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PRIVACY NOTICE 

Where we ask you to provide us with any information by which you can be identified, you can be assured that it will only be used in accordance with this privacy statement, and in line with UK data protection law which includes but may not be limited to the Data Protection Act 2018, the UK General Data Protection Regulations (UK GDPR) and the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulation (PECR)

A basic understanding of data protection and how it applies to our business

​Link Community Centre CIC is committed to safeguarding the personal information entrusted to us by our clients / service users. This privacy statement outlines the practices we follow in protecting personal information.

This privacy statement applies to Link Community Centre CIC and to any person providing services on our behalf. A copy of this privacy statement is provided to any client on request.

We're committed to protecting your privacy when you use our services. We have a data protection officer who makes sure we respect your rights and follow the law.

If you have any concerns or questions about how we look after your personal information, please contact us at contact@linkcentres.org.

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What is personal information?

Personal information means information about an identifiable individual. This includes an individual’s name, home address and phone number, age, sex, marital or family status, an identifying number, financial information, educational history, etc.

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What personal information do we collect?

We collect only the personal information that we need for the purposes of providing services to our clients, including personal information needed to:

  • Enrol a client in a program

  • Register for a website account or update your account details

  • Sign up for email updates

  • Place orders for free or paid products or services and deliver requested products and services

  • Apply for membership and send out association membership information

  • Contact us, complete surveys or provide feedback.

We inform our clients, before or at the time of collecting personal information, of the purposes for which we are collecting the information. The only time we don’t provide this notification is when a client volunteers information for an obvious purpose (for example, producing a credit card to pay a membership fee when the information will be used only to process the payment).

Consent

We ask for consent to collect, use or disclose client personal information, except in specific circumstances where collection, use or disclosure without consent is authorized or required by law. We may assume your consent in cases where you volunteer information for an obvious purpose.

We assume your consent to continue to use and, where applicable, disclose personal information that we have already collected, for the purpose for which the information was collected.

We ask for your express consent for some purposes and may not be able to provide certain services if you are unwilling to provide consent to the collection, use or disclosure of certain personal information. Where expressed consent is needed, we will normally ask clients to provide their consent verbally (in person, by telephone), or in writing (by signing a consent form).

In cases that do not involve sensitive personal information, we may rely on “opt-out” consent. For example, we may disclose your contact information to other organizations that we believe may be of interest to you, unless you request that we do not disclose your information.

A client may withdraw consent to the use and disclosure of personal information at any time, unless the personal information is necessary for us to fulfil our legal obligations. We will respect your decision, but we may not be able to provide you with certain products and services if we do not have the necessary personal information.

We may collect, use or disclose client personal information without consent only as authorized by law. For example, we may not request consent when the collection, use or disclosure is for an emergency that threatens life, health or safety.

 

Individual and family personal data

Name, address, date of birth, photographs, email, telephone, NHS number, national Insurance number, immigration status, language spoken, education / employment status, benefit entitlement, criminal reports and antecedents, dentist and GP contact details,

details of family relationships, lone parent status, family breakdown and relationships, history of domestic abuse,

school details, pupil ID numbers, legal status, needs, details of siblings, child receiving support for Special educational needs and disability (SEND), information if child is looked after or has special guardianship, adoption information, child identifier, details of care (e.g. dates, reason, category of care), placement details, Unaccompanied Asylum-Seeking Children (UASC) details, Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) score, missing details.

Special category data

Disability, ethnicity, religion, health, including mental health, mental capacity assessments, pregnancy delivery date, smoking status, substance misuse, history of substance misuse, child disability living allowance, gender, ethnic origin code.

 

Why we collect and use information

We use and disclose client personal information only for the purpose for which the information was collected, except as authorized by law. For example, we may use client contact information to deliver goods or services.

