Introduction

Identify which organisations and services the young person is involved with and request information from them. If unsure whether an organisation or service holds relevant records, it’s usually best to ask anyway – you may later find you need them, but it could be too late before a hearing.

For example..

If relevant, consider requesting information from these organisations and services:

• School
• Alternative education providers
• Tutors
• Children’s services
• Educational psychologists
• Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS)
• Youth Offending Team (YOT)
• Police

Please see our page Education records to learn more about the law in this area.

Request for education records

The Education (Pupil Information) (England) Regulations 2005 give parents of pupils at Local Education Authority maintained schools the right to access their child’s educational records. This right does not apply to non-maintained schools (e.g. academies, free schools and independent schools).

Subject Access Request (SAR)

Pupils at any type of school have the right to access their own information. This is known as the right of subject access, and it covers all personal data held about the data subject (it is not limited to the educational record). The statutory process for obtaining such information is called a Subject Access Request (SAR).

Freedom of Information request (FOI request)

The Freedom of Information Act 2000 provides public access to information held by public authorities. The Act does not give people access to their own personal data. Only public bodies, and some private bodies funded to perform a public function, are bound by the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act. In practice, this means that maintained schools, academies, and government-funded free schools are covered by FOI, while independent schools are not.

Request for education records

A parent should make a written request for the education record to the chair of the school’s governing board. IPSEA provides a template letter on their website.

Time limit

The school has a duty to provide the record within 15 school days of receiving the request.

Subject Access Request (SAR)

Individuals can make a SAR in any format to the data controller of the service. They could make a verbal request, or a written request via a letter, text, or email. Once an individual has made a request, the school cannot ask them to change the format they made the request in. The person requesting information does not need to refer to the process as a SAR.

If you are an advocate, include the signed form of authority from the young person and/or from a person with parental responsibility.

Children and young people making a request

There are no age requirements attached to the right of subject access, but in the UK, 12 is generally considered the age at which a child or young person can exercise their own legal rights. However, when a child or young person of any age submits a SAR, the school should assess if the child or young person can understand the information they will receive in response to their request. If the school believes the child or young person has the maturity and understanding to request and receive the information, they should respond directly to the child or young person, regardless of their age.

The school should not respond directly to the child or young person if they believe they:

• do not have the maturity or competence to act independently.
• have a health condition that limits their understanding.
• have given consent for a representative or someone with parental responsibility to act on their behalf.

In these cases, the school should contact the child or young person and ask if they agree for their parent or carer to make the request on their behalf.

Time limit

A full SAR response must be sent to the requester within one calendar month.

Freedom of Information request (FOI request)

A FOI request must be made in writing, for example, via:

• letter
• email
• social media
• online form – check the organisation’s website or the government department’s page to see if they have an online form
• WhatDoTheyKnow

Time limit

A FOI request must be responded to as soon as possible, and in any event, within the maximum number of days allowed under the FOI Act. For most organisations, the deadline is 20 working days from the date of the request. Under Regulation 3 The Freedom of Information (Time for Compliance with Request) Regulations 2004, the time limit for schools is 20 school days or 60 working days, whichever is sooner.

Help with making requests

• The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has an online tool that allows you to make a SAR online.
• The ICO also has a page on its website about writing an effective FOI request, as well as a template letter.
• IPSEA provides a template letter on its website for making a request for education records.

Introduction

Deciding when to follow up on a request for information will depend on your own deadlines and the nature of the request. Under both FOI and SAR regimes, there are fixed deadlines, but data controllers are also required to act without undue delay.

Subject Access Request (SAR)

A SAR should be responded to “without undue delay” and, in any event, within one calendar month.

If you can wait a full month for the information, you may wish to allow the school this full amount of time before following up for a response. However, you should not feel compelled to wait the full month, as schools must act quickly under their duty not to delay unduly, even within the one‑month time limit.

It is not necessary to postpone chasing where there is an imminent hearing or where the request is straightforward, even if the one‑month time limit has not yet expired.

A straightforward request is likely to be one in which the young person has not been at the school very long and has not had many behavioural incidents or additional support from the school. Safeguarding concerns, SEND support, numerous behavioural incidents, and a long school history will all complicate the process of obtaining records. In such cases, gathering the young person’s information for release is likely to be more complex and may take longer.

If you have requested a specific set of records or a narrow category of records, rather than a full school file, the request should not take as long to process.

Freedom of Information request (FOI request)

A FOI request must be responded to “promptly” and, in any event, within the maximum number of days. For most organisations, the deadline is 20 working days. For schools, the deadline is 20 school days or 60 working days, whichever is sooner.

As with an SAR, you can follow up within this time period because the public body must provide information without undue delay. If you have an imminent hearing or the request is straightforward, you may wish to chase even within the maximum allowed time limit.

If you have asked a lot of questions in your FOI request, or questions that require more administrative work to answer, you should allow more time for the data controller to respond.

