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Privacy notice for Free School Meals (Richmond)

Introduction

This privacy notice explains what types of personal data we may hold about you, how we collect it, how we use it and who we may share information with. We are required to give you this information under data protection law.

Who we are

Achieving for Children delivers children’s services and the local authority statutory responsibilities relating to children aged up to 25 years across the boroughs of Kingston, Richmond and Windsor and Maidenhead. Achieving for Children is registered as a controller with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) (registration number ZA045069) and is committed to being transparent about how it collects and uses that data and to meeting its data protection obligations. 

Free School Meals are a statutory benefit available to school-aged children from families who receive certain qualifying benefits. Achieving for Children administers the free school meals scheme in the borough of Richmond on behalf of the Government. 

Personal data we collect 

We collect the personal information below when you submit an application for free school meals:

  • Parent’s full name
  • Parent’s home address and contact details including a telephone number and email address
  • Parent’s date of birth
  • Parent’s national insurance number and details of benefits claimed
  • Child’s name
  • Child’s date of birth and school attended 

We may also collect information from other organisations such as the benefits agencies

For children and families resident in the borough of Richmond, we carry out a data matching exercise to identify children who might be entitled to Free School Meals.

How we use your personal data

The information you provide is used for the following purposes:   

  • to assess your eligibility for free school meals against the Department for Education criteria
  • notify your child’s school of their entitlement to Free School Meals
  • provide food vouchers during school holidays
  • deal with complaints or concerns

Lawful basis for processing your personal data 

We collect and use personal information under the following lawful basis:

  • UK GDPR article 6(1)(e) – 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

We are required by law to provide Free School Meals to eligible children in Richmond under Section 512 of the Education Act 1996. The local authority has the “general power of competence” under Section 1 of the Localism Act 2011 to auto-enrol children eligible for Free School Meals.

Who we share your personal information with

We will only share information where it is appropriate and legal to do so. Where this is necessary, we are required to comply with all aspects of the Data Protection Act 2018. 

How long will we keep your information

Successful application records: entitlement ceases + 6 years. 

Keeping your personal information secure

We have appropriate security measures in place to prevent personal information from being accidentally lost or used or accessed in an unauthorised way. We limit access to your personal information to those who have a genuine business need to know it. Those processing your information will do so only in an authorised manner and are subject to a duty of confidentiality. We will notify you and any applicable regulator of a suspected data security breach where we are legally required to do so.

Your rights and access to information 

Under data protection legislation you have the right to request access to the information that we hold about you. To request a copy of your data, please read the Individual Rights Requests page on this website and then submit your request using your preferred method of contact. 

You also have the right to:

  • object to processing of personal data that is likely to cause, or is causing, damage or distress
  • have inaccurate personal data rectified, blocked, erased or destroyed
  • prevent processing for the purpose of direct marketing object to decisions being taken by automated means
  • in certain circumstances have inaccurate personal data rectified, blocked, erased or destroyed; and 
  • a right to seek redress, either through the ICO, or through the courts

If you have any questions or concerns about the way we process personal data, or would like to discuss anything in this privacy notice, please contact our Data Protection Officer: [email protected]

If you want to make a complaint about how we handle your personal data, we ask that you give our Data Protection Officer the opportunity to respond in the first instance but you are not obliged to do this. You can make a complaint directly to the Information Commissioner’s Office at https://ico.org.uk/concerns/