Youth Justice Service privacy notice

How the Youth Justice Service use and share your data.

This departmental privacy notice should be read in conjunction with the Council's corporate privacy notice.

About the service

Wandsworth Youth Justice Service (YJS) works with children and young people aged 10-17 years who have attended court and been given a statutory court order or received an out of court disposal such as a Youth Caution. We have legal obligations to support young people (and their families) within the criminal justice system and reduce youth offending, as well as to address problems and factors that lead to criminal offending behaviour.

The YJS is a multi-agency team which is provided to meet the requirements of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998. The team is based in the Council's Children's Service Department and includes representatives from Children's Services, police, probation, education and health who are seconded into the team.

Why we need to collect data

In order to meet our legal obligations, we need to collect personal data. This helps us work with you and to understand and plan services through an offending prevention programme as part of a voluntary arrangement or a statutory order. The team assesses the young people and their families referred to them and will either work directly with them or link them to other services, should they need more specialist help or interventions.

The Data Protection Act 2018 states that before we collect your personal data, we must have a lawful basis or reason. There are only six permissible reasons, and we must have at least one of these reasons.

The YJS is committed to ensuring privacy and security of data collected, stored and processed. 

Why we are allowed to use your data

Legal obligation or public task under various UK laws including but not limited to:

  • The Crime & Disorder Act 1998
  • The Criminal Justice Act 2013
  • The Children Ac t 1989, 2004
  • Local Safeguarding Children Boards Regulations 2006(SI 2006/90)
  • The Localism Act 2011
  • The Equality Act 2
  • Freedom of information Act 2000
  • Environmental Regulation 2004
  • Data Protection Act 2018
  • General Data Protection Regulation 2018

We work closely with partner organisations and share information with them so that we can identify and support young people who are experiencing difficulties, ensuring they receive coordinated help and support.

Obtaining and sharing your data with others

We collect your personal data from you, or from others (e.g. council staff in other departments or external organisations or individuals) who inform us of matters relevant to this service area.

We collect your information in a number of ways including by email, letter, telephone and face to face interviews or meetings. We collect and hold the following information in relation to young people and their families, including that of parents/carers, siblings and any close relatives:

  • Personal data (names, dates of birth, addresses, telephone and email contact details, NHS numbers, unique pupil numbers)
  • Characteristics (gender, ethnicity, languages spoken, religious beliefs), health needs or problems (physical and emotional), medical history, any disabilities, immigration status
  • Educational data including schools attended, levels of attendance, attainment and achievement, details of any special educational needs and any exclusions
  • Data regarding criminal offences and court appearances and outcomes
  • Details of witnesses or victims of crime
  • Information regarding young peoples’ needs and support provided (referrals and assessments, details of any statutory plans such as Child Protection Plans and/or being 'looked after')
  • Details of any wider health or social care help that family members receive
  • Documents received by the YJS including referrals and reports from other professionals

Lawful basis for processing your information  

Some of the data that we collect is known as 'special category'. We need an additional lawful basis to process this information. This might include information about your ethnicity or sexuality and may be used for equality monitoring in accordance with the Equality Act 2010. We rely on UK General Data Protection Regulation Article 9(2)(i) 'processing is necessary for reasons of public interest' to collect this aspect of your data.

The nature of our services means that we need to collect data about criminal offences. In order to collect this, we must comply with UK General Data Protection Regulation Article 10. The Council meets this requirement.

What data is used for

This data is used to assist the YJS to carry out its statutory functions and duties to prevent and reduce offending and reoffending as well as to increase levels of confidence of victims and the wider community that youth offending is being effectively addressed. The data is needed to work effectively with young people and to prevent them from offending. It enables the provision of support for those who are:

  • Bailed from courts
  • Supervised on formal Court Orders, pre-Court Orders or out of court disposals
  • Remanded into youth detention accommodation
  • Given custodial sentences.

