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Specialist Volunteer Privacy Notice

City of York Council (CYC) current data protection notification is registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) – reference Z5809563. We created this privacy notice in November 2024 and will review it regularly.

CYC is committed to ensuring that your information is handled in accordance with the principles set out in data protection legislation and guidance from the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).

This privacy notice tells you what to expect when we process your information and it applies to volunteering and hosting.

CYC is the controller for this information unless we specifically state otherwise in this privacy notice.

You can contact the council’s Data Protection Officer at:

West Offices
Station Rise
York
YO1 6GA

Telephone: 01904 554145.

Email: information.governance@york.gov.uk.

This privacy notice should be read in conjunction with other relevant CYC privacy notices and/or policies and procedures.

When appropriate we will provide a ‘just in time’ notice to cover any additional processing activities not mentioned in this document.

How we collect your information

We get information about you from the following sources:

  • directly from you when you apply to volunteer or provide hosting support

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What personal data we process and why

We process the following personal and special category data such as:

  • name
  • contact details
  • date of birth
  • details of your qualifications, skills, experience, and employment history including references supplied by current and former employers
  • details of your days of work and working hours and attendance at work to understand your availability
  • information about your nationality and entitlement to work in the UK
  • bank details and national insurance number
  • criminal records checks
  • information about medical or health conditions, including whether or not you have a disability for which the organisation needs to make reasonable adjustments
  • equal opportunities monitoring information, including information about your ethnic origin, sexual orientation, health and religion or belief.
  • your comments, feedback and opinions if you choose to take part in our surveys, consultation etc
  • your photo if you require a photo ID badge

When we process information relating to criminal convictions and offences, this includes details of any past criminal convictions or offences.

We use your information for the purposes of:

  • run volunteer evaluation
  • maintain accurate and up-to-date volunteer records and contact details (including details of who to contact in the event of an emergency)
  • obtain occupational health advice, to ensure that it complies with duties in relation to individuals with disabilities, meet its obligations under health and safety law
  • ensure effective general volunteer and business administration
  • provide references on request for current or former volunteers
  • respond to and defend against legal claims
  • maintain and promote equality in the workplace
  • maintain security such as volunteer photo ID badges

From time to time, we may conduct or ask you to take part in a survey to get your feedback, comments and opinions to help us improve our services. We will only do this where we have your consent. If you take part in our surveys or consultation you can withdraw your consent at any time by contacting Alison Cammiss, Communities and Prevention team, West Office, Station Rise York YO1 6GA or email: alison.cammiss@york.gov.uk.

We need to use your personal data to enter into a volunteer or hosting agreement with you and to meet its obligations under this agreement.

In some cases, we need to use your personal data to ensure that we are complying with our legal obligations. For example, to comply with data protection and privacy laws, health and safety laws, to carry out criminal records checks to ensure that individuals are permitted to undertake the role in question.

Where we use special categories of personal data, such as information about ethnic origin, sexual orientation, health or religion or belief, this is done for the purposes of equal opportunities monitoring. Information that we use for these purposes is collected with your explicit consent, which you can withdraw at any time. You can do this by email: alison.cammiss@york.gov.uk. You are entirely free to decide whether or not to provide such data and there are no consequences of failing to do so.

We may use your information to create reports and statistics that are anonymous and cannot be linked back to you, your family, or individuals such as:

  • statistical analysis
  • statutory returns
  • audit framework
  • see how the council and its partners are supporting individuals
  • help design better services
  • inform funding decisions

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Automated decision-making

We do not carry out any automated decision-making in our volunteering and hosting service.

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Collecting information automatically

Please see our Cookies Policy for further information about the information we collect automatically when you use our website.

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Children’s information

Where we provide services directly to children or young people, the information in the relevant parts of this notice applies to children and young people, as well as adults.

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Lawful basis for processing your personal data

Any personal data, special category data and criminal offence data that we process about individuals is done so in accordance with one or more of the following Articles 6 and 9 and 10 of the UK GDPR and Schedule 1 of the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA 2018).

  • Article 6(1)
    • (a) Consent: the individual has given clear consent for the council to process their personal data for a specific purpose.
    • (c) Legal obligation: the processing is necessary for the council to comply with the law (not including contractual obligations).
    • (e) Public task: the processing is necessary for the council to perform a task in the public interest or for our official functions, and the task or function has a clear basis in law.
  • Article 9(2)
    • (a) Explicit consent
    • (f) Legal claims or judicial acts
    • (g) Reasons of substantial public interest (with a basis in law)
    • (h) Health or social care (with a basis in law)

This is supported by Schedule1, Part 2 (6) of the Data Protection Act 2018 and the following legal framework:

  • The Children and Families Act, 2014
  • Children and Social Work Act, 2017
  • Children Act, 1989
  • Homelessness Reduction Act, 2017.
  • Mental Capacity Act, 2005
  • Mental Health Act 1983 (as amended 2007)
  • The Equalities Act 2010
  • The Care Act 2014

Where we process information relating to criminal convictions and offences, this is also under Article 10 UK GDPR that covers processing in relation to criminal convictions and offences or related security measures. In addition, section 11(2) of the DPA 2018 specifically confirms that this includes personal data relating to the alleged commission of offences, or proceedings for an offence committed or alleged to have been committed, including sentencing.

Some of the Schedule 1 conditions for processing special category and criminal offence data require an Appropriate Policy Document (APD) to be in place, which sets out and explains the procedures for securing compliance with the principles in Article 5 and policies regarding the retention and erasure of such personal data. This document explains this processing and satisfies the requirements of Schedule 1, Part 4 of the DPA 2018 and supplements this privacy notice.

Our Appropriate Policy Document provides further information about this processing.

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How long we keep your personal data

We will only keep your information for as long as it is needed then it will be securely and confidentially deleted or disposed of.

You can find more details about how long the council keeps records in the council retention schedule.

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Data sharing

We will only share your information with other council services and with other organisations, agencies, partners such as contractors who undertake work on our behalf, government departments, etc where it is appropriate to.

In some circumstances, such as under a court order or safeguarding, we are legally obliged to share your information.

We will always satisfy ourselves that we have a lawful basis on which to share the information and document our decision making.

Additionally, we are required under the Public Records Act 1958 (as amended) to transfer records to the City or National Archives (TNA) for permanent preservation. Full consideration will be given to Data Protection and Freedom of Information legislation when making decisions about whether such records should be open to the public.

We will share your personal information to ensure that we can safeguard children and young people and to promote the wellbeing of vulnerable adults. This means we will share information with other organisations and or partner agencies, such as: The Police, Health, Education, and any other agency that is considered relevant for the purpose of safeguarding.

We may also share your personal information with other council services and partner agencies, such as: the Police, Health, Education, Charities, and/or the voluntary sector, as appropriate, to improve outcomes for families’ children and young people such as:

  • in house providers of social care services
  • commissioned providers of local authority services (such as Independent Foster Care Agencies, Children’s Homes, Semi-Independent accommodation Providers, Supported Lodgings Providers, Residential Special Schools, and Secure accommodation). Where services are commissioned, the provider would be a processor of information and also be a controller in their own right, where they collect information for their own purpose
  • commissioned services to provide support to you or your family, such as independent providers and charities
  • schools
  • government departments including the Department of Education, Department of Work and Pensions, and the Home Office
  • Her Majesty's Courts and Tribunal Service
  • Ofsted (in the event of a local authority inspection of children’s services)
  • The Share-Foundation

Where we work with external third parties to provide services for us, we have contracts or agreements in place with them covering how your information is used in line with data protection and privacy legislation.
The CYP Integrated Children System is owned and managed by CYC and contains personal data and special category information about children attending CYC schools, and matches additional personal data from multiple data sources within CYC to the pupils.

The aim of the dataset is to allow statistical analysis and research to:

  • support and inform council transformation by ensuring the holistic characteristics and needs of the child population are fully understood
  • provide appropriate levels of insight, evidence and evaluation in order to embed knowledge and understanding of children and young people’s needs and issues into service programs and projects, including the commissioning of new services
  • inform future service delivery planning and integrated working in order to improve outcomes for children and young people

The council has robust processes in place to ensure the confidentiality of our data is maintained and there are stringent controls in place regarding access and use of the data. The child-level dataset is not shared outside of the council. All personal data is stored in secured electronic files with restricted access. Only pseudonymised* data is used for analysis. Outputs and analysis take the form of aggregated data, and are for the purpose of CYC teams and partners working to improve outcomes for children and young people.

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Data processors and/or third parties

When we have third parties providing parts or all of our services for us, we have contracts or agreements in place with them. These include:

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Transfers of personal data

We do not routinely transfer personal data, special categories of personal data or criminal offence data, outside of the UK but when this is necessary, we ensure that we have appropriate safeguards in place and that is done in accordance with the UK data protection and privacy legislation.

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How we protect your information

We're committed to keeping your information safe and secure. There are several ways we do this, such as:

  • IT security safeguards such as firewalls, encryption, and anti-virus software
  • on-site security safeguards to protect physical files and electronic equipment
  • training for all staff and elected councillors
  • policies and procedures

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Your rights in relation to this processing

To find out about your rights under data protection law, you can go to the Information Commissioner's Office website.

You can also find information about your rights in our Privacy Notice.

If you have any questions about this privacy notice, want to exercise your rights, or if you have a complaint about how your information has been used, please contact us on email: information.governance@york.gov.uk, or on telephone: 01904 554145, or write to:

Data Protection Officer
City of York Council
West Offices
Station Rise
York YO1 6GA

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Also see

Data Protection Officer

West Offices, Station Rise, York, YO1 6GA

Telephone: 01904 554145

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