PRIVACY POLICY
This privacy policy explains when and why we collect personal information; how we use it, keep it secure and in what circumstances we may share it with other organisations.
Who we are
Carers Federation Ltd is a Charity and Company Limited by Guarantee. We provide a range of support, training and advocacy services. We are involved in community engagement, mentoring and research.
Our main funders are; Local Authorities and Local Clinical Commissioning Groups who we have agreements with to:
- Identify and support Young and Adult Carers
- Deliver a wide range of Advocacy , information, advice, support and mentoring services
- Deliver Training services
- Undertake research and community engagement
Why do we collect information about you?
To meet our funding obligations, we are required to ask for and retain personal information from people our services are in contact with.
When do we collect information about you?
We collect information about you when you register with us, request information relating to any of our services (whether directly or via a 3rd Party) including any on-line resources available from our website. We will also collect information when we approach you for research or engagement purposes
Any information will be securely stored on our systems either electronically or where necessary paper files (held in secure lockable cabinets). You will be notified separately of such details at the point where we first ask you for this information.
If other parties are involved in your case or you request that we refer you to a 3rd party organisation we will only undertake this with your permission or where there is a legitimate Interest in us doing, for example where we have a legal requirement to do so.
What information do we collect about you?
The personal information we collect will include your name, address, age, contact details, and details required specifically by the service you are involved with.
We may also ask you for personal information such as your religious beliefs, ethnic background, sexual orientation and health, but this information will only be held with your explicit consent. The purpose for collecting this information is for monitoring purposes to help us ensure that our services are fully accessible and to inform the further development of these. You will have the option not to give this information and it will not restrict your access to a service if you choose not to provide these details.
If you provide information about a 3rd party (for instance the person you care for or an emergency contact) we will need to confirm that they are aware of this, the personal information that we hold and their rights under data protection legislation.
How will we use the information about you?
We collect information about you in order to:
- carry out our obligations arising from any agreement between us, for the provision of information, advice and support.
- share (as appropriate) as part of a referral process into other services or as part of multi-agency meetings;
- seek your views or comments on the services we provide;
- notify you of changes to our services;
- send you communications which you have requested;
- inform our future service development to ensure that these are fully accessible;
- provide anonymised monitoring information to our service commissioners to demonstrate the take up and effectiveness of services; with specific reporting by characteristics such as area, age, caring responsibility or background and where you have agreed, send you details of upcoming activities, news, and information about how you could support our work.
How long we hold your information
We will hold your personal information on our systems for as long as required to fulfil any agreements between you and Carers Federation services. For monitoring purposes and specified legal requirements (Safeguarding) this will extend to longer periods in line with relevant guidance.
We review our retention periods for personal information on a regular basis in line with legislation and best practice.
Who has access to your information?
In order to deliver the service you want, your information will also be accessible by other Carers Federation staff and volunteers. Our database is a secure case management system, and all internet traffic is via high security encrypted code.
Where we need to involve other organisations in supporting you we will specifically ask your permission in writing in advance of providing them with your personal information.
Marketing
Carers Federation does not undertake unsolicited marketing and will never sell, rent or otherwise share your information to 3rd parties for marketing purposes.
We do send out information about our services and updates relating to Carers, legislation changes, initiatives, activities and requests for support typically via e-bulletins or other targeted communication.
Should you no longer wish to receive this information at any point simply let us know by contacting us either in writing at: Christopher Cargill House, 21 – 23 Pelham Road, Nottingham, NG5 1AP or telephone on 0115 9629 325 and we will ensure you are removed from our mailing list immediately.
Your rights under Data Protection
From the 25th May 2018, your rights under Data Protection legislation are as follows:
The right to:
- be informed. This Privacy Policy provides information on how we comply with the legislation.
- access your own data and confirmation of how it is processed
- rectification of any of your personal data if it is inaccurate or incomplete.
- You can withdraw consent for us to hold your sensitive data at any time, but most personal data is held under the service contract and in order to have this information removed you must agree to disengage completely from the service. Once information has been deleted it cannot be recovered.
- restrict processing. When you request that processing is restricted it will be excluded until such time it has been confirmed that the data has been corrected or that it is being processed in the way that complies with the legal purpose.
- data portability. You have the right to your personal data in a format that is machine readable.
- object. You have the right to object to how we process your information.
Carers Federation does not use profiling or automated decision making.
If you believe that any of your personal details need to be corrected, updated or you no longer wish to access the services provided by Carers federation then please call the us on 0115 9629 325 and we can immediately update our system.
If you would like a copy of some or all of your personal information or to exercise one of the other rights, please contact us in writing at: Christopher Cargill House, 21 – 23 Pelham Road, Nottingham, NG5 1AP.
Please let us know what specific information you would like. Please note that in order to establish your identity we will need to undertake security checks such as asking for ID in the form of a passport etc and will use the details already recorded on our system to contact you.
Profiling
Carers Federation does not analyse your personal information for profiling purposes.
Our website
‘Cookies’ are text files placed on your computer to collect standard internet log information and visitor behaviour information. This information is used to track visitor use of the website and to compile statistical reports on website activity.
For further information visit www.aboutcookies.org or www.allaboutcookies.org
You can set your browser not to accept cookies and the above websites tell you how to remove cookies from your browser. However, in a few cases some of our website features may not function as expected.
Our website contains links to other websites. This privacy policy only applies to our website and services so when you link to or from other websites you should read the privacy policies on that site.
16 or Under (Subject to review following enactment of the Data Protection Bill)
We are concerned to protect the privacy of children aged 16 or under. If you are aged 16 or under‚ you may need to get your parent/guardian’s permission beforehand whenever you provide us with personal information.
Transferring your information
As part of the services offered to you, the information which you provide to us will not be transferred out of the UK.
Changes to our privacy policy
We keep our privacy policy under regular review and we will place any updates on our web page. www.carersfederation.co.uk.
Complaints
Whilst we hope that you do not feel the need to complain about how we retain/protect your information we would invite you to contact us in the first instance using the address details Christopher Cargill House, 21 – 23 Pelham Road, Nottingham, NG5 1AP.
However, if you are unhappy with our response or you would like to report your concerns to the Information Commission Office direct then a link is available on their website https://ico.org.uk/ or call them on 0303 123 1113.
How to contact us
You can contact us on 0115 9629 325 if you have any questions about our privacy policy or information we hold about you.