Photographs taken for publicity

The Council takes, uses and stores photographs of people, buildings, events and other subjects to publicise and market its work in supporting local people, improving the borough economy and enhancing our environment.

Usage

Photographs may be published in the Council’s magazine, on its website, social media channels, reports and other publications. They may occasionally be provided to independent newspapers and magazines or the Council’s partners if doing so is in line with the reason they were taken and the permission given by the subject of the picture.

When the Council passes on photographs to newspapers or partners, officers will always make clear they are for single use only to promote the relevant activity and should not be used for any other purpose. However, where the image is published to the wider public the Council cannot guarantee this.

Editing

Photographs may receive light-touch editing to correct colour, sharpness etc, and they may be cropped. The Council will never use extensive ‘photoshopping’ techniques to change people’s appearance.

Permissions

1. Where possible the Council will ask private individuals who are the main subject in photographs to give written permission via a consent form to confirm they understand the photographs will be used for marketing and publicity. These consent forms will be saved alongside the photographs.

People being photographed will be asked to provide:

•  Their name,
• Their phone number or email address,
• The signature or to click a yes/no button in an online form to confirm they agree to be photographed and for the photographs to be stored and used for publicity purposes.

Where photographs involve children under 13 years old the Council will ensure it has the consent of their parent or legal guardian. Children 13 and above can consent to their photo being taken however the Council will ensure that consent forms for children are clear, in plain English and also explained in person.

The Council does not ask people caught in the background of photographs for permission.

2. If written permission is not possible, the Council will ask for verbal permission, and will explain how the photographs will be used, and that they will be stored by the Council.

3. Where written and verbal permission is not possible, or where there is a reasonable expectation of being photographed such as at public events, the Council will endeavour to ensure signs are displayed making clear that photography is taking place and that photographs will be used for publicity, although this may not always be possible. If signs can be displayed, they will state that anyone who does not wish to be photographed should make themselves known to an event organiser or photographer.

Group photographs and pre-approval of permission

In some circumstances, the Council may take photographs of recognised groups of people who have already given prior consent to their own organisation to be photographed, for example school classes, or day centre members.

Where the Council can be sure this advanced permission has been provided to the body which the group is part of, it will ask for just one representative of the group to confirm this by signing a permission form on the members’ behalf. This may be a class teacher, day centre manager or sports coach for instance.

Exceptions to permissions being required

• Legitimate interests: Where the photo is linked to a non-statutory service and it would not be appropriate, or is impossible to gain consent and the taking and publication of the photo would not be unfair to the individual ie they could expect it, the Council does not need to ask for permission. This might be a large scale public event where participants would have a reasonable expectation of being photographed.
• Public task: Where it is necessary for the Council’s responsibilities and duties as a local authority and the individual does not have a free choice over whether the photo is taken/published the Council does not need to ask for permission. However in most circumstances the Council will still inform the individual that the photo has been taken, why and what the Council intends to do with it. This may be when the Council is publicising the results of an enforcement case in order to deter other potential offenders.
• Public interest and journalism: As part of the Council’s duty to inform residents about its activities, photographs are used to explain work which is in the public interest. Sometimes the Council may assist the media to report on its activities by providing photographs for journalistic use. Where this is the case, the Council does not need to ask for permission, if it reasonably believes that obtaining consent would be incompatible with these journalistic purposes. However this justification does not extend to the inconvenience of obtaining consent.

These exemptions drawn from the Data Protection Act 2018

Use of names with images of adults

The Council will not include names of any adult in an image caption where the picture is for general illustration of an event. Where the subject of the picture is specific to the reason why the photograph was taken, with their consent, the Council will publish the subject’s full name if they are an adult along with the town they live in.

We will never publish contact details for people in photographs, unless the subject of the picture specifically wants them to be published. For example, the secretary of a garden club looking for new members may need to be contacted.

Use of names with images of children

• If we use images of individual children, we will not name the child in the accompanying text or photo caption without good reason.
• If a pupil is named in the text, we will not use a photograph of that child to accompany the article without the consent of the child or their parent/guardian.
• We may use group or class images with general captions, such as “a science lesson” or “making Christmas decorations” and the name of the school.
• We will only use images of pupils who are suitably dressed, to reduce the risk of such images being used inappropriately.
• If we are made aware a child is under a Supervision Order or at risk, photographs will not be taken of that child.

Retention and security

• Photographs are filed on the Council’s servers.
• Photographs involving people or events will be saved for a maximum of five years and then will be deleted by our staff or automatically.
• If the Council no longer has a legitimate use for photographs in less than five years, it will delete them.

Removal requests

If the subject of a photo, or their authorised representative, asks the Council to delete a picture it has on file, it will do so.

Where the subject of a photo, or their representative, asks the Council to remove a picture published on a website or social media, it will do so if the medium it has been published on is within its control.

Where the subject of a photo, or their representative, asks the Council to remove a picture used by a partner or newspaper, we will ask the relevant organisation to remove the image, but cannot guarantee they will do so.

It is not possible to remove photographs from print publications once they have been published and publications which have been circulated cannot be withdrawn. Equally, the Council will not remove pictures posted on social media. However, if a request is made not to use a picture in the future, we will remove it from any reprints of printed publications and will not use online.

A record of withdrawal of permission requests and decisions will be kept by the Council’s Communications team.

The only exemption to the above will be where there is a public interest reason to maintain publication of the photograph, for example where it is used to illustrate a court hearing result or an enforcement case.

Use of stock images from online image libraries

The Council will occasionally use stock photographs to illustrate documents or online content. These photographs are downloaded from online image libraries where all subjects have given their permission to the photographer for them to be used for any purpose by anyone at any time. Usually they are covered by creative commons licences.

Pictures taken by professional photographers

Where photography is commissioned by the Council from a professional photographer, the Council expects them to follow the same guidelines as it uses, including the securing of permissions. In most cases, a Council officer will accompany a professional photographer to direct and secure the permissions.

The Council will always attempt to credit professional photographers when using the photographs where possible.

Photographs provided to the Council by partners

If photographs from partners showing people are received to use for publicity purposes, the Council will ask for sight of permission forms. If the Council cannot guarantee permission has been given, it will not use the photograph unless it is in the public interest, or the scene in the photo suggests permission is unlikely to have been required ie it was taken at a public event.

The Council will not store photographs of people provided to it by partners once they have been used to publicise the activity they were provided for.

Providing digital copies of photographs

The Council will provide digital copies of photographs to the sole subject of the photograph if they are requested informally as a courtesy, or via a Subject Access Request.

Where a photograph is requested by an individual which has more than one person in it, the Council will edit the image first to ensure other people are not visible.

Where photos have been taken of recognised groups, for example a swimming club, if a representative of the group requests a picture, the Council will provide it only if the use of the image was made clear and was for the same reason as it was taken by the Council.

For example, if the Council takes a photograph to promote the club, and the club secretary asks for a copy to also promote the club, this would be a reasonable request as people in the photo agreed to it being used for publicity. However, using a picture in a grant application would not be reasonable.

The Council will not provide digital copies to anyone else unless they:

• Are a trusted partner,
• Are a bona fide news organisation,
• Have legitimate use of the image for the purpose it was collected and consented to, or
• The request complies with the relevant schedule(s) of DPA 2018; for example, a compliant request made by a law enforcement agency such as the Police or HMRC.

This is because the Council cannot guarantee how the photograph will be used in future and the permission given would not cover unknown use.

This protocol will be updated from time to time as required.

October 2019