Statements & policies

Our financial statements and our approach to safeguarding, privacy, accessibility and other important frameworks and standards we work to whilst delivering our services.

Privacy notices

Family Action is committed to protecting your personal data and respecting your wishes and we want you to be confident that we are. We aim to be clear about when we collect your data and not do anything you would not reasonably expect us to do with your personal data. Click below to find out more about our relevant privacy notice.

Volunteer Privacy Notice

Volunteer Privacy Notice

This privacy notice covers the use of your personal data if you are a volunteer at Family Action and our related services.

Family Action is the Data Controller of the data, and processes the data using the legal basis of Legitimate Interest – Where it is necessary for our legitimate interests (or those of a third party). In broad terms our legitimate interest is fulfilling the charitable purpose of the Family Action.

Family Action is required to process information about its volunteers for purposes such as:

  • management and administration,
  • Family Action legal obligations
  • plan and administrate activities
  • taking steps to ensure and monitor compliance
  • with our legal obligations and internal standards and procedures
  • assessing suitability of volunteers for potential roles
  • keeping records of volunteer activities and performance

We take the privacy and security of your information extremely seriously and will only use it in a lawful, fair and transparent manner in order to manage our relationship with you and to ensure the effective running of the organisation.

Information may be collected and used at many stages of your volunteering/employment with Family Action:

  • during the recruitment and selection process
  • to carry out pre-volunteering checks
  • when you join Family Action
  • during the time you volunteer at Family Action
  • at the time when your volunteering role ends
  • after you have stopped volunteering at Family Action.

We use personal information:

  • in order to fulfil our responsibilities to you under your volunteer agreement
  • to comply with legal requirements, such as the health and safety at work legislation
  • in order to pursue our legitimate business interests
  • to perform our rights and obligations in connection with your volunteering role
  • to contact your emergency contact, where necessary and appropriate

If information is not provided by you we may, in some cases, not be able to comply with our obligations. In such circumstances, we will advise you of the implications of your decision.

Where do we obtain your information?

Most of the information we hold about you will be provided by you in the form of application forms, disclosure forms etc. Additional information may be provided by your supervisor, by employees and by external sources such as service users, clients and your referees during the course of your volunteering with us.

What information do we process?

The information held about you may include:

  • your name and contact details
    emergency contact details
    records relating to your volunteer role, such as training records, supervision notes, personal development plans and other performance measures
  • details of your qualifications
  • where appropriate, records of complaints procedures
  • records of your volunteering hours
  • information needed for equal opportunities
  • monitoring
  • employment history
  • your volunteer agreement
  • references
  • details of your bank account (for payment of expenses)
  • correspondence (e.g. Letters confirming changes to your volunteer role
  • DBS details and ID numbers and passport details where required for DBS checks
  • visa details confirming your eligibility to volunteer

You will, of course, be referred to in many Family Action documents and records that are produced by you and your colleagues in the course of carrying out your role and the business of Family Action. Please refer to the Family Action Data Protection Policy and Information Security Policy.

Where necessary, we may keep information relating to your health, which could include records relating to your physical or mental health. This information will be used in order to comply with Family Action’s health and safety and obligations in connection with your volunteering role, so that we can consider how your health may affect your ability to perform your role, and to ensure we are able to support you within your role. We may also use the information to address any complaints by or about you.

We will only process special categories of data relating to your ethnic origin, religion, race and sexual orientation to enable us to monitor equality and diversity.

As an organisation we may process data in pursuit of our legitimate business interests. These include:

  • the detection and prevention of fraud or other criminal activity
  • protecting the security and integrity of Family Action networks and systems
  • detecting and preventing the loss of personal data
    improving employee productivity and performance

Under these legitimate interests we monitor computer and network use in line with the Family Action Information Security Policy. You should therefore be aware that when you are using Family Action telephone and computer systems for your own personal use, such use is not considered to be private.

We will never process your data on this basis where Family Action’s interests are overridden by yours.

Is my data safe?

Family Action takes appropriate precautions to protect the security and integrity of the personal data we hold. Technical and organisational measures have been put in place to protect the information systems on which your data is stored and we require our suppliers and service providers to protect your personal information by contractual means.

Will your information be shared with any other parties?

We will only disclose information about you to third parties if we are legally obliged to do so.

If in future we intend to process your personal data for a purpose other than that which it was collected, we will provide you with information on that purpose and any other relevant information.

Transfer of data to other countries

In limited and necessary circumstances, your personal information may be transferred outside of the European Economic Area (EEA). Where such transfers occur, we will assure that adequate protection exists as required by law.

How long will we keep your data?

Your personal information will be kept on file only for as long as it is required under GDPR, or we are obliged to retain the information by law.

Your Rights

If you have provided consent for the process of your data you have the right (in certain circumstances) to withdraw that consent at any time. To do so, you should contact your supervisor in the first instance or the Data Protection Officer whose details are recorded below. Withdrawing consent will not affect the lawfulness of the processing before your consent was withdrawn.

Under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) you have a number of rights with relation to your personal data.

Access

You have the right to request access to the personal information held about you. To request access, you should send a Subject Access Request (stating what information you would like access to) in writing to the Data Protection Officer whose details are below.

Rectification

It is important that the information we hold about you is accurate and up to date. If you believe that your information is inaccurate you should notify your supervisor in the first instance.

Erasure

In certain circumstances, you have the right to request that we erase information about you from our files and systems. This will only be possible if there is no other legal basis under which we are obliged to keep the information.

Restrict Processing

You may have the right to request that Family Action restrict the processing of your data if you believe the data to be inaccurate, no longer required or processed unlawfully.

Complaints

You have the right to complain to the data protection authorities if you believe that your data is being processed improperly or illegally.

Changes to This Policy

Family Action reserves the right to make changes to this policy from time to time. Where changes are made, the details will be posted on the Family Action intranet. If you do not have access to this, your supervisor will pass on the information.

If you have any questions in relation to any of the above, please contact the Data Protection Officer by email at [email protected] or contact the legal team.

Fundraising and Marketing Privacy Notice

Fundraising and Marketing Privacy Notice

Family Action is committed to protecting your personal data and respecting your wishes and we want you to be confident that we are.  We aim to be clear about when we collect your data and not do anything you would not reasonably expect us to do with your personal data.  This policy is to help you understand what personal data we collect, how we use it and how we store it and applies to our websites, products and the ways in which we interact with our supporters.  A separate Family Action Services Privacy Notice addresses how we handle personal data within our services.

We have reviewed our systems to make it easier for you to choose which communications you receive from us and how you receive them.   If you no longer wish to hear from Family Action by email or post please contact the fundraising team using the details in the “Contact us” section below.

If you would like to know more about how we collect and use your personal data, please click on the headings below for further information.  If you have any further questions, please contact us using the details in the “Contact us” section below.

Any personal data collected will be used and held in accordance with both domestic and EU data protection requirements as dictated by the Data Protection Act 2018, when applicable, the UK & EU GDPR, and any additional or successor legislation or regulation.

Where does Family Action collect my personal data from?

When you provide your personal information directly to us

If you sign up to one of our events, make a donation, purchase a product, or communicate directly with our teams for another reason, whether online, on paper, in person, or over the phone, you will be sharing your personal information with us.

When you provide your personal information through a third-party organisation

Family Action works with other organisations such as JustGiving, London Marathon, Fundraising Event Partners and Corporate Partners, such as organisations who have us as their Charity of the Year.  We work with these organisations to make sure that we can provide the best services and opportunities to those we work with, our supporters, staff and volunteers.

If you provide your personal information to these third parties and indicate that you wish to support Family Action or wish to hear from us such as by supporting an event, signing up to hear from us, or making a donation, the organisation you have contacted may share your details with us (including personal information).  For information about the type of information receive through these third parties, see the section below “What type of information do you collect”.  To learn how these organisations use your personal information, please read their Privacy Policy.

Publicly available personal information

In some circumstances, we may combine information you provide us with personal information available from external sources such as on your employer’s website, in newspaper and magazine articles in the press, or in public records such as Companies House.

This might be in order to provide you with a better experience at Family Action events or to ensure that we are contacting you with information that we feel is relevant to you, or in order that we can provide you with a better and more personal experience in your interactions with Family Action. It also enables us to gain a better understanding of our supporters to improve our fundraising products and services.

If you leave us a legacy and information is required for administration purposes in relation to that legacy, we may refer to publicly available sources in order to obtain the information required for these purposes.

Occasionally we obtain publically available information such as contact information or we research information to help us perform due diligence checks to ensure we are not being abused by fraudsters or criminals posing as genuine donors or to ensure that there are no conflicts of interest from potential supporters or organisations prior to our engagement.  This might be if, for example, we noticed unusual donation activity.  We do these checks to help protect Family Action from abuse. For further information around this please see the marketing section below.

Social media

We may refer to personal information available on and through your social media profiles (such as LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook) in order to provide you with a better and more personal interaction with Family Action. Your personal settings within those social networks and the privacy policies of those websites and messaging services will determine what information you have given us, and others, permission to access. Please check your settings and the privacy policies of those sites if you’re not sure what permissions you’ve given.

When you use our website or apps

So that we can make our website as good as possible, and provide the best possible experience for those who use it, we collect cookies when you use our website.  This can include the pages you visit and areas that are of most interest.  Cookies can also be used to make using the website faster, such as by automatically filling your name and address.  Further information about cookies is set out below and in our cookies policy.

In addition, the type of device you’re using to access our website or apps and the settings on that device may provide us with information about your device, including the type of device it is, what specific device you have, what operating system you’re using, or why a ‘crash’ has happened.  Your device manufacturer or operating system provider will have more details about what information your device makes available to us.

What type of information do you collect and what do you do with it?

The type information (including personal information) that we collect and use and what we do with it will depend upon your relationship with us.

If you are kind enough to support us, such as by making a donation, registering to hold an event or do some fundraising, signing up for an event, the data that we need to collect will vary, but may include:

  • Your name
  • Your contact details, including email, telephone number and postal address
  • Your date of birth
  • Your bank or credit/debit card details and
    (only if we need it, such as if you are taking part in a sporting event), health information.
  • Why you’ve decided to support us or make a donation
  • Details needed for us to provide you materials such as t-shirt size
  • The name and address of your employer, particularly if we are running an event in conjunction with your employer, or your employer is a Corporate Partner of Family Action
  • If an event is being provided by a third party, the name and contact details of that third party supplier
  • Details needed to improve your event experience such as dietary requirements or accessibility needs
  • Invoicing information
  • A declaration from you to enable us to re-claim Gift Aid on your donations.

Do you ever collect sensitive personal information?

We will rarely collect information classified as “special categories of personal data” or “sensitive personal data”, such as information about your race, religious beliefs, political opinions and health information.  We will only do so if there is a clear reason for doing so, such as if you are attending an event and we need your health information to ensure your safety, or to enable you to participate in an event.

If you provide us with your bank or credit card details to process a payment over the telephone or via a postal mailing, we will always ensure that your information is handled securely.  We do not store your credit or debit card details at all following the completion of your transaction. All card details are securely destroyed once the payment or donation has been processed. Only staff authorised and trained to process payments will able to see your card details.

If you make a payment through our website, the payment will be processed through a secure third party such as Stripe or GoCardless and we will not have access to any of your card details.  Your card will be processed in accordance with the policies of the processor providing that service that you will be notified of at the time of making payment and we would refer you to their terms and conditions for further information.

How does Family Action use the personal data it collects?

Family Action uses your personal data in different ways, depending on the nature of our relationship with you.

If you make a donation, register to hold an event or sign up for an event or do some fundraising, we need to collect this data for numerous reasons, in order to

  • provide you with the services, products or information you asked for;
  • administer your donation or support your fundraising;
  • process gift aid;
  • keep a record of your relationship with us;
  • Make sure we know how you prefer to be contacted;
  • Understand how we can improve our services, products or information.

We may also use your data for the following:

Direct Marketing

We will use the details you provide to us to communicate with you about the work we are doing with children and families across the UK, how your support is helping and other ways you can help in the future, such as through volunteering, events or fundraising.  We may also send you appeals asking for a donation to support our work.

We will never send you electronic marketing communications, such as fundraising emails, or contact you by telephone unless we have your express consent that you wish to hear from us in this way.  If you do subscribe to Family Action emails or the e-newsletter, we will understand that you are granting us the right to use that email address for email marketing.

If you don’t currently hear from us by email or receive our e-newsletter and would like to do so, or if you would like to update your preferences, please contact the Fundraising team using the details in the “Contact us” section below.  You can also unsubscribe from Family Action emails by clicking the ‘unsubscribe’ link at the bottom of any of our emails.

We may contact you by post if we believe we have a legitimate interest in doing so and that contacting you in this way will not have unduly adverse consequences for you.  This might be if, for example, you have a history of making donations and have not indicated that you no longer wish to receive these appeals by post.   If you hear from us via the post and no longer wish to do so, please contact us using the details in the Contact us section below.

We are committed to communicating with you in the way you wish us to and we will always respect your privacy. You can change your mind at any time and it is quick and easy to let us know that you no longer want to hear from us by using the contact details in the Contact us section below or by posting us an updated consent form that you may receive in the post.  You can be assured that our staff will deal with any request quickly, sensitively, courteously and professionally.

Personalisation and Profiling

To help us to make sure you’re happy to hear from us and happy with what we send you, we may use the personal information that we have gathered in the course of our relationship to tailor our future communications.  This includes helping us to understand the likelihood of you responding to a fundraising communication from us, potentially donating and in some instances donating or supporting us at a higher level. The greater understanding of you we can obtain from this information, the more personalised and relevant we aim for our communications to be.

We also carry out targeted fundraising activity to ensure that we are contacting you with the most appropriate communication, which is relevant and timely and will ultimately provide an improved experience for you. For example, by providing timely news about our work, letting you know the different ways you can support us and how you can help raise funds.

You can opt out of your personal data being used for profiling. However, this may mean that you stop receiving marketing communications from us or they become more generic and less relevant to you as they are no longer based on your interests in our cause. If you do wish to opt-out please contact us using the details in the “Contact us” section below.

Sharing your Story

To show our funders, partners and supporters the great work that Family Action does, we may share anonymised information about the ways in which a successful fundraiser has been able to help Family Action support young people and their families and the work we have been doing.  We will not share any information which makes you identifiable unless you have given us express consent to do so, or, if someone is under 18, without the consent of their parent or guardian.

When might you give my personal information to another party?

We will never share your information with a third party who intends to use it for their own marketing purposes and there are very limited instances where we will share your personal data with a third party. This could include:

  • If a third party provides a service to us, such as running an event on our behalf or providing an element of a contract for us, such as email distribution, or fulfilling a Christmas card order This would include our trusted partners that work with us in connection with our charitable purposes, entities that act as fundraisers for Family Action, sell Family Action’s products or provide Family Action information and marketing for us
  • to assist with the administration of fundraising. For example, if you have indicated that your employer may be willing to match fund any donations you make to Family Action, we may need to contact your employer
  • for the administration of events. For example, an event venue may require the provision of the names of attendees in advance, for security purposes
  • where there is a legal or regulatory requirement to disclose your personal information such as from HMRC or the courts, we have a genuine and real concern regarding a person’s well-being, or where disclosure is necessary for taxation and criminal investigation purposes
  • where we have your written consent
  • in order to prevent fraud and crime, we may perform due diligence checks to ensure we are not being abused, such as by fraudsters or criminals posing as genuine donors for example money laundering proceeds of crime and tax avoidance. We do these checks to help protect Family Action from abuse.

How do you keep personal information about me safe?

Family Action has a number of steps in place to keep your personal information as safe as possible.  We train all of our staff in data protection and data security to increase awareness of its importance.  We keep our data protection and data security policies and practices under constant review and review the personal data that we hold, where we hold it and what we do with it.

Family Action requires the third parties it works with to comply with data protection laws and puts controls in place to ensure that your information is handled safely and appropriately.

Where is my personal data stored?

Wherever possible, we ensure that your personal data is kept in the UK.  We minimise use of servers outside of the EEA and in some limited instances if we need to transfer your personal information to a third party for processing in countries that aren’t listed as ‘adequate’ by the European Commission we’ll only do so where we have appropriate contracts or other appropriate safeguards in place.

By communicating electronically with us you acknowledge and agree that your data may be processed in this way.

How long will you keep personal information about me?

We will only keep information about you for the length of time it is necessary to do so to engage with you in the way that you have requested and in accordance with our legal requirements and tax and accounting rules.

When your personal data is no longer needed, we will ensure that it is disposed of in a secure manner.  If you would like us to delete any information we hold about you, please contact us using the details in the “Contact us” section below.

How do you protect vulnerable supporters?

Family Action takes into account the needs of any potential donor who may be in a vulnerable circumstance or require extra care and support to make an informed decision. If in any doubt, if any member of Family Action staff knows or has reasonable grounds for believing that an individual lacks capacity to make a decision to donate, a donation will not be taken.

What about children and young persons’ information?

Family Action are committed to protecting the privacy of the children and young people you provide us with information about, whether this be through our website or at fundraising events.

Family Action requires the consent of a parent or guardian before anyone under 16 years of age participates in an event organised by us. Children aged under 13 must obtain the consent of a parent or guardian before providing any personal information.

What if I use other websites linked from Family Action?

