Privacy

Privacy Notice for Families Using our Services

At Home-Start HOST we’re committed to protecting and respecting your privacy.

This notice explains when and why we collect personal information about you, how we use it, the conditions under which we may disclose it to others, how we keep it safe and secure and your rights and choices in relation to your information.

Any questions regarding this notice and our privacy practices should be sent by email to info@homestarthost.org.uk or in writing to Home-Start Oldham, Stockport & Tameside, Ryecroft Hall, Manchester Road, Audenshaw M34 5ZJ. Alternatively, you can telephone 0161 344 0669.

Who are we?

Home-Start is committed to protecting your personal information and to being transparent about what information we hold. Home-Start understands its obligations to you to help you understand how and why we process your personal data. We will only do so in accordance with all applicable UK data protection legislation, including the General Data Protection Regulation. In this notice ‘Home-Start’, ‘we’, ‘us’ or ‘our’ means:

Home-Start HOST, a charitable company limited by guarantee.
Company no. 7203889
Charity no. 1135838
Registered office: Ryecroft Hall, Manchester Road, Audenshaw M34 5ZJ

How do we collect information from you?

Information you give us directly

We collect information about you and family members when you register with us for any of our services and also when you start to receive our services. We collect information when you voluntarily complete service user surveys, provide feedback and participate in events.

Information from our staff

Our staff will create records about you while delivering services, for example by way of notes added to your case file

Information we receive from other sources

Your information may be received by us from third parties, which might include:

agencies who are referring you to us;
professionals and other support agencies, such as health visitors, social care professionals, other voluntary organisations or charities
members of your family who are using Home-Start services

What type of information is collected and used about you?

The information we collect and use will include personal data and sensitive data (known as ‘special category data’ in data protection law).

These records may include the following information relevant to you, your partner and the children you care for and anyone else who is part of your household:

your name and contact details (including postal address, email address and telephone number);
your date of birth;
contact details and background information of other members of your family
your Next of Kin, GP and Health Visitor contact details
contact we have had with you, including home visits
income and financial details
employment information
children’s information may include schools or nursery attended
information from people who are involved with your family, such as; schools, health professionals, social services and relatives and whether any children are subject to child protection/child in need plans or have other assessment needs
information about lawyers or other representatives we may encounter in the delivery of services
any other personal information shared with us.

Data protection laws recognise certain categories of sensitive personal information as ‘special category’ and therefore requiring greater protection, for example information about your health, ethnicity and religion.

We may hold the following types of special category information:

disabilities, special educational needs or health condition
details and records of medical treatment and medications
your race, religion or beliefs or political views
information about an individual’s sex life or revealing an individual’s sexual orientation
criminal convictions that have been committed against an individual or which an individual has committed

How and why is your information used?

We will only collect and use the minimum necessary information needed for us to provide you with our services and for staff to deliver and provide appropriate support to meet your needs.

We use this information only to the extent necessary to provide the services to you that you have requested from us unless there are exceptional circumstances, such as when the health or safety of a child or others is at risk, or other situations where the law requires the disclosure of information.

If you are uncomfortable about disclosing certain information to us or if you have any concerns or queries about why we require certain information, we are happy to discuss this in further detail with you.

We hold and process your data on the basis that you have consented to us doing so (ie the Lawful Basis for our data processing is Consent). You have the right to withdraw your consent at any time, however this may result in our being unable to continue to support you.

Receiving communications from us by Email/text/Phone/Post

We will use the contact details you have provided for us to contact your regarding your support, for instance to update you, make arrangements or change an appointment. We will also contact you with any information we consider may be to your benefit or of interest to you, for example, Home-Start events such as parties and trips.

Where is your information kept and how long is it kept for?

Information is retained in secure electronic and paper records and access is restricted to only those who need to know. Our guiding principle is that we are holding your information in strict confidence and in accordance with the law.

We keep your information for no longer than is necessary for the purposes it was collected for. The length of time we retain your personal information for depends on our requirements to provide our services and run our business or to comply with the law. Case records are generally retained in a secure archive for 1 year after you stop accessing our services, after which time they are deleted. In certain circumstances we may be required to keep records for a longer period, depending on the nature of the case (for example where certain levels of safeguarding plans have been in place we will retain records for 6 years) and whether or not we are subject to separate legal obligations which require us to do this.

Who has access to your information?

