You can ask us to confirm that we are processing your information and you can request to see the information we have about you. This is sometimes called a Subject Access Request.
Sometimes we might need to verify who you are before we process your request. This is because we want to make sure we don’t give your information to anyone who is not authorised to have it. The Council processes large amounts of information so we might also have to ask you to give us more details in relation to the information you would like to access.
Accessing a copy of the information we hold about you will normally be free of charge and will provided to you within one month. If we can’t provide you the information within one month we will let you know and explain the reason why. It might be because the request is complex, so it will take us a bit longer to respond. In these cases we can extend the time period but only to a maximum of 3 months in total.
We are currently experiencing a higher demand on our services. There have been instances where we have been unable to respond to requests on time and we recognise that this is providing a poor experience to our customers. Please be reassured that we are working towards a resolution for this delay.
Before you can make a subject access request, you will need to set up an account. This is so you can track the progress of your request.
If you would like to access your records which relate to social work, visit our subject access requests - social work records page.
There are some circumstances set out in law where we may not be able to give you all the information we hold about you. If these circumstances apply, we will give you as much information as we can. Some examples of these circumstances are:
- Information which may be seriously harmful to you or someone else.
- The information identifies another person who has not agreed to it being passed to you.
- Information given and held for the purposes of preventing or detecting crime, or for prosecuting or apprehending offenders.
- Information which is restricted by another law, for example adoption agency records.
What about deleted information?
Information is ‘deleted’ when measures are put in place to permanently discard it and there is no intention of ever trying to access it again. The ICO’s view is that personal data held in electronic form is deleted by removing it (as far as possible) from our computer systems, the fact that expensive technical expertise might enable us to recreate it does not mean we must go to such efforts to respond to a SAR.
Aberdeen City Council will delete information depending on the type of information on a regular basis in line with our retention periods. For more information about how we use your data and how long we may keep this for, our privacy notices can be found on the Your data page.
Your rights
You have other rights in relation to the information we hold about you. This includes the right to have your information corrected, deleted, transferred, or to object to it being processed.
See the Your data page for more information about your rights and how you can exercise them.
Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry
The Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry was set up on 1 October 2015 and is studying the nature and prevalence of abuse in Care in Scotland from living memory to 2014. The inquiry is raising public awareness of the historical abuse of children in Care and provides an opportunity for public acknowledgement of the suffering of those children. Find out more information about the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry Team here.