Can I access other people's information?

Your child's records

As a parent or guardian, you can request access to school records until your child is 18 years old. This should be done directly to the school or college that your child attends. You may be charged photocopying costs. For information other than school records, if your child is over the age of 13, and they understand what access to their information means, they must provide consent from them for their information to be disclosed. If your child is under 13 you will need to prove parental responsibility.

Another adult's records

You must have their written consent or a power of attorney:

• Written consent - You must provide us with the written authorisation for you to make the request on their behalf, along with a copy of your and their ID.
• Lasting Power of Attorney (PoA) - If you have PoA for another adult and are making a request on behalf of that person, you need to provide us with a copy of the PoA along with your request. We cannot process your request until we have received the PoA and all relevant proofs of identification.

Types of Lasting Power of Attorney (PoA)

There are two different types of Lasting Power of Attorney, which cover different decisions you can make and information you can access for that person:

1. Health and Welfare - this allows you to receive information about things like their daily routine (e.g., eating and clothes), medical care, moving them into a care home, and refusing life-sustaining treatment.
2. Property and financial affairs - this allows you to receive information relating to paying their bills, collecting their benefits, or selling their home, not information about their welfare or social care.

The type of PoA will affect the amount of information we are able to release to you.

Can I request information relating to a deceased person?

Gloucestershire County Council will only release the records of deceased individuals in the following circumstances:

The request has been made by the deceased person’s ‘personal representative’ (also known as the executor or administrator of their estate)

• The request has been made by an individual who held a Health & Welfare Lasting Power of Attorney for the deceased person when they were alive
• The request has been made by an individual who held a Financial Affairs Lasting Power of Attorney for the deceased person when they were alive (although they would only be entitled to information about paying their bills, collecting their benefits, or selling their home)
• The request has been made by an individual who was a Personal Welfare Deputy for the deceased person when they were alive, providing the request does not go against any decision made by an attorney acting under a Lasting Power of Attorney
• The request has been made by an individual who has proof that they have a claim arising from the deceased individual’s death
• The information requested is already known to be in the public domain; GCC will attempt to signpost the requester to the information where possible
• There is sufficient evidence to support the assumption that the deceased individual would have given their consent to the release of their personal information if they were still alive

If one or more of the above criteria can be met, the request will then be dealt with under the Council’s standard FoIA process. Further information can be found on the access to a deceased person records policy