Data is also needed to enable the YJS to comply with the requirements to provide statistics regarding levels of activity and effectiveness in addressing and reducing youth offending for Government departments such as the Home Office and Youth Justice Board. The YJS is required to provide and contribute to reports for local agencies and Council boards such as the Youth Crime Prevention Partnership, Scrutiny Committees, and the Public Health department. This is to inform evaluations of current services and to help plan for future services to meet local need.

Specified purposes

Your personal information is only used for a specified purpose(s) but if we intend to use it for any other new purposes, we will normally ask you first. For instance, in some cases, the Council may wish to use your information for another purpose such as in relation to improving and developing services, or to prevent or detect fraud. In any event our processing will always have a demonstrable lawful basis. Where practicable and reasonable we will always seek to inform you of any significant proposed changes to how we process or intend to process your personal data, to ensure full transparency over how we handle your information.

Who provides this information

We share and request the minimum amount of personal data and personal information to and from the following organisations:

  • Other Council teams including Children’s Services, Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH), Safeguarding Families programme, Anti-Social Behaviour/Community Safety teams, Youth Integrated Offender Management Team, Housing, Education and Special Educational Needs teams, Legal Services. This is so that the teams can provide information to assist in YOT assessments of what young people and their families need as well as enabling the teams to carry out specific duties regarding youth offending and wider statutory roles in relation to supporting residents
  • Other youth offending services
  • YJS volunteers
  • Borough Police and the Metropolitan Police Service
  • Crown Prosecution Service
  • Youth Justice Board
  • Ministry of Justice
  • National Probation Service
  • HM Courts and Tribunal Service
  • Lawyers (for the local authority and also for young people if you have instructed one to represent you)
  • The Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (CAFCASS)
  • Child and adolescent mental health services
  • Drug and alcohol support services
  • Schools and other education providers.

Legal basis for processing your information

The following are the legal bases under the UK General Data Protection Regulations on which we rely to process your personal and special category data.

  • Where the data subject has given explicit consent to the processing of personal data for one or more specific purposes. Where consent to share your information is required, we will specify why the sharing of this information is necessary (UK General Data Protection Regulation 6(1)(a))
  • Where compliance with legal and statutory obligations is required, consent is not needed. 6(1)(c). This will be the case where:
    • The YJS has a statutory responsibility to process personal data as part of its role in preventing and reducing offending or increasing confidence of victims and the wider community that youth offending is being effectively addressed.
    • The behaviour of individuals constitutes a serious risk of harm to the individual or to others (6(1)(d))
    • Processing is needed for legal proceedings, advice or for establishing, exercising or defending legal rights
  • Where 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 (6(1)(e)
  • Where there is a contract for the supply of services entered into with partners (6(1)(b))

We do not share personal or special category data about you or anyone else without agreement unless the law or policies allow this.

Such data sharing enables the YJS to meet its legal obligation or public task under various UK laws including but not limited to:

  • The Crime & Disorder Act 1998
  • The Criminal Justice Act 2013
  • The Children Act 1989, 2004
  • Local Safeguarding Children Boards Regulations 2006(SI 2006/90)
  • The Localism Act 2011
  • The Equality Act 2???
  • Freedom of information Act 2000
  • Environmental Regulation 2004
  • Data Protection Act 2018
  • UK General Data Protection Regulation 2018

Sharing your data with others

We can share your data with:

National Regulators e.g. Information Commissioner’s Office, Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman, and Investigatory Powers Commissioner.

  • Judicial Agencies e.g. Courts
  • Police
  • Children's Social Care
  • Probation
  • Health agencies
  • Education providers
  • Substance Misuse teams
  • Other Youth Offending teams
  • Safeguarding boards
  • Elected Members and MPs (when representing you)
  • Contractors providing IT services
  • Funding bodies
  • Other local councils
  • Other departments within the Council

Using your data to make automated decisions

We do not use your data to make automated decisions.

Data sent to countries outside of the EEA

Generally, the Council will not process your personal data outside of the UK or the EEA. In exceptions where we do, we will ensure equivalent data protection controls are in place.

Further information

To see what data is collected and how to exercise your rights to your data, please read our corporate privacy notice.

Up to Departmental privacy notices

Updated: 21/11/2023