Thomson Snell & Passmore assisted part of a multi-academy trust in relation to a data subject access request (DSAR)

The Employment Team at Thomson Snell & Passmore recently assisted part of a multi-academy trust in relation to a data subject access request (DSAR) submitted by a solicitor on behalf of a former student.

At the time of their instruction, the deadline for completion of the DSAR had already passed.  However, through open and transparent correspondence between the Thomson Snell & Passmore employment team, which was substantially assisted by our client and the solicitor making the request, we were able to understand the purpose of the request.  In this matter it was not actually for a complaint against our client.  Instead, it was in relation to a personal injury claim for the former student being brought by the solicitor on their behalf.  As a result, the team were able to:-

• secure an extension of the deadline of roughly a month, to take into consideration the dates that our client was closed for non-term time; and
• agree with the solicitor, acting on behalf of the former student, that they did not require a letter explaining how our client obtained and processed the former student’s personal data.

In addition to the above, the team advised our client on:-

• location of personal data (and what it consisted of);
• what data should be provided;
• collation of the documentation into chronological order (including printing which was undertaken by the team);
• weeding duplicated documents and other telephone/email correspondence with the solicitor acting for the former student;
• redactions that should be made; and
• the delivery of the relevant documents on the revised timescale.

The client delivered the documents within the revised timescale and we were pleased to say that there was no follow-up or a complaint to the Information Commissioner’s Office.