Our privacy policy

Your information, your rights

 The UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018 is important to us at Parents 1^st UK. The information below shares how we store and use your personal information to provide peer support to you.

Data Controller

Parents 1^st UK is the data controller for any personal data that we hold about you. You can contact us on 01268 525758 or email [email protected] if you have any questions.

What information do we collect and use?

To enable us to provide quality peer support, we will collect the following types of information from you directly, or about you from a third-party organisation engaged in the delivery of your care (i.e. your midwife/health visitor/ Mental health team etc.). This will generally be at the time of your referral, however it could occur at any time whilst you are receiving peer support, but only if relevant and necessary.

• ‘Personal data’ meaning any information relating to an identifiable person who can be directly or indirectly identified from the data.  This includes, but is not limited to name, date of birth, full postcode, address, next of kin and information about your pregnancy or child/ren.
• ‘Special category / sensitive data’ such as medical history including medication, emergency appointments and admissions, clinical treatments, results of investigations, supportive care arrangements, social care status, race, ethnic origin, genetics and sexual orientation.

How we use your information

We will need to use the information we collect in order to provide you with the best possible peer support.

We will look after any personal information that is shared with us. This is central to our values as an organisation. We want everyone who interacts with us to feel confident about how any personal information they share / agree to be shared will be looked after or used.

You can be confident that:

• We only use personal information in the ways we need to, that is expected of us and that we have a lawful basis for.
• We respect the rights you have as an individual by having procedures in place to protect these.
• We will make it easy for you to tell us how you want us to communicate with you, including how to opt out from future communications, rectify inaccurate data or request access - and your request will be respected in a timely manner.
• We will never release your information to organisations outside Parents 1st UK for their marketing purposes.
• We take all reasonable care to safeguard your personal information through security policies and secure business processes.
• We will provide easy ways for you to contact us. We are always happy to answer any queries you have, at any time.

We will need to store the information you have given us securely on our computer system or on paper. We have strict working practices to ensure that we keep your information secure and confidential.

• When not required, paper files are kept in a locked drawer or filing cabinet. Any paper records are shredded and disposed of securely when no longer needed. 
• Electronic records are only stored on designated drives and servers and uploaded to an approved cloud computing service.

For more information about this, please contact us for our full ‘Data protection and Information sharing’ policy.

How we share and store your personal information

• Your peer supporter will record and store information about you and the support you are receiving. We use codes to protect your identify and only those working directly on your case will need to access your personal details. 
• Your peer supporter will share information on a regular basis with her supervisor so as to help us provide you with the best possible support.
• For monitoring and evaluation, we may share information with partner organisations and those who provide the funding. You would not be identified by name and only numbers and statistics are given.

Confidentiality

We are committed to protecting your privacy and will only use information that has been collected lawfully.  Every member of staff has an obligation to keep information about you confidential. 

We maintain our duty of confidentiality by conducting annual training and awareness, ensuring access to personal data is limited to the appropriate staff and information is only shared with organisations and individuals that have a legitimate and legal basis for access. Information is not held for longer than is necessary.  

Consent

At Parents 1^st UK we follow UK GDPR rules for consent.  By agreeing to use our services, you give implied consent for us to store relevant information about you and your baby to enable us to provide quality peer support, as we are unable to provide a service without holding relevant personal information.

Please note, we will not ask for your consent and may not inform you that we are going to share information if there is a risk of significant or serious harm to a child or adult or it is in the public interest not to do so.

Withdrawing consent

You have the right to withdraw your consent to us holding information on you at any time. 

Please note, withdrawing consent to us holding your personal data may impact the services we are able to provide you with.

Please contact us on 01268 525758 or email [email protected] for further information.

Accessing the data we hold about you – your rights

The UK GDPR gives individuals specific rights over their personal data. In summary these are:

• the right to access personal data held about you (the right of subject access);
• the right to be informed about how and why your data is used;
• the rights to have your data rectified, erased or restricted;
• the right to object;
• the right to portability of your data; and
• the right not to be subject to a decision based solely on automated processing.

If you would like to exercise any of your rights over the personal data we hold about you, you can make a request in writing to:

Parents 1^st UK, Construction House, Runwell Road, Wickford, Essex, SS11 7HQ.

Email address: [email protected]

Find out more about your rights over your personal data: https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/uk-gdpr-guidance-and-resources/data-sharing/data-sharing-a-code-of-practice/the-rights-of-individuals/

Data Protection Officer

A Data Protection Officer (DPO) is a role appointed within by public bodies, to ensure that her organisation processes the personal data of its staff, customers, providers or any other individuals (also referred to as data subjects) in compliance with the applicable data protection rules.

Parents 1^st UK’s Data Protection Officer (DPO) is Paula Beare, CEO.

Email: [email protected]

Data Processors

Data processors act on our behalf, as a data controller and under our authority. In doing so, they serve our interests rather than their own. A processor can be a company or other legal entity (such as an incorporated partnership, incorporated association or public authority), or an individual, for example a consultant. The following is a list of processors that we have engaged, and a description of the work they carry out on our behalf:

• Dulcie McBride – provides management of the Parents 1^st UK Salesforce database (including reports, dashboards and other overview data)
• WSA Consultants – provides impact evaluation and learning workshops as a result of a Local authority contract that we hold (PHAB/Lullaby Project)
• Michelle Le Plage – contracted by Parents 1^st UK to provide antenatal workshops.
• MadeOpen – an independent community technology company that provides Parents 1^st UK with website software. You can view more about how the Parents 1^st website collects and processes information here: https://parents1st.org.uk/privacy-policy
• Vezo Networks - provides IT services to Parents 1^st

You have the right to object to data processors handling your personal information, though bear in mind that this is not an absolute right. Further information on this right is available here: https://ico.org.uk/your-data-matters/the-right-to-object-to-the-use-of-your-data/

Data Storage

We currently use Salesforce and Airtable to record and store information.

• Salesforce - Salesforce takes customer data security very seriously. Data is encrypted both in transit and at rest to protect sensitive information. You can find out more about this software via their website

• Airtable - Only anonymised information is stored on this database. Find out more about this software via their website

Personal data that we process for any purpose or purposes shall not be kept for longer than is necessary for that purpose or purposes. We will retain and delete your personal data as follows:

Document:	Retention Period:	Notes:	Where retained:
General files	3 years after last contact	Or as required by contract or grant conditions	Electronically (restricted access)
Files where there has been a safeguarding issue	Indefinitely	Retention period to be reviewed annually.  “Issue” refers to all involvement in a safeguarding alert and / or investigation even if unfounded	Electronically (restricted access)

Complaints

In the event that your feel we have not complied with the current data protection legislation, either in responding to your request or in our general processing of your personal information, you should raise your concerns in the first instance in writing to:

Parents 1^st UK, Construction House, Runwell Road, Wickford, Essex, SS11 7HQ. 

Email address: [email protected]   

Information Commissioners Office

The Information Commissioners Office (ICO) is the national authority overseeing Data Protection and Freedom of Information in the UK. You are able to raise complaints and concerns directly with them, and information on how to do so is available here: https://ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint/