1 Introduction
1.1 Carers Support Merton is committed to safeguarding the privacy of our website visitors and service users.
1.2 This policy explains when and why we collect personal information about people who visit our website, how we use it, the conditions under which we may disclose it to others and how we keep it secure.
1.3 We may change this Policy from time to time so please check this page occasionally to ensure that you’re happy with any changes. By using our website you’re agreeing to be bound by this Policy.
1.4 Any questions regarding this Policy and our privacy practices should be sent by email to info@csmerton.org or by writing to Carers Support Merton, The Vestry Hall, London Road, Mitcham, CR4 3UD
2 Who are we?
2.1 Carers Support Merton is a local charity supporting unpaid Carers in Merton. Carers Support Merton is a registered charity (1085761) and company limited by guarantee (04164966). The registered address is The Vestry Hall, London Road, Mitcham, CR4 3UD.
3 How do we collect information from you?
3.1 We obtain information about you when you use our website, for example, when you contact us for information or advice, book our activities, events or services, or make a donation. In addition, like most websites, when you visit our site we collect visitor data about how our website is used by its visitors.
4 What type of information is collected Website Visitors & how is it used?
4.1 When you visit our website we may process ‘user data’. This ‘user data’ may include your IP address, geographical location, browser type and version, operating system referral source, length of visit, page views and website navigation paths, as well as information on timing, frequently and pattern of your service use. The source of our ‘usage data’ is Google Analytics. This data does not include any personal information about you such as name, email address etc. and is only used to help us to understand how people use our website and how we can improve it.
4.2 The Carers Support Merton website uses cookies. Cookies are very small text files that are stored on your computer when you visit some websites. We use cookies to help identify your computer so we can tailor your user experience, track content viewed and remember where you are in the site and any associated processes. You can disable any cookies already stored on your computer, but these may stop our website from functioning properly.
4.3 This website will use cookies to:
(a) Track the pages you visit via Google Analytics
(b) Remember your preferences
(c) Remember where you are in any order or registration process
(d) This website will not share any personal information with third parties
5 Cookies on our website
We use to analyse usage and to make the website efficient.
6 Service Users (Adult Carers & parents of Young Carers)
6.1 By providing your personal details when requested, you enable Carers Support Merton to provide you with the services you require. Whenever you provide such personal information, we will treat that information in accordance with this policy and ensure its security.
6.2 If you are am Adult Carer or have parental responsibly for a Young Carer and wish for either you or your child (Young Carer) to access the services or activities advertised on this website, you will be required to register as a Carer or register your child as a Young Carer with Carers Support Merton. When you register as a Carer or your child as a Young Carer with us you will be asked to provide information such as name, address, telephone numbers, email address, date of birth, brief information of your family/caring situation and other professionals involved with your family. This information will enable us to understand how to best help you. You will also be asked to provide information such as gender, sexuality, disability, ethnicity and religion. We use this data in an anonymised way to report to our funders, to measure our success at reaching all sections of the community and to plan future services. You have a right to decline to provide any of these additional details if you wish, and you will always be given the option of stating that you ‘prefer not to say’.
6.3 We do send out information about our news, activities, workshops, services, changes in legislation or Carers rights, appeals, campaigns or fundraising from time to time. We may also offer you the opportunity to participate in surveys carried out by Carers Support Merton or its partners which help our research into the types of service we offer and/or gives us feedback on the quality of our services. You will be able to choose whether or not you consent to receive this information from us, and whether we may contact you by post, email, telephone, or text. In order to economise we generally send information about our Adult Carer activities via an email bulletin, and Young Carer activities via text or telephone. Therefore, if you decline to be contacted by email for Adult Carers and telephone/text for Young Carers you may not receive information on our current activity schedule or new services which may be of help to you.
6.4 When you register for an event, activity or workshop through our website your name and details of whether you attend or not will be added to that event which will be stored on our data base.
7 People aged 18 or Under
7.1 We are concerned to protect the privacy of children and young people aged 18 or under. If you are aged 18 or under‚ please get your parent/guardian’s permission beforehand whenever you provide us with personal information. Users without that consent are not allowed to provide us with personal information.
8 Donors & Fundraising
8.1 If you make a donation online or set up a regular payment then we will keep information of your name, address, email and the amounts donated. You can ask us to delete this information at any time, and we will do so for marketing purposes. However, there is some information we must keep by law, for example, details of Gift Aid.
8.2 Your card information is not held by us, it is collected by our third party payment processor Stripe, who specialise in the secure online capture and processing of credit/debit card transactions. We will share transaction data with our payment service provider only to the extent necessary for the purposes of processing your payments, refunding such payments and dealing with complaints and queries relating to such payments and refunds. You can find information about the payment services providers privacy policies and practices at https://stripe.com/gb/privacy
8.3 We may send you information on our news, developments, campaigns and fundraising from time to time. You have a choice about whether or not you wish to receive this information from us and will be asked about how you would prefer us to do this, for example, post or email. If you do not want to receive communications from us about the vital work we do for Carers and our exciting services you are able to opt out. You can change your decision at any time by contacting us by email info@csmerton.org or telephone on 020 8646 7515.
9 Contacting us through our website
9.1 When you contact us through our website we use the information you provide to answer your specific query or request. If you are a registered Carer with us we may store the email and our response on our database in order to ensure continuity of service, and to avoid you having to repeat yourself if you have to contact us again in the future.
10 Retention Periods
10.1 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). We will hold your personal information on our systems for as long as is necessary for the relevant activity, legislation or as long as is set out in any relevant contract you hold with us.
11 Who has access to your information?
11.1 Whether you give us your information as a service user, volunteer or donor we will not sell or rent your information to third parties. We will not share your information with third parties for marketing purposes.
11.2 If you attend the events and activities advertised on our website, anonymised information may be shared with our funders and also used to help us to plan future services.
11.3 We have a contract with London Borough of Merton to carry out Carers Assessments on their behalf. We therefore may share the assessment with them, but will agree with you on the content of the assessment before it is shared.
11.4 We work closely with various third party product providers who may have products and services designed to meet the needs of unpaid Carers, for example, Age UK, Mencap etc. We may send you information about their services or products from time to time so that you can contact them directly if you wish to do so. We would advice you to read their privacy policy to ensure you understand how they use your information.
11.5 In order to meet your needs as a Carer, we may make referrals to other agencies that can help you. However, we will not release your information to third parties beyond Carers Support Merton unless you have requested us to do so, or we are required to do so by law, for example, by a court order, for the purposes of prevention of fraud or other crime or for adult or child safeguarding reasons.
12 Links to other websites
12.1 Our website may contain links to other websites run by other organisations. This privacy policy applies only to our website‚ so we encourage you to read the privacy statements on the other websites you visit. We cannot be responsible for the privacy policies and practices of other sites even if you access them using links from our website.
12.2 In addition, if you linked to our website from a third party site, we cannot be responsible for the privacy policies and practices of the owners and operators of that third party site and recommend that you check the policy of that third party site.
13 How you can access and update your information
13.1 You have the right to make sure the information we have about you is accurate. If you change email address, or any of the other information we hold is inaccurate or out of date, please email info@csmerton.org or write to us at: The Vestry Hall, London Road, Mitcham CR4 3UD. Alternatively, you can telephone 020 8646 7515.
13.2 You have the right to ask for a copy of the information Carers Support Merton hold about you.
14 Security precautions in place to protect the loss, misuse or alteration of your information
14.1 Non-sensitive details (your email address, etc.) are transmitted normally over the Internet, and this can never be guaranteed to be 100% secure. As a result, while we strive to protect your personal information, we cannot guarantee the security of any information you transmit to us, and you do so at your own risk. Once we receive your information we will ensure that all personal information supplied is held securely in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998.
