Data Protection Act:
How to apply for information about yourself
Under the Data Protection Act, you have the right to inquire whether the Council holds personal information about you, and if it does, to see a copy of it. To do this you must apply in writing. Officially this is called a Data Subject Access request, and you are the Data subject. You can write to, or email any member of the Council staff but it will be quicker and easier to send your request directly to the Data Protection Officer. You may also prefer to use the application available online, which you can either return electronically or print out and return by post.
Before we can supply that information there are some steps we must take to check your identity: as you can imagine we must be very careful to disclose personal information only to the person who is entitled to receive it.
You can ask for all the information which the Council holds about you. In that case you will need to tell us which departments or services of the Council you have had dealings with. Alternatively, you can limit your request to one particular set of information, for example all that held by Personnel or Children’s services.
There will normally also be a fee of £10 (cheques should be made payable to Cheshire County Council).
You will receive a response within 40 calendar days from the date when we have verified your identity and received your payment.
Education records
Please note that although the Council holds – and can provide access to – personal information relating to education, it is not responsible for records held by schools. If you want to see information about you held by schools you must apply to the school in question.
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