Family Action does not have any control over how any third party websites handle and use your data.  Therefore, if you follow any links to third party sites from Family Action websites, you must check the Privacy Policy for that organisation in order to understand how your data could be used.  This policy does not cover third party websites.

What are cookies?

Cookies are small text files which are used by websites to learn about your visit to the site and in some cases to tailor your experience on the website.  We use cookies to improve your experience of using the Family Action website.   Find out more about cookies on www.allaboutcookies.org.  You can turn cookies off on your computer – please check your computer settings for further information.  Turning cookies off could restrict your use of our website.

Some of these cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. The data collected is not shared with any 3rd party. The information we get through the use of these cookies is anonymous and we make no attempt to identify you or influence your experience of the site while you are visiting it. If you do not allow these cookies we will not be able to include your anonymous visit in our statistics.

We use cookies on our site that provide functionality, improve performance, help with behavioural advertising and embedded content. We will use a cookie that stores your font size preferences, which allows us to make the size standard throughout the site and we will use a cookie to remember you acceptance of the cookie banner statement.

Contact with corporate subscribers under PECR?

‘Corporate Subscribers’ are people who Family Action might contact in a professional context, using their work contact details, including phone, email and post.

These contact details may be obtained from public domain sources (company websites etc.), from our own business records or from other companies and business contacts.

Family Action may contact Corporate Subscribers under the legal basis of Legitimate Interests and as permitted under the PECR (2003) legislation.

We may contact corporate subscribers by email or telephone provided that the subscriber has not previously opted out and is not registered with the Telephone Preference Service (TPS) or its corporate equivalent (CTPS).

Direct Mail is not covered by PECR. We may contact subscribers by mail if they have not previously opted out of receiving such communications.

You have a right to object to the processing of your data for direct marketing.

We will provide opt-out notices on our communications to you, or you can advise our team at [email protected].

Family Action understands that PECR (2003) legislation will be replaced by the EU e-Privacy Regulation (ePR) in due course and reserves the right to review this privacy notice accordingly.

What rights do I have in relation to the personal information you hold about me?

The right to see what personal information we hold about you.

If you would like to know if we are processing any of your personal information or to see the personal information that we hold about you, you can make a request by sending a description of the personal information you wish to see and 1 piece of identification, so that we can verify your identity to [email protected] or by writing to the Data Protection Officer at Family Action, Family Action, 34 Wharf Road, London N1 7GR. We will respond within 30 days (and from 25 May 2018, it will normally take us one month to get back to you but could take longer (a further two months) if it’s a complex request or we get a lot of requests at once).

In order to make sure that we only send information to the right person, we cannot provide this information or accept requests via email.

  • You have the right to request access to the data we hold on you
  • You have the right to request any of the following in relation to the personal information we hold
  • to request that we amend personal information that we hold incorrectly
  • To request that we delete the personal information we hold. We will consider any request on a case by case basis
  • for restrictions to be imposed upon how we process your personal information

You may also have the right to object to the way in which we process your personal information;

If you wish to exercise any of these rights or have any questions in relation to any of the above, please contact us using the details in the “Contact us” section below.

Please note that it may take 30 days for your request to be implemented from the date of the request.

Further information in relation to how you can access and change the information any organisation holds about you, see guidance provided by the Information Commissioner here.

Details

Internally

If you would like to complain to Family Action about our handling of your personal data, please contact please contact the data protection officer at [email protected], or by post at Family Action, 24 Angel Gate, London EC1V 2PT or on 020 7241 7608.

To a supervisory authority

If you wish to lodge a complaint or seek advice from a supervisory authority please contact:

The Office of the Information Commissioner
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire SK9 5AF

Tel: +44 (0) 01625 545 745

Website: www.ico.org.uk

Will this policy change?

To make sure that this policy and our practices stay legally compliant and up-to-date, we may make changes from time to time.  If we make any substantial changes, we will make this clear on our website, or by contacting you directly, if appropriate.  To be sure that you don’t miss anything, please check back to this page from time to time.

Contact us

I would like to speak to someone at Family Action about how you collect, use and store my personal data.

If you have any questions, comments, requests or suggestions, please contact the data protection officer at [email protected], by post at:

Family Action
34 Wharf Road
London, N1 7GR

If you would like to change your contact preferences, please get in touch with us at [email protected] or call 020 7241 7608.

Details

We have included a description of how the terms we use are generally interpreted:

  • Apps means an application, like one you’ve downloaded to your mobile or portable device.
  • Family Action means Family Action, the Charity, Registered with the Charity Commission, Charity number 264713.
  • Cookies are small text files which are used by websites to learn about your visit to the site and in some cases to tailor your experience on the website created by a website and stored in the user’s connected device
  • Direct Marketing means advertising or marketing communication (which could be to sell a product or promoting an organisation) that is directed to particular individuals or companies.
  • Model Contracts are standard contractual clauses set by the European Commission. They offer sufficient safeguards to protect people’s privacy, fundamental rights and freedoms when their personal information is moved from within the EEA to outside. The contracts are in compliance with data protection legislation.
  • Personal information means information that identifies you as an individual, or is capable of doing so.
  • Profiling – processing of personal data to evaluate information about an individual
  • Sensitive Personal Data or Special Category Data means data relating to racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs, or trade union membership, and the processing of genetic data, biometric data for the purpose of uniquely identifying a natural person, data concerning health or data concerning a natural person’s sex life or sexual orientation.
Candidates Privacy Notice

Candidates Privacy Notice

This privacy notice covers the use of personal data if you apply for a position at Family Action or one of our services either as an employee or volunteer.
Family Action (Charity No. 264713) will be the controller of the data for the processing described in this notice.

Family Action needs to process the personal information of candidates as part of the recruitment process in order to assess the suitability of candidates for the position applied for and to ensure the safety of the children and adults with whom we work.

We take the privacy and security of your information extremely seriously and will only use it in a lawful, fair and transparent manner in order to manage our relationship with you and to ensure a fair and efficient recruitment process.

Where do we obtain your information?

Most of the information we hold about you will be provided by you in the form of application forms, CV, disclosure forms etc. that you provide as part of your application.

Additional information will be collected throughout the process:

  • During interviews
  • from your referees if you are offered a position
  • from the Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS) as part of our security checks
  • from our digital identity provider (Yoti) as part of our security checks

What information do we process and why?

The information held about you will depend on your individual recruitment process but is likely to include:

  • your name and contact details
  • details of your qualifications
  • employment history
  • correspondence with you throughout the recruitment process
  • information needed for equal opportunities monitoring (gender, ethnicity etc)
  • notes about your interviews with us

If we intend to offer a position we may also collect:

  • references provided by previous employers
  • DBS details and ID numbers and passport details where required for DBS checks
  • Right to Work/Work permit/visa details
  • New Starter’s Form details: National Insurance Number, home address, emergency contact, bank details, tax information
  • information relating to your health and social circumstances if relevant to the position applied for and ensure any reasonable adjustments required are noted.

We will use the information for these purposes:

  • in order to fulfil our obligations to you under your contract of employment or volunteer agreement (GDPR Article 6.1(b))
  • to comply with legal requirements, such as the health and safety at work legislation
    (GDPR Article 6.1(c))
  • in order to pursue our legitimate business interests, to operate the business efficiently and safely and to protect the company from reputational damage.
    Where we do this, we will ensure that your rights to privacy are not impacted.
    (GDPR Article 6.1(f))
  • we may also process information in order to meet our obligations with respect to employment law and safeguarding legislation.
    (GDPR Article 6.1(c))

If information is not provided by you we may, in some cases, not be able to comply with our
obligations. In such circumstances, we will advise you of the implications of your decision.

We will only collect the information required to progress your application at each stage.

Is my data safe?

Family Action takes appropriate precautions to protect the security and integrity of the personal data we hold. Technical and organisational measures have been put in place to protect the information systems on which your data is stored and we require our suppliers and service providers to protect your personal information by contractual means.

Will you share my information with anyone else?

We may disclose information to third party organisations under specific circumstances as listed below. We will only disclose the minimum amount of data necessary to fulfil the purpose of the processing.

Third Party : WR Group Ltd, trading as Webrecruit
Reason: To collect and process applications, as well as to track the applications’ progress.

Third Party: Partner Organisations
Reason: If we are operating a service in partnership with other service providers or the position will involve secondment to another provider.

Third Party: The Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS)
Reason: If the position applied for involves working with children or vulnerable adults or other regulated activity we may be required to obtain information about any criminal convictions you may have.

Third Party: uCheck – our provider for digital DBS checks
Reason: If the position applied for involves working with children or vulnerable adults or other regulated activity we may be required to obtain information about any criminal convictions you may have.

Third Party: Referees
Reason: If we intend to offer a position we will take up references from the referees you have provided.

Third Party: Legal Authorities
Reason: If legally obliged to do so in response to a court order.

Third Party: Yoti Ltd – our provider for the digital Right to Work check and digital identity verification for DBS checks
Reason: If completing a digital Right to Work check and/or digital identity verification for the DBS check.

Transfer of data to other countries

In limited and necessary circumstances, your personal information may be transferred outside of the European Economic Area (EEA). Where such transfers occur, we will assure that adequate protection exists either through appropriate contractual arrangements or as required by law.

How long will we keep your data?

Your personal information will be kept on file during the recruitment process and for up to six months after the recruitment process is completed.

If your application is successful, the data collected will form part of your ongoing employment / volunteer records and will be retained until six years after you cease to work with us.

Your rights

Under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) you have a number of rights with relation to your personal data.

Right To Information

You have the right to be informed about the ways in which your data will be collected and used. This notice has been prepared to provide such information.

Right To Withdraw Consent

In this policy we do not rely on the provision of consent for the processing of your data. However, If you have provided consent for the process of your data you have the right (in certain circumstances) to withdraw that consent at any time.

To do so, you should contact the manager in charge of your recruitment in the first instance or the Data Protection Officer whose details are recorded below.

You should be aware that your withdrawal of consent to processing may mean that we can not consider your application further.

Right To Access

You have the right to request access to the personal information held about you. To request access, you should send a Subject Access Request in writing (stating what information you would like access to) to the Data Protection Officer whose details are below.

Right to Rectification

It is important that the information we hold about you is accurate and up to date. If you believe that your information is inaccurate you should notify your line manager in the first instance.

Right To Erasure

In certain circumstances, you have the right to request that we erase information about you from our files and systems. This will only be possible if there is no other legal basis under which we are obliged to keep the information.

Right To Restrict Processing

You may have the right to request that Family Action restrict the processing of your data if you believe the data to be inaccurate, no longer required or processed unlawfully.

Right to Complain

You have the right to complain to the data protection authorities if you believe that your data is being processed improperly or illegally.

Changes to this policy

Family Action reserves the right to make changes to this policy from time to time. Where changes are made, the details will be posted on the Family Action intranet.
If you have any questions in relation to any of the above, please contact the Data Protection Officer by email at [email protected] or contact the legal team.

Contacting us

Family Action’s data protection team may be contacted at:

Family Action
34 Wharf Road
London, N1 7GR
Tel: 020 7254 6251

Or by email at [email protected]

Services Privacy Notice

Services Privacy Notice

This Privacy Notice is an overarching Notice for users of all Family Action services. All services have separate, specific Privacy Notices which are specific to the service and these can be found on their individual website page or by contacting the service directly.

About Us

Family Action is a registered charity (Charity number 264713) referred to variously in this document as ‘Family Action’, ‘<Service Name>’, Us’ and ‘We’.

Contact with corporate subscribers under PECR

‘Corporate Subscribers’ are people who Family Action might contact in a professional context, using their work contact details, including phone, email and post.
These contact details may be obtained from public domain sources (company websites etc.), from our own business records or from other companies and business contacts.

Family Action may contact Corporate Subscribers under the legal basis of Legitimate Interests and as permitted under the PECR (2003) legislation.

We may contact corporate subscribers by email or telephone provided that the subscriber has not previously opted out and is not registered with the Telephone Preference Service (TPS) or its corporate equivalent (CTPS).

Direct Mail is not covered by PECR. We may contact subscribers by mail if they have not previously opted out of receiving such communications.

You have a right to object to the processing of your data for direct marketing.
We will provide opt-out notices on our communications to you, or you can advise our team at [email protected].

Family Action understands that PECR (2003) legislation will be replaced by the EU e-Privacy Regulation (ePR) in due course and reserves the right to review this privacy notice accordingly.

For the purposes of the data processing described in this statement, Family Action act as the Data Controller unless otherwise stated.

Throughout this Privacy Notice, where we refer to ‘you’, if you engage with us on behalf of your family, we are referring to both you and your family.

Commitment

If you and/or your family use a Family Action service, you can be assured that we are committed to making sure that any information we hold about you will be collected, stored and used in accordance with The Data Protection Act 2018 and General Data Protection Regulation 2016/679 (GDPR). Throughout this Privacy Notice, where we refer to ‘you’, if you engage with us on behalf of your family, we are also referring to your family.

This means that we adhere to the data protection principles of only holding information about you that is relevant to our work with you, that we make sure the information that we hold is accurate, up to date, secure, and only kept for as long as we need it.

Should you have any questions relating to this notice or our processing of personal data, please email [email protected] or contact us at the address below.

Where do we collect your information

We may collect information about you at a number of stages in your use of our service.

Referral

You may be referred to our service by a healthcare professional, social worker or other support organisation that is providing services to you. Where they refer to us they will usually ask for your consent to do so. As part of the referral they may share with us your contact information and the reason for their referral.

If you choose not to participate the referral information will be removed, otherwise it will be added to the information we collect about you as part of providing the service to you.

Registration

When you register with a Family Action service, we may record the basic information we need in order to be able to provide the service and/or contact you. This will include your name, where you live, information about why you are using a Family Action service and the work that we are doing with you.

Data collected from you will be retained while you use our service and may be held for a number of years after you cease using the service for compliance purposes.

During your Engagement with us

Throughout your engagement with us, our service team will record information about the service provided to you, including case reporting, plans and reviews.

We collect this information so that we can keep in touch with you during the course of the work we are doing with you, to work out how best we can help you, to record the work that we have done and to assess how that work has gone. This will help us to fully understand your needs, recommend actions and improve the services that we deliver to you.

Data collected during service delivery will be maintained in your case file for a number of years after you cease using the service for compliance purposes.

When you contact our helplines

If you contact one of our helplines, the helpline team will collect information about your enquiry and the details of your call.

If necessary and with your consent, they may then refer you to another service team to resolve your request.

Calls will also be recorded for training and compliance purposes or to improve our services.

If you make a complaint

If you make a complaint about the services you have received or one of our service team, the details of the complaint will be recorded and processed to investigate and resolve the issue. Information will only be provided to members of the team with a need to know.

What personal information do we record

The type of information (including personal information) that we collect and use and what we do with it will depend upon your relationship with us.
We collect only the personal data that we require to provide you with services, fulfil contracts or keep in touch.

The data we collect enables us to deliver services that are that are most appropriate to your needs. Should you choose not to divulge this information to us, it may affect our ability to provide the service to you.

The data that we need to collect will vary, but may include:

  • Your name
  • Your contact details, including email, telephone number and postal address
  • Your date of birth
  • The details of your family
  • Reason for Referral
  • Photographs (of group sessions and events)
  • Healthcare Information
  • GP Name
  • NI Number
  • NHS Number
  • Employment information, Occupation
  • Social Care History
  • Ethnicity information
  • Disability information
  • Your religion
  • Sexual Orientation
  • Details needed to improve your experience such as dietary requirements or accessibility needs

Special Categories of Data

Due to the nature of the services we provide, some of the data we collect is sensitive.

Information relating to Health, Ethnicity, Religion and Sexual Orientation are considered to be Special Categories of Data and we are required to take extra care when handling this information.

We may need to process this data under the following conditions:

  • With your explicit consent.
  • Where it is necessary in substantial public interest in:
    – Preventing and detecting unlawful acts.
    – Ensuring equality of opportunity and treatment
    – Provision of confidential counselling or support services
    – Safeguarding of children and individuals at risk.
    – Safeguarding of economic wellbeing of at risk individuals

Who Will Have Access to Information About Me?

  • Your information will only be accessed by people who need to do so as part of their role. This could include:
  • Staff working at the service that you use.
  • Staff supporting the delivery of our services.
  • Family Action senior managers (If there is a need to do so).
  • Staff working for our partner organisations where we operate the service as part of a partnership.
  • Our commissioners, on whose behalf we may be running the service you use. Commissioners will check files to make sure that we are providing you with the service that we should be.
  • Regulators (such as OFSTED or CQC), who may review our work in order to ensure that we are doing a good job and keeping clear and accurate records.

We will always respect your privacy, and will seek your permission before sharing your record with any other services that you are working with.

In the following limited circumstances, we may also be obliged to share your information:

  • If we believe you or somebody else could be at risk if we do not do so
  • If we are legally obliged to share your information, such as in response to a court order

How do we use your information

Family Action will only use your information in a fair and transparent manner and where we have a legal basis for doing so.

To keep in contact

In order to provide the services that you have registered for, we will need to communicate with you to arrange meetings and visits and discuss aspects of your requirements.

This communication may be via Mail, Email, Telephone or SMS.

Legal Basis: Performance of Contract

To send you newsletters and information you have requested.

