Subject Access Requests

You have the right to request a copy of the personal information we hold about you, or to ask on behalf of someone else. You'll need to provide identification to prove who you are and that you have the right to access the information.

Identification required to process your request

We ask for 2 forms of identification:

  • one with your name and date of birth
  • one with your name and current address (dated within the last 3 months)

Please send copies of the original documents to subjectaccess@sheffield.gov.uk. Failure to provide suitable identification or proof is likely to delay the request.  

Making a request through a 3rd party portal

If you make a request for your personal information through an online portal, you still need to provide identification. We cannot accept a request from a portal unless we can check your identity and be certain that you wish the company providing the portal to act on your behalf. We need to feel assured that the company is complying with data protection law before sharing your personal information.

If we receive your request through an online portal, we'll contact you directly to verify your identity. If you've not provided any contact details we'll not be able to process your request.

We encourage you to make a request using the form on this page instead.

Asking for information about a child

If you're asking for information about a child we also ask for proof of parental responsibility for example birth certificate of child or adoption certificate.

Asking for information about a third party

If you're the personal representative acting on behalf of someone we also ask for written evidence that you're authorised to act on the data subject's behalf for example signed consent, power of attorney.

There is no automatic right of access to the personal data of third parties and your request may still be refused.

Asking for CCTV or body worn camera footage

You'll need to provide the following identification documents when requesting information from CCTV or body worn camera footage:

  • for footage of a person - photographic ID or name and date of birth ID, together with a recent photograph of yourself
  • for footage of a vehicle - vehicle log book (DVLA V5C form) if you are the vehicle owner, or Vehicle Log Book and written consent from the vehicle owner

City centre and roadside CCTV footage is normally held for 14 days, after which it is automatically deleted. If the incident you wish to enquire about happened more than 14 days ago, we'll be unable to provide footage.

Make a Subject Access Request

You can make a Subject Access Request using our online form.

Once we've received your request, and satisfactory identification, you should expect to receive a response to your request within one month. In some circumstances where a request is complex, we may extend this to a maximum of 3 months. We'll contact you in this case.

Contact Subject Access Service

Resources – Business Support
Sheffield City Council
PO Box 1283
Sheffield
S1 1UJ

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