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Adult safeguarding privacy notice

We keep this privacy notice under regular review and was last updated on 8 June 2026.

We respect your privacy and is committed to protecting your personal data. This privacy notice will inform you as to how we look after your personal data and tell you about your privacy rights and how the law protects you.

View an easy read version of the adult safeguarding privacy notice (PDF, 513.7 KB).

Who we are

We collect, use and are 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. We are responsible as ‘controller’ of that personal information. Our Data Protection Officer is Benjamin Watts.

Adult Social Care will work with you and other organisations to keep you safe. We want to be able to protect your right to live safely and promote your wellbeing, and for you to be free from abuse and neglect. Section 42 of The Care Act 2014 places obligations on Adult Social Care to ensure that we make suitable inquiries into a safeguarding concern to help determine what actions needs to be undertaken to protect an individual who is unable to protect themselves.

Personal information we collect and use

Information collected by us

In the course of working with you, we may collect the following personal information when you provide it to us or is shared to us by other organisations:

Personal data

  • personal information such as your name, address, telephone number, date of birth, NHS number, gender, unique identifier
  • contact details for members of your family and support network
  • information about your finances, such as bank details, income, benefits
  • photographs, to help inform an Occupational Therapy Assessment.

Special categories of personal data

We also collect the following ‘special category data’ (personal data which is more sensitive and is treated with extra care and protection) when you provide it to us or is shared to us by other organisations. Including information about:

  • your racial or ethnic origin, religious or philosophical belief and your sexual orientation
  • health conditions such as relevant information on medical records, disabilities or carers responsibilities that may apply to you
  • you and your circumstances
  • relevant health and safety concerns
  • your needs and wishes.

In addition, criminal offence or conviction information (for example, allegations, investigations, proceedings, unproven allegations, criminal activity) may also need to be disclosed and shared with services involved in your care and support to ensure you are provided with the right care and support at the right time. This will only be shared in very narrow circumstances and would be on a strictly need to know basis. For example, to ensure your and others safety.

Collecting and sharing your personal information

In the course of working with you, we may collect information from, or share it, with some of the following third parties (non exhaustive list):

  • Advocates, deputies, legal power of attorney
  • Borough councils, housing associations and landlords
  • Other local authorities
  • Cabinet members
  • Care Quality Commission (CQC)
  • Central government
  • County councillors
  • Department for Work and Pensions (DWP)
  • external providers who provide care and support or other services that may help your care and support
  • Family members and carers
  • Internal teams, such as case management and finance
  • Kent and Medway Safeguarding Adults Board (KMSAB)
  • Kent Safeguarding Children Board (KSCB)
  • Law enforcement and prosecution agencies
  • Legal representatives, such as solicitors
  • Local government ombudsman
  • MPs
  • 'Nearest Relative'
  • NHS providers, such as GPs, hospitals, NHS Care Summary Records, NHS Digital and England, NHS Arden & Gem Commissioning Support Unit
  • Other professionals
  • Partner agencies, such as volunteer organisations and statutory organisations
  • Regulatory bodies
  • Schools
  • Kent and Medway Care Record partner organisations
  • Telecare providers and telecoms providers
  • Service improvement consultants.

Each organisation listed above will ensure they have the relevant agreements in place to be able to process your personal information.

The Kent and Medway Safeguarding Adults Board (KMSAB) is a statutory service which exists to make sure that all member agencies are working together to help keep Kent and Medway's adults safe from harm and protect their rights.

This data sharing enables us to personalise your care and ensure that you are receiving the best support possible.

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

We will share personal information with our legal and professional advisers in the event of a dispute, complaint or claim. We rely on Article 9(2)(f) where the processing of special category data is necessary for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims or whenever courts are acting in their judicial capacity.

How we use your personal information

We use your personal information to:

  • create a secure and comprehensive record of all of the work that we do with and for you
  • fully understand your needs
  • promote your health and wellbeing in partnership where applicable with the Kent and Medway Mental Health Trust (KMMH, previously KMPT)
  • arrange short and long term care solutions
  • liaise with agencies, companies and charities on your behalf and support you with referrals to other services where applicable
  • endeavour to keep you and others safe from harm
  • process complaints and compliments regarding the services we have provided
  • process feedback regarding the services we have provided
  • request and arrange installation of specialist equipment for you
  • assess your financial contribution to your care
  • work with you or your representative to create a Care and Support Plan
  • liaise and share information with other local authorities for out of area placements
  • analyse the service that we are providing
  • support the delivery of the Kent and Medway Care Record
  • support the submission of the Client Level Dataset, which is a mandated national dataset collection.

