Privacy and Data Protection
This section explains the personal data we collect, how we use it and who we share it with, further information on this is also included in the Study Privacy Notice at the bottom of this webpage.
What personal data will Ipsos collect about me?
What will happen with the information you collect?
Who else will have access to my personal data?
How do you keep my data secure?
How long will you keep my data for?
Can I access the data I have provided to this study?
Can I withdraw from the study at any time?
What is the legal basis on which you can process my personal data?
Is this information likely to change?
How do I make a complaint?
Key resources
What personal data will Ipsos collect about me?
Most of the personal data that we hold will be collected during a survey and comes directly from you (e.g., full contact details, survey responses, research data). We will be collecting the following:
Information that directly identifies you such as your name (and names of other family members), contact details (for you, other family members or ‘stable contacts’) and other personal information (e.g., sex, date of birth).
Sensitive or ‘special category personal data’ about you (e.g., details about you/your child’s race or ethnicity, religious beliefs, information about your health).
What will happen with the information you collect?
The information you give us will be held securely and will be treated in strict confidence in accordance with the Data Protection Act 2018 and UK General Data Protection Regulation. This information will be used solely for research purposes.
The results of this research will be anonymous, statistical information only, and you will not be identifiable in any published datasets and reports. We can assure you that any information you provide during this research will NOT be used for marketing, nor will we sell or pass on your information to any third party. If you are part of the Children of the 2020s pilot survey your data will only be used to inform the Children of the 2020s study.
Who else will have access to my personal data?
We will share your data with certain organisations to assist us in running the Children of the 2020s study and will need to disclose your personal data to these supplier organisations for that purpose.
- Black Hawk Incentives (Corporate Gift Cards Distributor): Where eligible, you may be sent an eGift voucher redemption code if you provide your email address. Hawk Incentives will hold data (i.e. email addresses and eGift voucher redemption codes) for a maximum of two years to help resolve any issues respondents may have with their eGift voucher.
- Amazon Web Services (AWS): AWS is a subcontractor to UCL and will host the BabySteps smartphone app. The app will store your email address, and send it securely to the study server, which is in London and is owned and managed by AWS; this will allow a reset email to be sent to you if you forget your log in details. All the information you enter into the BabySteps app will be stored on the server for the duration of the study, and will be erased from their systems once the study is complete (scheduled for April 2028). AWS manages the physical infrastructure of the server, but does not have access to the data you enter into BabyStep. Only UCL and their subcontractor FullStack (the app tech support team) have access to your information.
- Textlocal: We may contact you via text message about the study, if you have provided your mobile number. Textlocal will hold data (mobile number and survey login code) for a maximum of 12 months following the end of each survey.
- FullStack: Fullstack is a US app development company contracted to UCL to develop the BabySteps smartphone app. Fullstack will have access to the London-based AWS server (where personal data collected via the app is stored) in order to maintain the app and respond to any user queries about the app. They will not remove or store any of your information from the server.
- Criteria Ltd: If you have been recruited to take part by Criteria Ltd they will have securely sent your personal details (name, email, mobile phone and/or postal address) to Ipsos to be used to invite you to take part in the pilot. Criteria will delete your data 6 months after the pilot has taken place, unless you have agreed to being recontacted to take part in future pilots.
- Microsoft Teams: In some circumstances, you can choose to take part in the survey via video call using Microsoft Teams. If so, your email address, when collected for the purpose of inviting you to take part in a MS Teams call, will be deleted from the Electronic Contact Sheet (Dimensions) system within 48 hours of taking part in the survey. After deletion your email address will be permanently removed from Microsoft servers within 31 days (please note this is separate to any personal data that might be collected within the survey itself).
To ensure that the Children of the 2020s Study benefits scientific research and public policy, data from the Children of the 2020s Study will be anonymised and made available securely by DfE to suitably qualified researchers’ conducting legitimate research on children’s development in the public interest. Personal data identifying you or your child will never given to these researchers.
How do you keep my data secure?
We will keep your personal data and responses in strict confidence in accordance with the Study Privacy Notice.
We take information security responsibilities seriously and applies various precautions to ensure your information is protected from loss, theft or misuse. Security precautions include appropriate physical security of offices and controlled and limited access to computer systems.
We have regular internal and external audits of its information security controls and working practices, and is accredited to the International Standard for Information Security, ISO 27001.
All of your personal data used and collected for this study will be stored securely in data centres and servers within the United Kingdom, and will only be accessed by researchers and interviewers from Ipsos, UCL and DfE who need to see it for the purpose of conducting the study.
