Privacy notice for Free School Meals (FSM) opt-out auto-award
Privacy notice for Free School Meals (FSM) opt-out auto-award
Privacy notice for Free School Meals (FSM) opt-out auto-award
This privacy notice explains how and why information about you will be used by
Oxfordshire County Council (“us”, “we” or “our”).
Oxfordshire County Council (OCC) and your child’s school act as ‘data controllers’ for the personal information we collect from you. All information processed by the council is covered by our Data Protection Policy. This privacy notice should be read alongside our privacy notice.
This privacy notice is designed to help you understand how we will use and process your information to administer the free school meals opt-out auto-award scheme. The details will outline:
- Why we collect and use your information;
- Where we get your data from and who we will share it with;
- What gives us the right to use your information;
- How long we will keep your information; and
- Your rights
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Why we collect and use your information
We need your data to fulfil our obligations set out under the Education Act 1996, which places a statutory duty on local authorities and schools to provide FSM to eligible pupils. Children are entitled to an FSM if their parents receive certain qualifying benefits. We are introducing a system to identify pupils who are entitled to benefit-related FSM but not yet registered.
We process personal information under the following lawful bases:
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UK GDPR Article 6(1)(e): Processing is necessary to perform a task in the public interest or for our official functions, with a clear basis in law.
We will do this by securely matching pupil and benefits data, so that more children can be registered for FSM in time for the School Census. Families will be given the opportunity to opt out of this process.
If parents or carers do not opt out, their child will be enrolled to receive FSM as part of the School Census.
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What information we collect about you
We process personal information that we already hold, including:
- Parent/carer’s full name
- Parent/carer’s home address and contact details
- Parent/carer’s date of birth
- Parent/carer’s national insurance number and details of benefits claimed
- Child’s name
- Child’s date of birth, school or academy attended
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Where we get your data from and who we share it with
Data is collected from the School Census and parent/carer records from schools and academies. We will match this to data from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to confirm entitlement.
We will share your personal data with the following organisations and partners:
- Your child’s school
- Other departments within the OCC, as deemed necessary for this work
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The Department for Education (DfE) as part of the School Census and Benefits registration process.
We do this to:
- Check whether your child is eligible for FSM
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Notify you of your child’s entitlement and give you the opportunity
to opt out of this exercise
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If you don’t opt out, notify your child’s school of their entitlement so
they can register your child for FSM
- Carry out regular checks to confirm ongoing eligibility
- Respond to queries or concerns
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How long we keep your information for
We will keep your personal data for 6 years (until the end of a child’s time in secondary education). We are required to keep this information for this long as per our corporate retention schedule, and to also ensure eligibility to FSM service is available.
We may keep your information for longer than is stated in certain circumstances, such as if you have an open complaint about the services received, for evidence to defend a legal claim or if we are required to by law.
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How to contact us
Please contact us if you have any questions about this privacy notice: By email: Free.SchoolMeals@Oxfordshire.gov.uk
In writing:
Free School Meals Oxfordshire County Council County Hall
New Road
Oxford
OX1 1NDBy telephone: 01865 519800
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Your rights
Under the Data Protection Act 2018 and the UK General Data Protection Regulations (UKGDPR) you have the right to:
- Right to access to your own personal data.
- Right to correct inaccurate information
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Right to object to the processing of your personal data.
Opting out
Under Article 21 UKGDPR, you have the right to object to this processing of your personal data at any time.
Parents or carers may object within 7–14 days of receiving opt-out communications. If you decide to object, your response will be documented, and your child(ren) will be removed from the dataset, and you will not receive any further communications.
However, we recognise that families'
financial/life circumstances might change across the year. If a child is still entitled (and not registered) 2-years after the first opt-out letter, parents/carers will need to reconfirm their wish to opt out of the service.
Opt-out communications will be sent via email or post from OCC’s Education Team. As a parent/carer, you will have 7 days from the point of receipt to opt out of automatic FSM enrolment.
As a local authority, OCC has a statutory duty to provide FSM to eligible pupils. We understand that circumstances can change, therefore we reserve the right to contact you again after a 2-year period to refresh your decision to opt out.
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Using your rights
If you wish to use any of your rights, detailed in section 6, please contact us using the online form listed below:
Online at personal information request.
You can contact Oxfordshire County Council’s Data Protection Officer using the
contact information listed below:
Email to dataprotectionofficer@oxfordshire.gov.uk.
In writing to
Information Management Team
Oxfordshire County Council
County Hall
New Road
Oxford
OX1 1NDMaking a complaint to the Information Commissioner
If you wish to make a complaint about how we use your personal data to the Information Commissioner’s Office, you can contact them by visiting their website at https://ico.org.uk/ or by calling 0303 123 1113.