Where we provide an information service we will send you the requested information.

Legal Basis: Performance of Contract

To tell you about events and other services that may be of interest to you

Family Action provide a range of support and advice services throughout the UK.

If we feel that you may be interested in services for which you are not currently registered, we would like to send you this information.

Legal basis: Legitimate Interests

If we do so by email, we will ask for your consent.

Legal Basis: Consent

To provide the services you have agreed to

We will process your personal information in order to provide the services for which you have registered, this may include; providing support, information, social care or specific therapies.

We will use the information to work out how best we can help you, to provide the best possible service to you, and to record the work that we have done and to assess how that work has gone.

Legal Basis: Public Task / Legal Obligation / Legitimate Interests / Performance of Contract

To refer you for services provided by other service providers

If, in the course of our work together, we think that there may be other services that would be of benefit to you we may suggest a referral to those service providers.

We will discuss this with you and seek your consent before sharing your information with anyone else.

Legal Basis: Consent

To publicise the work that we do

Family Action would like to make people aware of the work that we do in the community, this enables us to provide services to more people. We may use anonymised case studies to tell people about our work.

Legal Basis: Legitimate Interests

To provide anonymous reports to our funders and commissioners

Many of our services are funded by other organisations, such as the local authority, government departments, the NHS or national charities. We may use anonymised data and statistics to report to them on the performance of our services.

Legal Basis: Legitimate Interests

Rights

You have the following rights with respect to the data that we hold about you.

Right to access – I would like to see the information you hold about me

If you would like to see the information that Family Action holds about you, please email [email protected] or write to us at the below address.

We will then be able to arrange either for you to either look through your file with a member of staff, or for you to be sent a copy of the information.

Can I see all of the information that you hold about me?

In some circumstances, we may not be able to share the entire contents of your file with you. This could be if, for example, a doctor, has written to us in confidence.

We would not be able to share such information with you unless the person who provided us with the information agreed to do so. We also may not be able to share information with you if we believe that it could seriously harm you to see it.

In order to protect the privacy of others, we may not be able to share information about other people that appears in your file.

Right to rectification – the information you hold about me is incorrect / I would like you to delete the information you hold about me

We would like to ensure that all the information we hold is accurate and up-to-date.

If you believe that the information we hold about you is incorrect please first speak to a member of the service team who support you, they may be able to correct any inaccurate data.

To make a formal request to correct or make any changes to the information, or for us to delete the information we hold about you, please email [email protected] or write to us at the below address.

Each request will be dealt with on a case by case basis.

Once I’ve finished using a Family Action service, what happens to my files?

Once you’ve finished using a Family Action service, your file will be closed. We will then archive your file and keep it in accordance with our data retention policy and legal and compliance requirements. We will not keep your file for longer than it is needed.

Once your file is no longer required, it will be securely disposed of. You can request access to the file at any point prior to its destruction.

In some circumstances, where Family Action are providing a service on behalf of another organisation, control over the retention and destruction of those fills will fall to that organisation and be dependent upon their own policies and procedures.

I am not happy with how my information is stored, or with what is in my file

If you are unhappy with any aspect of how your file is held, who sees it, or the contents of it, please contact [email protected] or follow the Family Action Complaints Procedure.

For further information in relation to this, click here, or speak to the manager of the service you have been using.

You can also complain to the Information Commissioner at: Information Commissioner, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, SK9 5AF, or on 01625 545 745.

Changes

Family Action reserves the right to make changes to our privacy policy from time to time. Where we do so, we will publish the new policy on our website www.family-action.org.uk and where appropriate notify you by email.

Contact

Should you wish to contact us, our registered address is:

Family Action
34 Wharf Road
London, N1 7GR

Or you can contact our data protection team on [email protected]

FOOD Club Privacy Notice

Data Protection and Confidentiality

For the purposes of the data processing described in this statement and compliance with the Data Protection Act (2018), the Family Action operate as Controllers of the data.

Commitment

Family Action is committed to making sure that any information we hold about you and your child(ren) will be collected, stored and used in accordance with The Data Protection Act 2018 – GDPR is still a legal requirement despite Brexit.

This means that we adhere to the data protection principles of only holding information about you that is relevant to our work with you, that we make sure the information that we hold is accurate, up to date, secure, and only kept for as long as we need it.

To keep things simple, we have arranged a single point of contact for all data protection issues. Should you have any questions relating to this notice or our processing of personal data, please email [email protected] or contact us at the address at the bottom of this form.

Where do we collect your information?

We may collect information about you at a number of stages in your use of our services.

Registration/Referral Form

When you apply for the FOOD Club (Food On Our Doorstep) or if someone refer(s)/register(s) you for our services, we will ask people contacting our service for the first time to give their permission for us to collect and access their information and speak with professionals on their behalf this may include but is not exhaustive the following listed below:

  • Department for Work and pensions
  • HMRC
  • Jobcentre Plus
  • Other Advice services
  • Council Tax and council benefits
  • Universal Credit
  • Utility Companies –gas, electric, water
  • TV Licensing
  • Courts and Tribunals Services
  • Solicitors
  • Landlords – Registered Social Landlords, occasionally private landlords
  • Other voluntary/ charitable organisations
  • Statutory sector- Health/ Adult & children’s safeguarding and other local authority departments
  • Charitable trusts and grant providers
  • OISC or AQS auditors reviewing files as part of any Quality Audits

During your engagement with us

Throughout your engagement with us, our service team will record information about the service provided to you, including your personal circumstances (both monetary and physical). This will help us to fully understand your needs and provide a more complete service to you.

What personal information do you record?

The type of information (including personal information) that we collect and use and what we do with it will depend upon your relationship with us.

We collect only the personal data that we require to provide you with services, fulfil contracts or keep in touch.

  • Ensure staff are aware of food allergies.
  • Check that members of the public are signed up members of the scheme.
  • Produce anonymised reports of the number of people accessing the scheme.
  • Produce anonymised reports of the income of the people accessing the scheme.

At no point will you or your family’s data be shared with any third parties without your prior consent.

If you stop accessing the scheme, your details will be deleted from all systems and your original paper membership forms will be deleted in line with Family Action Retention policy (normally 12 months after your departure date to the scheme).

Information about you:

Name & Address
Contact Information (email / telephone)
Date of Birth/Age
Marital Status
Employment Status
Household Income
Name of employee (verification purposes)
Benefits (Tax credits) etc.
*Disability Information
*Health Information (including Allergies)
*Ethnic Origin
*Language Spoken

Information about your family/child(ren):

Name & Address
Gender
Date of Birth/Age
*Disability Information
*Ethnic Origin
*Language Spoken
*Health Information (including Allergies)
*Disability Information
Services provided

* Special Categories of Data

Due to the nature of the service we provide, some of the data we collect is sensitive. Information relating to Health, Ethnicity and any particular dietary or health requirements you or your child(ren) may have. These are considered to be Special Categories of Data and we are required to take extra care when handling this information.

How Do We Use Your Information?

We will only use your information in a fair and transparent manner and where we have a legal basis for doing so.

To Provide the Services You Have Agreed To

In order to provide the services that you have requested, we will need to communicate with you the timings of FOOD Club opening times and to discuss aspects of your requirements.

This communication may be via Mail, Email, Telephone or SMS.

We may also need to record the details of the services delivered and any further needs that have been identified.

Legal Basis: Legitimate Interests

Special Category Condition: Explicit Consent

For safeguarding and where legally obliged to do so

All staff at Food On Our Doorstep have a duty of care to safeguard and promote the welfare of children, young and vulnerable people.  We have a duty to report any child protection or welfare concerns.

In certain, limited conditions we may use or disclose your personal information in order to comply with a legal obligation, in connection with a request from a public or government authority, in connection with court proceedings or to prevent loss of life or injury.

Where possible and practical to do so, we will tell you in advance of such disclosure.

Legal Basis: Legal Obligation

Special Category Condition: Performance of Obligations under Social Care Law

Sharing & Disclosure

Your information will only be accessed by people who need to do so as part of their role. This could include:

  • Within the FOOD Club (Family Action):
  • Staff working at the FOOD club that you use
  • Senior managers, as required
  • Outside of the Service:OISC or AQS auditors reviewing files as part of any Quality Audits
  • Any other organisation that we will need to contact on your behalf.

Rights

The GDPR legislation provides you with a number of rights in relation to your personal data.

Right to Withdraw Consent

Where you have consented to our processing of your data, you have the right to withdraw that consent at any time. To do so, please contact [email protected] or write to us using the details below.

Right to Access

You have a right to obtain copies of the information that we hold about you.

To request access to any data, please email [email protected]  or write to us at the address below explaining which data you require.

In the interest of security, you will need to prove your identity before any information can be shared with you.

Under certain circumstances we may not be able to disclose all of the information you request, for example if it contains information about other people or there are legal reasons for us to withhold the data.

Right to Rectification

We would like to ensure that the data we hold about you is accurate and up-to-date. If you believe the data we hold is inaccurate, please tell one of our service staff who will make any necessary amendments. However, you may also ask us formally to correct your data by emailing [email protected]  or writing to us at the below address.

Right to Erasure or the Restriction of Processing

In certain circumstances you can ask us to remove your data from our systems by emailing [email protected] or writing to us at the below address. If there is a legal reason for us to continue holding the data we will let you know, otherwise we will make efforts to comply with your request. You may ask us to restrict our processing of your data if:

  • We are using the data for marketing
  • You believe that our processing of the data is unlawful
  • You object to us using your data (pending investigation)

In these circumstances, we may continue to store your information, but will otherwise only process it with your consent or where we have a legal reason to do so.

Right to Complain

If you are concerned about the way we have processed your personal information, you have the right to complain to the Information Commissioners Officer (ICO).

To do so please refer to the ICO website http://ico.org.uk

Changes

Food On Our Doorstep (Family Action) reserves the right to make changes to our privacy policy from time to time. Where we do so, we will publish the new policy on our website www.family-action.org.uk  and where appropriate/possible notify you by email.

Contact

Should you wish to contact us, our registered address is:34 Wharf RoadLondon, N1 7GR
Or contact our data protection team on [email protected]

NSBP Privacy Notice

National School Breakfast Programme Privacy Notice

Family Action is a registered charity registered with the Charity Commission (Charity number 264713) and will be the data controller for all data processing activities covered in this notice.

Our Commitment

Family Action is committed to protecting your personal data and respecting your right to privacy and security. We want you to be clear about when we collect your data and not do anything you would not reasonably expect us to do with your personal data. This policy is to help you understand what personal data we collect, how we use it and how we store it and applies to our websites, products, services and the ways in which we interact with you. A separate Family Action Services Privacy Notice addresses how we handle personal data within our services.

Family Action adheres to the requirements of the Data Protection Act (2018) and the General Data Protection Regulation 2016/679 (GDPR).

Should you have any questions relating to this notice or our processing of personal data, please email [email protected] or contact us at the address below.

Where does Family Action collect my personal information from?

Most of the information we hold and process will have been provided by you:

When you provide your personal information directly to us

If you sign up to one of our training events, request some information, purchase a product, or communicate directly with our teams for another reason, whether online, on paper, in person, or over the phone, you will be sharing your personal information with us.

When you provide your personal information through a third-party organisation

For example, if a third party provides us with your details as part of your relationship with them, or when we are commissioned to deliver training and your name and details are sent as part of an attendance list.

Publicly available personal information

If your contact details are recorded online in a public website, or included in other open sources of public information, such as Freedom of Information Act requests

What type of information do you collect?

The type of information (including personal information) that we collect and use and what we do with it will depend upon your relationship with us.

We collect only the personal data that we require to provide you with services, fulfil contracts or keep in touch.

The data that we need to collect will vary, but may include:

  • your name
  • your contact details, including email, telephone number and postal address
  • your date of birth
  • your bank or credit/debit card details and details needed to improve your event experience such as dietary requirements or accessibility needs
  • invoicing information
  • for corporate contacts -details of the company you work for / your employer

How do you use my information?

Family Action will only use your information in a fair and transparent manner and where we have a legal basis for doing so.

With your Consent

Where you have consented for us to do so, we will use your data to:

  • contact you about a service you or the organization you work for offers, or send you information about Family Action and our services that you have expressed an interest in or we think may be of interest to you.
This may be by mail, email, telephone or SMS, but we will offer you the chance to opt in or out of receiving these messages
  • direct marketing (if you requested to be added to a list)
  • sending you relevant information e.g. about legislative changes, research etc.
  • preparing conference packs
  • arrange training, workshop and conferences
  • prepare attendance certificates and analyse evaluations

In order to perform our obligations in a contract that we hold with you

We may use and process your personal data where it is necessary for the performance of a contract or agreement that we have with you (For example where you have signed up to participate in a programme, a workshop or training course) to:

  • run our programme, training, workshops and conferences
  • process payments
  • provide you with the services, products or information you asked for (including consultancy work)
  • keep a record of your relationship with us;
  • make sure we know how you prefer to be contacted

For our own Legitimate Interests or those of our clients and customers

Family Action have legitimate interests in:

  • providing or offering services to those who have expressed an interest in receiving them
  • evaluating and obtaining feedback in relation to our services
  • operating our business efficiently
  • marketing our services to potential customers
  • ensuring the safety and security of our staff and customers
  • informing our commissioners about the performance of our services

In pursuit of these interests we may:

  • send you information regarding our services
  • ask you to give feedback on your or your organisation’s use of our services
  • provide information about similar products and services that may be of interest
  • provide summarized information about our services to the organization that commissioned us
  • to keep you informed about programmes, courses workshops and conferences that are relevant to you
  • recruit staff, associate trainers and volunteers
  • communicate about our products and services with other businesses and organisations.

When Legally Obliged to Do So

Under certain, limited conditions we may be obliged by law to disclose data to the relevant authorities for example

  • keeping financial records
  • public interest /safeguarding concerns about a vulnerable child or vulnerable adult

Sharing Data with Third-Parties

We will never share your information with a third party who intends to use it for their own marketing purposes and there are very limited instances where we will share your personal data with a third party.

This could include:

  • if a third party provides a service to us, such as running an event or programme on our behalf or providing an element of a contract for us, such as email distribution
  • for the administration of events. For example, an event venue may require the provision of the names of attendees in advance, for security purposes
  • where there is a legal or regulatory requirement to disclose your personal information such as from HMRC or the courts, we have a genuine and real concern regarding a person’s well-being, or where disclosure is necessary for taxation and criminal investigation purposes
  • in order to prevent fraud and crime, we may perform due diligence checks to ensure we are not being abused, such as by fraudsters or criminals posing as genuine donors for example money laundering proceeds of crime and tax avoidance. We do these checks to help protect Family Action from abuse.
  • when we share data, we will only do so where there is an appropriate contract in place to ensure confidentiality and protect your rights.

How do we keep your data secure?

Family Action has a number of steps in place to keep your personal information as safe as possible.

  • we train all of our staff in data protection and data security to increase awareness of its importance
  • we keep our data protection and data security policies and practices under constant review and review the personal data that we hold, where we hold it and what we do with it.
  • Family Action requires the third parties it works with to comply with data protection laws and puts controls in place to ensure that your information is handled safely and appropriately.

Where is my personal data stored?

Wherever possible, we ensure that your personal data is kept in the UK. We minimise use of servers outside of the EEA and in some limited instances if we need to transfer your personal information to a third party for processing in countries that aren’t listed as ‘adequate’ by the European Commission we’ll only do so where we have appropriate contracts or other appropriate safeguards in place.

By communicating electronically with us, you acknowledge and agree that your data may be processed in this way.

How long will you keep personal information about me?

We will only keep information about you for the length of time it is necessary to do so to engage with you in the way that you have requested and in accordance with our legal requirements and tax and accounting rules. When your personal data is no longer needed, we will ensure that it is disposed of in a secure manner. If you would like us to delete any information we hold about you, please contact us using the details in the “Contact us” section below.

Your Rights

The GDPR legislation provides you with a number of rights in relation to your personal data.

Right to Withdraw Consent

Where you have consented to our processing of your data, you have the right to withdraw that consent at any time. To do so, please contact [email protected] or write to us using the details below.

Right to Access

You have a right to obtain copies of the information that we hold about you.

To request access to any data, please email [email protected] or write to us at the address below explaining which data you require. In the interest of security, you will need to prove your identity before any information can be shared with you.

Under certain circumstances we may not be able to disclose all of the information you request, for example if it contains information about other people or there are legal reasons for us to withhold the data.

Right to Rectification

We would like to ensure that the data we hold about you is accurate and up-to-date. 
If you believe the data we hold is inaccurate, please tell us in the first instance. However, you may also ask us formally to correct your data by emailing [email protected] or writing to us at the below.

Right to Erasure or the Restriction of Processing

In certain circumstances you can ask us to remove your data from our systems by emailing [email protected] or writing to us at the below address. If there is a legal reason for us to continue holding the data we will let you know, otherwise we will make efforts to comply with your request.

You may ask us to restrict our processing of your data if:

  • we are using the data for marketing
  • you believe that our processing of the data is unlawful
  • you object to us using your data (pending investigation)

In these circumstances, we may continue to store your information, but will otherwise only process it with your consent or where we have a legal reason to do so.

Right to Complain

If you are concerned about the way we have processed your personal information, you have the right to complain to the Information Commissioners Officer (ICO). To do so please refer to the ICO website.

Contact with Corporate Subscribers under PECR

‘Corporate Subscribers’ are people who Family Action might contact in a professional context, using their work contact details, including phone, email and post.

These contact details may be obtained from public domain sources (company websites etc.), from our own business records or from other companies and business contacts.

Family Action may contact Corporate Subscribers under the legal basis of Legitimate Interests and as permitted under the PECR (2003) legislation.

We may contact corporate subscribers by email or telephone provided that the subscriber has not previously opted out and is not registered with the Telephone Preference Service (TPS) or its corporate equivalent (CTPS).

Direct Mail is not covered by PECR. We may contact subscribers by mail if they have not previously opted out of receiving such communications.

You have a right to object to the processing of your data for direct marketing.

We will provide opt-out notices on our communications to you, or you can advise our team at [email protected].

Family Action understands that PECR (2003) legislation will be replaced by the EU e-Privacy Regulation (ePR) in due course and reserves the right to review this privacy notice accordingly.

Links

Family Action does not have any control over how any third-party websites handle and use your data. Therefore, if you follow any links to third party sites from Family Action websites, you must check the Privacy Policy for that organisation in order to understand how your data could be used. This policy does not cover third party websites.

Changes to our Privacy Policy

To make sure that this policy and our practices stay legally compliant and up-to-date, we may make changes from time to time. If we make any substantial changes, we will make this clear on our website, or by contacting you directly, if appropriate.

Contact Details

If you would like to speak to someone at Family Action about how you collect, use and store my personal data.

If you have any questions, comments, requests or suggestions, please contact the data protection officer at [email protected], by post at Family Action 34 Wharf Road  London, N1 7GR or on 020 7241 7608. If you would like to change your contact preferences, please get in touch with us at: [email protected] or telephone 020 39287228

PARCS Privacy Notice

PARCS Privacy Notice

Portsmouth Area Rape Counselling Service (PARCS, part of Family Action) is a registered charity (Charity Commission number 264713) and will be the data controller for all data processing activities covered in this notice.

Our Commitment

PARCS/Family Action is committed to protecting your personal data and respecting your right to privacy and security. We want you to be clear about when we collect your data and not do anything you would not reasonably expect us to do with your personal data. This notice is to help you understand what personal data we collect, how we use it and how we store it.

PARCS/Family Action adheres to the requirements of the Data Protection Act (2018), UK GDPR and the General Data Protection Regulation 2016/679 (GDPR).

Should you have any questions relating to this notice or our processing of personal data, please email [email protected] or contact us at 34 Wharf Road, London N1 7GR.

Under the Data Protection Act (2018), Family Action are registered with the Information Commissioner to process personal information and we act as data controllers. We will only process information for the purpose for which it was provided and in accordance with the regulations in the Act and our joint control agreement.

It is the nature of the work we do that we may need to collect sensitive information regarding health, social circumstances or ethnicity referred to as ‘special category data’ in data protection law. Wherever such data is processed we will seek your explicit consent to process this. You have the right to withdraw your consent to this processing at any time, however, if consent is withdrawn this may affect the planning of services to support and improve outcomes for you and your family.

When do we collect your information?

We may collect information about you at a number of stages in your use of our service for example at referral, initial assessment and review.

What personal information do we record?

Throughout your engagement with us, our team will record information about you along with the information you choose to share.

The information we collect from you will include:

Information about you

Name & Address

Contact Information (email / telephone)

Date of Birth

Gender

Health Information/Medical History*

Medical History – physical and Mental*

*Prescribed Medication*

Ethnic Origin*

Sexuality*

Relationship status*

Religion (or belief system)*

Other Service Involved/Services provided

Reason for contact with PARCS*

Session Notes

Issues/Concerns

Occupation

Education

Information about your child(ren):

Name & Address

Contact Information (email / telephone)

Date of Birth

Gender

Health Information/Medical History*

Medical History – physical and Mental*

*Prescribed Medication*

Ethnic Origin*

Sexuality*

Relationship status*

Religion (or belief system)*

Other Service Involved/Services provided

Reason for contact with PARCS*

Session Notes

Issues/Concerns

Occupation

Education

* Special Categories of Data – due to the service we provide, some of the data we collect is sensitive. Information relating to Health, Ethnicity and any specific requirements you may have are considered ‘Special Categories of Data’, we are required to take extra care when handling this information.

 

Information about you from others

We also collect personal information about you when it is sent to us from the following:

  • Adult and Children’s’ Services – Local Authority
  • Mental Health Services
  • GP
  • Police, Probation and Sexual Assault Referral Centres
  • Other support services

Who do we share your information with and why?

Within the service your records will be accessible by staff/volunteers for the purposes of:

  • Administration – our team may use your records to make contact with you, for example to schedule your sessions.
  • Supervision – workers may discuss their work with their peers, manager and clinical supervisor. This is to ensure that the counsellor has adequate support and follows good practice
  • Quality Assurance and audit – PARCS/Family Action may look at records to ensure that the service is working in line with legislation and the standards required by our regulators and commissioners.
  • Investigation of complaints or allegations

We will not share any information about you outside of PARCS at Family Action unless it is necessary to:

  • prevent serious physical harm to a person
  • prevent loss of human life
  • protect public health (e.g. notification of a disease)
  • safeguard vulnerable adults or children (including unborn children)
  • respond to an emergency
  • protect national security (e.g. concerns of terrorist activity)
  • fulfil an obligation which requires us by law to share information e.g.
  • for a Child Practice Learning Review (previously known as Serious Case Review)
  • in response to a request from the Crown Prosecution service for information to support a prosecution
  • in response to a request from the Police for information to support a criminal investigation or to enable public protection

In these circumstances we would share only the information necessary and would usually inform you of the need to share information, unless doing so would put you or others at greater risk of serious harm.

Retention

Information we hold about you will be held for 7 years after your final contact with PARCS, with some exceptions, please see below:

Adults Requests for Support, Service Users Records, Safeguarding Referrals

7 Years from date of application to use the service

After 7 years – Destroy Data

Records of concern in relation to potential historic child abuse allegations

Retain on file until client is 75yrs

After 75 years – Destroy Data

Children’s Requests for Support, Service Users Records

7 Years from date of application to use the service

After 7 years – Destroy Data

Child Protection

Retain on file until client is of normal retirement age

After 68 years – Destroy Data

Exceptions

There are some situations where records need a longer retention period. For example, if:

  • the records provide information about a child’s personal history, which they might want to access at a later date – (this can be related to some of the PARCS services)
  • the records have been maintained for the purposes of research
  • the information in the records is relevant to legal action that has been started but not finished
  • the records have been archived for historical purposes (for example if the records are relevant to legal proceedings involving the organisation)

Sharing & Disclosure

Your information will only be accessed by staff who need to do as part of their role.

Within Family Action:

  • Staff working at  PARCS
  • Senior managers, (as required)

Outside of the service

  • Sensitive personal data will it will not be shared with anyone outside of Family Action without good reason.
  • Legal Basis on which your Data will be processed:
  • Legal Basis: Legitimate Interests – Article 6 (f) – Processing is necessary for the purposes of legitimate interest pursued by the controller or by a third party.
  • Special Category data: – will be processed under Article 9 (g) – Processing is carried out for Reasons of substantial public interest (with a basis in law)
  • Substantial public interest condition set out in DPA 2018 – Condition 18. Safeguarding of children and individuals at risk

How we store your personal information

Written notes may either be securely filed in a locked filing cabinet (or equivalent) and/or stored in an electronic storage form.

Laptops/Computers:  Information about you in electronic files and data systems that are password protected.

Mobile phone: We store your contact telephone number in order to make contact with you throughout the time that you are accessing the services provided by PARCS, if you have given us permission to contact you in this way. We use Family Action mobile phones that are passcode protected.

Email: our email address will be stored and used for contacting you in relation to your referral and work with PARCS, if you have given permission for us to contact you in this way.

Website: PARCS/Family Action website uses cookies. We cannot use this information to find out further personal information about you.

Contacting and Communication

We are obliged to protect any confidential information we hold about you and we take this very seriously, it is imperative that you let us know immediately if you change any of your contact details.

We may contact you using text messages to your mobile phone in the event that we need to notify you about appointments and other services, if we have your consent.  It is important that we have your up-to-date details, this is to ensure that we are contacting you and not another person.

Rights

The GDPR legislation provides you with a number of rights in relation to your personal data.

Right to Withdraw Consent

Where you have consented to our processing of your data, you have the right to withdraw that consent at any time.

Right to Access

You have a right to obtain copies of the information that we hold about you. In the interest of security, you will need to prove your identity before any information can be shared with you. We may not be able to disclose all of the information you request, for example if it contains information about other people or there are legal reasons for us to withhold the data.

Right to Rectification

We try to ensure the data we hold about you is accurate and up-to-date. If you believe our data is inaccurate, please tell one of our staff who will make any necessary amendments.

Right to Erasure or the Restriction of Processing

In certain circumstances, you can ask us to remove your data from our systems.

Right to Complain

If you are concerned about the way we have processed your personal information, you have the right to complain to the Information Commissioners Officer (ICO).  To do so please refer to the ICO website.

Please contact [email protected] if you have any queries regarding data.

City and Hackney Neighbourhoods MDT Privacy Notice

City and Hackney Neighbourhoods MDT Privacy Notice

Background

The primary purpose of the Neighbourhood Team is to bring organisations and services together to provide the best care possible for you. We have 8 Neighbourhoods in City and Hackney who are improving the way care is provided in the community.

These 8 Neighbourhoods are:

  • Clissold Park Neighbourhood
  • Woodberry Wetlands Neighbourhood
  • Hackney Marshes Neighbourhood
  • Well Street Common Neighbourhood
  • Hackney Downs Neighbourhood
  • Springfield Park Neighbourhood
  • London Fields Neighbourhood
  • Shoreditch Park & The City Neighbourhood

More information on Neighbourhoods can be found here.

In order to do this, we need to collect, store and share information about you.

This privacy notice is designed to explain what happens to any personal data that you give any one of our partner organisations within the team, or any information concerning you that they have collected. This includes how your data is held and/or processed by us.

This notice includes

  • Who we are, how we use your information and why
  • The kinds of information we hold and process
  • The legal grounds for processing your personal data, including when it is shared with others
  • The length of time that your information is stored and retained by us
  • Information about your rights under the 2018 Data Protection Act incorporating the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR)
  • Information about our Data Protection Officer and Caldicott Guardian how to contact them

Who are we?

The Neighbourhood team consists of:

  • Representatives of any of the 41 GP Practices in the City of London and London Borough of Hackney
  • Community health services for City of London and Hackney delivered by Homerton University Hospital (Adult Community Nursing and Adult Community Therapies)
  • Adult Social Care services in the City of London and the London Borough of Hackney
  • Mental health services for City of London and Hackney delivered by East London Foundation Trust
  • Social prescribers across the City of London and Hackney delivered by Family Action.
  • City Connections (delivered by AgeUK) in City of London

Under the 2018 Data Protection Act, each member of the Neighbourhood Team is known as the Data Controller for the data that it holds on you. As such, we are responsible for keeping your data up to date and accurate, as well as storing it and sharing it securely.

If you have a question or a problem, please contact the relevant Neighbourhood team in the first instance (details below). The Act stipulates also that public sector organisations should provide access to an independent Data Protection Officer and these contact details are provided in the summary below.

About the information we hold on you

Each organisation keeps data on you relating to who you are, where you live, your contact details. They may also hold details of any employment, your family, possibly your employers, your habits, your health problems and diagnoses, the reasons you seek help, your appointments, if you have a carer, and a record of where and when you had contact with that organisation, who by, referrals to specialists and other health and social care providers, tests carried out there and in other places, investigations and treatments and outcomes of treatments, your treatment history, the observations and opinions of other health and social care workers, as well as comments and aide memoires reasonably made by healthcare professionals in this practice who are appropriately involved in your care. All of this data helps us in providing you with the best possible care.

All health and social care-data is seen as ‘special category’ or ‘sensitive data’ under the 2018 Data Protection Act which means that it is shared and processed with particular care. This applies to your data whether it is in electronic formats or on paper.

Why we hold and process your data

The Neighbourhood Team holds and processes your data in order to provide you with direct care. The members of the team meet regularly to discuss how they might together provide you with a care package that best meets a number of needs at once. These meetings are known as Multi-Disciplinary Meetings.

Who we share Information with

Each partner organisation, separately, cannot meet all of your needs and there will be times also when your data will need to be made available to other organisations outside of the core team.

Details of these organisations and the purpose for sharing your information will be made clear to you on each occasion. The Neighbourhood Team will only share the minimum information necessary to fulfil the specific purpose .

Once you have seen any outside care provider, they will normally send us details of actions they have taken and the care they have provided.

The Neighbourhood Team has an overriding responsibility to do what is in your best interests under the 2018 Data Protection Act ‘in performance of a public task’ (see legal bases in the summary below).  Each employee of  the Neighbourhood Team (e.g. clinicians, social workers, administrators and reception staff) will only access the information they need to allow them to perform their function and fulfil their roles. The summary also contains details of your rights in relation to your data under the Act and how to exercise them.

Your data is NOT shared for any marketing purpose.

Communication with you

The Neighbourhood team will use your contact details in order to inform you of progress in your care and to work with you in managing any specific issue.

Because we can communicate and get data to you more quickly and more securely, we prefer to use email and text messaging services. Please ensure that we have your current email address and mobile telephone so that we can do this.

Safeguarding

The Neighbourhood Team is dedicated to safeguarding all the people it comes in contact with, including children and vulnerable adults. This means that information will be shared by the members of the team in their best interests.

The duty to share data for the benefit and protection of individuals is even more important than the duty to protect confidentiality and actions taken as a result of safeguarding concerns will override data protection.

Research and Planning

The Neighbourhood Team does not take part in research.

Anonymised or pseudonymised data held by the Neighbourhood Team may also be used to evaluate the services that provide care to you or to plan future ones across the local area as well as the City of London and London Borough of Hackney.

How is your information transferred and stored?

Members of the Neighbourhood Team each stores information upon you within their own secure systems. Information may be shared between the members via the East London Patient Record, by secure email or paper referral form.

How long is the information retained?

The Neighbourhood Team does not retain your data in any specific system, however, information about you is retained by each Neighbourhood Team member within its own systems and is subject to its own data retention regulations and policies. Please contact the individual organisation concerned for details.

Summary

Data Controller

Each individual organisation remains a data controller

Data Protection Officer

Miles Dagnall: [email protected].

Purpose of Processing your personal information

To provide individuals and families in the Neighbourhood Team area with integrated direct care.

Lawful Basis for Processing your personal information

The processing of personal data in the delivery of direct care and for providers’ administrative purposes in this surgery and in support of direct care elsewhere is supported under the following Article 6 and 9 conditions of the GDPR:

Article 6(1)(e) ‘…necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority…’.

Article 9(2)(h) ‘necessary for the purposes of preventative or occupational medicine for the assessment of the working capacity of the employee, medical diagnosis, the provision of health or social care or treatment or the management of health or social care systems and services…”

Under the Common Law Duty of Confidence information can be shared for direct care purposes with implied consent where there is  a reasonable expectation that the care is in the best interests of the individual concerned.

Where it is beyond reasonable expectations then a member of the team will seek your consent for a referral so that information can be shared with other organisations.

Recipient or categories of recipients of your personal data

The data will be shared with health and care professionals who are part of the Neighbourhood Team. This includes:

  • GPs
  • Community health services (Homerton University Hospital)
  • Adult social services (City of London and London Borough of Hackney)
  • Mental health trust (East London Foundation Trust)
  • Social Prescribing and Community Navigation (Family Action and City Connections)

In addition, information may be shared with other organisations involved in your care. This will be made known to you. This could include:

  • Hospital specialist services
  • Mental health specialist services
  • Palliative care services
  • NHS pharmacists
  • Independent Contractors such as dentists, opticians, pharmacists
  • Voluntary Sector Providers and social prescribers
  • Ambulance Trusts
  • Local Authority services such as housing
  • Education Services
  • Fire and Rescue Services
  • Police & Judicial Services

Your right to object

You have the right to object to some or all the information being processed, which is detailed under Article 21 of the GDPR.

Please contact the Neighbourhood MDT Administrator in the first instance or the Data Protection Officer. Details of both are provided below.

You should be aware that this is a right to raise an objection, that is not the same as having an absolute right to have your wishes granted in every circumstance.

Your right to access and correction

You have the right to access your data by means of a Subject Access Request (SAR) and to have any inaccuracies corrected.

There is no right to have accurate medical or social care records deleted except when ordered by a court of Law.

How long do we hold your personal data for?

Each member of the Neighbourhood Team retains your personal data in line with both national guidance, UK law and sector regulations.

Your right to complain

If you have a question or wish to complain about the use of your data, you should contact: [email protected].

Or contact the Data Protection Officer, Miles Dagnall at: [email protected].

The use of personal data is overseen by the Information Commissioners Office, often known as the ICO.

