Annual School Census - major data errors

[Gliese]

This is simply to provide a 'heads up' to those who are concerned with proper, lawful and accurate data processing relating to their children. If you do not care, that's fine.

I recently asked to see my childrens' annual school census data entries. One of my children had an entirely incorrect 'been in care' entry for 2010. I had this corrected without much fuss. But the reason it came to pass was more interesting.

I then was told by a Government department that this false 'been in care' label was a DEFAULT setting on school and possibly other software, and that it came to affect what they say was "all pupils", at least for 2010.

But it must be that the problem could have persisted longer, because in 2018, guidance to ignore the default setting and submit it as a record, regardless, was issued to schools. This never happened in earlier guidance.

So, for those who are concerned, it may well be wise to ask the Government's School Statistics department what they hold on your children, and check to see if all is accurate. Please note the LEA and/or school could hold records that are different to the central record, so to be absolutely sure of all records, you will have to ask all three parties.

The issue has been referred by a campaign group to the ICO as one potentially affecting a very large number of pupils across the UK.