East Sussex County Council and social media
Our privacy notice tells you how we process your information when you contact us via social media.
Our main Council sites
East Sussex County Council (ESCC) on Twitter
East Sussex County Council on Facebook
East Sussex County Council on LinkedIn
East Sussex Jobs on Twitter – find out about job vacancies at East Sussex County Council
Your East Sussex on Instagram – ‘Your East Sussex’ is our lifestyle website for residents and visitors to East Sussex
Councillors
List of ESCC councillors on Twitter
Chief officers
Chief Executive, Becky Shaw on Twitter
Roads
ESCC Highways on Twitter – latest roadworks, maintenance and gritting
Transport for the South East on Facebook - powering the economy, bringing together the area’s transport authorities and local partnerships
Children and families
Adoption and fostering
Education
Education East Sussex on Facebook - for parents and carers, including support from the Inclusion, Special Educational Needs and Disability Service
Education East Sussex on Twitter
Advice for families
Information for Families on Facebook - advice to families of children and young people 0-25
East Sussex Parents on Instagram – support and advice on parenting
ParentLink on YouTube – videos for parents
Under 5s
50 Things to do Before You’re Five on Facebook - activities for families living with children under the age of five
Special needs
i-go on Facebook – a free leisure card for people aged 25 years and under with special needs or disabilities
CLASS+ on Facebook – support, information and workshop opportunities for families of children and young people with autism
Spectrum – Autism Support on Facebook
For professionals
Early Years Improvement Team on Facebook – updates for professionals working in early years and childcare settings
Social work in East Sussex on Facebook - updates for social workers in children’s services
Early Help 0–19 service
Bexhill Early Help 0–19 service on Facebook – covers Egerton Park Children’s Centre, Sidley Children’s Centre
Eastbourne Early Help 0–19 service on Facebook – covers Devonshire Children’s Centre, Hampden Park Children’s Centre, Old Town Children’s Centre
Hailsham and Seaford Early Help 0–19 service - covers Hailsham East Children’s Centre, Seaford Children’s Centre
Hastings Early Help 0–19 service on Facebook – covers East Hastings Children’s Centre, Hastings Town Children’s Centre, The Bridge Children’s Centre
High Weald Early Help 0–19 service on Facebook – covers Crowborough Children’s Centre, Heathfield Children’s Centre, Uckfield Children’s Centre
Lewes and Havens Early Help 0–19 service on Facebook – covers Lewes Children’s Centre, Chailey Children’s Centre, Newhaven Children’s Centre, Peacehaven Children’s Centre, Ringmer Children’s Centre
Rother Early Help 0–19 service on Facebook – covers Battle Children’s Centre, High Weald Children’s Centre, and Rye Children’s Centre.
St Leonards Early Help 0–19 service on Facebook – covers Robsack Children’s Centre, St. Leonards Children’s Centre, West St. Leonards Children’s Centre
Schools
Data Protection & Information Governance resources for schools on Twitter
Young people
East Sussex 3i-D discount card on Facebook
East Sussex 3-iD discount card on Twitter
Spectrum – Autism support on Facebook
Pictures on Flickr
East Sussex County Council photostream
Historical photos of East Sussex from our libraries team
Libraries
East Sussex Library and Information Service on Facebook
Local and family history
The Keep Archives on Facebook – collections of the East Sussex Record Office (ESRO), the Royal Pavilion & Museums Local History Collections and the University of Sussex Special Collections
The Keep Archives on Instagram
East Sussex Records Office on Twitter – archives for the county and Brighton & Hove
East Sussex World War One on Twitter – memories and events commemorating the centenary of the First World War in East Sussex
Care and housing
Learning Disability Services for Adults in East Sussex on Facebook
Learning Disability Partnership Board on Facebook
Principal Social Worker (ESCC Children’s Services) on Twitter
Arts, leisure and sport
East Sussex Academy of Music on Twitter - offers courses for students aged 16 to 18 in A-level Music, A-level Music Technology and BTEC L3 Music
East Sussex Academy of Music on Facebook
Buzz Active on Twitter – outdoor activities in stunning locations in East Sussex
East Sussex Cycle Training on Twitter
East Sussex Cycle Training on Facebook
Community
Weddings & Ceremonies in East Sussex on Facebook - weddings, civil partnerships, renewal of vows or any non-statutory ceremony
Weddings East Sussex on Twitter
East Sussex County Council Community on Twitter – help for third sector organisations to identify funding needs
East Sussex County Council Community on Facebook
Economy and Employment
Procurement and Economy on Twitter – doing business with us
East Sussex Strategic Partnership on Twitter – brings together public services, local businesses, community groups and voluntary sector organisations
Careers Hub East Sussex on Twitter – connects schools, colleges, businesses and parents to develop careers education and prepare young people for the world of work
Careers Hub East Sussex on Facebook
Employability & Skills East Sussex on Facebook - the Skills and Employability Team brings businesses and training providers together to improve employment opportunities for adults
Employability & Skills East Sussex on Twitter
Countryside
Our social media accounts are a quick and easy way to contact us about council services for residents, businesses and visitors to the county. Our privacy notice tells you how we process your information when you contact us via social media.
