Privacy Policy / GDPR - Carmarthenshire People First

Carmarthenshire  People First understands that privacy and the security of your personal information is extremely important and we are committed to protecting and respecting your privacy. We aim to be transparent about what we will do with your data and not do anything with it that you wouldn’t reasonably expect. We will only lawfully use the information that we collect about you.

This document tells you how we collect, use and store your personal information, as well as what we do to keep it secure. It also outlines your rights over any personal information we hold about you.

We collect personal data in order to be able to provide quality services to people. We also collect personal data so that we can share information about our work, our services and our events.

Privacy Statement

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) provides the legal framework that defines how personal information can be used. Carmarthenshire People First is fully committed to complying with current data protection legislation and has a legal duty to protect any information we collect from you. The following principles apply whether we hold your information on paper or electronically:

• Your personal information is only used for the purpose for which we collect it;
• Only information that we actually need is collected;
• Your personal information is only seen by those who need it to do their jobs;
• We will not pass your personal information on to any other organisation without your consent unless we are required to do so by law (see ’How do we use this Information? below’);
• Personal information is retained only for as long as it is required for the purpose collected;
• We will, where necessary, keep your information up to date;
• Your information will be protected from unauthorised or accidental disclosure;
• We will provide you with a copy of your personal information on request (see access rights and requests);
• Inaccurate or misleading data will be corrected as soon as possible.

What this Privacy Policy covers:

1. How we collect information about you;
2. What information we collect;
3. How we use your information;
4. How we keep your information safe;
5. Access rights and requests;
6. Keeping your information up to date;
7. Your rights;
8. Changes to this policy;
9. Reporting a problem or complaint.

How we collect information about you

We collect information in the following ways:

When you interact with us directly, you may give us your information when you:

• Use one of our services;
• Sign up to receive information about our service or events;
• Sign up for one of our events or training courses;
• Make a donation;
• Communicate with us generally;
• Provide us with specific consent to contact you for given purposes.

When you interact with us indirectly, this is when your information is shared with us by a third party. For example, if someone refers you to one of our services.

Third party organisations: You may have provided permission for a company or other organisation to share your data with third parties, including other charities.

Social Media:  Depending on your settings or the privacy policies for social media and messaging services like Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube or LinkedIn, you might give us permission to access information from those accounts or services.

The information we get from other organisations may depend on your privacy settings or the responses you give, so you should regularly check them.

Information available publicly:  This includes information found in places such as Companies House and information that has been published in articles/ newspapers.

When you visit our website : We gather general information which might include which pages you visit most often and which services, events or information is of most interest to you. We may also track which pages you visit when you click on links in emails from us. We also use “cookies” to help us make our site – and the way you use it – better. Cookies mean that a website will remember you. They are small text files that transfer to your computer (or phone or tablet). They make interacting with a website faster and easier – for example by automatically filling your name and address in text fields.

We use this information to personalise the way our website is presented when you visit to make improvements and to ensure we provide the best service and experience for you. Wherever possible we use anonymous information which does not identify individual visitors to our website.

See our Cookie Policy here

What information we collect

Personal Information includes things like your name and contact details.

Data Protection law recognises that some categories of personal information are more sensitive. Sensitive Personal Information can include information about a person’s health, race, ethnic origin, political opinions, sex life, sexual orientation or religious beliefs. If you share this information we will treat it with extra care and confidentiality and always in accordance with this Privacy Policy.

The type and quantity of information we collect and how we use it depends on why you are providing it.

Service users– a person who receives a service from Carmarthenshire People First

We collect information such as –

• Your name;
• Your contact details;
• Your date of birth;
• Your Ethnicity;
• Your Gender;
• Your Disability.

If we provide you with an advocacy service, we will collect information relevant to your case.

Where it is appropriate we may also ask for specific feedback, for example, how useful you found our services to be.

Referrers  – people who have referred someone to one of our services

We collect information such as:

• Your name;
• Your contact details;
• Your job role.

Supporters

If you support us, for example, to make a donation, volunteer, support us through social media or have consented to receive information from Carmarthenshire People First, we will usually collect:

• Your name;
• Your contact details;
• Your date of birth;
• Your ‘consent’ and permission details for other marketing activities such as events or courses.

How we use your information

Services – service users, referrers and people involved in an individual’s case

Only members of the appropriate team will collect, record, see or use your data

We will only use the information provided to:

• Facilitate our work with you;
• Record information required by the organisation that funds us for the work such as a local authority;
• Monitor the quality of our service.

We may share your information with one our partner organisations if they are delivering the service that you need

We may contact you to ask for your assessment of how we helped you, your satisfaction with the service we provided, or other market research.

We will not:

• publish any information that could identify you personally without your consent;
• use your data for any purpose, other than in relation to your case, unless you give us your specific consent;
• share your data with third parties unless they are a partner organisation who is delivering a service for us.

Email newsletters and information updates

With your consent, we will contact you to let you know about our services, events and our organisation, or support for a campaign.

We will make it easy for you to tell us how you want us to communicate, in a way that suits you.

We respect that you may not want to hear from us, the updates we send you will always contain clear information on how to opt out from our mailings. If you’d prefer not to receive information you can let us know at  info@carmarthenshirepeoplefirst.co.uk

We do not sell or share personal details to third parties for the purpose of marketing. From time to time we may run an event in partnership with another named organisation and your details may need to be shared but we will be very clear what will happen to your data when you register for such events.

How we keep your information safe and who has access

Whatever your relationship with us is, we ensure that there are appropriate technical controls in place to protect your personal details. 

Records relating to casework are kept securely and separately to all other data with limited access. Where records are paper-based they are kept in locked secure cabinets with very limited access.

