Privacy Notice for free school meals auto-enrolment
This privacy notice is to be read in conjunction with the full privacy notice.
This notice sets out how the Cost of Living Programme team will use and process your information to administer the free school meals auto-enrolment scheme.
Purpose for processing your information
Under the Education Act 1996, children are entitled to a free school meal if their parents receive certain qualifying benefits. Birmingham City Council checks the entitlement using a system made available to Local Authorities by the Department for Education, and data matching it against the Housing Benefits and Council Tax data it holds to identify eligible but unregistered children for the auto enrolment of free school meals.
We only use the data to work out if families of school aged children, who have not already applied, could be missing out and who might be entitled to benefit-related free school meals. If parents or carers do not opt out or object to the automatic enrolment of their child for free school meals, we will do this for them.
What type of information is processed about you?
We process personal information that we already hold:
- parent’s full name
- parent’s home address and contact details
- parent’s date of birth
- parent’s national insurance number and details of benefits claimed
- child’s name
- child’s date of birth, school or academy attended.
The data is from other council services such as Housing Benefits and Council Tax, and from other organisations including government departments, schools, and academies to identify children who might be eligible for free school meals but do not currently get them.
How we use your personal data
The information we hold is used for the following purposes:
- data match housing benefits and council tax data with School Consensus to check whether your child is eligible for free school meals
- notify you of your child’s entitlement to free school meals
- auto-enrol your child
- notify your child’s school of their entitlement to free school meals
- to make weekly checks on entitlement for free school meals while your child attends a Birmingham school as your circumstances might change
- to deal with queries or concerns
The legal basis for processing your information
We use and data match personal information under the following lawful basis:
- UK GDPR article 6(1)(e) – processing is necessary to perform a task in the public interest or for our official functions, and the task or function has a clear basis in law
- UK GDPR Article 89 (research) to inform the council’s policy and auto-enrolment
The processing of personal data that the council undertakes is therefore related to its legal duties under the Education Act 1996 and in the public interest in its role as a local education authority.
How long will we keep your information
We hold personal data in line with the council’s retention schedule. We keep your personal data as long as your child remains eligible for free school meals.
At the end of the retention period, the information is reviewed and only retained where there is an ongoing requirement for a statutory or legal purpose. Following this, personal information will be securely destroyed.
Your rights and access to your information
You have the right to request a copy of the information that we hold about you.
The Data Protection Act 2018 also gives you additional rights. For further details please view thePrivacy Statement.
Page last updated: 28 March 2025