If you wish to complain or raise a concern with the ICO, they can be contacted via their website: https://ico.org.uk/global/contact-us/

Or you can also call their helpline:

Tel: 0303 123 1113 (local rate)

01625 545 745 (national rate)

Or you can write to them at: The ICO, Wycliffe House, Water Ln, Wilmslow SK9 5AF

Gloucestershire Domestic Abuse (healing & empowerment) Privacy Notice

Download the Gloucestershire Domestic Abuse (healing & empowerment) Privacy Notice here.

CAPS Manchester Parenting Courses Privacy Notice

Incredible Years Pre-School Parent Programme Privacy Notice – Children and Parents’ Service Manchester (CAPS)

About Us

For the purposes of the data processing described in this statement and compliance with the Data Protection Act (2018), the Service operate as Controllers of the data.

Commitment

Children and Parent Service is a multi-agency working partnership between Family Action/NHS Manchester Foundation Trust/ Big Life and Manchester City Council and are committed to making sure that any information we hold about you will be collected, stored and used in accordance with The Data Protection Act 2018 and General Data Protection Regulation2016/679 (GDPR).
This means that we adhere to the data protection principles of only holding information about you that is relevant to our work with you, that we make sure the information that we hold is accurate, up to date, secure, and only kept for as long as we need it.

To keep things simple, we have arranged a single point of contact for all data protection issues. Should you have any questions relating to this notice or our processing of personal data, please email [email protected] or contact us at the address below.

Where do we collect your information?

We may collect information about you at a number of stages in your use of our services.

Registration/ Referral

When you register your child or yourself for our services, we will ask you to complete a referral form with details about yourself, your child and other family members.

During your and your child’s engagement with us

Throughout you and your child’s engagement with us, our service team will record information about the service provided to you, including reporting, and reviews.

What Personal Information Do You Record?

The type of information (including personal information) that we collect and use and what we do with it will depend upon your relationship with us. We collect only the personal data that we require to provide you with services, fulfil contracts or keep in touch.

Information about you:

  • Name & Address
  • Contact Information (email / telephone)
  • Date of Birth
  • *Ethnicity
  • *Health Information – Medical Conditions (medication requirements)
  • *Disability Information (Special access)

Information about your child(ren):

  • Name & Address
  • Contact numbers
  • Date of Birth
  • *Ethnicity
  • *Disability Information
  • *Health Information – Medical Conditions (medication requirements)

*Special Categories of Data

Due to the nature of the services we provide, some of the data we collect is sensitive. Information relating to Health, any particular requirements you or your child may have. These are considered to be Special Categories of Data and we are required to take extra care when handling this information.

How do we use your information?

We will only use your information in a fair and transparent manner and where we have a legal basis for doing so.

To provide the services you have agreed to

In order to provide the services that you/your child have registered/ referred for, we will need to communicate with you to arrange meetings and visits to discuss aspects of your requirements. This communication may be via Mail, Email, Telephone or SMS.

Legal basis: legitimate interests

Article 6.1 (f) – Legitimate interests
Processing is necessary for the purposes of the legitimate interests pursued by the controller or by a third party, except where such interests are overridden by the interests or fundamental rights and freedoms of the data subject which require protection of personal data, in particular where the data subject is a child.

Special category data – will be processed under Article 9 (d)

Article 9 – (g) Reasons of substantial public interest (with a basis in law) Substantial public interest condition set out in DPA 2018 – Condition 18. Safeguarding of children and individuals at risk.

To provide reports to our funders and commissioners

The Incredible Years Parenting Programme is funded by Manchester City Council via NHS – Manchester Foundation Trust. They will require us to provide anonymous reports based on the data collected.

For safeguarding and where legally obliged to do so

In certain, limited situations we may be required to use or disclose your personal information in order to comply with a legal obligation, in connection with a request from a public or government authority, in connection with court proceedings or to prevent loss of life or injury. Where possible and if practical to do so, we will tell you in advance of such disclosure.

Sharing & disclosure

Your information will only be accessed by people who need to do so as part of their role.

  • This could include:
    Staff from Family Action, Manchester Foundation Trust Big Life and Manchester City Council
  • Staff working at the service that you use; i.e., Health teams / Health visitors / Early Help.

Rights

The GDPR legislation provides you with several rights in relation to your personal data.

Right to withdraw consent

Where you have consented to our processing of your data, you have the right to withdraw that consent at any time.

To do so, please contact: [email protected] or write to us using the details below.

Right to access

You have a right to obtain copies of the information that we hold about you. To request access to any data, please email [email protected] or write to us at the address below explaining which data you require. In the interest of security, you will need to prove your identity before any information can be shared with you. Under certain circumstances we may not be able to disclose all of the information you request, for example if it contains information about other people or there are legal reasons for us to withhold the data.

Right to rectification

We would like to ensure that the data we hold about you is accurate and up-to-date. If you believe the data we hold is inaccurate, please tell one of our service staff who will make any necessary amendments. However, you may also ask us formally to correct your data by emailing [email protected] or writing to us at the below
address.

Right to erasure or the restriction of processing

In certain circumstances you can ask us to remove your data from our systems by emailing [email protected] or writing to us at the below address. If there is a legal reason for us to continue holding the data we will let you know, otherwise we will make efforts to comply with your request. You may ask us to restrict our processing of your data if:

  • We are using the data for marketing
  • You believe that our processing of the data is unlawful
  • You object to us using your data (pending investigation)

In these circumstances, we may continue to store your information, but will otherwise only process it with your consent or where we have a legal reason to do so.

Right to complain

If you are concerned about the way we have processed your personal information, you have the right to complain to the Information Commissioners Officer (ICO). To do so please refer to the ICO website http://ico.org.uk.

Changes

Family Action reserves the right to make changes to our privacy policy from time to time. Where we do so, we will where appropriate notify you by email.

Contact

Should you wish to contact us, our registered address is:

Newton Heath Sure Start Childrens Centre
1 Great Newton Street
Newton Heath
Manchester
M40 1GX

Download the CAPS Manchester Parenting courses Privacy Notice here.

EPEC Manchester Privacy Notice (Manchester County Council, Early Years service)

EPEC Manchester Privacy Notice (Manchester County Council, Early Years service)

Summary

This privacy notice explains what personal information is collected, what it is used for and who it is provided to. The notice also describes why the Council requires your data, and the legal basis on which it does this.

This privacy notice relates to the Council’s Early Years service. It provides additional information that specifically relates to this particular service, and should be read together with our general privacy notice.

What personal information does this service use?

This service uses personal information about you, such as your name, address, date of birth, telephone number(s) and email address(es).

In order to provide our service and match you and your family with the best support for your particular needs, we also need to collect some information about you which is more sensitive (known as special category personal information’). This may include information about you and your child(ren)’s:

  • gender
  • ethnicity
  • language
  • nationality
  • religion
  • country of birth
  • NHS number
  • GP details
  • Health Visitor details
  • education details
  • social care status
  • active claims for Universal Credit, Disability
  • Living Allowance etc

What is your personal information used for?

The Council uses your personal data for the following reasons:

  • to promote the services we provide – if we have links with a service which we think would help you and your family
  • to match you with our services, to refer you to a service, and to provide the service(s) to you and your family
  • to check how our services are doing, and whether they are having a positive impact – this may include getting feedback from you
  • to keep our records and accounts up to date, so we can track what support we have provided and to who
  • to process childcare funding
  • to generate statistics about who uses our services. This helps us make decisions such as where to use our resources to ensure each of our services reach the people who need them and are as effective as possible.

What is the lawful basis we are relying on?

We collect and use this information under Article 6 of the UK General Data Protection Regulation (‘UK GDPR’).

In order to provide our voluntary service, we need to collect, use and share personal information about you, so we can understand you and your family’s strengths and needs, and refer you to the right support services. We will ask for your express consent to do this. (Art 6(1)(a) of the GDPR).

You have the right to withdraw your consent for us to use personal information about you at any time. However, we may not be able to provide this service without your consent (e.g. to send a referral with your personal information to a support service).

For some services we may need to collect, use and share special category personal information about you, so we can refer you to the right support services for you and your families based on this additional information. Again, we will ask for your express consent to do this (Art 9(2)(a) of the GDPR). If you do not wish for us to use or share this information, this will not affect your ability to access the Early Years service, although our services may be able to better support you and your family’s needs with this extra information.

However, there may be certain limited circumstances where we need to use your personal information without your consent. This is where it is necessary to protect someone in an emergency (Art 6(1)(d) GDPR), or it is required by law (for example where there are safeguarding concerns, we would need to contact the Local Authority or the Police) (Art 6(1)(c)).

Where has the personal information come from?

The personal information we use for families is not always the same – we only collect personal information where it is necessary to do so. The personal information we hold will come directly from you when you contact us or use our services, providing you give consent. When it is deemed necessary we use the following data sources.

We are provided with information about you and your family from:

  • yourself and your family
  • education providers e.g. nurseries, schools and
  • colleges
  • GPs
  • Health Visitors
  • Social Care services
  • Department for Work and Pensions (DWP)
  • Department for Education (DfE)

Who will we share your personal information with?

Your data is not shared unless you have given us consent to do so.

On occasions we may need to share data with the Department of Education for the purpose of providing childcare funding or other circumstances where it is necessary.

There may also be times where we need to use your personal information without your consent. This is where it is necessary to protect someone in an emergency, or it is required by law (for example where there are safeguarding concerns, we would need to other services within the Council such as Social Care or the Police).

How long will we keep your information?

Our retention schedule sets out how long we keep personal information for.

Your personal information and your rights

You can find out more about your rights regarding the personal information used for this service. Your rights apply to the information held by the Council as a data controller, and the information we hold on behalf of the other data controllers.

Contacting us about your data and updates

If you have any questions or concerns about how we use your personal information, please contact the Council’s Data Protection Officer.

You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office if you’re unhappy about how we process your information.

Cumbria 0-19 Child & Family Support Services (Cumbria County Council) Privacy Notice

The Cumbria County Council 0 -19 Child and Family Support Service Privacy Notice (Covering Allerdale, Copeland, Barrow and Carlisle 0-19 services) can be found here.

Islington SENDIASS Privacy Notice

Islington SENDIASS Privacy Notice

For the purposes of the data processing described in this statement and compliance with the Data Protection Act (2018), the Family Action operate as Controllers of the data.

Commitment

Family Action is committed to making sure that any information we hold about you will be collected, stored and used in accordance with The Data Protection Act 2018 and General Data Protection Regulation2016/679 (GDPR).

This means that we adhere to the data protection principles of only holding information about you that is relevant to our work with you, that we make sure the information that we hold is accurate, up to date, secure, and only kept for as long as we need it.

To keep things simple, we have arranged a single point of contact for all data protection issues. Should you have any questions relating to this notice or our processing of personal data, please email [email protected] or contact us at the address at the bottom of this form.

Where do we collect your information?

We may collect information about you at a number of stages in your use of our services.

Registration/ (Referral Form)

When you or someone refer(s)/register(s) you or your child for our services, we will ask all parents/ carers/ children and young people contacting our service for the first time to give their permission for us to access their SEND files and speak with professionals involved in their case.

During your engagement with us

Throughout yours/your child’s engagement with us, our service team will record information about the service provided to you, including case reporting, plans and reviews.

This will help us to fully understand your needs and promote yours/your child’s health and wellbeing.

What Personal Information Do You Record?

The type of information (including personal information) that we collect and use and what we do with it will depend upon your relationship with us.
We collect only the personal data that we require to provide you with services, fulfil contracts or keep in touch.

Information about you:

  • Name & Address
  • Contact Information (email / telephone)
  • Gender
  • *Disability Information
  • *ethnic origin

Information about your child:

  • Name & Address
  • Gender
  • Date of Birth
  • *Disability Information
  • *ethnic origin
  • *Language Spoken

 

Due to the nature of the services we provide, some of the data we collect is sensitive.

Information relating to Health, Ethnicity and any particular requirements you or your child may have.

These are considered to be Special Categories of Data and we are required to take extra care when handling this information.

How Do We Use Your Information?

We will only use your information in a fair and transparent manner and where we have a legal basis for doing so.

To Provide the Services You Have Agreed To

In order to provide the services that you/your child have registered for, we will need to communicate with you to arrange meetings and visits and discuss aspects of your requirements.

This communication may be via Mail, Email, Telephone or SMS.

We may also need to record details of the services delivered and any further needs that have been identified.

Legal basis for processing your data:

Legal Basis: Legitimate Interest

Article 6.1 (f) – Legitimate interests

Processing is necessary for the purposes of the legitimate interests pursued by the controller or by a third party, except where such interests are overridden by the interests or fundamental rights and freedoms of the data subject which require protection of personal data, in particular where the data subject is a child.

Special Category Data – will be processed under Article 9 (d)

Article 9 – (g) Reasons of substantial public interest (with a basis in law)

Substantial public interest condition set out in DPA 2018 – Condition 18. Safeguarding of children and individuals at risk.

For Safeguarding and Where Legally Obliged to Do So

All staff at Islington SENDIASS Service have a duty of care to safeguard and promote the welfare of children and young people. We have a duty to report any child protection or welfare concerns. In certain, limited conditions we may use or disclose your personal information in order to comply with a legal obligation, in connection with a request from a public or government authority, in connection with court proceedings or to prevent loss of life or injury. Where possible and practical to do so, we will tell you in advance of such disclosure.

Sharing & Disclosure

Your information will only be accessed by people who need to do so as part of their role. This could include:

Within  Family Action

  • Staff working at the service that you use
  • Senior managers, as required

Outside of the Islington SENDIASS Service

Services that are working with your child/young person such as social services, health services, nurseries, school or colleges. The team may communicate with them to make sure that we are providing you with the service that we should be.

Rights

The GDPR legislation provides you with a number of rights in relation to your personal data.

Right to Withdraw Consent

Where you have consented to our processing of your data, you have the right to withdraw that consent at any time. To do so, please contact [email protected] or write to us using the details below.

Right to Access

You have a right to obtain copies of the information that we hold about you.

To request access to any data, please email [email protected] or write to us at the address below explaining which data you require.

In the interest of security, you will need to prove your identity before any information can be shared with you.
Under certain circumstances we may not be able to disclose all of the information you request, for example if it contains information about other people or there are legal reasons for us to withhold the data.

Right to Rectification

We would like to ensure that the data we hold about you is accurate and up-to-date. If you believe the data we hold is inaccurate, please tell one of our service staff who will make any necessary amendments. However, you may also ask us formally to correct your data by emailing [email protected] or writing to us at the below address.

Right to Erasure or the Restriction of Processing

In certain circumstances you can ask us to remove your data from our systems by emailing [email protected] or writing to us at the below address.

If there is a legal reason for us to continue holding the data we will let you know, otherwise we will make efforts to comply with your request.

You may ask us to restrict our processing of your data if:

  • We are using the data for marketing
  • You believe that our processing of the data is unlawful
  • You object to us using your data (pending investigation)

In these circumstances, we may continue to store your information, but will otherwise only process it with your consent or where we have a legal reason to do so.

Right to Complain

If you are concerned about the way we have processed your personal information, you have the right to complain to the Information Commissioners Officer (ICO). To do so please refer to the ICO website http://ico.org.uk.

Changes

Family Action and the service partnership reserves the right to make changes to our privacy policy from time to time. Where we do so, we will publish the new policy on our website www.family-action.org.uk and where appropriate/possible notify you by email.

Contact

Should you wish to contact us, our registered address is:

Family Action
Lough Road Centre, 61-71 Lough Road, London N7 8FF
Or you can contact our data protection team on [email protected]

At the end of your time with our service, we would like to have your feedback on the service and also want to continue to invite you to Family Action events, and to continue to inform you of relevant events and SEND updates.

Wiltshire SENDIASS Privacy Notice

Wiltshire SENDIAS Service (Impartial Support Advice and Information on Disability and Special Educational
Needs)

For the purposes of the data processing described in this statement and compliance with the Data Protection Act (2018), the Family Action operate as Controllers of the data.

Commitment

Family Action is committed to making sure that any information we hold about you will be collected, stored and used in accordance with The Data Protection Act 2018 and General Data Protection Regulation 2016/679 (GDPR).

This means that we adhere to the data protection principles of only holding information about you that is relevant to our work with you, that we make sure the information that we hold is accurate, up to date, secure, and only kept for as long as we need it.

To keep things simple, we have arranged a single point of contact for all data protection issues. Should you have any questions relating to this notice or our processing of personal data, please email [email protected] or contact us at the address at the bottom of this form.

Where do we collect your information?

We may collect information about you at a number of stages in your use of our services.

Registration/Initial Enquiry

When a child, young person and/or their parent/carer makes an initial enquiry to our SENDIAS service, we will ask (usually via telephone, Teams conversation, return email or initial enquiry form via our website) the person making contact with our service for the first time to give their permission for us to access their SEND files and speak with professionals who may need to be involved in their case.

Permission can be given either verbally over the telephone, Teams or written via email or on an initial enquiry form. This initial permission will be recorded by one of our service team at registration/initial enquiry on our staff internal recording system, Inform.

During your engagement with us

Throughout yours/your child’s engagement with us, our service team will record information about the service provided to you, including case reporting, plans and reviews.

This will help us to fully understand your needs and promote yours/your child’s health and wellbeing.

We may also ask you to take part in our outcomes survey regarding an initial enquiry and/or casework so we may continuously review our service.

What Personal Information Do We Record?

