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 councils:
- Brent Council
- Ealing Council
- Hammersmith & Fulham Council
- Hillingdon Council
- London Borough of Harrow
- London Borough of Hounslow
- The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea
- Westminster City Council
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 councils are joint data controllers with respect to personal data processed by Foster with West London.
What type of personal information do we collect and how do we collect it?
The following information may be collected:
- full name
- contact information
- what borough you live in
- preferred method of contact
- preferred time and day to be contacted
- how you heard about us
- date of birth
- gender
- ethnicity
- disability
- religion
- immigration status (right to remain in UK)
- full address and postcode
- household composition
- which council you want to foster for
- motivation to foster
- occupation
- childcare experience
- pets
- smoking and vaping status
- source of enquiry
- type of enquiry
Information that may be voluntarily provided at this stage includes the following.
Applicants will be notified of the checks and references which will be carried out by the relevant council 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 data will be collected and recorded.
- Basic health information including emotional and mental health
- Previous criminal involvement
- Previous social services involvement
The above process will apply to any partner, spouse, or any other adults living in the property.
The data will be collected through an online enquiry form and from enquiries received over the phone 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
- support applicants' journeys from enquiry to formal fostering application
- pass formal fostering applications to the appropriate partner council for completion
- 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
- 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
Should a referral made to a council be deemed unviable due to information disclosed through the 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 council who may be able to use your support
At the point of transfer, Foster with West London will retain prospective foster carers' 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 councils. 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 council 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.
- Brent privacy policy
- Ealing privacy notice
- Hammersmith & Fulham privacy notice
- Harrow privacy notice
- Hillingdon privacy notice
- Hounslow privacy notice
- Kensington and Chelsea fair processing notice
- Westminster fair processing notice
Foster with West London will share fully anonymised 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.
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 Foster with West London is held on a secure database hosted by our supplier, GOSS Interactive, and partner, London Borough of Hillingdon, and can only be accessed by authorised members of staff through secure password controls.
Information transferred between Foster with West London, the appropriate council fostering service and the Department for Education (DfE) and its independent evaluator will be through secure, encrypted channels.
Each of the partner councils has a range of procedures, policies and systems to ensure that access to your records are controlled safely and securely.
Anyone who receives information from Foster with West London is also under a legal duty to only use the information for the purposes agreed, and any lawful need to share or use information for another purpose as appropriate under data protection law and keep the information secure and confidential.
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 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 a fostering application by the enquiring individual, whichever is later.
Information will be retained to allow for continuing of support by the hub. An example whereby this retention schedule will be utilised would be in the instance where a referral is made to a council which is deemed unviable due to information disclosed through an initial visit, assessment or panel which conflicts with local policy.
This outcome will be returned to the hub and captured for the purposes of reporting alongside the reason for not progressing. However, if the applicant would be a viable enquiring carer for another council whereby this policy of viability may differ, retaining information gathered will enable to Hub to recommend this enquirer to another council within the agreement.
Information passed to the councils, the Department for Education and its independent evaluator will be held in accordance with their retention and destruction schedules.
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.
Marketing
Foster with West London may contact you with information that may be helpful or of interest to you in connection with your enquiries and fostering application. We will not use or pass your information to others for marketing or sales purposes, or for any commercial use without your express consent.
You are free to opt out of these contacts at any time.
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
- object to processing of your data
To learn more about these rights please see the Information Commissioner's Office website.
To exercise your rights, contact the relevant council - contact details are provided at the end of this page.
If we have not been able to deal with your query, you can also contact the Information Commissioner's Office on 0303 123 111 or write to them at:
Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Brent Council
Submit a subject access request to Brent Council
FOI and Complaints Investigation Officer
Brent Civic Centre
Engineers Way
Wembley
HA9 0FJ
Ealing Council
Submit a subject access request to Ealing Council
Business Services Group
Perceval House 3.SE
14 to 16 Uxbridge Road
London
W5 2HL
Hammersmith & Fulham Council
Submit a subject access request to Hammersmith & Fulham Council
Resident Experience Team
Hammersmith Town Hall
King Street
London
W6 9JU
Hillingdon Council
Submit a subject access request to Hillingdon Council
The Statutory Data Protection Officer
Legal Services
Hillingdon Council
Civic Centre
High Street
Uxbridge
UB8 1UW
London Borough of Harrow
Submit a subject access request to the London Borough of Harrow
Marsha White
Harrow Council
PO Box 1358
Harrow
HA3 3QN
London Borough of Hounslow
Submit a subject access request to the London Borough of Hounslow
dataprotection@hounslow.gov.uk
Customer Relations
London Borough of Hounslow
Hounslow House
7 Bath Road
Hounslow
Middlesex
TW3 3EB
The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea
Submit a subject access request to The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea
Information Governance and Management Team
Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea
The Town Hall
Hornton Street
London
W8 7NX
Westminster City Council
Submit a subject access request to Westminster City Council
Information Management Team (Information Services)
64 Victoria Street
London
SW1E 6QP