This privacy notice is regularly reviewed and may be updated or revisited at any time. It was last updated in January 2026. It is important that the personal data we hold about you is accurate and current. Please keep us informed if your personal data changes.
- Introduction
- What personal data do we collect?
- How we use personal data
- Legal Basis for processing
- Who do we share personal data with?
- How long do we keep personal data?
- Automated decisions
- Your rights
- Data Protection Officer.
Introduction
Our core data protection obligations and commitments are set out in Wigan Council Primary Privacy Notice.
This notice provides additional privacy information for Early Learning and Childcare.
The Early Years and Childcare Service supports early years and childcare providers (including childminders) to deliver early education and childcare free entitlements and ensures sufficient free places across Wigan to meet the needs of parents and carers. We work in an integrated way with other Children’s Services teams in Wigan Council and with partner organisations to ensure we support the best possible outcomes for children, young people and families in Wigan.
What personal data do we collect?
This privacy notice applied to personal data relating to:
- Children accessing Early Education and Childcare
- Parents and carers
- Early Years professionals working with children.
Children’s personal data is treated with particular care and is only processed where necessary to meet our statutory duties, to safeguard children’s welfare, and to support children who have, or may have SEND. To carry out activities and obligations as an Early Learning and Childcare service we process the following personal data:
- Name
- Address
- Telephone number
- Email address
- Details of professionals working with children
- Evidence of meeting eligibility criteria for free entitlements
- Cash flows, staff wages and provider bank details.
- Children’s attainment data
- Details of childcare provider
- Developmental Assessment information
- Category of need.
We also process the following Special Category Data:
- Health information of the child/young person.
We also process Criminal Offence data, where this is necessary for safeguarding, suitability checks, eligibility verification, or where required by law.
How we use personal data
The main purposes for processing your personal data are:
- To ensure all children are able to take up their free hours entitlement in a high quality setting, including determining eligibility.
- To maintain a database of providers to enable us to contact them to provide key Early Years updates and to interact with them to ensure appropriate support is provided and to disseminate good practice with regards to high quality Early Years Provision
- To liaise with professionals to enable coordinated support and advice that may benefit a child and their family.
- To allow the team to share information at points of transition with a setting your child is due to attend
- To allow the team to observe, consult and assess your child to determine the level of support needed for the setting and/or the child as appropriate
- To support children with SEND
- To keep updated provider/setting information in the Our Town Directory.
Legal Basis for processing
The lawful bases we rely on for processing your personal data are:
- Compliance with a Legal Obligation
- Performance of a task carried out in the Public Interest
- The legal gateways include, but are not limited to:
- Childcare Act 2006
- Childcare Act 2016
- Children and Families Act 2014
- SEND Code of Practice 2015
- Working together to safeguard children (statutory guidance).
- In limited circumstances, we may rely on consent, for example where participation in a non- statutory service or initiative is optional. where consent is used, it can be withdrawn at any time. Most of our processing does not rely on consent.
The condition we rely on for processing your special category data and criminal offence data is:
- Reasons of substantial public interest (with a basis in law): Statutory etc and government purposes.
Who do we share personal data with?
In addition to the general reasons for data sharing described in the Council’s Primary Privacy Notice, we share data with and collect data from the following when required:
- Other Council teams including but not limited to Finance, Contracts, SEND Team, Education Psychology Service, Targeted Education Support Service, Ethnic Minority and Traveller Achievement Service, Virtual School, Children’s Social Care, LADO.
- Government departments and agencies including but not limited to Ofsted, DfE
- Health service providers, including GPs
- Police
- Courts
- Youth justice system
- Any persons or organisations exercising functions or engaging in activities in relation to children and adults within the Wigan Council area.
This is not an exhaustive list.
How long do we keep personal data?
We will only retain your personal data for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes we collected it for, including for the purposes of satisfying any future legal, accounting, or reporting requirements.
We must continue to retain necessary data in accordance with our corporate records policy to fulfil legal, statutory and regulatory requirements.
Automated decisions
All the decisions we make about you involve human intervention.
Your rights
More information on how to seek advice to exercise your rights, raise a concern or complain about the handling of your personal data by the council can be found in at Wigan Council Primary Privacy Notice.
Data protection officer
If you wish to raise a concern or seek clarification about any aspect of this notice, please contact our Data Protection Officer. Please provide documents to prove your identity along with a description of your concern.
We will respond to all requests within one month.
If you are unhappy with the way that we handle your concern you may complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) (external link).
Document information
Owner: Cath Pealing, Assistant Director Education
Author: Kelly Lloyd-Roberts, Service Manager of Early Years
Version and date: V3.0 January 2026