Disability and Dyslexia Service Privacy Notice
If you have a physical or sensory disability, medical condition, mental health issue or additional learning requirement such as dyslexia, we are legally obliged to ensure you will not be discriminated against during the application process and during your studies here. We also have a duty to make ‘reasonable adjustments[1]’ to enable you to make the most of your studies.
We keep records of all relevant personal data which you have shared with us, together with records of support offered and any appropriate assessments and reports relevant to your needs. These records will hold sensitive personal data (known as ‘special category’ data), and this notice explains how we process this data and what your rights are concerning this.
The Disability and Dyslexia Service is one of the Student Support and Wellbeing services provided at the University of Chichester. Information on how we keep your personal data safe and confidential, and on your rights relating to the way we process your personal data, are explained in the Student Support and Wellbeing Privacy Notice.
If you would like to find out more about the Disability and Dyslexia Service please see our web pages or email disabilitydyslexia@chi.ac.uk.
[1] ‘Reasonable adjustments’ are what the Equality Act 2010 calls any special facilities, assistive technology or support services which enable you to make the most of your studies.
Information Held by the Disability and Dyslexia Service
If you are an applicant and you have indicated you have a disability on your application form, or if you are a registered student being supported by the Disability and Dyslexia Service, we will maintain a record which may include the following information:
- Details about you which have been drawn from the main University database (such as your name, contact details, student number, programme of study).
- Any contact the service has had with you such as letters, emails, phone calls, appointments, drop-ins, texts, etc.
- Details you have shared with us of your physical or sensory disability, medical condition, mental health issue or additional learning requirement such as dyslexia
- Relevant medical evidence and/or professional assessments which you have shared with us
- A record of any reasonable adjustments that have been agreed with you to support you in your studies and for assessments/exams
- If you are applying for the Disabled Students Allowances (DSA) or have been granted a DSA, details for your application and details of what you have been granted, together with records of any support you may receive funded by your DSA, and records of all invoicing processing that relate to this
- Information relevant to any request for special or adaptive accommodation
- Information relevant to any Health and Safety requirements you may have, for example special evacuation procedures in case of fire
The records may be electronic, on paper or a mixture of both, and we use a combination of working practices and technology to ensure that your information is kept confidential and secure.
The Purposes for which you Personal Data with be Processed
The purpose of the records we keep is to ensure you have the support, assistive technology, special facilities and any other reasonable adjustments in place to help you make the most of your studies and your time at university.
The records may also be used as evidence of the support and advice offered when an official complaint about the service provided is received by the University.
The records are also used to provide completely anonymized statistical information to help us to monitor the effectiveness of our services and to identify where our services need to be improved. This anonymized statistical information may also be used to meet any relevant requests we receive under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
Our Legal Basis for Processing Your Personal Data and the Reasons for this Basis
The University is legally obliged to meet current Disability Legislation. This includes our obligation to ensure you will not be discriminated against during the application process and during your studies here. We also have a duty to make ‘reasonable adjustments’ to enable you can make the most of your studies.
We are also legally obliged to have emergency evacuation plans for students requiring additional assistance.
If you are in receipt of Disabled Students Allowances (DSA) we are legally obliged to keep information about these payments for the Quality Assurance Group (DSA-QAG) audits.
These obligations require us to process your ‘special category’ data (sensitive information such as information on a disability or health condition), which is necessary for the provision of health and social care.
Who Can See and Use Your Personal Data
The records of any disclosure you may have made to us, together with any supporting information and professional assessments, are initially dealt with by a small team in the Disability and Dyslexia Service, who ensure it is safely and confidentially recorded and the appropriate disability adviser informed. The disability adviser may be a member of the Disability and Dyslexia service, such as our Sensory Adviser or Dyslexia Adviser, or may be a Mental Health Adviser or Nurse Health Adviser from Student Support and Wellbeing. Only the adviser most appropriate to your needs will then see your records, which are held on a strict ‘need to know’ basis.
Where you have granted permission for this, we may also have copies of further professional assessments which have been carried out as part of your application for Disabled Students Allowances (DSA). If you are granted a DSA for specialist study skills or mentoring here at the University then, with your permission, we may need to share the needs assessment report with the study skills tutor or mentor assigned to support you.
If you have agreed ‘reasonable adjustments’ then these will be shared with your Academic Department and with the Examinations Service in order for the reasonable adjustments to be implemented.
If you have a need for special accommodation, then your requirements will be shared with appropriate members of staff in the Accommodation Service so that the required accommodation can be allocated to you.
If you need special assistance in case of a fire or similar emergency, your needs will also be shared with our Health and Safety Officer to ensure you can be safely evacuated in such a case.
Sharing with a Third Part Outside of the University of Chichester
If you attend a screening appointment in order to identify a condition for which you may need additional support, then, with your explicit consent, the result of the screening session will be shared with the Educational Psychologist or other appropriate professional who will conduct the required assessment.
If you are in receipt of a Disabled Students Allowance (DSA) for non-medical helper support provided through the University (such as a study skills tutor, mentor or note-taker) then we have to provide your student finance body (for example Student Finance England or Student Finance Wales) with evidence of your attendance at each booked session you have, in order to receive the DSA payment for this service.
In addition the DSA Quality Assurance Group do a regular audit of these payments, and we have to keep all records of non-medical helper support (including details of requests for payment) for their annual audit. They will check a random sample of files.
If you have agreed reasonable adjustments for your work experience or placement, then these will be shared with your work experience/placement employer in order for the reasonable adjustments to be implemented.
How Long We Keep Your Personal Data Before Secure Deletion
Most of the data held by the Disability and Dyslexia Service will be held for the duration of your studies at the University and then for a further 3 years from your last day with us.
The exceptions to this rule occur where we are required to keep certain information for longer than this for legal or contractual reasons. These include the requirement to keep records on the payments of Disabled Students Allowance for the Quality Assurance Group (DSA-QAG) who require records to be kept for a minimum of 6 years from the date of the student’s last assessment/review.
If you are an applicant and you decide not to study at the University of Chichester, we will identify your records for destruction (including any disclosures you may have made to us together with any supporting evidence) once we have confirmed you will not be studying with us.
Each year all the records are checked to identify those which have reached the end of their retention period (including applicant files identified above). Electronic records are then deleted and paper records shredded as ‘confidential waste’.
The University's Data Protection Officer and Data Protection Web Pages
You may contact the University of Chichester Data Protection Officer by email: DPOfficer@chi.ac.uk
The University’s policies and further information on data protection can be found on the University web pages.
Complaints to the Information Commissioner's Office
If you wish to complain about any aspect of our information rights practice you may do so by contacting the Information Commissioner’s Office.
