Requesting personal information - Print version

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Access to your personal information

You have a right to ask for personal information we hold about you. This is commonly known as a Subject Access Request (SAR). A SAR gives you the right to be given a copy or summary of information about you. The following details will help you ask for information Coventry City Council holds about you.

What is personal information?

Personal information can be described as any information about you that can identify you, for example your name, address or telephone number. It can also be the type of job you do, the things you buy, an email address, a photo and the place you went to school or the services that we provide to you. It can also be held in different ways, for example electronically or on paper.

Applying for information/record(s)

To make it easier for you as the applicant and for Coventry City Council to identify a request for personal information, we have provided the following form for you to fill in and include all the details we may require so that we can locate the information you are asking for.

Data Protection Law says we must confirm the identity of the requester, to ensure that we only give personal information to those who have a legal right to receive it. Therefore we will need to see proof of identification and residency and will require one document from each list. A clear full colour copy from each of the lists below should be provided.

Personal Identity Documents List 1

  • Current signed passport
  • Current full driving licence (paper or photocard)
  • Birth certificate
  • Adoption certificate
  • Marriage certificate

Residence Identity Documents List 2

  • Gas, Electricity or Water Bill (dated within the last 6 months for your current address)
  • BT/Cable Fixed Line Telephone Bill (dated within last 6 months for your current address)
  • Council Tax Statement/Payment Book (dated for current year)
  • Current bank or building society statement (dated within last 6 months and showing your present address)

Please note: We cannot accept provisional driving licences or mobile phone bills as identification.

If you are seeking information relating to a child under the age of 13, we will also need to have a copy of their full birth certificate or some other form of evidence to confirm parental responsibility.

Request personal information

Care leavers

Can I have information out about my past?

If you want to know why you were in care or learn more about your friends and family, a Subject Access Request (SAR) won't give you that information. It only gives you details about yourself, not about other people.

Because of privacy laws, any information about your close family, like your parents, siblings, or foster carers, will be considered third-party details. This means it will probably be removed or blocked out before you get it. So, the information you receive might be incomplete and have many gaps.

This web page, titled "Care Leaver SARs – What we can share [https://www.coventry.gov.uk/information-governance/requesting-personal-information/2]" explains the following:

  1. How we process Subject Access Requests (SARs). It details the steps we take when handling your request for information.
  2. Types of documents and information. It lists the kinds of records we keep, review, and may remove.
  3. What to expect: It helps you understand what information you will receive when your request is processed.

What can I do to find out more information?

To learn more about your past, you can talk to your Social Worker, Support Worker, or Personal Advisor. They know the rules about what information they can share with you about your family, friends, and others. They can also help explain any social care terms or processes you might not understand.

If you wish to speak to our duty contact for further information they can be contacted via email at DutyThroughCare@coventry.gov.uk [mailto:DutyThroughCare@coventry.gov.uk] or by telephone on 024 7678 7808.

If you still want to request your information, we have a form you can use. You can fill it out online or download it. This form gives us the details we need to find and gather your information.

Road traffic accidents or insurance claims - CCTV requests

If you require any footage to support a dispute or claim in relation to a road traffic accident or an insurance claim as a result of a theft or damage, then we would advise you to inform your insurance company or legal representative without delay that cameras were or may have been in the relevant location of the accident or incident. To assist, read the full list of Council operated cameras [https://www.coventry.gov.uk/cctv].

Requests can only be made by your insurance company or legal representative under an appropriate legal process in order to support or defend the claim or dispute. These are not considered subject access requests under the right to access in these circumstances and any such requests must follow the appropriate lawful basis. Please arrange for your Insurance Company or legal representative to complete the relevant Third Party CCTV requests form [https://www.coventry.gov.uk/thirdpartycctv]

Individual requests for CCTV (not to be used for road traffic incidents, thefts or damage to vehicles)

Members of the public can request footage of themselves only and this would be handled as a Subject Access Request. Under the Data Protection Act we cannot release footage of other individuals, third parties or images that would lead to the identification of others, as this would be classed as their personal data and not suitable for release.

All requests for access to records should be addressed to the Information Governance Team at the address below.

NB. Please note that in all cases CCTV is only ever retained for a maximum of 30 days, after which time it is automatically overwritten. We are also only able to provide still images by way of disclosure.

Please note: Your personal details and information may not be secure using email and we would suggest using our secure online form above.

If I want my details, what should I include in the request?

Include as much detail as possible. If you are looking for any particular information, it helps if you make this clear. Asking for 'everything you hold' could mean that your request is delayed whilst we ask you to provide more detail.

Can I request information on behalf of someone else?

Yes you can, but you will need to provide either the written and signed consent of that person or where that is not possible, evidence of your authority to act, such as a Power of Attorney document.

What happens after I make the request?

After the Information Governance Team receive your request, it will be checked to see if your request is clear enough. If this is not the case, you will be contacted by the team to ask for more detail. The processing of your request will be delayed until you reply.

How long will it take to get my records?

  • The regulations require the Council to provide you with a copy of your information within one month of receiving your valid request. However if your request is complex we are allowed to extend this by two months and we will tell you if this is the case.
  • If you apply to another organisation for access to your records they may have different timescales in which to give you the information

Why has some information been blocked out?

There are several reasons why some information may be blocked out (redacted), for example it may refer to someone other than yourself: so this will not be part of your personal information.

Why have you not given me any information?

There are rare occasions when we do not have the personal information you ask for. This could be for a number of reasons, for example no information about you could be found - because the records are no longer held. If we do not have the information we will let you know.

How will you get the information to me?

