Data Protection legislation means that, in most cases, we cannot disclose personal data to third parties.
Anyone can request general information from the Council by using:
Schedule 2 of the Data Protection Act (DPA) 2018 provides a possible exemption from the Data Protection legislation in relation to crime, taxation, legal proceedings and some regulatory powers.
These exemptions are most likely to apply to requests from organisations such as the Police, Government departments, other Local Authorities or Public Bodies acting under regulatory powers. However, we do also receive requests from legal firms and other organisations.
Whilst we may be able to release information under one of the Schedule 2 exemptions, this does not give an automatic right of access to information.
We need to be satisfied that the exemption applies and will explain if we require further information.
We cannot, however, offer legal advice to external organisations or individuals on the Data Protection legislation.
Please note that recipients will become the data controller in respect of any personal information that is disclosed to them pursuant to a request.
Therefore, the recipient must adhere to all relevant data protection legislation in handling of the disclosed personal information.
Deceased Persons
Data Protection legislation only applies to living individuals.
We will consider whether we can disclose the information to you and inform you accordingly. Whilst data protection does not apply, we do still owe a duty of confidentiality and we have to consider what the deceased person’s likely wishes would have been.
Police Third Party Requests in line with Paragraph 3.5 of the Criminal Procedure and Investigations Act 1996 (CPIA) Code of Practice
Applications from the police to access information that has been identified as a reasonable line of enquiry in an ongoing criminal investigation, should be sent to policeandCPSdisclosurerequests@wigan.gov.uk. A Third-Party Material Request Form must be completed. Police Officers should refer to the Attorney General’s Guidelines on Disclosure 2024 for further guidance.
How to make all other requests
All other requests must be sent to legalinformationgovernance@wigan.gov.uk and an Information Governance Officer will process your request.
We have template forms available below which ensure you include enough information for us to determine if an exemption to the Data Protection legislation applies or if you have regulatory powers to request the information.
We will also use the form to ensure that only personal data relevant to your request is disclosed.
If you have your own form or a template letter to make these requests, we will consider each request on its merits, but we reserve the right to ask you to complete our form if we require more information.
Authorisation of requests
For the Police, the Authorising Officer must be ranked higher than the Requesting Officer and for all other organisations at least the Line Manager of the Requestor.
We can accept an email from the Authorising Officer, attaching the disclosure request, stating clearly that they are authorising the form if there are circumstances where a handwritten/wet signature on the form cannot be obtained.
If the form has not been fully completed and authorised, you will be asked to resubmit the request.
If we do not have enough detail to decide whether disclosure is necessary, the application will be refused.
We will notify you if we do not hold the requested information or if your request for disclosure is refused.
Crime and Taxation purposes
If you require information for the purposes of:
- Prevention or detection of crime
- The apprehension or prosecution of offenders
- The assessment or collection of a tax or duty or an imposition of a similar nature.
You should complete the Schedule 2, Part 1 (2) disclosure request form appropriately authorised, and email it to legalinformationgovernance@wigan.gov.uk.
Information required to be disclosed by law or in connection with legal proceedings
If you require information where disclosure of the data
- Is required by an enactment, a rule of law or an order of a court or tribunal or
- Is necessary for the purpose of, or in connection with, legal proceedings (including prospective legal proceedings).
You should complete the Schedule 2, Part 1 (5) disclosure request form, appropriately authorised, and email it to legalinformationgovernance@wigan.gov.uk.
Information required to be disclosed in order to support safeguarding under a legal duty/public function
If you require information to support obligations or tasks you have to safeguard children or vulnerable adults, you should complete Safeguarding request form, appropriately authorised, and email it to legalinformationgovernance@wigan.gov.uk.
How we process your disclosure request
Your request will be:
- Allocated a reference number that you should quote in all correspondence,
- Assessed to ensure that we can lawfully disclose the information requested and then,
- Passed to the appropriate department who will respond directly to you in most cases.
There is no statutory time limit within which local authorities are expected to respond to disclosure requests of this kind, but we will endeavour to provide the requested information as soon as possible.
Unless our IT Department has confirmed that your organisation is on our Trusted Organisations List, we will use encrypted email where personal data is included in any correspondence.