Who has access to your information

We undertake regular reviews of who has access to information that we hold to ensure that your information is only accessible by appropriately trained staff, volunteers and contractors.

Where we use external companies to collect or process personal data on our behalf, we do comprehensive checks on these companies before we work with them to ensure they meet our expectations and requirements especially regarding how they manage the personal data they have collected or have access to. This may include a solicitor who we are working with on an advocacy case.

We may need to disclose your details to the local authority, police and/or their regulatory bodies or legal advisors if required. In the event of a situation such as this, we will try to involve you in the process, as far as reasonably possible, but if we deem it essential or an emergency situation, or if we   believe that your safety and/or welfare is at risk, we may need to do so without your consent.

Keeping your data up to date

We make every effort to ensure that the data that we hold on you is accurate and up to date. From time to time this may require us to contact you in order to ensure that your situation, details and personal data preferences remain the same.

However, we really appreciate it if you let us know if your contact details change so that we may keep our records up to date. You can do this by contacting us at info@carmarthenshirepeoplefirst.co.uk

Your rights

You have various rights in respect of the personal information we hold about you – these are set out in more detail below.  If you wish to exercise any of these rights or make a complaint, you can do so by contacting

The Charity Manager at Carmarthenshire People First, 16 Spilman Street, Carmarthen, West Wales, SA31 1JY -   by email via  info@carmarthenshirepeoplefirst.co.uk and by phone on 01267 234635.

You can also make a complaint to the data protection supervisory authority, the Information Commissioner’s Office,  https://ico.org.uk/:

Access to your personal information: You have the right to request access to a copy of the personal information that we hold about you, along with information on what personal information we use, why we use it, who we share it with, how long we keep it for and whether it has been used for any automated decision making. You can make a request for access free of charge.  To make a request you just need to contact us. We might ask you for evidence of your identity.

Right to object: You can object to our processing of your personal information where we are relying on a legitimate interest (or those of a third party) and there is something about your particular situation which makes you want to object to processing on this ground. You also have the right to object where we are processing your personal information for direct marketing purposes.  Please contact us, providing details of your objection via email at   info@carmarthenshirepeoplefirst.co.uk or by phone on 01267 234635.

Consent:  If you have given us your consent to use personal information for example, for marketing, you can withdraw your consent at any time.

By providing us with your personal information, including sensitive information such as medical details, you consent to the collection and use of this information in accordance with the purposes described in this policy.

If you complete a referral form or contact us about a third party, we expect you to have the consent of the person concerned and, we will need their consent to proceed with any casework. If the person lacks capacity we will check that you have the right authority to act on the person’s behalf.

Rectification:  You can ask us to change or complete any inaccurate or incomplete personal information we hold about you.

Erasure:  You can ask us to delete your personal information where it is no longer necessary for us to use it, you have withdrawn consent, or where we have no lawful basis for keeping it.

Portability:  You can ask us to provide you or a third party with some of the personal information that we hold about you in a structured, commonly used, electronic form, so it can be easily transferred

Restriction:  You can ask us to restrict the personal information we use about you where you have asked for it to be erased or where you have objected to our use of it.

No automated-decision making:  Automated decision-making takes place when an electronic system uses personal information to make a decision without human intervention. We do not currently carry out automated decision-making.

You have the right not to be subject to automated decisions that will create legal effects or have a similar significant impact on you, unless:

• you have given us your consent;
• it is necessary for a contract between you and us or;
• it is otherwise permitted by law.

You also have certain the right to challenge decisions made about you.

Please note, some of these rights only apply in certain circumstances and we may not be able to fulfil every request.

For further information see the  Information Commissioner’s guidance  here (link opens in a new window).

Personal data

Any personal information we collect from this website will be used in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998 and the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Personal data submitted on this website will be used for the purposes specified in this privacy policy or in relevant parts of the website.

We may use your personal information to:

• Administer the website;
• Send you newsletters that you have specifically requested;
• Handle referrals, enquiries and complaints that you have made via our forms.

Data disclosure

We may disclose information about you to any of our employees, officers, agents, suppliers or sub-contractors as is reasonable for the purposes set out in this privacy policy. In addition, we may disclose information about you:

• To the extent that we are required to do so by law;
• In connection with any legal proceedings or prospective legal proceedings;
• In order to establish, exercise or defend our legal rights (including providing information to others for the purposes of fraud prevention and reducing credit risk).

Except as provided in this privacy policy, we will not provide your information to third parties.

Security

Keeping information about you secure is very important to us. However, no data transmission over the Internet can be guaranteed to be totally secure. As a result, while we strive to protect your personal information, we cannot ensure or warrant the security of any information which you deliberately send to us, and you do so at your own risk.

Changes to the policy

We may update our privacy policy from time to time. We suggest that you check this page occasionally to ensure you are happy with any updates.

Your rights

You have the right to ask for any personal information we hold about you. Please let us know if any information we hold about you needs to be corrected or updated.

Other websites

Any other websites which may be linked to by our website are subject to their own policy, which may differ from ours.

Questions

If you have any questions concerning anything on our website, please contact us.

Changes to this policy

We may change this Privacy Policy from time to time and it is under constant review to ensure it is compliant with current law and is clear.

If we make any significant changes in the way, we treat your personal information we will make this clear on our Website or we may contact you directly.

If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, please feel free to contact us at:  info@carmarthenshirepeoplefirst.co.uk  or phone 01267 234635

Reporting a problem or complaint

If you have a complaint regarding how we process your personal information, please contact the Charity Manager at:  info@carmarthenshirepeoplefirst.co.uk   or phone 01267 234635.  Alternatively, you can contact the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).