Privacy Policy

DATA PRIVACY NOTICE

1. Your personal data – what is it?

Personal data relates to a living individual who can be identified from that data. Identification can be by the information alone or in conjunction with any other information in the data controller’s possession or likely to come into such possession. The processing of personal data is governed by the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA).

DASH Charity is a charity and must process personal data, this includes sensitive personal data, so that it can provide its services, in doing so, DASH Charity acts as a data controller, and are registered as a data controller with the Information Commissioner’s Office.

2. Who are we?

The Dash Charity is a member of the Women’s Aid Federation for England (WAFE). Dash is also a company limited by guarantee. We have been providing safe emergency accommodation in Slough and Windsor & Maidenhead for women and their children escaping Domestic Abuse (DA) for over 40 years.

We have been commissioned to provide a range of Domestic Abuse services under contract to RBWM Council. Our services currently comprise places of refuge for women and children who have experienced or are at risk of DA, a community based advocacy service with helplines for victims and professionals, development programmes and training and a volunteer programme.  We work collaboratively with local and regional agencies and other relevant organisations to achieve our aims and strategic objectives.

We have been commissioned to provide a range of Domestic Abuse services under contract to RBWM Council. Our services currently comprise places of refuge for women and children who have experienced or are at risk of DA, a community-based advocacy service with helplines for victims and professionals, development programmes and training and a volunteer programme.  We work collaboratively with local and regional agencies and other relevant organisations to achieve our aims and strategic objectives.

3. What personal data do we collect from you and where do we collect it from?

Personal information is any information that can be used to identify you. We will only ever collect the information we need to fulfil our purposes.

We collect information from:

  • Through the application process for recruiting our staff and volunteers.
  • Referral forms into our organisation in order for us to support you.
  • Referral from multi-agency panels overseeing the response to you in regards to either safeguarding, safety or risk.

Sensitive /special categories of data: Data Protection laws recognise that certain categories of data are sensitive therefore requiring greater protection. They include: racial or ethnic origin, political opinion, religious or philosophical beliefs, health, or sexual orientation. We do not collect sensitive data unless there is a clear reason for doing so, but we do collect as a matter of course to help inform the support that you require when it is shared in the above ways.

 Children’s data: Data Protection law recognise the importance of protecting children’s data. This is important to us at Dash. Where we collect data for children under 13 (within our Children and Young People’s Service in the refuge) we will ask the permission of parents or guardians.  For those children over 13 we will seek permission from them direct.

4. How do we process your personal data?

We use your personal data for the following purposes: –

  • To enable us to provide a service to you and your children if you are experiencing Domestic Abuse.
  • To fundraise and promote the interests of the charity;
  • To manage our employees and volunteers;
  • To maintain our own accounts and records (including of Gift Aid applications);
  • To have measures in place to keep you safe and secure

5. What is the legal basis for processing your personal data?

We rely on a variety of legal bases for processing personal data depending on the purpose of the activity/service being undertaken.

 (a) Consent: the individual has given clear consent for you to process their personal data for a specific purpose. – this covers all our work as all our clients give us consent to hold their data when we start working with them

(b) Contract: the processing is necessary for a contract you have with the individual, or because they have asked you to take specific steps before entering into a contract.  – this covers our short-term work

(c) Vital interests: The processing is necessary to protect vital interests of the data subject. For example, subjects who are unable to make decisions in the best interests of their health. – Safeguarding and high-risk clients

(d) Legal Obligation: We use compliance with a legal obligation as the basis of processing for any legally required activities such as HMRC’s requests for information in response to gift aid audits.  We use contracts as a basis for many of our obligations under employment, social security, or social protection law for our staff.

On rare occasions, we may use an exemption in accordance with the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA) in order to process information if we believe you are at extreme risk.

 

 We follow the following code of practice:

  • Code of Practise for Surveillance Cameras and Personal Information ICO
  • Fundraising Code of Practise

6. Sharing your personal data

We never share your data for other organisations to use for their own purposes. We share information with your consent, with other agencies involved in your support.  We may share information with other agencies if we feel that your safety or the safety of your children is at risk (vital interests)

 We do share data where we are under a legal obligation to do so (for example Gift Aid audits by HMRC).

 Within Dash, your personal data will be treated as strictly confidential and will only be shared with other members of staff of volunteers to carry out a service to you.  All those who have access to your data, go through a robust recruitment process, are enhanced DBS checked and have on-going training in regard to confidentiality and data security.  All information in regards to our clients who use our service are stored on a secure database provided by Oasis called On-Track.