The sharing of information facilitates a joined up approach with partner agencies, to provide you with the best possible care and support.

How long your personal data will be kept

We only hold your personal information for as long as necessary. Adult Social Care will hold your information in-line with our standard retention periods that cover the different elements of your care and support. Our retention periods can be viewed in our retention schedule, specifically AS5.1 for safeguarding retention periods. As and when your personal information is shared with other organisations involved in your care and support, this will be kept in-line with the retention schedules and retention periods.

Any updates or changes or new entries to our retention schedule are updated on a quarterly basis, and therefore, the current version linked above, may not list the most up to date retention periods until the next publication.

Reasons we can collect and use your personal information

When we collect your personal data, we rely on the following legal bases:

  • Article 6(1)(a) - the individual has given clear consent for you to process their personal data for a specific purpose
  • Article 6(1)(c) - processing is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation to which the controller is subject
  • Article 6(1)(d) - processing is necessary to protect someone’s life (vital interests)
  • Article 6(1)(e) - processing is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority vested in the controller

When we collect your ‘special categories of personal data’, (such as health, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation) we rely on the following legal bases:

  • Article (9)(2)(a) - the individual has given explicit consent to the processing of those personal data for one or more specified purposes
  • Article (9)(2)(c) - it is necessary for the protection of vital interests
  • Article (9)(2)(g) - processing is necessary for reasons of substantial public interest (safeguarding of children and of individuals at risk and statutory and government purposes)
  • Article (9)(2)(h) - processing is necessary for the provision of health or social care or treatment or the management of health or social care systems and services
  • Article 9(2)(i) - Necessary for reasons of public interest in the area of public health (subject to a DPA 18 condition.
  • Article 9(2)(j) - Necessary for archiving purposes in the public interest, scientific, or historical research purposes in accordance with Article 89(1) (subject to a DPA 18 condition) which shall be proportionate to the aim pursued, respect the essence of the right to data protection and provide for suitable and specific measures to safeguard the fundamental rights and the interests of the data subject

We rely on the public interest, health or social care purpose and research conditions from Schedule 1 of the Data Protection Act 2018 when relying on Article(9)(2)(h) to process your special category data.

We rely on the extension to substantial public interest condition from Schedule 1 of the Data Protection Act 2018 to process your criminal convictions and offence data.

We take the following appropriate safeguards in respect of your special category data and your criminal conviction or offence data when relying on the conditions above:

  • We have an Appropriate Policy for Lawful Processing which explains how the data protection principles are secured when using special category information. This policy is retained throughout the time we use your data and for six months after we cease to use it.
  • We have a retention schedule which explains how long data is retained.
  • We maintain a record of our processing in our ‘Record of Processing Activities’ and record for any reasons deviating from the periods in our retention schedule.

As we have a statutory basis for collecting your personal data, we do not need to ask for your permission to collect and share it, however we will only ever share your data on a basis of need, in line with legislation and will work transparently with you at all times.

If you do not provide your data, it will limit the effectiveness of the services and support that we are able to offer you.

NHS and care services

We have processes in place for considering requests for data disclosures for purposes beyond direct care which is consistent with national data opt-out policy. Our organisation is compliant with the national data opt-out policy.

To find out more about the NHS’ wider use of confidential personal information and to register your choice to opt out if you do not want your data to be used in this way, visit the NHS website. If you do choose to opt out you can still consent to your data being used for specific purposes.

Your rights

Under the 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 (subject access request)
  • 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

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. Please note, your request may delay or prevent us delivering a service to you.

For further information about your rights, including the circumstances in which they apply, see the guidance from the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) on individuals’ rights under the United Kingdom General Data Protection Regulation.

Keeping your personal information secure

We have appropriate security measures in place to prevent personal information from being accidentally lost, or 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.

Who to contact

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.

Contact our Data Protection Officer, Benjamin Watts, at dpo@kent.gov.uk.

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

For further information read our privacy statement.