Privacy Statement

Wirral Mencap’s Privacy Statement explains how we process the personal information of people who come into contact with our services.

The purpose of this statement is to explain:

  • The type of personal information we collect
  • When and why we collect it
  • How we use it
  • The conditions under which we may disclose it to others
  • How we keep it secure

About us

Wirral Mencap is a charity registered in England and Wales (1153742) and a company limited by guarantee registered in England and Wales (08668735). We exist to advance equality for people with a learning disability and their family carers.

Our Registered Office is: 42-44 Market Street, Birkenhead, Wirral, CH41 5BT.

What personal information do we collect?

Personal Information is any information that identifies or could identify a person. The personal information we collect might include any of the following (depending on the nature of your engagement with us); name, address, email address, date of birth, relevant medical and support needs, religious beliefs, ethnicity, next of kin; as well as a record of any correspondence between us.

Whose information do we collect?

We collect and process information about:

  • People who are referred to us for support (we always check that the referrer has permission to share the details)
  • People who access any of our services or projects
  • People who volunteer for us
  • People who support us – through fundraising, challenge events or donations
  • People who work for us or apply for any of our vacancies
  • People who supply services or products to us
  • People who work with us to achieve our mission (i.e. other third sector organisations, personnel from statutory organisations etc)
  • Members of Wirral Mencap

How do we use this information?

We use personal information to:

  • Provide the right support and services to our beneficiaries
  • Keep people informed of the opportunities and services available at Wirral Mencap
  • Keep a record of past correspondences to provide a seamless service
  • Seek views or comments on the services we provide
  • Notify people of changes to our services
  • Carry out our obligations related to any grants/contracts we hold
  • Process donations
  • Claim Gift Aid on donations where applicable
  • Process volunteer or job applications
  • Keep accurate personnel

You have the right to ask us to stop processing your information at any point, and can contact us using the details provided at the end of this document. However, under certain circumstances we may not be able to fulfil this request – e.g. for legal or insurance reasons (more information under ‘Deleting your personal information’). Removing your information may also mean that we can no longer offer you a service or opportunity.

What is the legal basis for processing this information?

Where we are providing a service to someone, we will collect information about their needs and preferences to ensure we meet their vital interests.

Where we are promoting new services, information events or opportunities we will process information based on ‘legitimate interest’ – this means we will send information to people where we have established that there is a legitimate interest in them receiving the information i.e. they have attended opportunities before, they are potential beneficiaries etc.

Where there is no ‘legitimate interest’ we will obtain consent.

Your rights

The General Data Protection Regulations 2018 sets out the rights of individuals in regards to the information organisations hold about them.

You have the following rights:

  1. The right to be informed
    We will make sure that you understand what information we hold about you, and why we need it. You have the right to see what information we hold.
  2. The right of access
    You have the right to know which teams have access to your information and how they use it.
  3. The right of rectification
    You can ask us to update or correct information.
  4. The right to erasure
    You have the right to ask for your information to be removed from our system where there is no need for us to continue processing it.
  5. The right to restrict processing
    You can ask to restrict our use of your information.
  6. The right to data portability
    You can ask us to copy or transfer your information from our system to another system in a safe and secure way.
  7. The right to object
    You have the right to object to your information being used in certain circumstances.
  8. The right not to be subject to automated decision making including profiling
    Wirral Mencap does not carry out any automated decision making. This means your information will not be analysed by an electronic system which then makes decisions about the use of your information without human intervention.

Access to your information

We will not share or allow access to your information unless required for one of the reasons outlined above. This means:

  • We will not sell or rent your personal information to third
  • We will not share your personal information with third parties for marketing purposes.
  • We will not pass on your personal information to anyone else without your express permission except in exceptional Examples of this might include making a safeguarding referral or disclosing information in relation to a court order.

Our services are funded through grants from Trusts and Foundations and through a small number of sub-contracts with the Local Authority. This means we may need to share some personal data under the terms of our grants/ contracts. This will generally be in the form of group statistics rather than individual information. If we require more detailed information we will ask your permission to share your experience as a case study. You will have the opportunity to shape this and inform us of your preferences for how and where this is shared (i.e. in newsletters, on social media etc).

Your access to your information

You have the right to ask for a copy of the information Wirral Mencap holds about you, free of charge.

You can verbally request to see the information we hold about you, or you can put your request in writing (address is given below). We will need to see evidence of your identity to deal with your request. We will respond to your request within 30 days.

Storing your Data

We take looking after your information very seriously. We have implemented appropriate measures to protect the information we have under our control from improper access, destruction and loss – both on and offline.

Most of the information we hold is kept in the following formats:

  • Paper based records (minimal) – We keep this in secure filing cabinets and restrict access to specific office-based staff
  • Electronic Records – We use secure systems to store information and restrict access to office based staff only and those directly involved in your support/ role within the organisation.

If your engagement with our services ends, we will store your information in line with current legislation, and then we will delete your personal information by shredding paper documents, or anonymising information held on our IT systems.

We will only keep your information for as long as is reasonable or necessary in relation to the activity or service you are involved in. We review our retention periods for personal information on a regular basis. We are legally required to hold some types of information to fulfil our statutory obligations (for example the collection of Gift Aid).

If we transfer your data to other organisations (because of a contractual duty, a legal duty or as part of a referral that you have agreed to) we will ensure that the data is transferred in a safe and secure way.

Deleting your personal information

You may want us to delete the information we hold about you when you stop engaging with our services or ask us to anonymise your records.

We will normally agree to these requests unless the data is processed for one of the following reasons:

  • To exercise the right of freedom of expression and information
  • To comply with a legal obligation or for the performance of a public interest task or exercise of official authority
  • For a public health purpose in the public interest
  • Archiving purposes in the public interest, scientific research, historical research or statistical purposes; or
  • The exercise or defence of legal claims

Updating your information

The accuracy of your information is important to us. We are working on ways to make it easier for you to review and correct the information that we hold about you.

If any of your personal information changes please inform us using the contact information below.

Requests to change your information

If you ask us to change or delete the information we hold about you, or to restrict how we use your data, we will respond to your request within 30 days.

If your request is complicated this may take a little longer – we would aim to have complex requests completed within two months.

If we cannot comply with your request, we will explain our reasons. In these circumstances you have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office or to take legal action within one month of receipt of the request (address is provided below).

Our Website

Our website does not use cookies or collect personal data other than IP addresses of failed log-in attempts.

User Forms:

You may choose to complete a user form on our website to receive more information about Wirral Mencap or to express an interest in volunteering with us. When you complete these forms the information is stored by WordPress and sent to one or more members of our team via email for processing.

Contact us

To inform us of any changes to your personal information, exercise any of your rights or make a complaint please contact us using the details below:

Chief Executive (Data Controller) Wirral Mencap
42-44 Market Street Birkenhead
CH41 5BT

Telephone: 0151 666 1829

Email: [email protected]

Complaints to the Information Commissioners Office

Website: http://ico.org.uk/concerns

Telephone number: 0303 123 1113

Address:

Information Commissioners Office Wycliffe House
Water Lane Wilmslow Cheshire SK9 5AF

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