If you take part in a Microsoft Teams interview, the email address that you provide will be processed on Microsoft servers located in the EEA. Your survey responses will NOT be processed or stored on Microsoft servers.
How long will you keep my data for?
Ipsos and UCL will share the pseudonymised data collected as part of the study with the DfE at the end of each survey through a secure transfer route for research purposes. Your contact details will be stored separately from your survey responses. At the end of the study, Ipsos and UCL will destroy their copy of the data in accordance with standards and procedures set out in ISO 27001. Destruction of data held by Ipsos and UCL will take place within 12 months of the end of the contract between UCL and DfE (scheduled for April 2027) in order to allow time to consolidate the data and check for any errors. DfE will retain the data, including your contact details, indefinitely for the purposes of the Children of the 2020s longitudinal study. This will be subject to regular review.
If you are part of the pilot survey, the information you provide will be used to help inform the design of the Children of the 2020s study's main surveys and will be held securely by Ipsos and UCL, on behalf of the DfE.
The study team will keep your personal data and responses in strict confidence in accordance with the Study Privacy Notice.
Can I access the data I have provided to this study?
You have the right to access your personal data within the limited period that Ipsos and UCL hold it. If you would like a copy of the information you provided, please email this request to children2020s@ipsos.com.
Can I withdraw from the study at any time?
Yes. Children of the 2020s is a voluntary research study. You are under no statutory or contractual obligation to provide us with your personal data. You can decide whether to take part, or continue to take part, or not, and you can change your mind at any time. You can also decide whether you consent to administrative records being added to your data or not and you may change your mind about this at any time as well. You will always be provided with full information about what taking part involves at each stage of the study and how your data will be used. You can contact us using the details at the end of this privacy notice to withdraw from the study at any time if you wish to or to exercise your individual information rights. You can withdraw from participating in a particular survey, adding information from administrative records, or the study as a whole. If you withdraw from the study, any data already collected will continue to be used unless you explicitly request that we delete it using our contact details here.
What is the legal basis on which you can process my personal data?
DfE is the data controller as it is the organisation that decides how and why your personal data are processed. UCL and Ipsos are the data processors for this study. The legal basis for processing your data is public task because the data you provide us is collected to help inform DfE policy development and service delivery in the future. Section 83(1)(a) of the Children Act 1989 grants the Secretary of State the power to ‘conduct, or assist other persons in conducting, research into any matter connected with his functions’ under various children’s legislation’. This legislation includes Children and Young Persons Act 2008 whose section 7 places a general duty of the Secretary of State to promote the well-being of children (persons under the age of 18) in England.
The relationship between DfE, UCL, Ipsos and the organisations that we share your data with is set out in the contracts between these organisations. These contracts are in place to ensure that your personal data is protected. The data may only be used for the purposes of this research study.
Is this information likely to change?
We will keep our privacy and data protection information under regular review and it will be updated at least annually.
If you wish to make a complaint, you can contact us in the following ways:
- Leave a message at Freephone 0800 056 8184
- Email children2020s@ipsos.com
- Post to Children of the 2020s Study Team, Ipsos, 3 Thomas More Square, London, E1W 1YW
If you are concerned about the handling of your personal data, you can contact the Data Protection Officer by emailing compliance@ipsos.com, or posting a letter to Data Protection Officer, Compliance Department, Ipsos, 3 Thomas More Square, London, E1W 1YW, United Kingdom.
You have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), if you have concerns on how we have processed your personal data. You can find details about how to contact the Information Commissioner’s Office at https://ico.org.uk/global/contact-us/ or by sending an email to: casework@ico.org.uk.
If you wish to make a complaint about the conduct of the study you can contact the Chair of the UCL Research Ethics Committee by emailing: ethics@ucl.ac.uk or writing to: Office of the Vice-Provost (Research), University College London, 2 Taviton Street, London, WC1H 0BT.
When you contact us to exercise your right, we will:
- Acknowledge that your request has been received.
- Write to tell you if your request is not applicable and give the reasons.
- Act on your request within the time period required by the current data protection law.
- Write to inform you if we need to extend the period of time required to respond due to the complexity.
Here are some key resources you can download if needed.
- Children of the 2020s study privacy notice (HTML)
- Children of the 2020s study privacy notice (PDF)
- Pilot survey privacy notice (HTML). Find more information about pilot surveys here.
- Pilot survey privacy notice (PDF). Find more information about pilot surveys here.