The type of information (including personal information) that we collect and use and what we do with it will depend upon your relationship with us.
We collect only the personal data that we require to provide you with services, fulfil contracts or keep in touch.

Information about you:

Name & Address
Contact Information (email / telephone)
Date of Birth
Employment Status
Benefits
*Disability information
*Ethnic Origin
*Language Spoken

Information about your child:

Name & Address
Gender
Date of Birth
*Disability information
*Ethnic Origin
*Language Spoken
*Looked after, adopted or SGO status
SEN information
Services and other agencies involved
Case history
Professional reports
School reports

* Special Categories of Data

Due to the nature of the services we provide, some of the data we collect is sensitive and will only be shared with relevant parties e.g. staff members within the service, relevant social care, education and health professionals.

Information relating to Health, Ethnicity and any particular requirements you or your child may have.

These are considered to be Special Categories of Data and we are required to take extra care when handling this information.

How Do We Use Your Information?

We will only use your information in a fair and transparent manner and where we have a legal basis for doing so.

To Provide the Services You Have Agreed To

In order to provide the services that you/your child have registered for during your initial enquiry, we will need to communicate with you to arrange meetings and visits (which may be virtual or face-to-face) and discuss aspects of your requirements.

This communication may be via Mail, Email, Telephone, Teams or SMS.

We may also need to record details of the services delivered and any further needs that have been identified.

Legal Basis: Legitimate Interests – Article 6 (f) – Processing is necessary for the purposes of legitimate interest pursued by the controller or by a third party.

Special Category data: – will be processed under Article 9 (g) – Processing is carried out for Reasons of substantial public interest (with a basis in law)
Substantial public interest condition set out in DPA 2018 – Condition 18. Safeguarding of children and individuals at risk.

For Safeguarding and Where Legally Obliged to Do So

All staff at Wiltshire SENDIASS have a duty of care to safeguard and promote the welfare of children and young people. We have a duty to report any child protection or welfare concerns. In certain, limited conditions we may use or disclose your personal information in order to comply with a legal obligation, in connection with a request from a public or government authority, in connection with court proceedings or to prevent loss of life or injury. Where possible and practicable to do so, we will tell you in advance of such disclosure unless a child or young person is identified as being at significant risk of immediate harm.

Sharing & Disclosure

Your information will only be accessed by people who need to do so as part of their role. This could include:

Within Family Action:

  • Staff working at the service that you use
  • Senior managers, as required.

Outside of the Service:

Relevant staff working for Wiltshire Integrated Care Board or LA on whose behalf we may be independently running the service you have accessed; for instance, to progress a case in the best interests of the child/young person. This may include, but not be limited to, professionals in education, health and social care, such as SENDCOs, educational psychologists, family workers, provision leads, school nurse, CAMHS and other health and social care professionals and managers.

Wider professionals, such as relevant staff at independent nurseries, special schools and colleges.

Chair and Vice Chair of the Steering Group, where appropriate, as part of the minimum standards of the SENDIAS service and the wider accountability framework.

Sensitive personal data will not be shared with anyone outside of Family Action without good reason.
Wiltshire SENDIAS Service (Impartial Support Advice and Information on Disability and Special Educational
Needs).

Rights

The GDPR legislation provides you with a number of rights in relation to your personal data.
Right to Withdraw Consent

Where you have consented to our processing of your data, you have the right to withdraw that consent at any time. To do so, please contact [email protected] or write to us using the details below.

Right to Access

You have a right to obtain copies of the information that we hold about you.

To request access to any data, please email [email protected] or write to us at the address below explaining which data you require. In the interest of security, you will need to prove your identity before any information can be shared with you.

Under certain circumstances we may not be able to disclose all of the information you request, for example if it contains information about other people or there are legal reasons for us to withhold the data.

Right to Rectification

We would like to ensure that the data we hold about you is accurate and up-to-date. If you believe the data we hold is inaccurate, please tell one of our service staff who will make any necessary amendments. However, you may also ask us formally to correct your data by emailing [email protected] or writing to us at the below address.

Right to Erasure or the Restriction of Processing

In certain circumstances you can ask us to remove your data from our systems by emailing [email protected] or writing to us at the below address. If there is a legal reason for us to continue holding the data we will let you know; otherwise, we will make efforts to comply with your request.

You may ask us to restrict our processing of your data if:

  • We are using the data for marketing
  • You believe that our processing of the data is unlawful
  • You object to us using your data (pending investigation)

In these circumstances, we may continue to store your information, but will otherwise only process it with your consent or where we have a legal reason to do so.

Right to Complain

If you are concerned about the way we have processed your personal information, you have the right to complain to the Information Commissioners Officer (ICO). To do so please refer to the ICO website http://ico.org.uk .

Changes

Family Action reserves the right to make changes to our privacy policy from time to time. Where we do so, we will publish the new policy on our website www.family-action.org.uk and where appropriate/possible, notify you by email.

Contact

Should you wish to contact us, our registered address is:

Family Action
FAO: Wiltshire SENDIASS
34 Wharf Road
London
N1 7GR

Or you can contact our data protection team on [email protected]

Feedback on the service

We want to continue to add value to the families we work with and with that in mind, at the end of your time with our service, we would like to have your feedback on the service and also want to continue to invite you to Family Action events.

You are not obligated to complete the feedback if you do not wish to do so. If you do not wish to receive the feedback or contact once your time with the service is completed, please inform us.

Policies

Peterborough pre-schools early years policies

Behaviour Management Policy Statement

  • Parents/carers/guardians are asked to provide details of their child which enables staff to plan
    to meet their needs.
  • Adults will be positive role models in the pre-school and demonstrate friendliness, empathy
    and good manners.
  • Good behaviour will be encouraged and reinforced by the use of praise.
  • The pre-school will set clear rules and boundaries with the children.
  • A named person in the pre-school is responsible for keeping themselves, and other staff, upto-date on current research and legislation around behaviour management.
  • The named person will seek advice and support, when appropriate, from other professionals.
  • Adults will deal with any undesirable behaviour in a calm manner, without raising their voice
    or using a threatening manner.
  • Physical punishment will not be used.
  • Physical restraint will only be used to prevent injury to children or adults, or to stop serious
    damage to property. Details of such an event will be recorded in the Incident Log, and the
    parent/carer/guardian informed.
  • Any incident regarding behaviour management will be recorded and shared with
    parents/carers/guardians.
  • In the case of a child displaying challenging behaviour on a regular basis, staff will discuss this with parents/carers/guardians to explore possible reasons for the behaviour and to agree
    strategies that will be put into place.
  • Parents/carers/guardians are asked to work with staff to reinforce the rules and boundaries in
    place at the pre-school.
  • The pre-school may, in extreme circumstances, ask a child to leave the setting if their behaviour
    is dangerous to others and has not improved when all avenues have been explored. This
    includes involving other professionals to explore the possibility that the behaviour falls outside
    normal boundaries due to a child’s special needs.

Behaviour Management Policy Statement

  • Parents/carers/guardians are asked to provide details of their child which enables staff to plan
    to meet their needs.
  • Adults will be positive role models in the pre-school and demonstrate friendliness, empathy
    and good manners.
  • Good behaviour will be encouraged and reinforced by the use of praise.
  • The pre-school will set clear rules and boundaries with the children.
  • A named person in the pre-school is responsible for keeping themselves, and other staff, upto-date on current research and legislation around behaviour management.
  • The named person will seek advice and support, when appropriate, from other professionals.
  • Adults will deal with any undesirable behaviour in a calm manner, without raising their voice
    or using a threatening manner.
  • Physical punishment will not be used.
  • Physical restraint will only be used to prevent injury to children or adults, or to stop serious
    damage to property. Details of such an event will be recorded in the Incident Log, and the
    parent/carer/guardian informed.
  • Any incident regarding behaviour management will be recorded and shared with
    parents/carers/guardians.
  • In the case of a child displaying challenging behaviour on a regular basis, staff will discuss this with parents/carers/guardians to explore possible reasons for the behaviour and to agree
    strategies that will be put into place.
  • Parents/carers/guardians are asked to work with staff to reinforce the rules and boundaries in
    place at the pre-school.
  • The pre-school may, in extreme circumstances, ask a child to leave the setting if their behaviour
    is dangerous to others and has not improved when all avenues have been explored. This
    includes involving other professionals to explore the possibility that the behaviour falls outside
    normal boundaries due to a child’s special needs.

Admissions Policy Statement

  • Our pre-school settings are open to all children from the age of 2 until school age.
  • Priority will be given to children living in the local area.
  • We operate a waiting list so that children can be registered at any time during the year.
  • Children eligible for funding will be offered a place at the maximum number of days that are available, taking into account their age and stage of development. This is at the discretion of the setting supervisor.
  • Children will be offered an induction visit, whenever possible, prior to starting at pre-school. In some cases a home visit may be offered.
  • We encourage parents/carers/guardians to make a high commitment to attendance as this is in the best interests of the child.
  • The local authority requires us to report any child who is claiming a funded space but failing to attend and may audit our claims at any time. The local authority funding officer will be contacted if a child fails to attend for over a week, without a valid explanation, in line with our funding agreement documents.
  • Places can be held for any child absent due to holidays, sickness or other explained absence up to a maximum of 2 weeks. Any request to extend this period of time will be dealt with on a case by case basis.
  • The pre-school will contact the parent/carer/guardian of any child who does not attend without explanation to ensure that the child is well and to seek a reason for the absence
  • A child whose attendance is consistently poor, without a valid reason, may be at risk of losing their space at the pre-school. Contact will be made via letter with the parent/carer/guardian to explain the reasons behind this and will include a deadline date for improvements in attendance before the space is withdrawn.
  • Notice of four weeks is required if a child is leaving the pre-school. If this is not given and the parent/carer/guardian takes a funded place elsewhere, we reserve the right to claim the four weeks funding and the parent/carer/guardian will have to pay fees for that period at the new setting.

Complaints Policy Statement

  • Family Action will respond promptly and courteously to children and parent/carer/guardian’s needs and wishes, in line with our policies and procedures.
  • We welcome suggestions on how to improve our settings, and will give serious attention to any
    issues, complaints or concerns raised.
  • Any parent/carer/guardian who has concerns about an aspect of our provision can talk to the
    pre-school supervisor. We hope to resolve the issue at this stage.
  • We maintain written records of all complaints made.
  • We will respond to complaints within 28 days.
  • We aim to bring a satisfactory conclusion to any complaint for all the parties involved.
  • If the parent/carer/guardian is not satisfied with the outcome of their discussion, or if the
    problem reoccurs, the complaint should then be put in writing to our Early Years Manager.
  • If the complaint is still not resolved, the parent/carer/guardian may a request a meeting with our regional Operational Manager. Both the parent/carer/guardian and the Operational
    Manager may have a further person present at this meeting. In the case of the Operational
    Manager, this will be another Family Action member of staff. A written record of the meeting
    will be made and signed by both parties.
  • If agreement has not been reached, an outside mediator may be invited to investigate the
    matter.
  • All investigations would be treated as confidential.
  • Once the independent investigation is complete, a final meeting will be held between the pre-school and the parent/carer/guardian. The mediator may be present if all parties agree to this. A written record of the meeting will be made and signed by both parties, and you will receive
    a copy.
  • The written record signifies that the procedure has concluded.
  • This policy statement should be read in conjunction with the Family Action Complaints Policy, a copy of which can be provided on request.
  • Parents/carers/guardians may also contact Ofsted at any stage of the complaints procedure,
    and their address is:

Ofsted, Piccadilly Gate, Store Street
Manchester M1 2WD
Telephone: 0300 123 4666

Data Protection and Confidentiality Policy Statement

  • This policy statement is to be read in conjunction with Family Action’s Data Protection Policy, a
    copy of which can be provided on request.
  • Staff will not discuss individual children with anyone other than relevant Family Action members of staff and the child’s parent/carer/guardian.
  • Staff will seek parental permission to share information with other professionals.
  • In the event of a disclosure, staff will follow Family Action’s Safeguarding policy.
  • Staff will be aware that information shared within the pre-school must not be shared in front of
    children.
  • In compliance with GDPR, Family Action will only collect information necessary to ensure that a child’s needs are fully met and that all available funding can be accessed. Information may
    therefore be shared with local authorities, health services, Ofsted or the Department for
    Education in order for us to comply with our statutory requirements.
  • Confidential records and data will be stored securely and access is restricted.
  • Records and data will be securely stored after a child leaves the pre-school until the required
    period of time for the type of information has lapsed. This data will then be confidentially
    destroyed.
  • Learning Journeys are to be treated as confidential data if they are taken off site. Staff must sign out the tablet on the log sheet and return it the following working day, remembering to sign it back in again. Early Years log accounts must be password protected and staff must not share their log-in details.
  • Staff should ensure they are working in a private space when using the Learning Journey app
    away from the setting. Other individuals should not be able to view any images or written
    information.
  • Any paperwork must be transported off site in an envelope marked with a “Private and
    confidential” return address sticker.
  • Staff must take care to store Learning Journeys securely off site and to ensure that they remain
    in their personal care during transportation.
  • Staff must not use personal devices to create or store any reports, registers or other records
    which include confidential data about children or their parents/carers/guardians.
  • Staff must not use external devices such as SD cards, memory sticks or computer discs to store
    any confidential data about children or their parents/carers/guardians.
  • Also refer to the pre-school’s Mobile Phone, Camera and other electronic devices policy.

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Policy Notice

  • This notice is to be read in conjunction with Family Action’s Equality, Diversity and Inclusion
    Policy- a copy of which can be provided on request.
  • Our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Policy enables all children, whatever their level of
    development, gender, special needs, ethnic or cultural background, to have equal access to
    the curriculum
  • Our pre-schools are open to all members of the community.
  • We reflect the diversity of members of our society in our publicity and promotional materials.
  • Our pre-schools reflect the diversity of our society in their choice of resources.
  • Group activities at the settings are open to all the children and their families.
  • Job vacancies are advertised, and all applicants are judged against explicit and fair criteria.
  • Applicants are welcome from all backgrounds, and posts are open to all.

Health and Hygiene Policy Statement

  • The pre-school promotes a healthy lifestyle and encourages children to make good choices.
  • Snacks provided by the pre-school will be healthy and will include fruit or vegetables. Please
    see our Healthy Eating Policy Statement for further details.
  • Any special dietary requirements are recorded and staff will ensure that these are catered for.
  • Food is prepared by staff trained in good hygiene practice, and kitchen areas are kept clean.
    Our kitchen areas are inspected and awarded hygiene ratings by the Food Standards Agency.
  • All food is stored correctly and safely.
  • Staff promote good hygiene routines such as hand washing before handling food and after
    visiting the toilet. They also reduce the risk of spread of infection by using anti-bacterial sprays
    to clean surfaces and encourage the use of tissues to catch germs.
  • In the event of food poisoning affecting two or more of the children fed at the pre-school, Ofsted
    will be informed.
  • Staff wear protective, disposable aprons and gloves when dealing with any bodily fluids.
    Nappies and other soiled items are disposed of carefully and appropriately.
  • Parents/carers/guardians are requested to keep their child at home if they have an infection or
    illness, such as diarrhoea or vomiting, until they have been free of symptoms for a full 48 hours.
  • A first aid kit is kept in the pre-school and is replenished as necessary. All staff receive training
    in Paediatric First Aid every three years.
  • An individual plan will be completed for any child with a medical condition.
  • To promote good physical health, all children will have daily access to the outside areas. The
    only exception to this is during potentially dangerous weather conditions including gale force winds, lightning and very icy surfaces. Staff will also plan regular walks and visits in the local
    environment.

Healthy Eating Policy Statement

  • Our pre-schools provide a snack at each session which will adhere to the following guidelines:
    • Snacks will include at least one item of fruit or vegetable.
    • Foods that are high in salt content will be avoided.
    • Snack choices will be varied throughout the week.
      o Milk and water will be made available to drink.
  • Sometimes children arrive at pre-school still eating their breakfast or lunch. We are happy for this to happen, as long as it does not become a regular event. Children who are eating will be asked to sit at a table to finish their food. The pre-school will not permit children to bring in the following items:
    • Drinks of any sort. We can provide milk or water.
    • Sweets, including chewing gum.
    • Crisps
    • Chocolate bars, cakes or biscuits
    • Pancakes or waffles
  • If your child is attending a lunch club at one of our pre-schools we ask that they are provided
    with a lunch that is as healthy as possible, avoids sweet food items and does not include the
    items listed above. Please also note:

    • We will provide a drink of milk or water
    • Children will be encouraged to eat their savoury items before starting on the rest of their lunch
    • If a lunch box includes any of the items not permitted in pre-school, they will be returned to you uneaten.
    • Most children will only require a sandwich (with savoury filling) or other savoury item, yogurt and piece of fruit at lunchtime. Please do not over fill their boxes as they struggle to eat everything during the lunch break
  • Due to allergies nut products, including hazelnut chocolate spread, are not permitted in the
    setting.
  • Due to potential choking hazards parents are asked to cut grapes in half lengthways.
  • Settings will send home any sweet treats created in a cooking activity to be enjoyed as part of
    a meal later.
  • Staff will act as role models for healthy eating when in the pre-school. They may make their own
    food choices at lunchtime but these will not be eaten in the presence of the children, particularly
    if they do not adhere to the healthy eating policy.
  • Celebrations – in line with our healthy eating policy and to support best practice with oral
    hygiene, we will:

    • Celebrate birthdays by singing to the child and making their day special. We prefer that birthday cakes are not provided. If a cake is provided it will be sliced and sent home with the children to enjoy as part of a meal. Parents may prefer to provide some special fruit, such as strawberries and blueberries, for the children to enjoy together instead.
    • Celebrate special events and occasions such as Christmas, Eid, Diwali, Chinese New Year and themed parties by offering a choice of savoury snacks and fruit. We will offer milk and water to drink.

