Subject Access Request
A Parent’s Guide
Your/your child’s rights
You have the right to ask the school if they are using or storing your personal information. You can also ask them for copies of your personal information. This is called the right of access, commonly known as making a subject access request or SAR.
Children have the same rights as adults over their personal data which they can exercise if they are able to understand what this means and any implications the disclosure may bring. Where a child is not able to understand, an adult with parental responsibility may usually request the child’s personal data on their behalf.
Even if a child is too young to understand the implications of subject access rights, it is still the right of the child rather than of anyone else such as a parent or guardian; even though in the case of young children these rights are likely to be exercised by those with parental responsibility for them.
How to make a request
You can make a subject access request either verbally, or in writing, but we recommend you put it in writing if possible because this gives you a record of your request, email office@npcps.co.uk or call 01278 662442
We will need the following:
Sometimes we may also need to ask for proof of identification, although this will not be necessary if we know who you are. Once we have these details we will comply with your request within one calendar month. However, if your request is complex due to the volume and sensitivity of the data, we may need to extend the time for a further calendar month, we will inform you within the first month if this is the case.
On receiving the SAR, the school will inform Somerset County’s FOI practitioner. The school will then collate the information requested and this will be quality assured by the practitioner. After the information has been quality checked and GDPR assured you will then receive all information requested.
There is no charge for a subject access request, however, if multiple paper copies are requested, we will ask for photocopying charges to be paid. If this is the case, we will tell you whether we will charge, and where applicable the one-month time limit will start after we have received your payment.
If you are not satisfied with our response, please contact us to let us know. If you are still not happy once we have tried to resolve your complaint you can make a complaint to the Information Commissioners Office.