7. How do we store your Personal data and keep it safe?

Due to the nature of our work and the high importance we place on safety and security, the Trustees of Dash comply with its obligations under the UK GDPR by keeping personal data up to date; by storing and destroying it securely; by not collecting or retaining excessive amounts of data; by protecting personal data from loss, misuse, unauthorised access and disclosure and by ensuring that appropriate technical measures are in place to protect personal data.  

8. How long do we keep your personal data?

We keep data in accordance with the guidance in regard to how long we keep information and have in place a Records of Processing Activities (RoPAs) and Guidelines and are reviewed on a regular basis.

Where your information is no longer required we will ensure that it is disposed of in a secure manner and in accordance with our retention periods.

9. Your rights and your personal data

Under data protection laws in the UK, you have certain rights over the personal information that we hold about you. Here is a summary of the rights that apply:

• Right to be informed: You have the right to be informed as to how we use your data, under what lawful basis we carry out any processing. This privacy notice sets this information out however if you would like further information or feel that your rights are not being respected, please get in contact with any of the details listed.

• Right of erasure: You may ask us to delete some or all of your information we hold about you. Sometimes where we have a legal obligation or where we may be exempt to the law, we cannot erase your personal data.

• The right to object: You have the right to object to processing where we are using your personal information such as where it is based on legitimate interests or for direct marketing or fundraising communications.

• Inaccurate personal information corrected: Inaccurate or incomplete information we hold about you can be corrected. The accuracy of your information is important to us and we are working on ways to make this easier for you to review and correct the information that we hold about you. If any of your information is out of date or if you are unsure of this, please get in touch through any of the contact details listed in this notice.

• The right to request that the data controller provide the data subject with his/her personal data and where possible, to transmit that data directly to another data controller, (known as the right to data portability),

• Right of restriction: You have a right to restrict the processing of some or all of your personal information if there is a disagreement about its accuracy, or we are not lawfully allowed to use it.

• Right to access your information: You have the right to request access to a copy of your personal information that we hold about you, along with the information on what personal information we use, why we use it, who we share it with, how long we keep it for and whenever it has been used for automated decision making. You can make a request for access free of charge and proof of identity is required.

In some circumstances, The DASH Charity will be unable to uphold and acknowledge some of the rights listed and in accordance with the Data Protection Act 2018 such as;

  • The right to be informed;
  • The right of access;
  • The right to be forgotten; and
  • Complying with the principles

10. Further processing

If we wish to use your personal data for a new purpose, not covered by this Data Protection Notice, then we will provide you with a new notice explaining this new use prior to commencing the processing and setting out the relevant purposes and processing conditions. Where and whenever necessary, we will seek your prior consent to the new processing

11. Transferring data outside of the UK

Where data is transferred from the UK to an EEA Country or to a third country, we will ensure such transfers are protected by suitable transfer risk assessments and Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs). Where necessary and subject to an assessment of risk, International Data Transfer Agreements and the necessary Addendum will be put in place. 

 

Robust processor agreements are in place with companies we use to store your data and the contracts are reviewed upon the review date or where necessary law amendments come into force. 

12. Communications to our supporters

Post
We may use your Consent or our Legitimate Interest to send you fundraising or marketing communications by post. If you prefer not to hear from us this way, please get in contact and let us know by any of the contact details listed in the section below.

Phone/Email/Text
If you have provided us with your telephone number or email address, for example, when you contacted us directly and expressed interest in our charity, we may get in contact with you via phone, email or text to provide you with further information about our services. If the nature of your enquiry relates to marketing or fundraising, we will ask for your consent to continue to process your data.

Fundraising and Marketing Communications
We will only send you fundraising and marketing communications by email, text and telephone if you have explicitly provided your consent. You may opt-out of our fundraising and marketing communications at any time by clicking the unsubscribe link at the end of our marketing emails. Alternatively, you can get in touch via any of the contact details listed in the section below. Your contact details may be used to provide you with information about our newsletter or our fundraising opportunities to support us, or other marketing campaigns.

When you give us consent to receive marketing and fundraising communications, we will monitor consent and ensure that you still wish to receive such communications.

Our approach is designed to uphold your privacy and information rights, to respect your choices, and to ensure we are not intrusive.

13. Contact Details

To exercise all relevant rights, queries or complaints, please in the first instance contact our Senior Responsible Individual (SRI): Kiran Pathak, Finance & Governance.

Email: dataprotection@thedashcharity.org.uk.

Phone: 01753 549 865

You could also write to us: P.O Box 5082 Slough SL1 0SS

 You can contact the Information Commissioners Office through the following details:

Phone number: 0303 123 1113

Online: https://ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint/

Write to them: the Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire. SK9 5AF.

Review of this policy
We keep this policy under regular review. This policy was last updated 7 February 2024.