Therapeutic Emotional Support Service (TESS) Privacy Notice

The Therapeutic Emotional Support Service (TESS) is an emotional wellbeing service for Birmingham’s children in care and care experienced young people up to the age of 25 years. When processing your personal data in TESS, the Trust is required under Articles 13 and 14 of the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) to provide this privacy information.

Purpose of collecting this information

TESS aims to provide emotional support for young people to explore difficulties they have experienced in their past and/or help them to manage challenges that might continue to affect their daily life.

TESS is a referral-based service where either personal advisors or self-referral from young people over 18 years old is accepted.

Lawful Basis

Under Article 6 of the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR), the lawful bases the Trust uses for processing personal data in TESS are:

  • 6(1)(e) We need it to perform a public task. These legal bases are underpinned by acts of legislation that dictate what actions can and should be taken by local authorities and children’s Trusts.

This includes, but may not be limited to:

  • Children Act 1989 and 2004.
  • Health and Social Care Act 2015
  • Children and Families Act 2014.
  • Children and Young Persons Act 2008.
  • Children and Social Work Act 2017

Under Article 9 of the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR), the lawful bases we rely on for processing special category information is 9(2)(h) Health or Social Care.

The categories of personal information that we process includes:

Information collected in the referral form is necessary to understand if TESS is the right support or another service is better placed to support the young person. The initial collection through referral include name, DOB, contact details and information on the issues they are seeking help with.

After the referral is received, an Initial Meeting is arranged. If TESS can support the young person then further information is collected from children and families who use the service, such as duty decisions, consultations, allocation, therapy delivered, outcome measures and case closure. The records for TESS are stored in Eclipse (case management system) and spreadsheets (on secure team network drive).

Information is collected from the following sources:

  • Directly from the young person
  • Other social care service providers
  • The NHS
  • Education providers
  • External therapy agencies
  • Fostering Agencies
  • Third parties

The category of information collected at this stage include:

  • Characteristics: gender, ethnicity, disability, racial or ethnic origin, religious beliefs,
  • Physical, emotional, behavioural, relational, or mental health condition.
  • Assessment information: social care needs and plan; personal and professional network; special educational needs; school information; relevant medical information, description of personal presentation, relevant family and personal history.
  • relevant background information regarding presenting issue/s; family time arrangements; placement provider details.
  • Personal circumstances to enable assessments to be made regarding placement support.

Why we collect and use this information

This information is needed to help to understand your emotional, relational, and mental health needs, and will be used to inform our assessment, which in turn informs the plan of support offered.

Storing personal data

We hold data securely for the set amount of time shown in our data retention schedule. The information is stored in secure access control case management system and the secure shared drive.

How long will we hold your personal data?

We will retain your personal data for only as long as is necessary, and in line with the Trust’s record retention schedules.

Who is the data shared with?

We do not share information about the young person or the family with anyone without consent unless the law and our policies allow us to do so.

We may share your information with external therapy agencies and fostering agencies where the sharing is necessary.

Automated Decision-Making/Profiling

TESS does not use personal data for automated decision-making or profiling purposes.

Data Transfers

Personal data processed in TESS is not transferred to a third country or international organisation.

Exercising your rights

Under the Data Protection Act 2018 and the EU General Data Protection Regulations you have the following rights:

  • The right of access to your own personal data.
  • The right to request rectification or deletion of your personal data.
  • The right to object to the processing of your personal data.
  • The right to request a copy of the information you provide us in machine readable format.
  • The right to withdraw your consent to any processing that is solely reliant upon your consent.

Should you wish to exercise any of your rights, you should contact the Data Protection Officer.

There are legitimate reasons why we may refuse your information rights request, which depends on why we are processing it. For example, some rights will not apply:

  • right to erasure does not apply when the lawful basis for processing is legal obligation or public task.
  • right to portability does not apply when the lawful basis for processing is legal obligation, vital interests, public task or legitimate interests.
  • right to object does not apply when the lawful basis for processing is contract, legal obligation or vital interests. And if the lawful basis is consent, you don’t haven’t the right to object, but you have the right to withdraw consent.

The right to lodge a complaint

Where we are processing your personal data with your consent, you have the right to withdraw that consent.

If you are unhappy with our use of your personal data, please let us know by contacting CustomerRelations@birminghamchildrenstrust.co.uk or DPO@birminghamchildrenstrust.co.uk

If you are not satisfied with our response or believe we are not processing your personal data in accordance with the law you can complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO): https://ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint/your-personal