Privacy policy

This Privacy Notice tells you about what information Local Community Fostering (Greater London East) will collect about you, how we use that information and who we share it with. 

All Partners are registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) as a ‘Data Controller’.  This privacy notice applies to you (‘the service user’) and each Council. All Councils take the privacy of your information very seriously. 

1. Who we are and what we do? 

Local Community Fostering (Greater London East) is a collaboration partnership between six London local authorities:  

• London Borough of Barking and Dagenham 

• London borough of Havering 

• London borough of Newham 

• London borough of Redbridge 

• London borough of Tower Hamlets 

• London Borough of Waltham Forest 

Local Community Fostering (Greater London East) provides a central front door and support hub for enquiries, applications and initial recruitment processing of prospective foster carers. It allows the above authorities to work together to widen the pool of prospective foster carers who can provide loving and stable homes for children in need, and to use the network to match children with the right families much more quickly. It also provides support for prospective foster carers going through the process and information for those considering Fostering.    

For the purposes of data protection, the partner local authorities are joint data controllers with respect to personal data processed by Local Community Fostering (Greater London East). 

2. What type of personal information do we collect and how do we collect it? 

The following information is required as part of the screening process for all fostering applicants: 

• Date of Birth 

• Telephone 

• Email 

• Address 

• National identity 

• Brief pen portrait of the applicant and their interest in fostering 

• Whether the applicant is currently an approved foster carer with an Independent Fostering Agency or another local authority 

• What type of foster care the applicant might be interested in providing 

• Whether there are there any friends / family / other visitors who frequently come to the household and their relationship to the applicant 

• An overview of the configuration of the home / household and the sleeping arrangements of the family. 

• Whether the applicant, or anyone else in their household, has applied to be a foster carer before OR if they have a fostering application currently in process elsewhere 

• Whether the applicant, or anyone else in their household, has previously been deregistered as a foster carer 

• Whether social or other support services been involved with anyone within the household? (For example, mental health services) 

• Whether social or other support services been involved with anyone within the family, regardless of whether they live within the household currently? 

• Whether the applicant, or anyone else in their household, has ever been disqualified from working with children or vulnerable adults or subject to any other sanctions imposed by a regulatory body 

• Whether the applicant, or anyone else in their household, has ever been convicted by the courts or cautioned, reprimanded or given a final warning by the police for an offence against children or other people 

• Whether the applicant, or anyone else in their household, smokes or vapes 

• If the applicant is religious, whether they are prepared to support children from other religions 

• Whether the applicant has any current or planned building work on the property 

• Whether the applicant has any significant ongoing health concerns 

• Whether there are there any pets in the household 

• Whether the applicant, or anyone else who is considering fostering with them, is currently on a student visa 

• Whether the applicant, or anyone else in their household, has current involvement with a debt management agency or a current county court judgement 

• Whether the applicant, or anyone else in their household, has previously been declared bankrupt or has significant debt (excluding any mortgage) 

• Whether the applicant is a British citizen?  If not, what type of visa the applicant currently holds  

• Whether the applicant currently works?  If yes, details on their occupation, hours worked and level of flexibility to care for children 

• Whether the applicant has a preference to foster for a specific local authority within the cluster? 

• Whether English is written and spoken at home by all applicants 

• Which local authority the applicant pays council tax to 

• Which local authority the applicant believes their community, friends and family are mostly based in 

The following information will be requested but you do not have to provide it.  It is requested because it helps Local Community Fostering understand whether it is accessible to all communities and helps inform marketing plans. 

• Ethnic origin 

• Religion 

• Gender 

• Gender identity 

• First language 

• Second language 

• Sexual orientation 

• Disability 

• Marital status 

• How you heard about us 

• Whether you have done any research about fostering already 

• Whether you know anyone who fosters 

• Whether there are any specific things you want to know more about 

The data will be collected through an on-line enquiry form and from enquiries received over the phone.  Once your information has been transferred to a local authority, regular updates about stages of your fostering journey will be shared between the local authority and Local Community Fostering (Greater London East).   

