Croydon YOT - What we do with information about you

Why we collect information about you

The professionals working with you keep records about you and the work undertaken with you. These help to ensure that you receive the best possible service and that this is consistent throughout the time you will spend in contact with the Youth Offending Team. We are required, by our governing body, the Youth Justice Board, to record adequately, the work we do with you so that we can be inspected and this work can be evaluated for effectiveness.

These records will be mainly held on a computer [electronic records] but there may be some information on a written or ‘paper’ file [manual records] which would include papers from the Court/Police/Crown Prosecution Service. The records would include any or all of the following:

Basic details about you such as date of birth, address and next of kin
Contacts we have had with you either in the office or as a home visit or telephone call
Notes, assessments and reports about you and our work with you
Relevant information from other professionals involved with you or from your family or carers

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How the information is used to help you

Your records are used to inform and co-ordinate the work undertaken with you and to ensure that:

YOT officers have up-to-date information to assess your needs and progress, to be able to plan the most effective way of working to maintain your progress
Full information is available should you need to see other professionals, so that you do not have to repeat everything
Your concerns can be properly investigated if you needed to complain

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How records are used and shared

The Principal Partner Organisations with whom your information may be shared are:

Social Services Department
Housing Department§ Health Services
Education Department§ Police and Probation Service
The Courts

Subject to strict agreements, which describe how it would be used, information may also be shared with other organisations as necessary for you such as:

Voluntary Sector Agencies
Private Sector Agencies
Other Local Authorities

Your Youth Offending Team worker would discuss with you before any information was passed on.

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How your records are used to help obtain services

Your information may also be used to obtain services from the above mentioned agencies such as:

Helping to get you settled into education, further training or employment
Getting a swift referral and assessment for any health needs you may have
Assist with obtaining stable accommodation
Getting any necessary support for your parent(s) or carer(s) or the family if you live at home
Planning the development of our service by identifying any further resources needed and giving the evidence to support this

Where information is used for service need identification or purely for statistical purposes, the data is anonymised to ensure that no individuals can be identified.

If it was not possible to use anonymous data this would only be passed on with your consent unless we were legally required to pass on the information.

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How we keep your records confidential

We in the Youth Offending Team and everyone working with us, has a legal responsibility to keep all personal information confidential.

We would only ever share information if there is a genuine need to do so and only to the extent that we have to, in order to obtain the service to meet your needs.

We would only disclose your information to others without your consent where we were legally or professionally obliged to do so. Such as:

Where the health and safety of others is at risk, e.g. child protection concerns
Where information must be shared to prevent or investigate crime
Where information must be provided in Court Proceedings or to enable the Council to comply with a legal obligation.

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Your access to your records

The Data Protection Act 1998, which came into force on 1 March 2000, allows you to find out what information about you is held on file within agencies. This is known as “right of subject access” .It applies to your Youth Offending Team records.

Page last reviewed 8th December 2003

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