Every story matters: Improving access to care records

When the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) announced that they were working with data controllers to help the care experienced gain access to their data, the Guardian Saints team was pleased to see activity in this area.

The right of access is the most exercised of all the data protection rights. The reality, for some time, has been that the care experienced have not had consistent treatment by the various data controllers that have to satisfy the requests.

Due to the nature of fostering and the impact of the Children Act and fostering regulations, what should be a fairly straightforward request for a structured data release, has become a complex trawl through unstructured information in a mish-mash of media. From boxes of handwritten paper files stored for decades, to floppy disks, backup tapes, CDs, DVDs, USBs and cloud. The data might be held by a local authority, an independent residential care home, an independent fostering agency or more of the same.

The data might have been collected, processed, stored and archived for between a few days to over 75 years.

It is a mammoth undertaking to provide a consistent service to manage Subject Access Requests made by the care experienced, let alone doing so in a caring, empathetic and timely manner.

At Guardian Saints, we have the privilege of speaking to and working with local authorities, care homes, independent fostering agencies (IFA) and everyone in-between and we know that everyone we speak to wants the same thing – care experienced people who can have access to their information in a caring and considered way, providing support where needed.

Easier said than done? Retrospectively, yes. Moving forward? Well, we can certainly do better.

Have you wondered what happens to all the records you create?  Felt concerned that people with care experience are not receiving their full life story through their care records?

• 71% of people experienced poor communication from authorities
• 69% said getting access to their care records took far longer than expected
• Even when records were provided, 59% felt the information was incomplete, and 89% were left with unanswered questions.
• Source: https://ico.org.uk/media2/nb1pkhnm/accessing-care-records-and-information-rights-analysis-of-survey.pdf

These are the findings from the ICO’s new campaign called Better Records Together.  It’s aimed at all organisations who process records for people with care experience.  The campaign’s purpose is ‘to make it easier, and kinder, for people with care experience to access their records from their time in care.’

In the 12 years that Guardian Saints CIC has provided services to the fostering community, the area of care experienced people’s access to their life stories has been a recurring theme.

The ICO’s new guidance aims to provide a framework for ensuring that children and young people can have confidence their personal information is appropriately maintained and can be accessed in line with the requirements of the UK GDPR.

NAFP and Guardian Saints are hosting a webinar to explore what this means for IFAs. We will explore:

• Data relationships with local authorities
• Processing personal information
• Initial expectations
• Recording information
• We’ll also look at the impact of the Data Use & Access Act 2025 on responding to Subject Access Requests and some of the additional amendments to the UK GDPR as they are currently understood, leveraging the ICO’s plans for updated guidance.

We believe that the challenges you have faced can be met with pragmatic solutions and enhanced cooperation.  

Please join us at 9:30am on Wednesday 20 May 2026 for the opportunity to ask questions and enhance your knowledge of the new initiative set by the ICO.

www.guardiansaints.com