Kent Supported Employment privacy notice

We keep this privacy notice under regular review and was last updated in October 2021.

This notice explains what personal data (information) we hold about you, how we collect, how we use and may share information about you. We are required to give you this information under data protection law.

Who we are

Kent County Council (KCC) collects, uses and is responsible for certain personal information about you. When we do so we are regulated under the United Kingdom General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA 2018). We are responsible as ‘controller’ of that personal information. Our Data Protection Officer is Benjamin Watts.

Kent Supported Employment (KSE) offers a bespoke specialist supported employment service for people with disabilities and/or disadvantages to support them into the world of work, to promote awareness to employers in creating a more diverse workforce and to empower businesses to recruit a person with a disability/disadvantage.

Personal information we collect and use

Information collected by us

In the course of provided supported employment support and services we collect the following personal information when you provide it to us, or when you are referred to us by an agency you are already involved with:

  • personal details (such as name, date of birth, address and contact details)
  • special category information (such as disability)
  • National Insurance number
  • next of kin
  • care manager/social worker details (if applicable)
  • if you are receiving any benefits
  • if you are receiving support for any other services
  • your education and career history

We also obtain personal information, educational history and professional involvement from:

  • care manager/social worker/professional who referred you on their behalf
  • any other services you are receiving support from

How we use your personal information

We use your personal information to:

  • decide if you meet the criteria for our services
  • work with you to assess your employment needs and how they can best be met
  • to support you into finding the right employment opportunities for you
  • maintain a record of young people in Kent who are supported by KSE

How long your personal data will be kept

We will hold your personal information securely and retain it for a maximum of 10 years, after which the information is made inaccessible to system users or securely destroyed.

Reasons we can collect and use your personal information

We collect and use your personal information to carry out tasks in the public interest. We rely on the following legal bases under UK GDPR:

  • Article (6)(1)(e) - Public task: the processing is necessary to perform a task in the public interest or for official functions (task or function has a clear basis in law)

When we collect or share special category personal data, we rely upon the following legal bases under UK GDPR:

  • Article 9(2)(g) - Reasons of substantial public interest. We rely on the ‘equality of opportunity or treatment’ purpose condition from Schedule 1 of the Data Protection Act 2018 when relying on Article 9(2)(g) to process your special category data

Who we share your personal information with

  • teams within KCC working to improve outcomes for children and young people
  • commissioned providers of local authority services (such as education services)
  • professionals that are involved with you
  • working with you we will share specific information about you to employers to enable them to identify if you are the right person for the job role. You will be made aware of which employers have this information.

We will share personal information with law enforcement or other authorities if required by applicable law.

Your rights

Under UK GDPR you have rights which you can exercise free of charge which allow you to:

  • know what we are doing with your information and why we are doing it
  • ask to see what information we hold about you
  • ask us to correct any mistakes in the information we hold about you
  • object to direct marketing
  • make a complaint to the Information Commissioner's Office
  • where we have relied upon consent, withdraw your consent at any time

Depending on our reason for using your information you may also be entitled to:

  • ask us to delete information we hold about you
  • have your information transferred electronically to yourself or to another organisation
  • object to decisions being made that significantly affect you
  • object to how we are using your information
  • stop us using your information in certain ways

We will always seek to comply with your request however we may be required to hold or use your information to comply with legal duties. We will liaise with the Home Office regarding your request, as information is jointly controlled with the Home Office. Please note: your request may delay or prevent us from supporting you.

For further information about your rights, including the circumstances in which they apply, see the guidance from the UK Information Commissioner's Office on individuals’ rights under UK GDPR.

Keeping your personal information secure

We have appropriate security measures in place to prevent personal information from being accidentally lost, used or accessed in an unauthorised way. We limit access to your personal information to those who have a genuine business need to know it. Those processing your information will do so only in an authorised manner and are subject to a duty of confidentiality.

We also have procedures in place to deal with any suspected data security breach. We will notify you and any applicable regulator of a suspected data security breach where we are legally required to do so.

Contact

Please contact the Information Resilience and Transparency Team at data.protection@kent.gov.uk to exercise any of your rights, or if you have a complaint about why your information has been collected, how it has been used or how long we have kept it for.

You can contact our Data Protection Officer, Benjamin Watts, at dpo@kent.gov.uk, or write to: Data Protection Officer, Sessions House, Maidstone, Kent ME14 1XQ.

UK GDPR also gives you right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner who may be contacted via the Information Commissioner's website or call 03031 231113.

Read our corporate privacy statement.