Anyone else seeing a rise in SARs from parents who don't have contact with students?

[pete]

We're seeing quite a few "this is a SAR, give me info X on child Y" requests.

 

Increasingly, the person making the request is estranged from the child and isn't best placed to / can't demonstrate they are acting on behalf of the child.

 

Anyone else?

[Andycat]

Yes, plus some nasty court things too. Probably a rise in letters done via AI.

[networkmangler]

We have had an increase in SAR requests but they are coming from either SEND students/parents or students that have been suspended/excluded.

 

The number of students with EHCP's has risen and even students that don't have an EHCP but clearly need more support has risen. The amount of funding we get  to support these students is no where near enough which leads to unhappy parents

 

I assume the suspended/excluded students/parents are trying to find something to try to get out of the suspension/exclusion.

 

I did wonder if this was an AI suggestion 

[Sylv3r]

100% we are seeing an increase in SAR requests many of which are SEND related and I would say the vast majority are Ai generated.

[pete]

Oh, we're definitely getting the AI-written and SEND-related SARs too.

[dmj]

22 hours ago, pete said:

and isn't best placed to / can't demonstrate they are acting on behalf of the child.

 

All they have to do is demonstrate they have legal parental responsibility and there isn't a court order preventing them access to documents. As long as those things are true the parent is well within their rights to submit a SAR.

[pete]

27 minutes ago, dmj said:

All they have to do is demonstrate they have legal parental responsibility and there isn't a court order preventing them access to documents. As long as those things are true the parent is well within their rights to submit a SAR.

 

They can submit one, but it'll be rejected if the student is over 13yrs old and there's no evidence of consent from the student.  (We do ask the student).

 

In cases where the parent <> child relationship is zero contact, they don't have that consent and they're unlikely to be able to gain it.

 

Subject access requests are intended to allow the data subject (the child) access to their personal data.  A trusted adult (parent, relative, solicitor) can act upon their behalf but the legislation's purpose is "here's the data we hold about you", not "dear parents, here's all the data about your child".

 

We'll happily process a SAR if the student (or their representative) submits one, but an adult claiming consent that they don't have isn't representing the student.

[synaesthesia]

1 hour ago, pete said:

 

They can submit one, but it'll be rejected if the student is over 13yrs old and there's no evidence of consent from the student.  (We do ask the student).

 

In cases where the parent <> child relationship is zero contact, they don't have that consent and they're unlikely to be able to gain it.

 

Subject access requests are intended to allow the data subject (the child) access to their personal data.  A trusted adult (parent, relative, solicitor) can act upon their behalf but the legislation's purpose is "here's the data we hold about you", not "dear parents, here's all the data about your child".

 

We'll happily process a SAR if the student (or their representative) submits one, but an adult claiming consent that they don't have isn't representing the student.

I can't stress this highly enough. Without the student's consent, it's a no-go.

There can be mitigating circumstances - that student over 13 must be able to make an informed judgement too, and SEND/EHCP students can quite often fall into that category. At which point it's also difficult for us to make that judgement and certainly best to seek further support from your own DPO/legal aid.