Privacy policy: Supporting Families

Privacy policy – Supporting Families

Supporting Families is a national initiative, led by the Department for Education. Its aim is to help families who are experiencing multiple disadvantages through a whole family approach, delivered by keyworkers, working for Central Bedfordshire Council and other partners.

The Supporting Families programme in Central Bedfordshire is delivered by the Early Help Team, part of our Children’s Services Department.

Central Bedfordshire Council is the data controller for all information processed by the Early Help Team under the Supporting Families programme.

What Information do we collect?

In order to identify families who are eligible for support from the Supporting Families Team, the Council collects data from the following organisations:

  • The Department for Work and Pensions
  • Central Bedfordshire Youth Offending Service
  • Bedfordshire Police
  • Housing
  • Community Safety
  • Access and Inclusion
  • 0-19s Health Services

The data which is collected includes basic identifiers (such as name, date of birth, national insurance number and address) and information relating to the ten criteria for the Supporting Families programme, which are:   

  • getting a good education e.g:
    • children who have not been attending school regularly, i.e., with average attendance levels of less than 90%
    • children whose age mean they are no longer required to attend school, i.e., with average attendance levels of less than 50%
    • children not able to participate and engage with education – motivation, emotional regulation and behaviour difficulties, risk of, or subject to, exclusions, concerns around suitability of Elective Home Education, child is off-roll and not receiving an education otherwise, risk of NEET
    • child's special educational needs not being met
  • good early years development e.g:
    • expectant or new parent/carers who require additional or specialist support (e.g., young parents, parents who have been in care, parents with learning needs)
    • child’s (age 0 to 5) physical health needs not met (e.g., immunisations not up to date, concerning accidental injuries, dental hygiene)
    • child's (age 0 to 5) developmental needs not being met (e.g., communication skills/speech and language, problem-solving, school readiness, personal, social and emotional development.
  • improved mental and physical health e.g:
    • baby/child needs support with their mental health
    • adult needs support with their mental health
    • child and/or parent/carer require support with learning disabilities, neurodiverse conditions and/or physical health needs that affect the family (e.g., long-standing health conditions requiring management, physical disabilities requiring adaptations)
  • reduce harm substance use e.g:
    • an adult has a drug and/or alcohol problem
    • a child or young person has a drug and/or alcohol problem
  • improve family relationships e.g:
    • parent / carers require parenting support.
    • harmful levels of parental conflict i.e., when it is frequent, intense or poorly resolved
    • child / young person violent or abusive in the home (to parents/carers or siblings)
    • unsupported young carer or caring circumstances changed requiring additional support
  • children safe from abuse and exploitation e.g:
    • emotional, physical, sexual abuse or neglect, historic or current, within the household
    • child going missing from home
    • child identified as at risk of, or experiencing, sexual exploitation
    • child identified as at risk of, or experiencing, criminal, or precriminal, exploitation (e.g., county lines)
    • child experiencing harm outside of the family (e.g., peer to peer abuse, bullying, online harassment, sexual harassment/offences)
    • "Child identified as at risk of or being affected by radicalisation”
  • preventing and tackling crime e.g:
    • adult (18+) involved in crime and/or ASB (at least one offence/arrest/named as a suspect/ASB incident) in the last 12 months
    • young person (u18) at risk of crime – including gangs, serious violence and weapons carrying, or involved in harmful risk-taking behaviour
    • "young person (u18) involved in crime and/or ASB (at least one offence/arrest/named as a suspect/ASB incident) in the last 12 months"
  • safe from domestic abuse e.g:
    • family affected by domestic abuse or inter-personal violence and abuse - historic, recent, current or at risk (victim)
    • adult in the family is a perpetrator of domestic abuse
    • child currently or historically affected by domestic abuse
  • secure housing e.g:
    • families who are in local authority temporary accommodation and are at risk of losing this
    • families not in suitable, sustainable housing and/or threatened with eviction /at risk of homelessness
    • young people aged 16/17 at risk of, or who have been, excluded from the family home
  • financial stability e.g:
    • adult in the family is workless
    • family require support with their finances and / or have unmanageable debt (e.g., rent arrears)
    • young person is NEET

Where three or more criteria is met, we would consider that your support is being delivered under the Supporting Families framework

Why we process this data

Data is gathered to identify families who are eligible for support through the Supporting Families programme and to deliver support and services to them.

Our legal bases for processing this data are:

Article 6: (e) Public task: the processing is necessary to perform a task in the public interest or for our official functions, and the task or function has a clear basis in law.

Because we need to process special category data and criminal offence data we also need a basis under Article 9 and 10 of GDPR these are as follows:

Article 9: (g) processing is necessary for reasons of substantial public interest (statutory etc. and government purposes), on the basis of Union or Member State law which shall be proportionate to the aim pursued, respect the essence of the right to data protection and provide for suitable and specific measures to safeguard the fundamental rights and the interests of the data subject;

Article 10: The local authority will collect the personal data under the public task basis (to fulfil their functions, in this case deliver services to troubled families).

Who do we share your information with?

While working with you, the Supporting Families Team may identify other services which could offer support. Relevant information may be shared with those services but only after they have been discussed with you and you have consented to your information being shared.

Pseudonymised data is shared with the Department for Education in order to allow them to monitor the effectiveness of the programme and ensure that public money is being used efficiently. This means that each family will be given a unique reference number and information about the outcomes of their involvement will be shared.  No information will be shared with the DfE which would allow them to identify the family or individuals involved.

We may also share information without consent if we are legally obliged to do so, for example to report a crime or to safeguard a person at risk of harm.

How long will information be kept?

Information will be kept as long as necessary for the purpose for which it was collected and then securely disposed of in line with the Council’s retention schedule.

Your rights

More information about your rights in relation to the information about you which is held by the Council, and who to contact if you have any concerns, can be found in the Council’s main privacy notice.