A large mural created by young people of York in care.

Speak Up Privacy Notice

Speak Up promotes children’s rights and entitlements and, in line with the Local Authority’s statutory duty, provides independent advocacy for the following groups of children and young people:

  • children and young people in care
  • care leavers up to the age of 25
  • children and young people subject to a Child Protection Plan
  • young parents, under the age of 18, whose children are subject to a Child Protection Plan
  • young people aged 16 to 17 who are homeless
  • children and young people who want to make a complaint under the Children Act

The service also provides information about rights and entitlements and participation opportunities for children and young people in care, including facilitating York’s Children in Care Council and Care Leavers Forum; Show Me That I Matter, and I Still Matter.

City of York Council (CYC) current data protection notification is registered with the Information Commission’s Office (ICO) - reference Z5809563. We regularly review this privacy notice, and it was last updated in August 2026.

Speak Up and CYC are committed to ensuring that your information is handled in accordance with the principles set out in data protection legislation and guidance from the Information Commission’s Office (ICO).

This privacy notice tells you what to expect when we process your information, and it applies to Speak Up services and website.

You can contact the council’s Data Protection Officer on email: [email protected], or telephone: 01904 555719, or write to:

Data Protection Officer
City of York Council
West Offices
Station Rise
York
YO1 6GA

This privacy notice should be read in conjunction with other CYC privacy notices that are available in our Privacy Notice and/or CYC policies and procedures.

When appropriate we will provide a ‘just in time’ notice to cover any additional processing activities not mentioned in this document.

We get information about you from the following sources:

  • directly from you
  • directly from third parties acting on your behalf such as family members, key workers, social workers, advocates, councillors, MPs
  • from other partner organisations such as NHS
  • from our commissioned partners or contractors who undertake work on our behalf

If a child or young person is unable to instruct an advocate due to issues of capacity, comprehension or communication, a non-instructed approach to advocacy can be used. For those young people who are supported through non-instructed advocacy, information may be gathered by:

  • observing the individual person and their situation and noting their unique preferences
  • gathering information from significant others
  • exploring alternative means of communication

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We will only ask you for the information that is necessary to provide our services to you and this may include personal data, special categories of personal data and where appropriate, information relating to criminal convictions and offences, this includes details of any past criminal convictions or offences. This may include information such as your name, contact details, age, etc.

When we ask for equalities, diversity and inclusion (EDI) information sometimes called “About you” information, this may include some or all of the following:

  • age
  • gender
  • if the gender you identify with is the same as your sex registered at birth
  • how you think of yourself
  • religion or belief
  • ethnic group
  • if you consider yourself disabled
  • if you are a carer
  • if you have experience of being in care

EDI information is only used to help us understand the EDI makeup of our customers and will be anonymised which means it cannot be linked back to you or individuals.

We do this because our services cannot support you without using your information and we use it to:

  • provide an independent advocacy service to those who have a statutory entitlement to access this service
  • ensure you are aware of your rights and entitlements

You can say you do not want our support or advice whenever you want. We will then keep any information we already have and record that you do not want advocacy from us anymore. Please contact us to discuss this:

There may be other occasions where Speak Up will ask you for your consent to share your data - for example, to share your experiences to raise public awareness of important issues. If this is the case, we will explain exactly what the data will be used for, and you can withdraw your consent at any time. Wherever possible, any of your data which has been used for publicity purposes will be deleted.

We will ask for your consent:

When you complete an online form on the council’s website and you have provided your email address, you will automatically be sent a copy of your completed online form.

If attending a council site or attending an event at a council venue that is covered by our public space CCTV you can find details in the CCTV Privacy Notice.

Use of Artificial Intelligence

We may use Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies to support or enhance council services. Where AI is involved in a process that directly affects your interaction with us, we will inform you before your user journey begins. This ensures transparency and helps maintain trust in how we use AI.

Our use of AI complies with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR), including the principles of lawfulness, fairness, transparency, accountability, and accuracy. We conduct Data Protection Impact Assessments (DPIAs) where AI systems are likely to result in high risks to individuals’ rights and freedoms, such as automated decision-making or profiling.

If generative AI tools are used, we do not use personal or end-user data to train AI models. This helps ensure compliance with the purpose limitation and data minimisation principles under UK GDPR.

AI for Staff Productivity and Accessibility

Where AI tools are used solely by staff to assist with drafting, research, or accessibility - for example, to improve writing efficiency or summarise information - these uses do not form part of a business process that affects service delivery or decision-making. As such, no specific notification will be provided for these internal productivity uses.

These uses are considered low risk and do not involve automated decision-making that produces legal or similarly significant effects. They are also subject to internal governance and safeguards to ensure responsible use.

Examples include:

  • drafting internal reports or meeting notes
  • summarising lengthy documents for quicker review
  • assisting with spelling, grammar, or formatting tasks

We may use your information to create reports and statistics that are anonymous and cannot be linked back to you or individuals such as:

  • for statistical analysis
  • for statutory returns
  • for audit frameworks
  • to see how the council and its partners are supporting individuals
  • to help design better services
  • to inform funding decisions

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We do not carry out any automated decision making in Speak Up - York’s Children’s Rights and Advocacy Service.