We will share your information internally within Home-Start Oldham, Stockport & Tameside on a need to know basis, to ensure we are providing you with a good service. We may also share your personal information with some or all of the following parties, but we will always do this in compliance with data protection law:

other charities and public sector organisations that may have referred you to us, may be providing services to you or that we may be working in partnership with
health and education professionals (such as health visitors or head teachers)
other family members (where you have given consent for this)
local council social work departments
the Police, Courts or Charity Commission
safeguarding bodies and other parties in connection with child or adult protection
lawyers or other representatives that may be acting on your behalf
statutory bodies in connection with legal and formal processes.
third parties working on our behalf (for example, to support our IT systems, or to send you mailings). However, when we use these third parties, we disclose only the personal information that is necessary to deliver the services and we have a contract in place that requires them to keep your information secure and prevents them from using it for their own purposes.

We never disclose any of your information to third parties, other than those detailed above.

We do not share any of your information with third parties for marketing purposes unless you have requested us to do so.

We will only share special category information with other organisations where that is necessary for legal reasons, or where there are other substantial public interest grounds.

Lawful Processing

Data protection law requires us to rely on one or more lawful grounds to process your personal information. We rely upon Specific Consent as our Lawful Basis, ie that you have provided us with explicit and granular consent to hold and process your data.

Your Rights

Under UK data protection law, you have certain rights over the personal information that we hold about you. Here is a summary of the rights that are likely to apply to you when we are processing your personal information.

Right of access

You have a right to request access to the personal data that we hold about you.

You also have the right to request a copy of the information we hold about you, and we will provide you with this unless legal exceptions apply.

If you want to access your information, please contact the address provided below, or telephone or e-mail.

Right to have your inaccurate personal information corrected

You have the right to have inaccurate or incomplete information we hold about you corrected. If you believe any of the information we hold is inaccurate or out of date, please contact us via email, telephone or post (see below).

Right to restrict use

You have a right to ask us to restrict the processing of some or all of your personal information if there is a disagreement about its accuracy, or we are not lawfully allowed to use it.

Right of erasure

You may ask us to delete some or all of your personal information and in certain cases, and subject to certain exceptions; we will do so as far as we are required to by law. In many cases, we will anonymise that information, rather than delete it.

Right to withdraw consent for processing

You have the right to withdraw your consent for us to use your data at any time. However, since this provides our basis for providing you with support, this will mean that we are no longer able to support you. This is your choice at any time, as we are a voluntary support charity and will only support you if you wish to receive support from us.

If you want to exercise any of the above rights, please contact us. We may be required to ask for further information and/or evidence of identity. We will endeavour to respond fully to all requests within one month of receipt of your request, however if we are unable to do so we will contact you with reasons for the delay.

Please note that exceptions apply to a number of these rights, and not all rights will be applicable in all circumstances. For more details we recommend you consult the guidance published by the UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office.

For further information on each of these rights, including the circumstances in which they apply, visit the Information Commissioner’s Office (“ICO”) website at https://ico.org.uk/for-the-public

If you would like to exercise any of the rights, please email, call or write to us using the details in ‘How to contact us’ below, let us have enough information to identify you, let us have proof of your identity and address, and let us know the information to which your request relates.

Keeping your information safe

When you give us personal information, we take steps to ensure that appropriate technical and organisational controls are in place to protect it, such as Firewalls, anti-virus protection and encryption. Home-Start has developed a set of security policies that include device security, authentication requirements, acceptable usage of resources, data storage requirements. We undertake regular reviews of who has access to information that we hold to ensure that your personal information is only accessible by appropriately trained staff, volunteers and contractors, on a need to know basis.

Keeping your information up to date

We take reasonable steps to ensure your information is accurate and up to date. We really appreciate it if you let us know when your contact details change, so that we can keep our records as accurate as possible.

Family members aged 16 or Under

We are concerned to protect the privacy of children aged 16 or under. We will always rely upon the specific consent of a parent or guardian to process any data regarding children under the age of 16. Any information given to us by children under the age of 16 will not be shared without parental consent, except where there is a legitimate safeguarding concern.

Vulnerable circumstances

We are committed to protecting vulnerable supporters, customers and volunteers, and appreciate that additional care may be needed when we use your personal information. In recognition of this, we observe good practice guidelines in our interactions with vulnerable people.

Changes to this notice

Any changes we may make to this privacy notice in the future will be posted on our website so please check the website occasionally to ensure that you’re happy with any changes.

Review of this Privacy Notice

We keep this privacy notice under regular review. This notice was last updated in January 2020.

How to complain

Please report any complaint to the details set out in ‘How to contact us’ below. We hope we can resolve any query or concern you raise about our use of your information. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the ICO who may be contacted at https://ico.org.uk/concerns or telephone: 0303 123 1113.

How to contact us

Please contact us if you have any questions about this Privacy Notice or the information we hold about you as follows:

By email: info@homestarthost.org.uk

By post: Home-Start HOST

Ryecroft Hall

Manchester Road

Audenshaw

M34 5ZJ

By telephone: 0161 344 0669.

Privacy Notice for Families referred to

Dad Matters

(Home-Start HOST)