Renfrewshire Council

Access to your personal information

How to request access to your personal information, also known as a Subject Access Request (SAR), asking for access to other people's information.

Everyone has right of access to their personal information.

Although the Council, as data controller, might hold your personal information, it still belongs to you.

The UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) regulates how your personal information is handled.

How to ask for access to your information

To access your information, complete the subject access request (SARS) form [365KB] and send it to us.

This is make sure you give us the correct details are given and we can find your information as quickly as possible.

Along with the form, you must provide us with copies of two types of identification:

  • something that identifies you, like a passport or driving licence
  • something that identifies where you live and where we will send the information - such as an up to date utility bill or rent book.

We ask you for this identification to protect your information and to make sure that no personal details go astray.

We aim to process your application for information within on calendar month of receiving your request.

We reserve the right to ask you to clarify your request if it is too vague or general, and may contact you in order to do this. If you have a complaint about the way in which your enquiry has been handled, you can refer this to the Council's Data Protection Officer (DPO) and if you remain dissatisfied you can then refer the matter to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO).

Other people's information

Under GDPR, you do not have access to other people's information. You only have rights to your own information.

However, you do have other rights to information.

If you want information relating to your child's school records, you have the right to this under the Pupils' Educational Record (Scotland) Regulations 2003.

Ask at your child's school about this in the first instance. We are under an obligation to allow you access to these records within 15 school days of the receipt of your application.

Freedom of information (FOI) requests

If you are looking for any other information that you believe we hold, you can apply for this under the Freedom of Information (FOI) requests.

How we handle your information

More information about how we handle your information can be found in our privacy policy.