Calderdale Metropolitan Borough Council (the Council) is responsible for handling your personal information. Our address is Town Hall, Crossley Street, Halifax, HX1 1UJ. We are registered with the Information Commissioners Office (ICO) and follow UK Data Protection laws to keep your information safe.
This privacy notice explains how your person data is used when we use the Magic Notes Tool. This tool is being trialled for six weeks from January 2026. in four areas:
- Care Act Assessments.
- Occupational Therapy Assessments.
- Case supervisions.
- Viability Assessments for connected carers.
About Magic Notes
This is software that uses Artificial Intelligence to record, transcribe and summarise meetings.
At the start of a meeting or call, we will tell you if we are using Magic Notes to record it. Whilst the legal basis is not consent, the legal basis of public task allows an objection to be made. If you do not wish your data to be recorded during Magic Notes, you may object at the start of the meeting and notes will be taken manually instead.
If a recording is in progress when an objection is made, the recording will be stopped and notes taken manually from that point. However, the recording made up to the point when the objection is raised will be used, as otherwise there will be no notes of the conversation prior to the objection and the meeting will have been ineffective.
Magic Note does not make automated decisions. There will be a real person (human in the loop) whenever Magic Notes is being used to check for accuracy and that any summaries produced accurately reflect what was discussed.
Magic Notes is used in these way:
- User (the trained staff member, such as a social work) starts the recording on their work mobile phone or work computer.
- The meeting is recorded and the audio file is saved.
- The user ends the recording.
- Magic Notes creates a transcriptions of the audio file.
- Azure's OpenAI model creates a summary of the transcript and completes the associated form.
- The user is sent a notification telling them that their meeting summary is ready and can be viewed in the secure web app
- The user copies the summary into the form template, checks for accuracy, any edits required are made and the final form is loaded into our case management.
Magic Notes is used in both Adults and Children's Services. For more details about other way these services use personal data, see the relevant privacy notices:
Calderdale Council will be the data controller for the data you provide to us. The supplier of Magic Notes, Beam, processes personal data on the Council's behalf.
What information we collect
This will depend on the service you interact with and may include but is not limited to:
- Name and Contact Details.
- Age.
- Date of Birth.
- Gender.
- NHS number.
- Address.
- Social Care ID.
- Other ID numbers.
- Employment and education information.
- Family details.
- Housing and care needs.
- Business Activities.
- Parent/carer details.
- Emergency contacts.
- Personal appearance and behaviour.
- Lifestyle and social circumstances.
- Case file information.
When we use this tool, we do not collect more personal data than we would normally collect from you.
Some services may also need to collect Special Category Personal data from you. This can include, but is not limited to:
- Racial and ethnic origin.
- Advocacy details.
- Social care support outcomes.
- Physical and mental health details.
- Data concerning sex life or sexual orientation.
- Political opinions.
- Religious, philosophical or other beliefs of a similar nature.
- Trade Union membership.
We also process data about criminal convictions, criminal offences or related security concerns/measures, when relevant.
Why we collect your information
- To support service delivery.
- For service planning, training and improvement.
Who we share your information with
To facilitate the use of Magic Notes, data will be shared with the supplier, Beam. We may share notes produced using Magic Notes with third parties including health services, the police, government departments or other local councils, only when relevant. For a more complete list please see the relevant privacy notices for Childrens and Adults social care.
How long we keep your information in this system
- For the trial, no longer than April 2026.
Personal data which is captured using Magic Notes and forms a summary or report which is then saved on Mosaic, our social care management system, will have the same retention policies as other social care documents.
The legal basis to process your data
Our legal basis for processing your personal data is that it is necessary for performing a task in the public interest and legal obligation, namely taking notes and producing reports of social care meetings.
- Article 6(1)(c). For compliance with a legal obligation to which the controller is subject.
- Article 6(1)(e). For the performance of a public task or in the exercise of official authority vested in the controller.
Our legal basis for processing your special category personal data is that it directly relates to provision of health and social care.
- Article 9(2)(h). For the reasons of preventative or occupational medicine, medical diagnosis, the provision of health or social care or treatment or the management of health or social care systems and services.
- Article 9(2)(g). For the reasons of substantial public interest.
Our legal basis for processing data about criminal convictions, criminal offences or related security measures is that it is necessary to perform our public tasks as a local authority and/or necessary to protect the vital interests of the data subject or another person.
- Article 9(2)(b). 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)(c). To protect the vital interest of the data subject or another natural person.
As we have a statutory basis for collecting your personal data, we do not need to ask for your permission to collect and share it. However, we will only ever share your data on a basis of need, in line with legislation and will always work transparently with you.
Automated decision making
Although Magic Notes uses AI to automatically transcribe and summarise conversations, I does not make automated decisions about services you receive. Summaries and completed form created by Magic notes are always reviewed and edited by a human being before being uploaded to our case management system.
Your rights
Under UK GDPR, you have the right to:
- Know how we use your data.
- Access your personal data.
- Correct any inaccurate information.
- Ask us to delete your data.
- Restrict how we use your data.
- Get a copy of your data in a portable format.
- Object to how we use your data.
- Challenge automated decisions made about you.
Please note: Not all rights are absolute and some will only apply in certain circumstances.
You do not have to pay to exercise these rights. If you make a request, we will respond within one month.
How to contact us
To make a request or withdraw your consent, please contact the member of staff who conduct your assessment/supervision.
If you believe we have not handled your data properly, email the Data Protection Officer: information.management@calderdale.gov.uk
You can also report concerns to the ICO.