Information Access Rights: Parental Access & Student Privacy Rights

Introduction

Requests by parents for access to pupil information can be straightforward in form but legally difficult in practice. The position depends not only on the type of institution involved but also on whether the request is for an educational record under the Education (Pupil Information) (England) Regulations 2005 or for personal data under the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018.

This webinar will explain when parents may have a direct statutory right to inspect or receive a copy of a child’s educational record and where requests will generally need to be handled under data protection law. It will also address the fact that, under the UK GDPR, the right of subject access belongs to the child, so schools must consider maturity, best interests and whether disclosure should be made to the parent or to the pupil directly.

Using practical examples, the webinar assists lawyers advising in the education sector with the initial request assessment, any arising entitlements, identification of the correct legal route and resulting legal considerations (such as third-party data and serious harm to the physical or mental health of the child or another individual). The focus will be on a concise, usable framework suitable for day-to-day decision making.

What You Will Learn

This webinar will cover the following:

• The key difference between access to educational records legislation and subject access requests
• How parental responsibility, the child’s maturity and best interests affect whether information should be disclosed to a parent
• When schools may need to redact or withhold information, including third party data, safeguarding concerns and allegations of abuse
• A practical step-by-step approach for identifying the correct regime, applying the relevant time limits and responding lawfully

This pre-recorded webinar will be available to view from Thursday 3rd December 2026

Alternatively, you can gain access to this webinar and 2,400+ others via the MBL Webinar Subscription. Please email webinarsubscription@mblseminars.com for more details.