General Data Protection Regulations Policy
Statement
GDPR stands for General Data Protection Regulation and replaces the previous Data Protection Directives that were in place. It was approved by the EU Parliament in 2016 and came into effect on 25th May 2018.
GDPR states that personal data should be ‘processed fairly & lawfully’ and ‘collected for specified, explicit and legitimate purposes’ and that individuals’ data is not processed without their knowledge and are only processed with their ‘explicit’ consent. GDPR covers personal data relating to individuals.
Redwood Early Years is committed to protecting the rights and freedoms of individuals with respect to the processing of children’s, parents, visitors, and staff personal data. The Data Protection Act gives individuals the right to know what information is held about them. It provides a framework to ensure that personal information is handled properly.
Redwood Early Years is registered with the ICO (Information Commissioners Office). Certificates are on display on the parents’ information boards in Redwood Early Years
GDPR includes 7 rights for individuals.
1) The right to be informed
Redwood Early Years is a registered Childcare provider with Ofsted and as so, is required to collect and manage certain data. We need to know parents’ names, addresses, telephone numbers, email addresses, date of birth and National Insurance numbers. We need to know children’s’ full names, addresses, date of birth and Birth Certificate number. For parents claiming the free nursery entitlement we are requested to provide this data to Wokingham Borough Council; this information is sent to the Local Authority via a secure electronic file transfer system.
We are required to collect certain details of visitors/collectors to our pre-schools. We need to know visitors names, telephone numbers, addresses and where appropriate company name. This is in respect of our Health and Safety and Safeguarding Policies. As an employer Redwood Early Years is required to hold data on its employees; names, addresses, email addresses, telephone numbers, date of birth, National Insurance numbers, photographic ID such as passport and driver’s license, bank details. This information is also required for Disclosure and Barring Service checks (DBS) and proof of eligibility to work in the UK. This information is sent via a secure file transfer system to UKCRBs for the processing of DBS checks. Redwood Early Years uses Cookies on its website to collect data for Google Analytics, this data is anonymous.
2) The right of access
Redwood Early Years is a private early years setting owned by Sarah Gresty. Registered Address: Redwood Early Years, based in Emmbrook Infant School, Emmbrook Rd, Wokingham, RG411JR. Telephone number 07923888394 / 0118 402 3888
At any point an individual can make a request relating to their data and Redwood Early Years will need to provide a response (within 1 month). Redwood Early Years can refuse a request, if we have a lawful obligation to retain data i.e. from Ofsted in relation to the EYFS, but we will inform the individual of the reasons for the rejection. The individual will have the right to complain to the ICO if they are not happy with the decision.
3) The right to erasure
You have the right to request the deletion of your data where there is no compelling reason for its continued use. However, Redwood Early Years has a legal duty to keep children’s and parent’s details for a reasonable time*, Redwood Early Years retain these records for 3 years after leaving the setting, children’s accident and injury records for 19 years (or until the child reaches 21 years), and 22 years (or until the child reaches 24 years) for Child Protection records. Staff records must be kept for 6 years after the member of leaves employment, before they can be erased.
This data is archived securely on site and shredded after the legal retention period. There is a full Risk Assessment in place for transportation and storage. A copy of this Risk Assessment can be provided upon request.
4) The right to restrict processing
Parents, visitors and staff can object to Redwood Early Years processing their data. This means that records can be stored but must not be used in any way, for example reports or for communications.
5) The right to data portability
Redwood Early Years requires data to be transferred from one IT system to another; such as from Redwood Early Years to the Local Authority, to shared settings and to Famly’s Online Learning Journal. These recipients use secure file transfer systems and have their own policies and procedures in place in relation to GDPR.
6) The right to object
Parents, visitors and staff can object to their data being used for certain activities like marketing or research.
7) The right not to be subject to automated decision-making including profiling. Automated decisions and profiling are used for marketing based organisations. Redwood Early Years does not use personal data for such purposes.
Storage and use of personal information
All paper copies of children’s and staff records are kept in a locked filing cabinet and locked cupboard in Redwood Early Years. Sarah Gresty and authorised staff have access to these files but information taken from the files about individual children is confidential and apart from archiving, these records remain on site at all times. These records are shredded after the retention period.
Information about individual children is used in certain documents, such as, a weekly register, medication forms, referrals to external agencies and disclosure forms. These documents include data such as children’s names, date of birth and sometimes address. These records are shredded after the relevant retention period.
Redwood Early Years collects a large amount of personal data every year including; names and addresses of those on the waiting list. These records are shredded if the child does not attend or added to the child’s file and stored appropriately.
Information regarding families’ involvement with other agencies is stored both electronically on an external hard drive and in paper format, this information is kept in a locked cabinet in the setting. These records are shredded after the relevant retention period.
Upon a child leaving Redwood Early Years and moving on to school or moving settings, data held on the child may be shared with the receiving school. Such information will be hand delivered, sent via the internal Wokingham Borough Council post service or via a secure file transfer system. For children attending school outside Wokingham Borough Council the parent/carer will be given the data to deliver to the receiving school.
Redwood Early Years stores personal data held visually in photographs or video clips or as sound recordings, unless written consent has been obtained no names are stored with images in photo albums, displays, on the website or on Redwood Early Years social media sites.
Access to all Office computers and Famly Online Learning Journal is password protected. When a member of staff leaves the setting these passwords are changed in line with this policy and our Safeguarding policy. Any portable data storage used to store personal data, e.g. USB memory stick, are password protected and/or stored in a locked filing cabinet.
GDPR means that Redwood Early Years must; * Manage and process personal data properly * Protect the individual’s rights to privacy.