Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO) Service - privacy notice

PN0516 
CYPS – Safeguarding and Quality Assurance

Calderdale Metropolitan Borough Council of Town Hall, Crossley Street, Halifax, HX1 1UJ is registered with the Information Commissioners Office (ICO) under the provision of the Data Protection Act 2018. The Council takes its responsibilities as Data Controller under the Data Protection Act and UK General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) very seriously. 

This privacy notice explains how your personal information will be processed in respect of LADO referrals.

The council is required by law to safeguard children and has a statutory duty to have a Designated Officer responsible for co-ordinating the multi-agency response to concerns raised about any adult working or volunteering (paid or unpaid) with children within the Borough.

 The type of information we will collect

Personal information will be received from you direct and from third parties such as referrers, employers and the police including:

• Referrer details including name, contact details, organisation/employer 
• Reason for the referral and details of the allegation
• Alleged victim details including:
  • name, address, family/person with parental responsibility, contact details
  • date of birth, gender
  • details of school/setting attended
  • information relating to episodes or referrals or contacts being made to social care about a child (such as referral information, assessment information, Section 47 information, Child Protection / Child In Need / Looked After Child) 
  • episodes of being looked after (such as important dates, information on placements) 
  • outcomes for looked after children (such as legal proceedings and offending) 
  • adoptions (such as key court orders and decisions) 
  • care leavers (such as their activity and information relating to their personal health/disability/vulnerability)
• Alleged perpetrator details including:
  • name, address, contact details
  • date of birth, gender 
  • ethnicity and nationality
  • position and employer 
  • employment information and employer’s contact name and details 
  • family details including names and dates of birth
  • police record information 
• Details of attendees at Allegation Management Strategy Meetings including name, date of birth, position/employer and contact details.

Why we collect and hold this information 

• To enable us to carry out specific functions for which we are responsible
• To provide advice and management oversight for investigations into allegations against individuals working or volunteering with children
• To undertake child safeguarding measures 
• For crime prevention and prosecution
• To identify themes and patterns of behaviour in order to ensure proactive multi-agency responses
• To obtain feedback to help us to understand the effectiveness of the service and to develop and improve future services.

Sharing your personal data

We seek/share information as required with legal or regulatory bodies e.g., Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS), Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA), Ofsted, Care Quality Commission (CQC), Charities Commission, professional regulatory bodies such the General Medical Council (GMC) and the Nursing & Midwifery Council (NMC) and also professional associations such as the Football Association (FA), Sport England etc as applicable. 

Information will also be shared with the following services/organisations:

• Calderdale Council’s Children’s Social Care service
• Calderdale Safeguarding Children’s Partnership 
• Police
• Employers
• Other Local Authorities, for the purpose of peer reflection upon LADO procedures

We will only ever share personal information where there is a legal basis to do so. 

The lawful basis for the processing your data

The key legislation, policies, and guidance that relate to this service includes, but is not limited to:

• Children Act 1989 
• Children Act 2004 
• Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006
• Working Together to Safeguard Children (last updated 2023)
• Keeping Children Safe in Education (last updated 2024)
• West Yorkshire Consortium Inter-Agency Safeguarding and Child Protection Procedures  (last updated 2023) 

We process personal information and special category data under the following GDPR lawful bases:

• Article 6(1)(c) – for compliance with a legal obligation to which the controller is subject as above
• Article 6(1)(e) – for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority vested in the controller
• Article 9(2)(b) – processing is necessary for the purposes of carrying out the obligations and exercising specific rights of the controller or of the data subject in the field of employment and social security and social protection law
• Article 9(2)(g) - processing is necessary for reasons of substantial public interest

(DPA 2018 Schedule 1 Part 1 (1) Employment, social security, and social protection and (2) Health or social care purposes)

(DPA 2018 Schedule 1 Part 2 (8) Equality of opportunity or treatment and (18) Safeguarding of children and individuals at risk)

Retaining your personal information

Personal information will be retained in line with the retention schedule laid out in the table below, following which it shall be securely destroyed. 

The retention start date is from the date of referral to the LADO Service.

Your rights

The UK GDPR provides the following rights for individuals. Not all rights are absolute and therefore will only apply in certain circumstances:

1. The right to be informed
2. The right of access
3. The right to rectification
4. The right to erasure
5. The right to restrict processing
6. The right to data portability
7. The right to object
8. Rights in relation to automated decision making and profiling.

You also have the right to complain to the Data Protection Officer if you feel that your data has not been handled in accordance with the law. The Council’s Data Protection Officer can be contacted at  information_management@calderdale.gov.uk.

You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office at  www.ico.org.uk.