Privacy Policy

Introduction

Disability Focus respects your privacy and is committed to protecting the personal data we hold about you.

Our Privacy Notice details how and why Disability Focus collect and use your personal data and sets out both our obligations and your legal rights.  Our Privacy Notice applies to personal data which is provided to us, both by individuals themselves or by third parties.

Under the provisions of the Data Protection Act (as amended)  we are required to comply with six key principles which provide that we must at all times:

• hold and use personal data lawfully
• only use the personal data for specific and lawful purposes
• ensure we only hold personal data about you that we really need to
• ensure the personal data we hold about you is correct and up to date
• ensure that we only hold personal data about you for as long as we need to
• ensure that the personal data we hold about you is held securely

Who are we?

Disability Focus is a not-for-profit organisation which has been established since 2007 and is registered with the Charity Commission under number 1118901.

What personal data do we hold and how is it collected?

Personal data, which is also termed personal information, means any information about you which can be used to identify you.  It does not include data where your identity has been removed which is called anonymous data.

Disability Focus will collect Personal Data through various legitimate means and this can include

• by electronic communication. For example: via email or social media platform
• by oral communication either through face to face meetings or via telephone
• by information supplied through our website or portal
• by hard copy communication

Disability Focus may collect, use, store and transfer different kinds of personal data about you in order to assist in the provision of its services to you. These may include:

• Your first name, maiden name, last name, marital status, title, date of birth, next of kin and gender,
• Your home address, email address and telephone numbers
• Your lifestyle information, such as what activities you do, referral information and conviction or offence history
• Your bank account and payment card details, financial needs and circumstances.
• Any information to assist us in providing you with the correct support, advice and guidance within your service.
• Any information to assist relevant investigation and complaint activity, incidents, accidents or safeguarding.
• activities and Equality and Diversity information

Disability Focus may also obtain information about you from other third parties such as family members, local authorities, NHS Trusts and other regulatory bodies.

It is important that any personal information we hold about you is accurate and current. We therefore ask that you always keep us informed if your personal information changes whilst we are providing our services to you.

How will we use your personal data?

Legally, Disability Focus can only use your personal data in the following circumstances;

• Where we need to perform an agreement we have entered into with you.
• Where we need to comply with a legal or regulatory obligation
• Where it is necessary to protect your or someone else’s interests
• Where it is necessary for our legitimate business interests (or those of a third party) and your interests and fundamental rights do not override those interests.

Where you have given us your explicit consent to process your personal data we do not need your agreement to process your personal data.

It is important for you to understand that Disability Focus  may process your personal information without your knowledge or agreement where it is required or allowed by the law to do so.

Who can we share your personal information with?

We may have to share your personal information with other people which we refer to as third parties.  These will include (but are not exhaustive):

• IT and system administration services (including cloud-based systems), maintenance services or utility services on our behalf.
• Professional advisors.
• HM Revenue & Customs, the Charity Commission and other authorities who require reporting of processing activities or access to personal information in certain circumstances

Disability Focus will always require all third parties who process your personal data on its behalf to respect the security of your personal information and to treat it in accordance with their regulatory obligations and only to use your personal information for specific purposes. Where we inform the local authority or NHS Trust about you, who are data controllers in their own right, they must also comply with their regulatory obligations.

International Transfers

We do not currently transfer your personal information outside the European Economic Area (EEA) other than to those countries approved as having adequate protection for the rights and freedoms of individual’s data by the European Commission. If data is transferred to any other countries, we will ensure that we put in place appropriate measures to ensure that we comply with the requirements set out in the Data Protection Act 2018 as well as in the General Data Protection Regulation 2016 (“GDPR”) for overseas transfers.

Information Security

We have put in place appropriate security measures to prevent your personal information from being accidentally lost, used or accessed in an unauthorised way, altered or disclosed. In addition, we limit access to your personal information to those who need to know.

We have established procedures to deal with any suspected personal data breach and will notify you and any applicable regulator of a breach where we are legally required to do so.

Data Retention

Disability Focus will only keep your personal data for as long as it needs to and to fulfil the purposes for which it was collected  and for the purposes of satisfying any legal, accounting, or regulatory requirements.

Disability Focus do need to keep basic information (including contact details, identity, service needs and requirements) in order to comply with both or legal and contractual requirements which will always comply with the Data Protection Act 2018.

Your rights

Under certain circumstances, you may have the following rights under Data Protection legislation in relation to your personal data:

• right to request access to your personal data
• right to request correction of your personal data
• right to request removal of your personal data
• right to object to our processing your personal data
• right to request restriction of the processing of your personal data
• right to request the transfer of your personal data
• right to withdraw your consent.

If you wish to exercise any of these rights please contact the Data Protection Manager

Please be aware that not all of these rights apply in all circumstances – we will explain this to you if applicable following receipt of your request.

Access to your information.

If you would like access to your information, please email, call or write to us using the contact details set out below and provide us with proof of your identify with the request. You also need to tell us specifically what you want, to help us ensure that we provide you with what you have asked for.

If you ask for this information, we will respond to you within one month. We will not charge you a fee for dealing with your request.

Contacting us.

We have appointed an individual, the Data Protection Manager who is responsible for addressing any questions relating to this privacy notice. If you have any questions about this privacy notice, including any requests to exercise your legal rights, please contact them on our main office number.

If you have a complaint.

Should you be unhappy with any aspect of our management of your personal data, you are entitled to make a complaint at any time to the ICO, the UK supervisory authority for data protection issues www.ico.org.uk. We would, however, appreciate the chance to deal with your concerns before you approach the ICO so please contact us in the first instance.