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Please see our Cookies Policy for further information about the information we collect automatically when you use our website.

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Where we provide services directly to children or young people, the information in the relevant parts of this notice applies to children and young people, as well as care-leavers up to the age of 25.

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Any personal data, special category data and criminal offence data that we process about individuals is done so in accordance with one or more of the following Articles 6, 9 and 10 of the UK GDPR and Schedule 1 of the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA 2018).

  • Article 6(1):
    • (a) you give us clear consent to process your personal data for a specific purpose such as sharing your experiences to raise public awareness of important issues
    • (c) Legal obligation, if this is to do with a court case, for example, and we are being asked to process information with the court
    • (e) Public task, which is where the law allows it in the public interest. For example, the Children Act 1989 gives children and young people in care the right to advocacy when making a complaint or when important decisions are being made about their lives
    • (f) Legitimate interest, which means that your data is used in a way that you would expect
  • Article 9(2):
    • (a) you give us clear consent to process your information for a specific purpose
    • (b) Employment, social security and social protection (if authorised by law)
    • (g) Reasons of substantial public interest (with a basis in law)

This is supported by Schedule1, Part 2 (6) of the Data Protection Act 2018 and the legal framework including:

  • Children Act 1989
  • Adoption and Children Act 2002
  • Children Act 2004

Where we process information relating to criminal convictions and offences, this is under Article 10 UK GDPR that covers processing in relation to criminal convictions and offences or related security measures. In addition, section 11(2) of the DPA 2018 specifically confirms that this includes personal data relating to the alleged commission of offences, or proceedings for an offence committed or alleged to have been committed, including sentencing.

Some of the Schedule 1 conditions for processing special category and criminal offence data require an Appropriate Policy Document (APD) to be in place, which sets out and explains the procedures for securing compliance with the principles in Article 5 and policies regarding the retention and erasure of such personal data. This document explains this processing and satisfies the requirements of Schedule 1, Part 4 of the DPA 2018 and supplements this privacy notice.

Our Appropriate Policy Document provides further information about this processing.

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We will only keep your information for as long as it is needed then it will be securely and confidentially deleted or disposed of.

You can find details on how long the council keeps records in the council retention schedule.

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We will not share any information that you have given us in confidence, and we will always respect your wishes if you do not agree to us sharing information except where we believe you are at risk or where someone else may be at risk, or if we are legally required to share the information, for example following a court order or safeguarding.

We will only share information with those who need it, to provide the service to you such as Speak Up workers and other appropriate professional people.

We will always satisfy ourselves that we have a lawful basis on which to share the information and document our decision making.

Additionally, we are required under the Public Records Act 1958 (as amended) to transfer records to the City or National Archives (TNA) for permanent preservation. Full consideration will be given to Data Protection and Freedom of Information legislation when making decisions about whether such records should be open to the public.

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We do not use any third parties to provide our services to you.

When we have third parties providing parts or all of our systems, software, platforms, applications (apps) etc for us, we have contracts or agreements in place with them. These include:

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We do not routinely transfer personal data, special categories of personal data or criminal offence data, outside of the UK but when this is necessary, we ensure that we have appropriate safeguards in place and that it is done in accordance with the UK data protection and privacy legislation.

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We're committed to keeping your information safe and secure. There are several ways we do this, such as:

  • IT security safeguards such as firewalls, encryption, and anti-virus software
  • on-site security safeguards to protect physical files and electronic equipment
  • training for all staff and elected councillors
  • policies and procedures

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To find out about your rights under data protection law, you can go to the Information Commission's Office website.

You can also find information about your rights in the City of York Council Privacy Notice.

If you have any questions about this privacy notice, want to exercise your rights, or if you have a complaint about how your information has been used, please contact us on email: [email protected], or on telephone: 01904 555719, or write to:

Data Protection Officer
City of York Council
West Offices
Station Rise
York YO1 6GA

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By using our website, you are consenting to certain types of cookie being placed on your device.

Please see our Cookies Policy for further information about the information we collect automatically when you use our website.

Where our website links to external resources or websites, these may add their own cookies. These are outside our control. Cookies can be disabled by changing the settings in your browser, but you may need to re-enter information at times.

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Emails that we send to you or you send to us, may be retained as a record of contact and your email address stored for future use in accordance with our record retention schedules. If we need to email sensitive or confidential information to you, we may perform checks to verify the correct email address and may take additional security measures.

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You will not receive unsolicited paper or electronic mail as a result of sending us any personal data while using our website, unless you have given us permission to do this.

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We do not pass personal data to third parties for marketing, sales or any other commercial purposes without your prior explicit consent.

If we have to share your personal data externally, we require any third party to comply with the principles of data protection legislation, and our procedures and instructions, when they use your information on our behalf.

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