Downloads

• To chase a SAR, consider using the suggested wording document – Chasing a late subject access request.
• To chase an FOI request, consider using the suggested wording document – Chasing a late freedom of information request.

Introduction

Schools and other organisations and services do not always know what they should provide and may sometimes be reluctant to provide everything they are required to. Checking a file carefully to ensure you have everything you requested and are entitled to will help you put the best case forward in any hearings.

Request for education records

Section 3 of the Education (Pupil Information) (England) Regulations 2005 covers the meaning of education record.

The education record includes any information processed by the school, except for what the teacher has processed solely for their own use. This is likely to cover information such as the records of the pupil’s academic achievements as well as correspondence from teachers, local education authority employees and educational psychologists engaged by the school’s governing body. It also includes an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) and a Personal Education Plan (PEP), where applicable.

Subject Access Request (SAR)

Through the right of subject access, a young person is entitled to the following information from a school:

Records of attendance

These will normally be in the form of completed registers with markings denoting attendance, authorised absence, unauthorised absence, sickness, and exclusion.

School reports and academic records

The file should include termly and annual reports from teaching staff about the young person’s progress. Grades in national examinations may not be held on a school file, but data tracking academic performance is likely to be present in whatever way the school chooses to present it.

Record of behavioural incidents

Most schools use an electronic behaviour recording system that aggregates positive and negative behaviour points and allows class teachers to record behavioural incidents. This is sometimes done on a programme called SIMS or PARS. If one of these systems is used, you should receive a table showing individual incidents and when they were recorded, as well as charts showing how the data is broken down into categories and what the response of staff was.

Statements from staff and students

Depending on the school’s policies and practices, serious incidents may be recorded in statements taken from students and staff. If this is the case, then a copy of each should be included in the file.

SEN assessments and interventions

Where the young person has been assessed for SEN, the file should include a record of that assessment. It may exist in the form of a report from the school SENCO or an external professional, such as an educational psychologist or speech and language therapist. School files should also include referrals to external services for SEN assessment, the outcomes of those referrals, and any pastoral or therapeutic intervention that the young person received.

Correspondence

Perhaps the most commonly missing material from a school file is relevant correspondence. Where any correspondence clearly identifies the young person, including internal emails between teachers, the young person is the data subject and has a right to see that information. It may be helpful to see correspondence about behavioural concerns, SEN needs, the application of interventions, and any other matters relevant to the exclusion.

CCTV

It can be difficult to get a school to release a video, particularly if it shows the faces of other students whose identities the school is trying to protect. Schools should take steps to cover the faces of other students and release the video if at all possible, particularly if it is relevant evidence either for or against the exclusion.

Freedom of Information request (FOI request)

You can check the information received against the questions you asked. Where the school or other public body has refused to release information, they should refer to an exemption in the Freedom of Information Act that allows them to do so. Check the exemptions to see if they apply in the circumstances.

Introduction

If you are concerned about the quality or content of a response to a request for information, you will be expected to raise this with the school or other service before escalating the matter to the Information Commissioner’s Office, which handles formal complaints.

Subject Access Request (SAR)

If you have received a response to an SAR that is poorly copied, heavily redacted, or missing files, you may want to raise this as an issue to be rectified.

You may also want to check the disclosure for the accuracy of the information it contains. A person has the right to have information held about them be accurate and up to date, and if you want to rely on that information in a governing board hearing or independent review panel, you may wish to ask the school to rectify it so that it can be relied on as evidence.

Freedom of Information request (FOI request)

If you have received a response to a FOI request that does not answer the question you asked, does not provide the information clearly, or fails to provide information without good reason, you should first raise these concerns with the organisation or service you requested the information from. Unless they can point to an exemption in the Act as a reason for not providing the requested information, you can insist that they provide it.

Template letters

• To raise a concern about the quality or content of a SAR, please view this page on the Information Commissioner’s Office website, which includes a template letter.
• To raise a concern about the quality or content of a FOI request, please view this page on the Information Commissioner’s Office website, which includes a template letter.

Introduction

If you have attempted to resolve the issue with the data controller but have not received a satisfactory response, you can make a complaint to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).

Information Commissioner’s Office

The ICO is a regulator that can consider complaints and take action against companies and public organisations. They deal with complaints in relation to both SAR and FOI.

ICO complaints can take a long time to process, so they are not necessarily a solution when you need information quickly. However, they act as a deterrent for schools and other organisations and can lead to resolution by prompting a school or other data controller to take action before facing enforcement action from the ICO.

Making a complaint to the ICO

ICO complaints are free and straightforward to make. You can use the online tools below. It is best to provide all your correspondence as evidence of the request and your attempts to resolve the dispute.

• To make a complaint to the ICO about an SAR, you can use this online tool.
• To make a complaint to the ICO about a FOI request, you can use this online tool.