Foster with West London: privacy notice

Who we are and what we do

The West London Fostering Recruitment Hub, Foster with West London, is a regional collaboration partnership between the following local authorities:

• London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham
• London Borough of Kensington and Chelsea
• Westminster City Council
• London Borough of Brent
• London Borough of Hillingdon
• London Borough of Harrow
• London Borough of Ealing
• London Borough of Hounslow

Foster with West London 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 Foster with West London.

What type of personal information we collect and how we collect it

The following information may be collected:

• full name
• contact information  
• which borough you live in
• preferred method of contact  
• preferred time/day to be contacted 
• how did you hear about us
• date of birth 
• gender
• ethnicity 
• disability
• religion 
• immigration status / right to remain in UK
• full address and postcode  
• household composition
• which local authority you want to foster for
• motivation to foster
• occupation 
• childcare experience
• pets 
• smoking/vaping status 
• source of enquiry
• type of enquiry

Information which may be voluntarily provided at this stage includes the following:

•    basic health information including emotional/mental health. 
•    previous criminal involvement 
•    previous social services involvement 

Applicants will be notified of the checks and references which will be carried out by the relevant local authority during the assessment stage, including:

• DBS
• personal and employer references
• past partner checks
• education checks
• medical checks

and will be invited to share pertinent information at this stage.

A policy of data minimisation will be adopted, whereby only minimal required information concerning the below fields will be collected and recorded. 

The above process will apply to any partner, spouse, or any other adults living in the property.

The data will be collected through an on-line enquiry form and from enquiries received over the phone and/or Microsoft Teams. Monthly updates about stages of your journey will be provided by professionals.

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

The lawful basis for Foster with West London to process your data is provided under Article 6 of the UK GDPR:

• 1(c) processing is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation to which the controller is subject
• 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

The condition to process special category data will be:

• Article 9 (2)(g)  reasons of substantial public interest - 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.  

Section 10(3) of the DPA 2018 says that processing will meet the requirement in point (g) of Article 9(2) of the GDPR for a basis in the law of the United Kingdom or a part of the United Kingdom only if it meets a condition in Part 2 of Schedule 1. 

• Schedule 1 Part 2 paragraph 6 states that the condition is met if the processing is necessary for the purposes of exercising a function conferred on a person by an enactment or rule of law.

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 - supported Fostering include:

• Children Act 1989 (as amended)
• Fostering Agencies Regulations 2005 and National Minimum Standards 

What is your personal information used for?

Information you provide will be used for the following purposes:

• to respond to your enquiry to the West London Fostering Recruitment Hub 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,
• should a referral made to a Local Authority be deemed unviable due to information disclosed through Initial Visit, Assessment or Panel which conflicts with local policy, this outcome will be returned to Foster with West London who may share your details with another Local Authority who may be able to use your support,
• 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 Foster with West London 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.

 At the point of transfer, Foster with West London will retain prospective foster carer’s information as a business record of delivery and to enable to provision of ongoing support following the transfer in a manner as deemed appropriate by the participating local authorities. This may include a check in phone call as a pre-determined point following transfer.

Information will be held by Foster with West London for reporting purposes and will be retained for a maximum period of 2 years following the date of last contact or the completion of the prospective carers fostering application, whichever is later. Information will be retained to allow for continuing of support by Foster with West London. 

Will your personal information be shared?

Foster with West London 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 part of your enquiry and application progresses, it will be necessary to share personal data about prospective foster carers with social workers and others in your relevant Council's Fostering Service to support the application process.

Your application will be processed by the local authority you have applied to through Foster with West London, 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.    

As part of processing your data at the point of handover to your relevant Council's Fostering Service to support the application process, the designated Council may review any existing records and information they may hold relating to your personal data. Further information can be found in the respective Fair Processing Notice.