Medication Policy Statement

  • The pre-school will seek information about children’s medical needs on their admission form
    and work with parents/carers/guardians to keep these records up to date.
  • All medicines administered to children must be with prior written consent of the parent/carer/guardian.
  • This is inclusive of non-prescription medicines, such as Calpol, and written consent will be
    sought for each individual time.
  • Staff will record any medication administered, including the date, time and dose. This record
    will be shared with the parent/carer/guardian at collection time.
  • Medicine administration recording will be both accessible and secure.
  • For children requiring emergency medicine or regulated medicine which relates to their
    condition individual care plans will be created, reviewed and updated regularly.
  • Staff will ensure their first aid training is kept up to date, including training in administering
    specialist medicine for example, the administration of emergency medication via an Epi-pen.
  • Medicines will be safely stored away from children, being mindful of those that need to be
    stored at certain temperatures.
  • Staff will be aware of all medicines expiry dates, and need to ensure that the date has not
    lapsed.
  • Medicine for children who need emergency medication should be readily available at all times. Staff will ensure that asthma inhalers, Epi-pens and any other emergency medication are taken for any child who may require them during an outing.
  • This policy notice complies with Family Action’s insurance requirement

Missing Child Policy Statement

  • In the event that Family Action staff discover a child to be missing from the pre-school, the following steps will be taken:
    • Check with all staff members that the child has not been collected by their
      parent/carer/guardian.
    • Staff to speak to all adults and visitors at the pre-school and carry out a thorough search of the premises. Staff will give priority to searching high risk areas first, such as the outside area and any access to roads.
    • Adequate supervision must be maintained of the other children in the setting, with staff remaining calm and reassuring.
    • Staff may carefully question other children about the missing child’s whereabouts.
    • If the search and questioning fail to find the child, the setting supervisor will contact the police and report the child as missing.
    • The setting supervisor will contact the child’s parent/carer/guardian.
    • If necessary, the supervisor will call in extra staffing to support the pre-school.
    • The supervisor will inform their line manager of the incident and of the action taken.
    • The incident must be recorded, a Serious Incident Report form completed, and a risk
      assessment completed to address any issues raised.
    • The Early Years Manager will inform Ofsted.

Mobile Phone, Camera and Other Electronic Devices Use Policy Statement

In order to keep the children in our pre-schools safe all staff, volunteers and children must adhere
to the following:

  • Personal mobile phones must be stored in a secure place during every session. This may be in
    a handbag or a designated area agreed with the setting supervisor.
  • Smart watches must be disconnected from Bluetooth during pre-school sessions to avoid
    distraction when messages come through.
  • Staff must give the pre-school’s telephone number to relatives, schools etc as their main contact number during work hours.
  • Staff will not use a personal mobile phone, or smart watch, to text or call during working hours
    and should not have access to their phone during session times to check for messages, missed
    calls etc. This includes checking messages and missed calls via a smart watch. Violation of this
    policy statement may result in an investigation under our Discipline at Work Policy.
  • In the event of a staff member needing to use their phone for an emergency call, this must be
    agreed with the setting supervisor and take place outside of the pre-school
  • Parents/carers/guardians and visitors to the pre-school are not to use their phones or smart
    watch while in our settings.
  • There will be occasions when a mobile phone is the only device suitable for taking images to
    share with our Family Action social media. Only the nominated individual in the pre-school for
    the Facebook page may use a phone in this way and with prior notice to their line manager
    that this will be happening. Any images taken must be sent to the staff member’s Family Action
    email address and deleted immediately from the device. Settings should use their allocated
    work phone as a preference for taking photographs.
  • Staff must not use personal cameras or any personal electronic device to take images in the
    setting. Early Years Log tablets will be provided for use at work. Setting mobile phones with a
    camera facility may also be used.
  • Staff will not download images to personal computers, phones or other devices.
  • Parents/carers/guardians may only use a camera to record images of their own child/ren.
    Parental permission must be sought to include other children in the photographs (for example
    at special events).
  • Visitors to the pre-school must not use a camera without express prior permission.
  • Express parental/carer/guardian permission and consent must be sought before sharing any
    photographs outside the pre-school e.g for press releases, social media, or promotional
    materials.
  • This policy statement is to be read in conjunction with Family Action’s Data Protection Policy

Outings Policy Statement

  • Before any outings, Family Action staff will first complete a risk assessment. This may be a
    generic risk assessment for regular visits to, for example, local parks, or shops etc.
  • Based on the risk assessment the adult:child ratios may alter. The Statutory Framework states that adult:child ratios remain the same indoors and out of the pre-school. The ideal ratio on outings is always 1:2 but this can be altered if the risk assessment dictates that it is safe to do so. Family Actions staff will take into account factors such as number and type of roads to be crossed, width of pavements, access to open water and the age and stage of development of the children.
  • Parental/carer/guardian permission for local outings will be obtained when a child joins pre-school.
  • Express written permission for longer trips will be obtained before each outing.
  • In the unlikely event of a child being lost, every effort will be made to find the child immediately
  • Parents/carers/guardians will be contacted at the earliest opportunity or, in their absence, an alternative emergency contact will be called. If the child is not found quickly, the emergency services will be contacted.
  • Staff will ensure that on all outings they will carry a mobile phone, contact details for children and staff, a first aid kit and any individual medication required (such as asthma inhalers).

Partnership with Parents, Carers or Guardians Policy Statement

  • All children benefit when pre-school and parents/carers/guardians work together in
    partnership. We value and note any relevant information parents/carers/guardians give us
    about their child.
  • Staff are available daily to have informal discussions with parents/carers/guardians.
  • Staff will share details of a child’s learning and developmental progress via the EY Log system
    and will write assessment reports. Any report will be shared electronically but staff will also offer
    parents/carers/guardians an opportunity to discuss their child’s development and learning
    with their key person.
  • Parents/carers/guardians are encouraged to share their own observations, photos and
    comments via the EY Log system.
  • Throughout the year parents/carers/guardians are encouraged to attend “stay and play”
    sessions, parties, concerts and other special events as organised by the pre-school.
  • We welcome any feedback or suggestions regarding the day to day running of our pre-schools.
  • Staff are always willing to help parents/carers/guardians, or to signpost them to other professionals who can offer support, with subjects such as toilet training, behaviour
    management, and fussy eating.
  • A partnership agreement will be shared with all new parents/carers/guardians which provides
    further details on how we can best work together to support their child.

Risk Assessment Policy Notice

  • All of our pre-schools complete a detailed annual risk assessment of their building and outdoor
    spaces and make any necessary amendments or improvements as a result of their findings.
    This document should be reviewed at the beginning of each term to check for any changes in the environment.
  • All of our pre-schools complete daily Health & Safety checks, and keep a record of these, which
    identify and remove or minimise any risks that these assessments highlight.
  • All of our pre-schools are required to complete written risk assessments for outings. If an outing
    is regularly repeated, for example a visit to the local park, then the original risk assessment may
    be re-used. All staff must be familiar with the details of the risk assessment before leaving the
    setting and be equally responsible for following the recommendations for removing/reducing
    risk. Please also see our Outings Policy Statement.
  • All of our pre-schools are required to complete written risk assessments for activities which are
    new to the pre-school, or infrequent, which are considered to include risks that are above a low
    level. Examples include, woodworking, forest skills, some cooking activities. These must be
    shared with all staff before commencing the activity.
  • Pre-schools are not required to complete risk assessments for every activity they offer. Regular
    activities that present a low level of risk can be effectively risk assessed by staff without a written
    record.
  • Our pre-schools are encouraged to use “positive risk assessment” when considering new
    activities. This involves looking at the benefits to the children of being able to engage in such an
    activity and ensuring that these outweigh any possible risks.
  • Children in our pre-schools are encouraged to engage in activities that include an element of
    risk. Examples include, jumping from a height, using suitable knives to prepare food, toasting
    marshmallows on a campfire. These activities will be closely supervised by adults.
  • Children in our pre-schools will also be actively encouraged to risk assess for themselves in
    order to learn how to keep themselves safe. Staff will ask questions such as “Does that feel
    safe?” and demonstrate correct handling of tools or use of play equipment. Staff will support
    children to find their own limits and to be adventurous but will always intervene if the risk of harm for that child is too high.
  • This notice is to be read in conjunction with Family Action’s Health & Safety Policy- a copy of
    which can be provided on request.

Safeguarding Policy Notice

Family Action intends to create in our pre-schools an environment in which children are safe from
abuse, and in which abuse is promptly and appropriately responded to. This notice is to be read in
conjunction with Family Action’s Safeguarding Policies- copies of which can be provided on request.

Suitable People

  • All staff and volunteers will have an enhanced DBS check in place before working in our pre-schools and a record of their DBS number and the date it was issued is kept.
  • Staff are to disclose any convictions, cautions, court orders, reprimands or warnings that may
    affect their suitability to work with children and sign an annual declaration form.
  • Evidence of qualifications will be sought at interview.
  • Staff will adhere to Family Action’s Safer Recruitment Policy, for example around references.
  • It will be made clear to all applicants that positions in our pre-schools are exempt from the
    provisions of the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974.
  • Staff must not be under the influence of alcohol or any other substance which may affect their
    ability to care for children.
  • Any staff member who is taking prescribed medication that may impair their ability to work
    safely with children will be required to complete a health care plan with their line manager to
    risk assess and manage the situation.

Child Protection

  • All staff will complete training, and refresh this at least every three years, which enables them
    to identify signs of possible child abuse and neglect and to be able to respond to them in a
    timely and appropriate manner.
  • Named leads for safeguarding will complete additional training and renew this at least every
    two years.
  • Staff will observe good practice and not be left alone with children for long periods of time.
  • All volunteers and visitors will be closely supervised at all times and not allowed to be alone with children.
  • Use of mobile phones, cameras and electronic devices will be restricted and monitored, in line
    with our Mobile Phone, Camera and Electronic Devices Use Policy.
  • Each pre-school has a named Safeguarding Lead who will co-ordinate all record keeping, logs
    and report writing.
  • Children will be monitored and any changes in their behaviour or appearance which may
    indicate abuse will be recorded and assessed.
  • Any recorded incidents will be shared with the parents/carers/guardian at the earliest
    opportunity unless there is reason to believe that by doing so the child would be placed at risk
    of further harm, in which case Social Care will be contacted and their advice followed.
  • The pre-school will report any child protection concerns to the Social Care Referral and
    Assessment Team on 01733 864180.
  • The Safeguarding Lead in the pre-school must inform the Early Years Manager for Family Action in Peterborough of all safeguarding issues.

Prevent Duty

  • In line with the Prevent Duty, staff need to be aware of any children who may be vulnerable to
    radicalisation or extremism.
  • The Early Years Manager will be informed of any concerns around a child. Following the
    Channel Programme a referral will be made to the police for assessment.
  • All settings will use the PSED and Understanding the World elements of the EYFS curriculum to
    promote fundamental British Values; Democracy, rule of law, individual liberty, mutual respect
    and tolerance for those with different faiths and beliefs.

Allegations Against a Member of Staff

  • Any allegation against a member of staff will be dealt with following guidance given by the local
    authority Safeguarding Board.
  • It is our policy to suspend any member of staff against whom an allegation has been made, on
    full pay, for the duration of the investigation. This is not an admission that the alleged incident
    has taken place, but a procedure to protect staff, children and their families.
  • The Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO) will be informed immediately of the allegation on
    01733 864038, as will OFSTED.
  • We will co-operate fully with any investigation carried out by social services in conjunction with
    the police.

Safety Policy Notice

  •  Children will be supervised by an adult at all times.
  • Children will only leave a session with an authorised adult.
  • The pre-schools are located in buildings which include fire detection and control systems.
  • No smoking is allowed in any of the buildings or premises.
  • Fire exits are clearly marked.
  • All staff are made aware of emergency evacuation procedures during their induction.
  • Fire doors are to be left unobstructed and regular checks are made of the buildings exits,
    emergency lighting etc.
  • Fire drills will be carried out regularly.
  • Children do not have unsupervised access to the kitchen.
  • Adults will not place hot drinks within the reach of children and will only drink them once they
    have cooled.
  • Daily safety checks are made before each session.
  • Annual risk assessments are completed and reviewed each term, and individual risk
    assessments completed for new equipment/activities.
  • On outings our Outings Policy is followed at all times.
  • Children are only released to those adults named on their admission form as being authorised
    to collect them. A security password may be used. The setting supervisor will contact the main
    parent/carer/guardian if an unauthorised collection is attempted. Where applicable we will
    also notify the local child protection agencies.
  • Parents are asked not to send their child to the setting wearing excessive jewellery. Stud
    earrings only are permitted and any necklace that is worn should be securely tucked inside the
    child’s clothing at all times.
  • This notice is to be read in conjunction with Family Action’s Health & Safety and Safeguarding
    Policies- copies of which can be provided on request.

Special Educational Needs and Disability Policy Statement

  • Children with special educational needs and/or disability will be admitted to the pre-school
    following consultation with parents/carers/guardians, the pre-school supervisor, the Early Years Manager and any other relevant agency.
  • Our setting supervisor will work with parents/carers/guardians to gradually build up a child’s time at pre-school, where appropriate, to ensure that we are moving at the child’s pace.
    Occasionally it may be necessary to reduce a child’s session times if they are not
    developmentally ready to stay for the full opening times.
  • Our system of observation, assessment and record keeping is maintained in partnership with
    parents/carers/guardians and enables us to monitor a child’s needs and their progress on an
    individual basis. Where appropriate, an Education Health Care Plan will be put in place.
  • Our pre-schools work in partnership with other agencies such as Health Visitors, Speech and
    Language Therapists, Physiotherapists, Social Workers and Occupational Therapists to meet a
    child’s specific needs.
  • Each pre-school has a designated and trained Special Educational Needs Coordinator (SENCO),
    who works closely with families of children with identified additional needs and supports staff
    to make new referrals.
  • All staff are aware of the Code of Practice for children with Special Educational Needs.
  • Our pre-schools are inclusive and support all children to access all areas of the curriculum.
    Occasionally we may be unable to adequately support an individual’s complex needs; in this
    case we will work with the parents/carers and the local authority SEND team to try and locate
    a suitable alternative setting and to ensure maximum available support is offered.

Settling In Policy Statement

This statement has been altered as a result of our learning during the Covid pandemic in 2020. The
restrictions imposed meant that we had to alter our approach to settling new children significantly,
with parents not permitted inside the pre-school. Across all our settings, we discovered that this
quick handover approach worked very well and children settled much quicker than previously when
parents were invited in to support them. Therefore, we wish to continue with this approach to ensure
children are happy and settled in pre-school much quicker.

  • Parents/carers/guardians will be encouraged to visit the pre-school with their child prior to their
    start date
  • A home visit will be made available, if required.
  • Children are welcome to bring a small familiar object or comforter from home to aid settling in.
    The use of dummies is discouraged in our pre-schools as this hinders communication.
  • Staff will discuss the child’s likes, dislikes and current interests with the parent/carer/guardian.
  • A key worker will be assigned to the child who will be available to greet them on arrival and
    ease them into the sessions.
  • Parents/carers/guardians will be supported to complete a swift handover of their child at drop
    off time to setting staff. They will not be invited into the setting at this stage.
  • The setting supervisor will discuss with parents/carers/guardians what will be an appropriate amount of time for the child to spend at pre-school, until they are fully settled.
  • Setting staff will offer reassurance to parents/carers/guardians of new starters during their first sessions by sending photographs or video clips via EY Log to show that they are happily playing. Alternatively, they may call to provide an update.
  • Staff will contact parents/carers/guardians if a child is overtired or too distraught to stay a full
    session.
  • Parents/carers/guardians are encouraged to commit to regular attendance throughout the
    settling in process, as this enables the child to settle quickly.
  • Staff recognise that each child is an individual and will, therefore, take differing amounts of time
    to settle in pre-school.

Sickness Policy Statement

  • If a child falls ill during a session, their parent/carer/guardian or named contact will be notified immediately.
  • An unwell child will be kept comfortable, and away from other children, until a
    parent/carer/guardian arrives. A staff member will stay with the child at all times and monitor
    their condition.
  • If a child’s condition appears acute and requires medical treatment an ambulance will be
    called.
  • If first aid is required, this will be administered by a qualified First Aider.
  • A child or staff member who has been suffering from sickness and/or diarrhoea will be asked
    to stay away from the pre-school until they have been clear of symptoms for 48 hours.
  • A child with a contagious illness will not be allowed to attend the pre-school until the
    recommended exclusion period has passed.

