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Competitions privacy notice

We keep this privacy notice under regular review and it was last updated in July 2024.

Kent County Council (KCC) respects your privacy and is committed to protecting your personal data. This privacy notice will inform you as to how we look after your personal data and tell you about your privacy rights and how the law protects you.

Who we are

KCC collects, uses and is responsible for certain personal information about you. When we do so we are regulated under the United Kingdom General Data Protection Regulation (‘UK GDPR’) and the Data Protection Act 2018. We are responsible as ‘controller’ of that personal information. Our Data Protection Officer is Benjamin Watts.

Services within the Children, Young People and Education directorate of KCC occasionally run competitions to celebrate children and young people’s skills and accomplishments. In order to run each competition, we process personal information that you provide to us as part of your entry into that competition, with your consent. If you win a competition, we may process your personal information for promotional purposes, if you consent for us to do so.

The personal information we collect and use

Information collected by us

In the course of running competitions, we collect the following personal information when you provide it to us:

  • Your personal details (name, date of birth, gender, address, email address, telephone number).
  • Your parent or guardian’s personal details if their consent is required (name, address, email address, telephone number).
  • Media containing your personal information such as videos, photos or audio files where you can be identified (if you submit this as part of your entry to the competition).

How we use your personal information

We use your personal information to:

  • record your entry into a competition
  • contact you with the outcome of the competition
  • publish competition winners on social media, if you have given your consent for us to do so
  • promote future competitions.

Reasons we can collect and use your personal information

We collect and use your personal information to carry out tasks with consent.

If you are 13 or over we will seek your consent. If you are under 13 or have difficulty in making your own decisions, we will seek consent from your parent or guardian.

We rely on the following lawful basis under UK GDPR:

  • Article (6)(1)(a) - Consent: the individual has given clear consent to process their personal data for a specific purpose.

How long your personal data will be kept

We will hold your personal information for no longer than 28 days following the announcement of the competition winner(s), after which the information is made inaccessible to system users or securely destroyed.

If you win a competition, we may retain certain personal information (name, age and details of entry) for up to one year following the announcement of the competition winner(s), if additional consent is given

Any details may be used by the KCC press office and may be placed online and enter the public domain, in which case the retention period will be indefinite.

Who we share your personal information with

  • Judging panels (where relevant).
  • KCC press office in order to issue press releases, where consent has been given.

We will share personal information with law enforcement or other authorities if required by applicable law or in connection with legal proceedings.

Your rights

Under the UK GDPR you have a number of rights which you can access free of charge which allow you to:

  • know what we are doing with your information and why we are doing it
  • ask to see what information we hold about you
  • ask us to correct any mistakes in the information we hold about you
  • object to direct marketing
  • make a complaint to the Information Commissioner’s Office.

Depending on our reason for using your information you may also be entitled to:

  • object to how we are using your information
  • ask us to delete information we hold about you
  • have your information transferred electronically to yourself or to another organisation
  • object to decisions being made that significantly affect you
  • stop us using your information in certain ways.

We will always seek to comply with your request however we may be required to hold or use your information to comply with legal duties. Be aware that your request may delay or prevent us delivering a service to you.

For further information about your rights, including the circumstances in which they apply, see the guidance from the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) on individuals’ rights under the United Kingdom General Data Protection Regulation.

If you would like to exercise a right, please contact the Information Resilience and Transparency Team at data.protection@kent.gov.uk.

Your right to withdraw your consent

Where we rely on your consent to process your personal information, you can withdraw your consent to our use of your data at any time.

You can do this by contacting the service running the competition, or by emailing data.protection@kent.gov.uk.

Keeping your personal information secure

We have appropriate security measures in place to prevent personal information from being accidentally lost, or used or accessed in an unauthorised way. We limit access to your personal information to those who have a genuine business need to know it. Those processing your information will do so only in an authorised manner and are subject to a duty of confidentiality.

We also have procedures in place to deal with any suspected data security breach. We will notify you and any applicable regulator of a suspected data security breach where we are legally required to do so.

Who to contact

Please contact the Information Resilience and Transparency Team at data.protection@kent.gov.uk to exercise any of your rights, or if you have a complaint about why your information has been collected, how it has been used or how long we have kept it for.

You can contact our Data Protection Officer, Benjamin Watts, at dpo@kent.gov.uk.

UK GDPR also gives you right to lodge a complaint with Information Commissioner, who may be contacted via the Information Commissioner's website or call 03031 231113.

For further information read our privacy statement.