Privacy Notice & Cookie Policy

How we use your information

Sheffield SEN & Disability Information, Advice & Support service (SSENDIAS) is an impartial and confidential service. SSENDIAS is responsible for providing information and advice about matters relating to SEN or disabilities to children, their parents or guardians, and young people. We are required to do this as part of our duties under Sections 19(c), 26(3), 32 and 49 of the Children and Families Act 2014. SSENDIAS operates at arm’s length from other services in the Local Authority.

When you contact us, we will only collect information about your or your child’s Special Educational Needs or Disabilities and any related issues that you raise. We will use your personal information to provide services or information to you. We will also create anonymised data for general reporting and statistical purposes, to help improve our service.

The data we collect includes:

  • your name

  • your child’s name

  • ·address

  • telephone

  • email

  • date of birth

  • gender

  • ethnicity

  • nursery/school/college

  • special educational needs/disabilities

We process your personal data under article 6(1)(a) of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR): the data subject has given consent to the processing of his or her personal data. We process special category (sensitive) personal data under article 9(2)(a) GDPR: the data subject has given explicit consent to the processing of personal data.

If you wish to withdraw consent for us to process your information, please contact us on 0114 2736009 or at ssendias@sheffield.gov.uk. Please note that there are certain circumstances in which we may not be able to comply with this request, for example if we have any concerns about safeguarding.

How we share your information

We will get most of the information directly from you or your child but we may need to contact other professionals to enable us to give the most appropriate information, advice and support. We may need to contact the following services to gather and share information about you or your child. 

  • SENCO/ Inclusion Manager, nursery/school/college

  • Headteacher, nursery/school/college

  • LA SENDSAR Officer

  • MAST

  • Specialist teacher

  • CAMHS

  • Educational Psychologist              

  • ADHD Nurse/ Ryegate

  • Speech & Language Therapist 

If you do not wish for your information to be shared, you may choose to opt out (at any stage) by contacting the service on 0114 2736009 or at ssendias@sheffield.gov.uk.

How your information is stored and how long we keep it 

·       Your information is securely stored on our cloud-based database. We will destroy any hard copies of information which we obtain.

·       The database is independent of Sheffield LA.

·       The information is completely confidential and not shared with anyone else unless there are safeguarding concerns.

·       We hold information securely in our internal records until the end of the academic year in which your child turns 25. 

What are your rights?

For information about your rights under data protection law, the contact details of our Data Protection Officer, and your right to make a complaint, please see the council’s general privacy notice: https://www.sheffield.gov.uk/privacy

Cookie policy

Cookies information

Our website uses cookies to help provide you with the most convenient browsing experience we can. Cookies are small text files that are placed on your computer or mobile phone when you browse websites. They are not executable and are harmless to your computer.

We use cookies to compile visitor statistics such as how many people have visited our website, what type of technology they are using (e.g. PC or Mobile Phone), what pages are being looked at, etc. All this useful information helps us to continuously improve our website and visitor experience. We do not use cookies to collect any personally identifiable information.

If the settings on your internet browser that you are using to view this website are adjusted to accept cookies, we take this, and your continued use of our website, to mean that you accept their use.

Should you wish to remove, or not use cookies from our site, virtually all modern browsers allow you to see what cookies are held your browser and to delete them if you wish. Many browsers can also be set up to ask consent for each individual cookie. This gives you very fine control over what cookies you allow on your browser. Most browsers also give you the right to block any third-party cookies. It is also possible to tell your browser to block all cookies from being set. You can access your cookie set-up in the settings of your browser.

i.               Use of third-party cookies

We may use external services such as Google Analytics, Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter to display certain content on our Website.

We use Google Analytics, a web analytics service provided by Google, Inc. Google Analytics sets a number of cookies in order to evaluate your use of our site and enable us to carry out actions including (but not limited to):

  • Tracking the number of visitors to our Website.

  • Monitoring the number of users on our Website at any given time.

  • Analysing popular content on our Website.

How we collect and use your data

This policy applies to information we collect in regard to:

  • Visitors to our website.

If you wish to notify us that any or some of the information which we hold about you is incorrect, recently changed or is misleading, we will have that information corrected or amended in a timely manner. You have the right to request a copy of the information that we may hold about you. If you would like a copy of some or all of your personal information to a line with your right of access this can be exercised in accordance with the General Data Protection legislation.

i            Analytics information

As mentioned, we may use external services such as Google Analytics, Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter to display certain content on our website. We cannot prevent such websites from collecting information about your usage of their services, for example: the number of plays of a video, how many visits to the website and accessing location data, etc.

Google will use this information for the purpose of evaluating your use of our websites, compiling reports on website activity for Website operators and providing other services relating to Website activity and internet usage. Google may also transfer this information to third-parties where required to do so by law, or where such third-parties process the information on Google's behalf. Google will not associate your IP address with any other data held by Google.

ii.            Location data

 When you access the Service by, or through a mobile device, we may access, collect, monitor and/or remotely store “location data,” which may include GPS coordinates (e.g. latitude and/or longitude) or similar information regarding the location of your device. Location data may convey to us information about how you browse and use the Service. Some features of the Service, particularly location-based services, may not function properly if use or availability of location data is impaired or disabled. 

iii.              Data security

We take care to ensure the security of your personal data in use, storage and transmission and that it is only accessed by verified persons who have the necessary authority. All of our personnel who have access to personal data are legally and contractually obliged to respect the confidentiality of this information and we deliver training to ensure this is maintained.

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

Links to other websites and services

This Privacy Policy does not cover any links within this Website which link to other websites. Links to other third-party websites on the Website are provided solely for ease of reference and your convenience. If you use these links, you will leave the Website. We have not reviewed these third-party websites and we do not have any control over, nor responsibility for, these websites: their content or availability or any information, products or services that such third-parties may offer.

Changes to privacy policy

We keep our Privacy Policy under regular review and, as a consequence; maybe updated from time to time to reflect changes in the law and/or our privacy practices. Any changes we make to our Privacy Policy will be posted on this page. Accordingly, please continue to review the Privacy Policy whenever accessing or using the Website to ensure you are happy with any and all changes. If at any time you do not wish to accept the Privacy Policy, you should cease to use the Website immediately.

If you would like more information about our privacy, cookies or GDPR policy that we use and their purposes, please contact ssendias@sheffield.gov.uk