Link Community Centre CIC uses your personal data to:

•             provide services, identifying the needs of vulnerable children, young adults, or adults as parents or individuals

•             enable planning for the future and demand management of services required

•             monitor our performance and the quality of the services we provide

•             assess eligibility of parents of early years childcare provision and targeted services, to coordinate and assist entitlement and to identify suitable providers

•             identify need and provide appropriate support for families and contribute to the national evaluation of the The Families First for Children Pathfinder Programme (known as FFC Pathfinder program in Luton)

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An understanding of our role and our relationships under data protection law

We are required to identify a lawful basis with which to process your personal data. For marketing it may be your consent. Sometimes we may have a legal obligation to process personal data.

We also use your information to help us develop products and services that you need, and where we have a lawful basis and permission to contact you, we may use it to help us send you relevant and timely information about the help and support that we offer.

If you visit our offices, we may capture your images on our CCTV systems.

Where Link Community Centre CIC processes your personal data, it may rely upon a contractual obligation and may retain such data for up to 7 years. Link Community Centre CIC may send you marketing communications concerning services and products you have previously purchased or have shown an interest in. You may stop such communications at any time.

 

Why we are allowed to use personal information

Link Community Centre CIC uses your personal data under the following categories:

  • personal data: processing is necessary to achieve the specified purpose for which the information was collected, except as authorized by law and “to safeguard and promote the welfare of children within their area who are in need, by providing a range and level of services appropriate to those children’s needs”.

  • special category data: necessary in the field of social protection, we will rely on substantial public interest in the safeguarding of children and individuals at risk.

 

Where you get people’s information from

We normally collect client information directly from our clients. We may collect your information from other persons with your consent or as authorized by law.

When you contact us by email, letter or on the phone, we may also record this information on our customer relationship management system to help us process your request efficiently.

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How long you keep people’s information

We retain personal information only as long as is reasonable to fulfil the purposes for which the information was collected or for legal or organisation purposes, in accordance with our retention schedule.

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Which organisations you share information with, and why

Link Community Centre CIC will not sell your information to any third party. We may share your personal data with third parties where we have legal duty to do so or to provide you with a service you have asked for. Third parties can be other professionals including but not limited to:

  • Local Safeguarding Children Board (LSCB) and partners

  • Family Partnership Service

  • Youth Partnership Service

  • Luton Family Hubs

  • NHS and Luton health colleagues

  • Police

  • Education providers, including residential

  • Other local authorities with children safeguarding care responsibilities

  • Placement providers, such as foster carers and foster agencies

  • Pre-schools, nurseries

  • Department for Education

  • Department for Works and Pensions

  • HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC)

  • Home Office

  • Ofsted

  • The courts

  • Community and Local Government

  • Other similar organisations

  • Solicitors

Why we share it with them

  • To ensure the safety and wellbeing of children, young adults or vulnerable people.

  • To enable the local council to provide a holistic approach to promoting safeguarding and preventing harm and enable service users to access services across the council’s portfolio.

  • To deliver early year services in partnership with Luton Council.

  • To provide mental health or emotional wellbeing.

  • To ensure adequate data analysis, which in turn enables us to meet our duty to safeguard and promote the welfare of children or vulnerable people through services appropriate to their needs.

We might need to pass the personal data we hold to another similar company if we go out of business.

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If you share personal information overseas

The majority of personal information is stored on systems in the UK. But there are some occasions where your information may leave the UK either in order to get to another organisation such as out of country adoption, placements and safeguarding checks or if it’s stored in a system outside of the EU.

 

If we need to send your information to an ‘unsafe’ location, we’ll always seek advice from the Information Commissioner first.

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Access to your information and your right to complain

You have the right to request a copy of the information that we hold about you, asking for a copy of some or all of your personal information.

You may do this by contacting us using the following details:

  • email office@linkcentres.org

  • write to Link Community Centre CIC, Lower Ground, Aldwyck House, Upper George St, Luton, LU1 2RB

If you are concerned about the way Link Community Centre CIC are processing your personal data, you have the right to complain, contacting us using the details above.

Or you may complain to the regulator of information rights in the UK the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). You can find more details on their website. https://ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint/

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