Early Help privacy notice

Last updated: November 2025 

What this notice is about 

Our Early Help services provide and work with a wide range of support services for children, young people and families. We work with families who are vulnerable to life’s challenges and who have more complex needs.  

Depending on what you need, we can provide support through universal (for everyone), targeted (for families who need extra help), or specialist services (for families with more complex needs). We work with you, other teams in Children’s Services and partner organisations, to make sure you get the right help quickly, when you need it. Our services are available across the borough in community settings.   

To provide this service, we need to process certain personal information about you.  This privacy notice explains how we do this. 

You should also read our Children’s Services privacy notice and our main privacy notice, which gives more details about your rights and how to contact us.  

What information we collect, hold and use

We may collect: 

• personal information, such as name, date of birth and address 
• characteristics, such as gender, ethnicity and disability 
• details of services and events that you have accessed through Early Help  
• information you give us in the early help assessment and family plans (this helps us understand what support you need, from who and when. This is also monitored to make sure that we have the right involvement at the right time) 
• educational information, such as attendance, exclusions, your pupil number and pupil characteristics such as your age, first language and entitlement to free school meals 
• employment information, such as if adults out of work or at risk of money problems, and young people who are at risk of not getting a job 
• information about anti-social behaviour, domestic abuse, criminal offences, probation information, and if young people go missing from home 
• health information 
• information about your housing situation. 

Where we get your information from 

We get information from:

• you, you give it to us directly
• from other council departments
• schools
• the Department of Work and Pensions
• the Probation Service and Police
• health services
• housing providers.

We collect personal/special category information through various sources including assessments, from other professionals, telephone conversations, email communication, face to face visits, surveys and questionnaires.  

How we use this information 

We use your personal information to ensure that we meet our legal and statutory duties. 

We may also use your data to: 

• support children, young people and families, and to monitor how they are doing 
• give children, young people and families help that meets their personal, social (wellbeing), emotional, school and employment needs 
• assess the quality of our services 
• evaluate and improve our policies and how we support families 
• keep children and young people safe 
• contact you for feedback so we can make our services better 
• tell you about events, activities, or services that may interest to you (if you have agreed  to do so. 

Our legal reasons for processing (using) your data 

Under UK General Data Protection Regulations (UK GDPR), the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA 2018) and the Data Use and Access Act 2025 (DUAA 2025) we use your data because: 

• we are doing something in the public interest or as part of our official duties (public task) 
• in your vital interest (to keep you or someone else safe) 
• in other situations where you give your consent (you say that we can). 

Some of the information we collect is considered ‘special category data’ under the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR). This includes information about your: 

• racial or ethnic origin 
• physical or mental health 
• disability status 
• religious or philosophical beliefs 
• sexual orientation. 

We only use this information where it is necessary and lawful to do so. The legal bases we rely on are: 

• Article 9(2)(g) UK GDPR – processing is necessary for reasons of substantial public interest. This is supported by the Data Protection Act 2018, Schedule 1, Part 2, which allows processing for safeguarding of children and individuals at risk, statutory and government purposes, and equality of opportunity or treatment. 
• Article 9(2)(h) UK GDPR – processing is necessary for the provision of health or social care. 
• In limited cases, Article 9(2)(a) – where you have given your explicit consent. 

We also process information about criminal convictions and offences under Article 10 UK GDPR and Part 3 of the Data Protection Act 2018, where it is necessary for safeguarding, the prevention or detection of unlawful acts, or the exercise of statutory functions. 

Other laws that apply to our services 

The other laws that apply are:

• Children Act 1989 
• Children Act 2004 
• Children and Families Act 2014 
• Welfare Reform Act 2012  
• Criminal Justice and Court Services Act 2000 
• Crime and Disorder Act 1998 
• Equality Act 2010 
• Education Act 2002 
• Education and Skills Act 2008 
• Special Education Needs and Disability Regulations 2014. 

Who we share your information with 

We routinely share information with: 

• Government departments, such as the Department for Education (DfE), Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) and the Home Office 
• other council departments, such as Adult Social Care teams, Finance departments 
• commissioned partners/contractors who we work in partnership with 
• health providers, such as the NHS 
• other district or borough councils 
• Police to prevent fraud or crime  
• education providers, such as schools that a child attends or has attended 
• other local authorities who have contact with a child 
• regulators, such as Ofsted 
• support services for a child or a parent 
• courts for the purpose of any proceedings in relation to a child or adult; and 
• any other agency responsible for protecting the safety of children and young people. 

We share your personal information with the above partners and organisations as part of our contractual agreements and legal duties as a local authority. 

How we store your data 

We keep your information safe in our secure case management system. Only staff who need it can see it.  

To find out how long we keep your data, check our main privacy notice and retention schedule. 

Your individual rights 

You have rights over your personal data. For more details, see our main privacy notice and the page about your individual rights.  

Complaints 

If you are unhappy with how we use your data, please see the council’s main privacy notice to find out how to make a complaint.