Skip to content

Reconnect privacy notice

Please note: the Reconnect Program has now closed. Please see the privacy notice below for record retention details.

We keep this privacy notice under regular review and it was last updated in July 2023.

Kent County Council respects 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.

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 for the purposes of those laws. Our Data Protection Officer is Benjamin Watts.

The Reconnect: Kent children and young people programme will allow us to move forward with schools, colleges, and settings to develop the new additional activities and funding streams to support children and young people in Kent, to move on from the impact of the last 12 months, and to create broad community, business, and partner buy-in across Kent to help all of our children and young people and make them a priority during the next 12 to 18 months.

Reconnect is a community-led programme designed to get Kent’s children and young people back to enjoying the activities and opportunities they took part in before COVID-19. It offers families the opportunity to be involved in various activities and offers support for emotional and mental health.

Reconnect District Support Fund offers funding available for designated partner organisations in Gravesham, Swale and Maidstone only. Expenditure for this fund will only be agreed if:

  • the child, young person or their family are being supported by Integrated Children’s Services or designated partner
  • there is satisfactory evidence of how the expenditure will support them against the Reconnect Themes and Priorities.

Personal information we collect and use

Information collected by us

For the Reconnect programme and Reconnect District Support Fund, we collect the following personal information from you or from the school or setting your child attends, or the child directly:

  • Name, address and contact details.
  • School or setting attended.
  • Child level characteristics held by KCC to identify children eligible for additional opportunities through the program e.g. Free School Meals, Free For Two.
  • Details of completed Reconnect activities when shared with us.

We may also take recordings or photographs from in-person sessions, and use photographs submitted to us by you for social media posts (with your consent).

For the Reconnect Grant process, we collect the following personal information when you provide it to us:

  • name and contact details.
  • Your organisation name and details, and position within the organisation (if applicable).
  • Information related to our relationship with you, e.g. agreements, correspondence, meeting notes, attendance at events.
  • Details of what you are willing to donate, sponsor or fund.
  • Bank details where necessary.

We also obtain personal information from other sources as follows:

  • Information required as part of contract or grant monitoring, where the agreements are designed to do so.
  • Information from schools, colleges, and settings about the support they and their pupils need from the Reconnect programme.

How we use your personal information

We use your personal information to:

  • develop an offer of support and activities for schools, colleges, and settings
  • match pledges with the needs identified across Kent
  • support children and young people with the effects of COVID-19 and lockdown
  • promote details of services commissioned
  • process and assess grant applications or tender bids
  • administer and manage any grants or contracts that are awarded
  • carry out and fulfil a grant or contract agreement between KCC and the grant or contracted party
  • provide support and assistance during the delivery of the project
  • enable us to contact you regarding any required end of project report
  • distribute food vouchers, bus passes and other relevant vouchers, on a basis of need
  • promote the Reconnect program on social media (with consent)
  • enter children who complete a certain number of activities into a voucher prize draw during the 'Big Summer Fun Challenge’.

For the Reconnect District Support Fund (Gravesham, Swale, Maidstone), we use your information to:

  • support essential costs to maintain engagement with community activities (e.g. swim wear, trainers, travel and transport)
  • support return to school or college, engagement in learning, and engagement with training or employment for children and young people through funding of haircuts, uniform or clothing items and shoes, sundries (pens or school bag etc.)
  • essential furniture and furnishing items (such as a bed and bedding for a child or young person)
  • engagement costs (such as taking a young person to a coffee shop)
  • reading or activity books for children or young people.

We may record or photograph in person sessions (with consent) in order to offer information to the public, and to inform future projects by enabling staff training.

Reasons we can collect and use your personal information

We collect and use your personal information that you supply to carry out tasks in the public interest. When we collect or share your personal data, we rely on the following legal bases under the UK GDPR:

  • Article (6)(1)(e) – public interests: 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).
  • Article (6)(1)(b) - Processing is necessary for the performance of a contract to which the data subject is party or in order to take steps at the request of the data subject prior to entering into a contract.
  • Article (6)(1)(f) - Legitimate interests: the processing is necessary for legitimate interests or the legitimate interests of a third party, unless there is a good reason to protect the individual’s personal data which overrides those legitimate interests.

When we collect or share your personal data for the Reconnect Grant Process, and in addition the use of your image through photographs or video, we rely on the following legal bases under the UK GDPR:

  • Article (6)(1)(a) - Consent: the individual has given clear consent to process their personal data for a specific purpose.

How long your personal data will be kept

We will hold your personal information securely and retain it for the duration of the Reconnect programme (to the end of 2022), after which the information is made inaccessible to system users or securely destroyed, unless there is a financial or contractual requirement to hold for up to six years. For the Reconnect Grant Process, this will be clearly detailed in the contract or grant documentation.

Photographs or video recordings used taken with the consent of the individuals concerned will be held for 2 years, after which the information is made inaccessible to system users or securely destroyed.

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).
  • Other organisations where there are benefits to promoting the services, where previously agreed with you.
  • Schools, colleges, and settings (where you have been pledge-matched).

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

We do not share any information you provide to any third parties except:

  • where representatives of other organisations are part of an evaluation panel
  • where it is necessary to share information with partners working on the Reconnect Programme
  • to confirm accuracy of information you have provided in respect of your grant application or contract tender, for example if you tell us that your project is exempt from VAT, we may ask HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) to confirm the exemption.

We will only share personal data that is relevant and necessary.

The council is required by law to protect the public funds it administers. We may use any of the information you provided for the prevention and detection of fraud. We may also share information with other bodies that are responsible for auditing or administering public funds. Councils are required to participate in data matching exercises to assist in the prevention and detection of fraud.

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 (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 Commissioners Office (ICO)
  • withdraw consent at any time (if applicable).

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 on individuals’ rights under UK GDPR.

If you would like to exercise a right, please contact the Information Resilience and Transparency Team at data.protection@kent.gov.uk.

Withdrawing your consent

Where we rely on your consent to process your personal information, you can withdraw your consent to our use of your data at any time.

You can do this by emailing data.protection@kent.gov.uk.

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.

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 can be contacted via their website or by calling 03031 231113.

Read our corporate privacy statement.