We will send your information to you electronically (and you will be required to contact the IG office for your password or upon request the password will be sent via email to the same email address only).

In *exceptional circumstances it may be possible to arrange an alternative method of providing your information however, this will be subject to the volume of your information and any outside circumstances beyond our control.

*Important – if you wish us to post the information, we will take every care to ensure that it is addressed correctly and will be sent by Recorded Delivery. However we cannot be held liable if the information is lost in the post or incorrectly delivered or opened by someone else in your household. Loss or incorrect delivery may cause you embarrassment or harm if the information is ‘sensitive’.

What if I want information about the Council that is not personal information?

Requests for all other types of information, which is not personal information, is dealt with under the provision of the Freedom of Information Act 2000. [http://www.coventry.gov.uk/info/248/freedom_of_information_and_environmental_information_regulations/469/freedom_of_information_act_2000]

The Information Commissioner [https://ico.org.uk/] is the independent regulatory body who is responsible for enforcing the Data Protection Act 2018 and General Data Protection Regulations. The Commissioner offers a range of publications about your rights, as well as advice and assistance.

How to report a data breach

To report a data breach, please email us at dpoteam@coventry.gov.uk [mailto:dpoteam@coventry.gov.uk] or write to Information Governance, Coventry City Council, PO Box 7097, Coventry,CV6 9SL.

Information Governance

Address: Coventry City Council
PO Box 7097
Coventry
CV6 9SL

Telephone: 024 7697 5408 [tel:02476975408]

Care leaver Subject Access Requests

SARs, or Subject Access Requests, are requests from an individual (you or someone on your behalf) to access information held by an organisation about an individual. The information that can be shared is decided by a law called UK GDPR and organisations are checked on by the ICO (Information Commissioners Office) to make sure they are following the rules. We have to follow this law when we complete SAR requests. If you are interested, more information can be found on the ICO website about the law.

One of the reasons SARs take so long – up to 3 months – is that an officer needs to read every page of information before we can share it with you. This can be thousands of pages that have to be read, line by line. As well as this, information that can’t be shared with you has to be redacted (blocked out) and this is done by the officer. Below is a rough guide of what information you can expect to receive in your SAR. Every person’s file is different so the information available is different from person to person but there are some common documents and information types.

What we keep

Information about you.
Information about you from professionals, records of any conversations or work you have completed with a professional, and discussions or decisions made that affect or affected you. Simply, if it is about you, and not anyone else, you will receive the information. There are some exceptions to this rule, the most relevant ones to you are covered in the ‘What we review’ or the ‘What we remove’ sections.

Things you might see

  • Had a conversation with your social worker? That’ll be there!
  • Notes from your children in care Review. The 6-monthly-ish meeting that lots of professionals attend to talk about how you are doing and what needs to be done.
  • Your Chronology. This is kind of like a highlight reel of the really important events in your life and when they happened. You might not get everything – there are usually bits about other people in there as well – but most of it will be about you.
  • Reports, assessments and/or plans. Social care has to write lots of reports, assessments and plans both before and after someone comes into care.
  • Meeting notes. They also have lots of meetings, some of them will have longer notes (called minutes) and some will just be a short note saying what happened.

What we review

Family information

As we can only give you information about you, you will not get information about your parents, your siblings or any other relatives in a SAR. If you include names of family members we can keep them in the documents but you still will not get any personal information about them. We will keep in titles like ‘Mum’, ‘Dad’ and ‘sister’ but if you haven’t provided the name of that person their name will be redacted. If you have questions about your family, social care are able to support you with this and will want to help you understand your life story.

Information from foster carers/guardians/placements

Whilst you are in local authority care the adults in charge of your care (usually your foster carer or one of the workers in a care home) complete reports or updates about you. These are often done weekly but can be part of a running record (something that is updated as needed). Sometimes these reports have important information or talk about something that has happened, other times these reports only say ‘No issues’ or ‘Went to school as normal’. We remove reports without any meaningful information so you don’t have even more pages of information to read in a file which will already be very long. Anything, whether it be good or bad, small or large, that we think could be important or interesting to you (and that we are allowed to share with you) we do keep in.

School documents

Some information from school we do keep in, these are usually meeting or reports that social care were a part of or if school has contacted social care with some information.

Duplicate documents/information

With how information is saved on the computer system there is unfortunately a lot of duplication, this is where the same, or very similar, information is written lots of times. We do our best to remove what duplication we can so that you don’t need to read the same stuff again and again. Things people have said about you – This really depends on who has said it. Anything from professionals in the council, like social workers, will be kept as it’s a professional opinion. Anything from non-professionals, like family members, will be checked and anything we are allowed to share with you will be.

What we remove

This is a list of the most common things in a SAR that we will remove. As everyone’s history is different, the below details a rough idea of what would typically be removed.

Third party information

This is any information which comes from a different place than the council. As we don’t ‘own’ the information we don’t have permission to share it with you and you will need to go directly to them if you are interested.

Third Parties can include:

  • NHS – Medical information
  • Police
  • Psychological reports
  • Independent Social Worker reports

Court documents

Anything from the courts and any document written by social care for the courts must be requested directly from the courts yourself.

Financial information

Anything about money, grants, placement costs and similar belongs to us rather than you.

‘Admin’ information

This is information in your file which is for staff only; it’s there to update the records system that’s used, to help staff plan or to request help from other areas. An example of this would be a ‘Placement Information Record’, this is a form used when a child moves from one placement (like a foster carer) to another. Although it contains information about you its main purpose is to update your record so that addresses and contact details are correct.

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