Social Media Policy Notice

In order to maintain confidentiality and professionalism in our pre-schools all staff, volunteers,
parents/carers/guardians and children must adhere to the following:

Parents/Carers/Guardians

  • Parents/carers/guardians of children attending our pre-schools should not be added as
    “friends” by staff on social network sites.
  • Family Action operates a Facebook group “Peterborough Pre Schools” through their main
    Facebook page. Each pre-school will have a nominated staff member with log in rights to the
    business manager account required to post onto the page.
  • Parents/carers/guardians are asked to confirm if they give permission for their child’s image to
    be used on the Facebook page, and this includes permission for the post to be shared more
    widely on Facebook.
  • The Facebook group is to not be used as a forum for airing grievances or making negative
    comments. Parents/carers/guardians are asked to direct their questions or concerns to the
    Early Years Manager away from social media.
  • Images not of your own children are not to be uploaded onto any social network sites without
    the express permission of the child(ren)’s parent/carer/guardian.

Staff

  • Staff must refrain from discussing work on these sites. In particular, they are not to be used as
    a forum for discussion around issues or individuals.
  • Staff must remember confidentiality at all times.
  •  Staff need to set their privacy settings to restrict access to their pages.
  • Inappropriate use of social networking which impacts on Family Action and our pre-schools will result in disciplinary action. This includes posts which could be seen to be controversial and in conflict with Family Action’s values.
  • Staff may not join the “Peterborough Pre Schools” group but are welcome to “like” and share posts.
  • Nominated staff only may respond to positive comments online in a professional manner. Any
    questions or concerns will be addressed with the parent/carer/guardian away from social
    media.
  • This notice is to be read in conjunction with Family Action’s Social Media Policy.

Staffing & Employment Policy Notice

This notice is to be read in conjunction with Family Action’s Safer Recruitment Policy- a copy of
which can be provided on request.

  • The minimum ratio of staff to children will be 1 adult to 8 children aged 3 and above. A higher
    ratio of 1 adult to 4 children will be maintained for children under the age of 3.
  • Where appropriate an additional member of staff will be provided to meet identified special
    educational needs, in line with the amount of SEND funding awarded.
  • All staff and volunteers will hold a cleared, enhanced DBS check.
  • Volunteers will be closely supervised at all times.
  • Volunteers may sometimes be counted in ratio if the setting supervisor has assessed them to
    be sufficiently competent.
  • Our settings support students with short work experience placements or longer childcare
    experiences. All students will be closely supervised at all times.
  • Our Human Resources department will check references and request health disclosures from
    all new staff.
  • Staff at a supervisory level will be required to hold, or be working towards, a relevant Level 3
    qualification. All other staff will hold, or be working towards, a relevant Level 2 qualification.
  • Staff will be paid to attend planning meetings. Most staff have a 40 week contract that includes
    3 days payment for attending training/preparation days and an additional 7 days payment towards the completion of individual planning and Early Years Log journals. For those staff on a 38 week contract attendance at training and completion of additional tasks requested will be paid via completion of a timesheet.
  • All staff will receive half termly supervision with their line manager. This includes opportunities
    to discuss any issues, particularly around the children’s’ development and to identify solutions
    to these. Staff will discuss the general wellbeing of their key group and provide updates on child
    protection cases. The agenda also includes a discussion around personal development.
  • Staff will complete an annual appraisal with their line manager which includes setting
    objectives for the following year.
  • All staff have access to a free and confidential Employee Assistance Programme.

Suncream Policy Statement

  • It is the responsibility of parents/carers/guardians to ensure that their child is adequately protected from the sun.
  • Children should arrive at pre-school on sunny days with their sun cream already applied. Staff
    will check that sun protection has been used upon arrival before allowing the child to register
    for their session.
  • Parents/carers/guardians should include a suitable sun cream in their child’s bag. This needs
    to be labelled with the child’s name.
  • Staff will monitor the children and support children to reapply sun cream during the day as
    necessary. Parental/carer/guardian permission to apply sun cream will be sought.
  • Pre-schools will not provide sun cream for the children to avoid allergic reactions to the product.

Uncollected Child Policy Statement

  • Parents/carers/guardians who are unable to collect their child as planned must inform the pre-school before the end of session. All parents/carers/guardians are given a contact telephone number for the pre-school.
  • If a child is not collected at the end of a session, we will use the information in their application
    form to try and contact the parents/carers/guardians.
  • If we are unable to contact the parents/carers/guardians then we will start trying to contact all other authorised contacts listed on the emergency contact forms.
  • If we are still unable to contact anyone by telephone, we will make every effort to contact by
    other methods.
  • Two qualified staff members, at least one of whom is at a senior level, will stay with the child
    and reassure them that someone is coming soon. If the staff members are unable to stay due to their own childcare arrangements a call should be made immediately to senior management to request support.
  • The child will not leave the building with anyone other than the named people on their form.
  • If the child is still uncollected after 30 minutes, and no contact has been made, staff are asked
    to contact Social Care on 01733 864180 to seek support. If necessary staff may also contact the
    police.
  • The child will remain at the pre-school with two staff until they are either collected by a
    parent/carer/guardian, or by a social worker or police.
  • Should the above take place, a written report will be made in the incident log.
  • OFSTED may be informed and our Early Years Manager will be informed.
  • We reserve the right to charge the parent/carer/guardian a late fee for the additional hours worked by staff.

Early years policies 2024-2025

Solihull SENDIASS policies and processes

Solihull SENDIASS policies and processes are available to download as follows:

Wiltshire SENDIASS policies and processes

Wiltshire SENDIASS policies and processes are available to download as follows:

Statements

Accessibility Statement

Accessibility statement

Family Action is committed to making this website accessible to as many people as possible. If you have any suggestions or feedback on our website’s accessibility, or have encountered any problems using the site, please let us know – [email protected]

The power of the Web is in its universality. Access by everyone regardless of disability is an essential aspect.”

Tim Berners-Lee, W3C Director and inventor of the World Wide Web

Family Action’s new website

Our website, launched in 2024 is designed with the aim of meeting the international AA standard under the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), which is defined as ‘strong accessibility – the website is usable and understandable for the majority of people with or without disabilities.’

The guidelines on how to achieve certain standards are vast but are summarised on gov.uk. For example, you should be able to:

  • change colours, contrast levels and fonts
  • zoom in up to your browser maximum without the text spilling off the screen
  • navigate most of the website using just a keyboard
  • navigate most of the website using speech recognition software
  • listen to most of the website using a screen reader (including the most recent versions of JAWS, NVDA and VoiceOver)
  • understand the language used

AbilityNet has advice on making your device easier to use if you have a disability.

Our brand

In 2024, we went through a brand refresh and have taken care to make sure that our core logo colour is accessible to AA standards and to ensure the legibility of our name and core typefaces.

Font size

Family Action’s website has been built so that you can change the text size within your internet browser to a size that suits you.

  • PC: To increase text size hold down the CTRL key and press +. To decrease text size hold down the CTRL key and press –
  • Mac: To increase text size hold down the Command key and press +. To decrease text size hold down the Command key and press –

Translating into your preferred language

Many web browsers have in-built translators which we would recommend. Google Translate may also be used and can translate a full webpage or website.

Search for ‘Google translate’ on your preferred search engine or click the link above.

  1. Copy and paste the web page copy that you would like to translate into the left-hand box (English)
  2. Select the language required in the second, right-hand box. This will translate the text and present it in the second box.
  3. There is also a speaker icon which can read the text out loud in your chosen language.

We are committed to working continuously to meet AA standards, however, some of the functionality is in Beta and occasionally some parts of the site may fall short, if you notice any issues with accessibility, please let us know at [email protected]

Slavery and Human Trafficking Statement 

Slavery and Human Trafficking Statement  

The Modern Slavery Act 2015 introduced new obligations in relation to slavery and human trafficking.  Family Action is fully supportive of the legislation as it is in keeping with our values.  Family Action is committed to the principles of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 and the abolition of modern slavery and human trafficking.  As an equal opportunities’ employer, Family Action is committed to creating and ensuring a non-discriminatory and respectful working environment for its staff and volunteers.  Family Action wants all its staff and volunteers to feel confident that they can expose wrongdoing without any risk to themselves.

The nature of our organisation and supply chains means Family Action has a low risk of being exposed to suppliers who utilise human trafficking or slavery. However, we are committed to improving our practices and processes to combat slavery and human trafficking, wherever we can.

Due Diligence Processes for Slavery and Human Trafficking 

As part of our initiative to identify and mitigate risk, our Procurement Policy and processes ensure we have in place systems to:

  • identify and assess potential risk areas in our supply chains
  • mitigate the risk of slavery and human trafficking occurring in our supply chains; and
  • monitor potential risk areas in our supply chains.

We have a zero tolerance to slavery and human trafficking, and we ensure all those in our supply chain and contractors, and our investments comply with these values.  Family Action maintains the following policies which are accessible via the Family Action intranet:

  • Employee Code of Conduct
  • Anti-Bribery Policy
  • Anti-Fraud Policy
  • Ethical Fundraising Policy
  • Health & Wellbeing Policy
  • Whistleblowing Policy
  • Anti-Bullying and Harassment Policy
  • Equality, Diversity & Inclusion Policy
  • Safeguarding Adults Policy
  • Safer Recruitment Policy.

Family Action does not enter into business with any organisation, in the United Kingdom or abroad, which knowingly supports, or is found to be, involved in slavery, servitude and forced or compulsory labour.

This statement is made pursuant to section 54(1) of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 and constitutes the slavery and human trafficking statement for the financial year ended 31 March 2024.

Safeguarding Statement

Safeguarding Statement

Safeguarding and Protecting People for Trustees, Charity Commission 2017:

“As part of fulfilling your trustee duties you must take reasonable steps to protect from harm people who come into contact with your charity.

This includes:

  • People who benefit from your charity’s work
  • Staff
  • Volunteers

Other people who come into contact with your charity through its work”

At Family Action our absolute priority is a focus on people. Our organisational value of being “people-focussed” extends to people who work or volunteer for us, as well as those who use our services, or come into contact with our organisation in any other capacity. Family Action is committed to meeting our safeguarding responsibilities under the Care Act 2014 and statutory guidance “Working Together to Safeguard Children 2018”. We also recognise the wider definition of safeguarding used by our regulator, the Charity Commission which says that we must take “reasonable steps to protect from harm” anyone who comes into contact with our charity.

In line with these responsibilities:

We take steps to ensure that those who join are organisation are suitable for their roles and have been subject to appropriate checks of their skills and background. Our recruitment processes place emphasis on attracting and recruiting those who share our organisational values. These recruitment and selection processes are set out in our Safer Recruitment Policy.

We have a Code of Conduct which sets out the behaviour we expect from our staff and volunteers. Failure to uphold this Code of Conduct may result in disciplinary proceedings (see our Disciplinary Policy) and dismissal of staff or termination of the volunteering arrangement. Where relevant we will refer any concerns about the conduct of our staff/volunteers to the appropriate professional body, Disclosure and Barring Service and/or Local Area Designated Office (LADO).

We are committed to ensuring that Family Action is a safe place to work and our staff and volunteers are not subjected to unnecessary risk. Our Health and Safety Manual sets out the steps we take to identify potential hazards, assess risk and ensure control measures are adequate. This includes the stipulation that all premises must have a fire risk assessments and risk management plan.

We value the contribution of our staff and volunteers and offer them support to cope with the challenges they face both inside and outside of work. We are committed to ensuring that Family Action is a safe, supportive and rewarding working environment. All employees have regular supervision in line with our Supervision Policy and our volunteers each have a designated supervisor who provides supervision, support and, identifies training requirements (in accordance with our Volunteering Policy). All employees have access to a free, confidential Employee Assistance Programme, available 24 hours a day, offering a range of professional advice, guidance and emotional support.

We have a number of other policies aimed at creating a safe working environment including our:

  • Anti-bullying and harassment policy
  • Domestic Abuse policy
  • Health and Wellbeing policy
  • Lone working policy

All staff, volunteers and trustees are trained to recognise signs which could indicate that a child or adult at risk may be being abused or neglected. Our expectations are set out in our Core Curriculum Training Matrix.

We actively encourage our staff, volunteers and those who use or come into contact with our services, to speak up about things which they think could cause harm to people and we act promptly when concerns have been raised. Our Safeguarding Adults and Safeguarding Children policies emphasise that individuals retain the right to contact Adults/Children’s Social Care if they disagree with their manager or feel their concern has not been adequately addressed. Our Quality Assurance Framework sets out how anyone can escalate concerns they may have about a service within our culture of respectful challenge. We also have a Whistleblowing Policy which describes how staff/volunteers can raise any concerns they have inside or, if necessary, outside the organisation. We have a Complaints Policy and collate information on complaints to identify any emerging risks/themes.

As an organisation we are committed to learning from incidents within our own organisation and externally (where these may have implications from our own practice) This commitment forms part of our Quality Assurance Framework. Additionally we recognise and comply with our duties to report relevant incidents to Ofsted, the Charity Commission and/or CQC as appropriate.

Quality, Environmental, Health and Safety Statement

Quality, Environmental, Health and Safety Statement

It is the policy of Family Action to maintain a quality system designed to meet the requirements of ISO 9001:2015, ISO 45001: 2018 & ISO 14001:2015 in pursuit of its primary objectives, the purpose and the context of the Charity.

Background and Context

Family Action is a leading provider of practical, emotional and financial support to families who are experiencing poverty, disadvantage and social isolation across England. Family Action recognises that a strong organisational commitment to the development, continuous improvement and compliance with a robust our Business Management system can only help us to improve our range of services to vulnerable children, young people and families and to evidence the quality of those services to those who commission them from us.

Many of our service users have multiple and complex needs and they require services from us that will make a positive difference to their lives, that will enhance their wellbeing and keep them safe from harm – in this context the provision of high quality and safe services is of vital importance.

Purpose

Family Action aims to provide and promote excellent quality services and best practice throughout its services and sphere of influence. The purpose of our Business Management system is to maintain and keep under review arrangements that have been put in place to ensure that the services we provide are of the highest quality possible, and that they put the needs of our service users first.

Our commitment to Quality and Environment

Family Action is committed to achieving the best quality services that we can. We are committed to continuously improving our accountability and effectiveness and to achieving improved outcomes for our service users. This organisational commitment to quality assurance is led by Family Action’s Board of Trustees and senior management team and is modelled and replicated throughout the Charity. Family Action will comply with all compliance obligations, codes of practice and all other requirements applicable to our activities including the nature, scale and environmental impacts of its activities, products and services.
Family Action is committed to protection of the environment, including prevention of pollution, sustainable resource use, climate change mitigation and adaptation, the protection of biodiversity and ecosystems and any other specific commitments which are relevant to the context of the Charity

Our commitment to Occupational Health and Safety at work

Family Action is committed to the promotion of health, safety and welfare as an essential objective. Our commitment is to provide and maintain, as far as is reasonably practicable, a safe and healthy workplace all our employees, volunteers, service users and visitors. A commitment to reduction of hazards, prevention of injury, ill health of other people who may be affected by our activities.

Management and staff will work proactively together to ensure that all plans, procedures and systems of work are designed to take full account of health and safety issues.

All employees, volunteers, service users and visitors are expected to co-operate with the organisation, in order that it may comply with any statutory duty placed upon it.

Family Action is committed to:

  • Provide a safe and healthy working environment including safe systems of work
  • Effectively manage and monitor the safety arrangements
  • Increase the awareness of all employees to their responsibility for the health and safety of themselves and others
  • Ensure a systematic approach to risk assessment and control
  • Provide adequate resources, including the provision of competent personnel to implement this policy
  • Provide suitable arrangements for employee consultation on matters relating to health, safety and welfare.

Our commitment to Social responsibility

Family Action is committed to operate in a socially responsible way. This means acting in an ethical and transparent way that contributes to the health and welfare of society.

Family Action is committed to contributing to society’s sustainable development. We will go beyond legal compliance, recognising that compliance with law is a fundamental duty of any organisation and an essential part of their social responsibility. Family Action is committed to promote understanding in the field of social responsibility.

Family Action is committed to conform to all UK and international laws and standards including ISO 26000:2010 and EU regulation 1408/71.
Family Action take into consideration societal, environmental, legal, cultural, political and organisational diversity, as well as differences in economic conditions, while being consistent with UN International Norms of Behaviour.

We comply with all UK and international laws, and do not employ child labour.

We provide a safe and healthy workplace and working environment, and take all the necessary steps as is reasonably practical, to prevent injuries and accidents to its staff, and those affected by its workplace activities, by minimising any hazards in the workplace.

We ensure that workers are compensated with wages and benefits that meet the UK Living Wage (as set by the living wage foundation.

We do not require employees to work more than minimum hours that they are contracted to, except in exceptional circumstances. No member of staff is permitted to work over 48 hours for Family Action.

We will not tolerate bullying and harassment of any kind. Nor will we tolerate victimisation of a person for making allegations of bullying or harassment.

We are committed to encouraging diversity, promoting equal opportunities, and providing fair treatment in all that we do.

We strive for a working environment that is inclusive, free from discrimination and where everyone is treated with dignity and respect.

We support, and participate in local social responsibility programs, as they are presented, and as the need arises.

Appropriate resources will be made available to ensure Family Action’s commitment are maintained.

This business assurance policy is communicated to all employees and it’s kept under review to ensure it remains current.

The Board and senior leadership of Family Action has given its full endorsement to this Statement.