We want you to receive a high quality service however you choose to get in touch.
Our commitment to you:
- we will be friendly, polite and honest
- we will always try to answer your query straight away
- if we can’t resolve the matter immediately we will give you the name and contact details of the person who will respond
- we will protect your privacy
- we will monitor our social media accounts and keep a record of all posts to and from our accounts
- we will maintain the Council’s customer service standards, as set out in our Customer Promise.
Responding and replying
We try to respond to queries within one working day.
Most of our accounts are monitored during normal working hours 8.30am to 5pm (4.30pm on Fridays). See each account for their individual response times.
To keep your personal data private, never disclose information of a confidential nature when you post a message to us.
If your query is serious, urgent, or involves personal details, you might want to telephone or contact one of our services online instead. If are not happy with a service, here’s some guidance on how to make a complaint.
Liking and following
Please don’t be offended if we don’t ‘like’ or ‘follow’ you on social media. We usually only follow or like people who provide information that is pertinent to our work as a local authority (for example central government accounts, local media, and our partners) or those whose information we can pass on for the benefit of many local people.
There will also be times we’ll need to like or follow an account in order to take part in conversations.
Just because we like or follow someone, retweet or share their information, it doesn’t mean that we endorse them.
Sharing and retweeting
If we share information, we are not necessarily endorsing it.
We try and share or retweet information that we think will be of interest or of use to you, however please don’t be offended if we don’t retweet something you want us to.
Acceptable use
We reserve the right to keep a record of and remove any contributions that break any of the following acceptable use guidelines:
- be civil and polite
- don’t post messages that are unlawful, libellous, harassing, defamatory, offensive, abusive, threatening, harmful, obscene, profane, sexually oriented or racially offensive
- don’t swear
- don’t post content copied from elsewhere for which you do not own the copyright
- be cautious about what you retweet: if you share or retweet a tweet with a photo that someone else used without the photographer’s permission, you may be liable to prosecution, just as the original tweeter is liable
- don’t post the same message, or very similar messages, more than once (also called “spamming”)
- don’t publicise your, or anyone else’s, personal information, such as contact details
- don’t advertise products or services
- don’t impersonate someone else.
On occasion, some people’s behaviour towards our staff can get out of hand and has an impact on their wellbeing and on our work. Please see our policy for managing unreasonable customer behaviour, which aims to set out to staff and customers how we will manage the rare situations when customers behave unreasonably in their contacts with us.
Restricting communication, such as blocking, will be considered as a final approach, if a customer contravenes the guidance set out above.
Pre-election period
In the six-week run up to an election, we will continue to publish important service announcements using social media. However during this time, councils have to be especially careful not to say anything that could be seen to support any political party or candidate.
So although we might post less, that doesn’t mean we’re not doing anything. Our work will continue through the pre-election period. We just won’t be talking about it much in the run-up to the election. This is in line with central government election guidance (.GOV).
Our staff policies
As with our other personnel policies, if you work for East Sussex County Council, please see our intranet for our social media policy for those who it as part of their job, and our policy for those using it in a personal capacity.