3. What is our lawful basis to obtain and use your personal information? 

Local authorities rely on statutory provisions which confer implied and express data processing powers across a broad range of legislation when supporting children in need. Specific laws in relation to local authority fostering recruitment include: 

• Care Planning, Placement and Case Review and Fostering Services (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2013 

• The Fostering Services (England) Regulations 2011 (as amended) 

• Fostering services: national minimum standards (2011) 

• The Children Act 1989 Guidance and Regulations Volume 4; Children Act 1989: fostering services 

• Assessment and approval of foster carers: Amendments to the Children Act 1989 Guidance and Regulations Volume 4: Fostering Services (July 2013) 

The lawful basis for Local Community Fostering, Greater London East to process your data is: 

• Article 6 (1)(e) of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) – 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. 

• Article 9 (g) of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) – processing is necessary for reasons of substantial public interest, on the basis of Union or Member State law 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. 

4. What is your personal information used for? 

Information you provide will be used for the following purposes: 

• To respond to your enquiry to the Local Community Fostering (Greater London East) service and commence your application to foster. 

• To support applicants’ journeys from enquiry to formal fostering application, 

• To pass formal fostering applications to the appropriate partner local authority for completion, and 

• If you opt-in to provide communications such as advice, guidance and newsletters about the service, you can opt-out of receiving these communications at any time by contacting us. 

• To support in the independent evaluation of the Local Community Fostering (Greater London East) service your data will be shared with the Department for Education and an independent evaluator. We use your data to contact you to invite you to participate in research that is relevant to you. You are under no obligation to participate in any research we invite you to. We will not contact you about research using your data if you tell us not to.

5. Will your personal information be shared? 

Local Community Fostering (Greater London East) will share your personal data with partner local authorities above to deliver these purposes but will not pass your information to other organisations without a legitimate lawful reason to do so. 

As your query and application progresses, it will be necessary to share personal data about prospective carers with staff in your Council’s Fostering Service to support the fostering application process. 

Your application will be processed by the local authority you have applied to through Local Community Fostering (Greater London East), and the relevant agency will process all subsequent information provided by you and received from others in respect of your application. Information collected after your initial enquiry will not be routinely shared between the other local authorities.     

Local Community Fostering (Greater London East) will share your personal information with the Department for Education and the independent evaluator for the purposes of evaluation and research in respect of the service. The Department for Education also acts as a data controller. 

6.  How do we keep your information secure? 

The information you provide is held safely and securely and in accordance with the Data Protection Act 2018.  

Information provided to the Local Community Fostering (Greater London East) hub is held on a secure database which is ISO27001 certified and can only be accessed by trained authorised members of staff through secure password controls.  

Information transferred between the Local Community Fostering (Greater London East) hub, the appropriate local authority Fostering Service will be through secure, encrypted channels.  Each of the partner local authorities has a range of procedures, policies and systems to ensure that access to your records are controlled safely and securely.  

Anonymised data (that cannot identify you) maybe shared with third parties (i.e. Department for Education) for the purpose of monitoring and evaluating the service and its accessibility. 

7. How long will we keep your personal information? 

After we deliver a service to you, we will keep your information as a business record of what was delivered. 

Information will be held by the Local Community Fostering (Greater London East) hub for reporting purposes and will be retained for a minimum of three years following the date of your last contact or the completion of your fostering application. 

Information passed to the local authorities, the Department for Education and its independent evaluator will be held in accordance with their retention and destruction schedules. 

8. Is personal information processed outside of the UK? 

All hub information and backup information is held in the UK. We do not process your data outside of the UK.    

9. What are your information rights? 

Your Information Rights are set out in the law. Subject to some legal exceptions, you have the right to: 

• request a copy of the personal information held about you 

• challenge and request correction of inaccurate information; 

• ask us to erase your personal data; 

• place a restriction on our processing of your data, and; 

• object to processing of your data; 

You can also learn more about your rights via the Information Commissioner’s Office website. 

10. Complaints and contact details

As the lead partner for Local Community Fostering (Greater London East), London Borough of Waltham Forest is the primary point of contact for data subject rights.  If you have questions regarding this service or our privacy practices, you can contact us by emailing: data.protectionofficer@walthamforest.gov.uk, or writing to us at: 

Data Protection Officer
Waltham Forest Town Hall
Forest Road
Walthamstow E17 4JF 

If we’re unable to resolve your complaint to your satisfaction, you can complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO)