM Courts and Tribunals service
• The emergency services such as the police and fire service
• Probation
• Youth support services
• Schools and education services
• Other local authorities
• Organisations that support us in having the best tools and equipment to deliver our services

Sometimes we need to share personal information without asking you. This can happen, for example:

• For legal proceedings, if the law requires us to share your information.
• If someone is at risk of harm or abuse, including you or others.
• If you are not able to give permission, for example due to a health condition.
• To help the authorities with things like preventing crime, catching offenders, or dealing with taxes.

Information sharing with the Welsh Government

Each year, we may share some of your information with the Welsh Government to help them plan and improve Social Services across Wales.

This might include personal details like your name, address, date of birth, gender, ethnic background, disability status, and information about your needs and education.

The Welsh Government will keep your information only as long as it is useful for research.

You can find out more by visiting the Welsh Government’s website and reading their privacy notices:

• Children Receiving Care and Support Census and Looked After Children Census: privacy notice
• Adults Receiving Care and Support Census: privacy notice

We will only share your information where there is a lawful basis for doing so.

5. How long will we keep your information?

Under data protection law, we will only keep your personal data for as long as we need it. More details about this can be found on the Council’s retention schedule.

6. How do we keep your information safe?

We understand that the information you share with us can be private and sensitive. We will respect your confidentiality.

This means we store your information securely and only allow people who need to see it to access it.

We will only keep your information if the law says we need to, and we will not keep anything we do not need.

7. Your Data Protection Rights

You have rights over your personal information. These include:

• You have the right to know why we collect your information and how we use it
• You can ask to see the information we have about you
• You can ask us to make right anything that is wrong or incomplete.
• You can ask us to delete your information in some situations.
• You can ask us to limit how we use your information.
• You can say no to your information being used in certain ways.
• You can ask for your information in a format that is easy to use or share with others.

Some rights may not apply in certain situations—for example, if we are required by law to keep your information.

Sometimes, we might not be able to update or correct your personal information—for example, if it is based on a professional’s opinion (like a social worker’s view). If we cannot make the change, you have asked for, we will explain why.

If you wish to use any of these rights please let us know. You can either ask the person in social services you are communicating with or you can ask the Council’s Information Governance Team to help you. Their details and what they do and how to contact them are set out below.

8. Lawful basis for using your information

We follow the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018. These laws say we must have a lawful reason to use your information. For most social care services, we rely on:

Article 6(1)(e) – We use your information to carry out tasks that are in the public interest.

Article 6(1)(c) – We may also use your information when the law says we must, such as for safeguarding or child protection.

Sometimes we may rely upon on your consent which is allowed under Article 6(1)(a) of the UK GDPR. However, in the main we rely on the two set out above.

If we use sensitive information—like details about your health, ethnicity, or care needs—this is called special category data. We must meet extra rules to use this type of data. We rely on:

Article 9(2)(h) – We use your information to provide health or social care services.

Article 9(2)(b) – We may use your information to meet legal duties under social protection laws.

Article 9(2)(c) – In emergencies, we may use your information to protect your life or someone else’s.

Article 9(2)(g) – We may use your information when it is in the substantial public interest, such as for safeguarding.

9. Who is responsible for your information?

The Council is a Data Controller and this means that it is responsible for making sure your information is used fairly, kept safe and handled according to the law. This includes the information which Social services holds about you. The Council has a Data Protection Officer who is the designated officer with responsibility in the Council for ensuring your personal information is looked after and used correctly. The Council has a team of officers who help the Data Protection Officer. This team is known as the Information Governance Team.

If you have any questions about how your information is used, or you want to use your data protection rights, or you are unhappy about its use, you can contact the Data Protection Officer and/or the Information Governance Team by e-mail to:

DPO@valeofglamorgan.gov.uk

or by writing to:

The Data Protection Officer,
Information Governance Team,
Legal and Democratic Services,
Civic Offices,
Holton Road,
Barry,
Vale of Glamorgan,
CF63 4RU

The Information Commissioners Office is the UK’s independent body set up to uphold your information rights under the UK GDPR and/or the Data Protection Act.

If you want to find out more about your rights under the Data Protection law, and what we should be doing, visit the Information Commissioner’s website:

ICO Website

If you have any concerns regarding our privacy practices or about exercising your Data Protection rights, you may contact the Information Commissioner’s Office, their details are below. However, we would ask that you contact us in the first instance, as we may be able to resolve your concerns. We also like to hear from you if there is anything regarding how your information is handled that you are unhappy about as it helps us to ensure we maintain our standards:

Information Commissioner’s Office,
Wycliffe House,
Water Lane,
Wilmslow,
Cheshire,
SK9 5AF

Telephone: 0303 123 1113
Email: casework@ico.org.uk

10. How to make a complaint?

If you are unhappy with the service you have received from social services, you have the right to make a complaint.

You can speak to your social worker or social care officer directly, or contact the Complaints Officer at:

The Complaints Officer,
Dock Offices,
Subway Road,
Barry,
CF63 4RT

Email: socialservicescomplaints@valeofglamorgan.gov.uk

We take all complaints seriously and will do our best to resolve any concerns you have. You also have the right to contact the Information Commissioner’s Office.