Accessing your records

If you want to see the personal information the council has about you, you can make a Subject Access Request (SAR). There are a few ways to do this:

• fill out the online form
• email: dataprotection@lancashire.gov.uk
• write to: Information Governance Team, Lancashire County Council, PO Box 78, County Hall, Preston, PR1 8XJ

You can also ask in person, by phone (0300 123 6701), or by minicom (01254 220 666). If you ask this way, we’ll check we’ve understood your request and confirm where to send the reply.

As a care leaver, we will not charge you for this service. We will try to respond within one month (or up to three months if it’s more complicated).

To make a request, you’ll need to give:

• your name and address
• proof of who you are (like a copy of your passport or driving licence) - do not send original documents, a copy is fine.

It helps if you can tell us:

• which teams or people you’ve worked with at the council
• what kind of information you’re looking for

This makes it easier for us to find your records quickly.

When we send your files, we usually use secure email to keep your information safe. You’ll get a special link to open the files. Download and save the files to your phone, tablet, or computer as soon as you can, because the link won’t last forever.

If your contact details change, like your phone number or address, email dataprotection@lancashire.gov.uk to let us know.

Once we get your request and proof of who you are, we have one month to collect your information and send it to you. Sometimes it can take longer - up to three months - if your request is more complicated. This might happen if:

• your information is stored in lots of different places or formats
• there’s a large amount of data to go through
• we need to check things with other people or legal teams
• your records include details about other people that need to be carefully reviewed

Most records are saved on computers now, but if you've asked for older information, we might need to find paper files and turn them into digital ones so we can send them to you.

Some files are short, but others can be really long, sometimes thousands of pages with reports, assessments, and other documents. We’ll do our best to get everything to you as quickly as we can.

Once we have gathered all the relevant information and before we send anything, we must carefully review the files to make sure we don’t share anyone else’s private information, including other family members. This process is called redaction, and it’s done to protect everyone’s privacy. You’re not allowed to see information about other people, so we remove those parts.

In rare cases, a social worker might decide that sharing certain details could seriously harm you or someone else. If that happens, we may leave that part out too.

If any content is removed, it’s typically because it relates to someone else’s personal details, not because it’s harmful. We’ll always explain what’s been taken out and why when we send your records.

Our goal is to be open and honest with you, while also respecting everyone’s privacy.

We understand that reading your records can be important, but it can also be emotional or confusing. You don’t have to do it alone.

It’s a good idea to let your social worker, personal advisor, or key worker know that you’ve asked to see your records. When you fill out the online form, there’s a box where you can say you’re care experienced and a space to tell us who your key worker is. Please include this as it helps us work together to support you.

Your social worker or advisor might already know a lot of what’s in your records, but there could be new information you haven’t seen before, and some parts might be hard to understand or bring up unexpected feelings.

Why support matters

Reading your records with someone who knows you and cares about you can really help. They can:

• explain things clearly
• help you make sense of what you’re reading
• support you emotionally
• guide you to extra help if you need it

Sometimes, the records won’t tell you anything new and that’s okay. But it’s still a good idea to let someone know what you’re doing, so they can be ready to support you if needed.

Sometimes professionals will write acronyms or use abbreviations because it's faster than writing terms in full. You might use some yourself like LOL and FYP.

It's not always obvious what these mean so we've put together a list of common terms and acronyms that you might find in your records.

You can also ask your social worker, personal advisor or key worker for help.

If you have a social worker, personal advisor or key worker, they are the best person to provide advice and guidance. They understand the processes of children's social care, fostering and adoption and if they don't know something, they'll be able to find an answer.

If you work with another professional, for example a teacher and you feel like you want to share what you've read, ask them to help you. They'll want you to feel supported.

If you feel like you need extra support, there are lots of organisations to contact.

• Samaritans - If you need anybody to talk to for emotional support Samaritans offer phone support all day and night.
• Useful contacts on the Mind website - Mind has tons of details of places you can go if you're a young person looking for support or information outside of your support from Lancashire County Council.
• Young Minds - Whether you want to understand more about how you're feeling and find ways to feel better, or you want to support someone who's struggling, Young Minds can help.

If you're a care leaver aged up to 25, you can seek support, advice and guidance from your personal advisor. You can also find out about extra support on the care leavers local offer.

If you're a care leaver, aged over 25, then help and support can be found on the links above. Unfortunately, a personal advisor cannot be provided.

If you’re unhappy with how your Subject Access Request was or is being dealt with, you can let us know. The easiest way is to reply to the email you got from the Information Governance Team (dataprotection@lancashire.gov.uk) and tell us what went wrong. We’ll do our best to sort it out and make things right.

Other complaints about the council

If your complaint is about anything else to do with Lancashire County Council services, you can contact the Complaints and Feedback Team by using the online form: make a complaint to Lancashire County Council or by email to complaintsandfeedback@lancashire.gov.uk.