PRIVACY POLICY

Your Personal Data & Where It’s Stored

When you register with City & Hackney Carers Centre (CHCC), we create a secure and confidential client record for you on our database. Your information may also be stored safely within our protected email and IT systems.

Whether you receive support in person, over the phone, by email or online, our staff will record relevant details, correspondence, and notes about your enquiry in this secure system. We use this information to understand your situation and provide the best possible support.

We process your information under the lawful basis of legitimate interest. This means we collect and use your data to deliver our charitable services and fulfil our aims as an organisation.

If you have been referred by another organisation, they will only share your information with us after obtaining your consent through a referral form.

All CHCC staff and volunteers receive data protection and confidentiality training, ensuring your personal information is always handled with sensitivity and care. We will always explain how and why we use your data.

Information About the Person You Care For

To fully understand your caring role, we may ask for limited personal details about the person or people you care for. We will only record this information with their permission and will never contact them without your agreement. If they do not consent, we can record their details anonymously; however, this may limit the level of support we can provide to you and the person you care for.

How to Access Your Personal Data

If you want to know what personal data we have about you, you can ask us for details of that personal data and for a copy of it (where any such personal data is held). There is not normally any charge for the request, but if your request is excessive for example, if you make repetitive requests, a fee may be charged to cover our administrative costs in responding.

How Long Your Personal Data Will Be Kept

We will keep your personal information for six (6) years after your last contact with us.
If your case has been subject to a serious complaint, insurance claim, or dispute, we may retain it for up to twelve (12) years.
After this time, your information will be securely deleted or anonymised.

How We Use Your Information

The main reason we ask for your information is to help and support to solve your problem. We only access your information for other reasons if we really need to—for example:

for training and quality purposes
to investigate complaints
to get feedback from you about our services
to help us improve our services

When we share your information with other organisations

With your permission, we might share your information with other organisations so we can:

help solve your problem - for example if you ask us to contact your GP, DWP or other relevant agencies we might need to share your name, address and financial details with them.
refer you quickly to another organisation for more advice and/or specialist advice, if relevant.
monitor the quality of our services – such as share your information with the Advice Quality Standard (AQS) assessors for service improvement and quality assurance check.

Depending on the type of service you access, we may share your information with specific organisations or professionals involved in supporting you. This may include social workers, counsellors, advice and information officers, administrative staff, or other health and social care professionals who are directly involved in arranging or delivering your support.

Any organisation we share your data with is required to store and use your information in accordance with data protection law. They are responsible for keeping your information secure and will have their own privacy policies explaining how they handle your data.

Your Rights

Under certain circumstances, you have the right by law to:

Request access to your personal data. This enables you to ask to receive a copy of the personal data that we hold about you and to check that we are lawfully processing it.
Request correction of the personal data that we hold about you.
Request removal of your personal data.
Object to processing of your personal data. You also have the right to object where we are processing your personal information.
Request the restriction of processing of your personal data.
Request the transfer of your personal data to another party.

Changes to Your Personal Data

It is very important that the personal information that we hold about you is accurate and up-to-date. Please tell us if your personal information changes by calling us on 020 3533091 or email info@hackneycarers.org.uk

Summary

We collect personal information to provide you with the best possible support as a carer.
Your data is stored securely, used only when necessary, and never shared without your consent unless required by law.
We are committed to keeping your information safe and handling it with care and transparency.