United KingdomEducation2023 – ongoingChelmer Valley High School
Facial recognition for cashless canteen payments
Chelmer Valley High School received a reprimand over facial-recognition canteen payments
Problem
The school used facial recognition to collect cashless canteen payments. Identifying pupils this way required processing sensitive biometric information.
Approach
A third-party provider supplied the system, which entered use in March 2023. The school initially asked parents to opt out rather than obtaining explicit consent. The ICO issued a reprimand in July 2024 after finding that the school had also failed to complete a prior data protection impact assessment.
Results
No published figures
Takeaway
The enforcement action arose from the school's risk assessment and consent arrangements after the payment system had already entered use.
Categories
- Size
- Small business
- Industry
- Education
- Business function
- Production and quality
- Innovation type
- Process innovation
- AI technology
- Computer vision
- Adoption
- Vendor solution
- Evidence
- Regulator, audit or court
Sources
Source summaries
The ICO found that the school introduced facial recognition without the required prior impact assessment or valid consent arrangements. It reprimanded the school and recommended changes to its handling of pupils' biometric information.
Full details are in the original sources.