So the chances are you’ve just been sent a copy of an email that comes from weeklyreports.co.uk and like fostering services all over the UK you’re wondering what on earth this is, is it okay, and probably you’re wondering if you need to send out a quick email to all your foster carers banning its use. If you do you won’t be the first, but before you do, you may want to consider the reasons other fostering services have reconsidered.
Do you, as a fostering service, have a data processing agreement with your foster carers? If you do then you are accepting that such an agreement is necessary and that the foster carers you deal with are self-employed with respect to employment legislation.
But this brings up the issue as to why you consider they are self employed. Case law1 says they’re self-employed because they don’t have an employment contract because every aspect of the fostering agreement is dictated by legislation.
But what happens if you decided, for example, that your foster carers can’t be data controllers in their own right. If you were to remove this right this would clearly be outside legislative requirements and you’d be exerting a degree of control that is clearly that of an employer. The implications of stepping outside legislative requirements can be seen in the recent case of Glasgow City Council V Johnstone where the council inadvertently employed a foster carer2.
Finally, the reason your foster carer has sent you an email letting you know that they are retaining data on the children they care for is in order to give you, as corporate parent to the child, the opportunity to ensure the data being held is accurate, a key component of the UK GDPR.
It will also enable you, as a fostering service, to use these same recordings to improve the quality of the information that you hold on the children helping you to improve the quality of support you can offer your foster carers.