Foster Carer Privacy Notice

This Privacy Notice is regularly reviewed and may be updated or revised at any time. It was last updated in June 2025. It is important that the personal data we hold about you is accurate and current. Please keep us informed if your personal data changes.

  1. Introduction
  2. What personal data do we collect?
  3. How we use personal data
  4. Lawful Basis for processing
  5. Who do we share personal data with?
  6. How long do we keep personal data?
  7. Automated decisions
  8. Your rights
  9. 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 Wigan approved Recruited Foster Carers, Family and Friends Foster Carers, Special Guardians, Staying Put Carers and Supported Lodgings Carers and for applicants for those roles.

What personal data do we collect?

To carry out activities and obligations as a Fostering service we process the following personal data:

  • Full name
  • Address
  • Phone number
  • Email address
  • Date of birth
  • Gender
  • Marital status, Civil partnership details
  • Life history including family relationships, past and present, extended family members and names of friends in support networks
  • Education and training history
  • Employment history
  • Bank account details
  • Financial information including income and tax/national insurance status information
  • Images of foster carers and their home in the form of Welcome Booklets.

 We also process the following Special Category Data:

  • Race
  • Ethnicity
  • Disability
  • Religious beliefs
  • Sexual orientation
  • Political opinions
  • Identification numbers (including NHS number), online identifier and factors specific to a person’s physical, physiological, genetic, mental, economic, cultural or social identity. This could include reports from the Police, Court Information and Health information e.g. DNA
  • Health plan, transition plan, support needs, pathway plan and details of professionals involved in care.

 We also process the following Criminal Offence Data

  • Information relating to offences (including alleged offences), criminal proceedings, outcomes and sentences.

All of the above may include sensitive safeguarding information such as domestic abuse reports, neglect assessment, child sexual exploitation, or medical reports.

How we use personal data

The main purposes for processing your personal data are:

  • To safeguard and improve the wellbeing of children, young people and families in relation to physical health, mental health, emotional wellbeing, protection from harm/neglect, education, training and recreation, the contribution made by them to society, social and economic wellbeing
  • To inform assessments about suitability to foster (including Staying Put post 18), be a Special Guardian or be approved as a Supported Lodgings Provider
  • To inform our fostering recruitment strategy so we can increase the number of foster carers approved by the Council to care for our children
  • To produce statistics which inform decisions we make, for example regarding the funding of services, to assess their performance and to set targets for them. These statistics are used in different ways, meaning that individual children and foster carers may or may not be identified in the process. The use of personal data in research and statistics is part of the local authority’s legal duty and ensures that funding and other resources are placed where children, young people and their families need them most. This includes sharing for local and national research purposes which if published are anonymised
  • We hold information about foster carers approved by Wigan Council and information that is provided to us by other fostering agencies who have approved foster carers living in our area
  • We also use personal data to:
    • Support our planning for service development
    • For purposes of safeguarding
    • Assess the quality of our services
    • Monitor the support carers are providing to former foster children under Staying Put when they become adults.

Lawful Basis for processing

The lawful bases we rely on for processing your personal data are:

  • It is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority
  • It is necessary to fulfil a legal obligation.

The legal obligations and official authority arise from the following (non-exhaustive) list

    • Children Act 1989
    • Adoption and Children Act 2002
    • The Fostering Regulations 2011
    • National Fostering Minimum Standards 2011
    • Care Planning, Placement and Case Review Regulations 2010.
  • Consent to access and share general information about fostering, further fostering opportunities and to access further training.

The condition we rely on for processing your special category data and criminal offence data is:

  • It is necessary for reasons of substantial public interest- safeguarding of children and individuals at risk.

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 or receive data from the following when required:

  • Other Council Departments including, but not limited to, Education, Housing, Planning, Community Safety, Communications team
  • Other local authorities
  • Educational establishments including schools and early years settings
  • Organisations that provide support i.e., residential homes, supported accommodation, personal assistants
  • NHS including GPs and other health service services and providers
  • Government Departments and Agencies including, but not limited to, Department of Health & Social Care and Department for Education
  • The police
  • HM Courts and Tribunals Service, including individual courts
  • Youth justice system
  • Independent Social Workers commissioned to undertake assessments
  • Any other person or organisation exercising functions or are engaged in activities in relation to children and adults in the authority’s 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 Management Policy to fulfil legal, statutory and regulatory requirements.

If you are approved as a foster carer, your personal data will be retained for ten years from the date on which any approval is terminated.

If your application to be a foster carer is not approved, or you withdraw your application, your personal data will be retained for three years from the refusal or withdrawal.

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 normally 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: Ann Clarkson, Director Prevention Early Help and Sufficiency

Author: Anna Lomas, Service Lead - Fostering

Version and date: V3.0 June 2025