Privacy Notice
We want you to feel confident and comfortable with how any personal information you share with is will be looked after or used. This Privacy Notice gives you detailed information on how we collect, use and store your personal information and the limited conditions under which we may share it with others.
Our Privacy Notice may change so please remember to check it from time to time. When we have made any changes, we will make this clear on our website at www.mecopp.org.uk
HOW WE COLLECT INFORMATION ABOUT YOU
When you contact MECOPP for advice, information, support, to book onto one of our training courses or to receive a newsletter or someone does this on your behalf, we collect information about you. The volume and type of information we collect will vary depending on the nature of the enquiry. We collect this information to ensure that the services we provide are appropriate and targeted to your needs.
Personal information is collected in a number of ways:
When you contact us directly: this could be if you ask us about the support we can provide to you to help you in your caring role, register with us for training or an event, apply for a job or volunteering opportunity, subscribe to a newsletter, purchase a publication or otherwise provide us with personal information so that we can provide you with a specific service;
When you are referred to us by a third party: this may be a social worker, health professional or another organisation who thinks you might benefit from the support we may be able to provide; and,
When you visit our website: we use a third party service, Google Analytics, to collect standard internet log information and details of where you have visited on our site. This helps us to identify which parts of our site are the most useful. This information is only processed in a way which does not identify anyone. We do not make any attempt to find out the identities of those visiting our website.
When you become a member of MECOPP: when you apply to be member, you will be asked to provide details of your name and address, contact details, age, gender and ethnicity as well as information on your caring situation and why you would like to be a member. We need this information to monitor how effectively our membership is reflective of the people and communities who use our services and to ensure that members are able to exercise their right to attend and vote at our Annual General Meetings (and any Extraordinary General Meetings). Our membership information is not used for any other purpose.
When you subscribe to a mailing list: this may be to receive a newsletter or details of forthcoming activities or events. You will be asked to provide contact details which may be an email or postal address. We do not ask for any other information. Individuals and/or organisations can choose to stop receiving the newsletter and/or information by email, telephone or by post at any time.
When you register for training or an event: we will sometimes use an online system – Eventbrite – to manage bookings. When you register for an event online, your name, address data, organisation details, email and contact number will be stored in our online account with Eventbrite. We need this information to manage bookings and cancellations and to send you any materials needed before the event. We do not share this information with anyone else.
INFORMATION WE COLLECT AND WHY WE USE IT
MECOPP collects a variety of information from your contact with us depending upon the nature of your interaction. Some of this information you will have provided to us when you get in touch such as a telephone contact number, email or postal address and your job title (where relevant), invoicing or payment details for training events, the purchase of a publication or to make a donation.
We also collect additional information for particular groups of people:
For carers and the person/s they look after, we collect personal data relating to age, gender, ethnicity, faith or religion, spoken language, caring situation, economic status including whether you are in receipt of any welfare benefits, living arrangements, relationship to the cared for person, health of the carer and any other organisations or individuals who may already be involved in supporting you or the cared for person.
For clients of our domiciliary care at home service, we collect information on personal care and support needs including hydration and nutrition assessments, mobility, medication regimes and personal preferences regarding the delivery of your care.
We use this information for the following purposes:
To help us provide a service or services to you as the carer/s and the person you care for person which is tailored to your specific needs;
To report to funders on what has been achieved as a result of their financial support to the organisation;
To keep our membership records up to date;
To promote the interests of the Charity;
To manage our employees, volunteers and students;
To maintain our own accounts and records;
To inform individuals and/or organisations of news, events, activities or services provided by the organisation;
To process charitable donations made to the organisation; and,
To contact individuals via surveys to conduct research about their opinions of current services or potential new services that may be offered.
If you do not provide this information, we will not be able to help you to the best of our ability.
SENSITIVE PERSONAL INFORMATION
If you provide us with sensitive personal information, by telephone, email or by other means, we will treat this information with extra care to ensure your confidentiality.
If you provide us with a personal story which you would like to share with the media (including social media) or other parties as part of our work, we will seek your explicit consent before any information is passed on.
The new General Data Protection Regulations recognises that some types of personal information are particularly sensitive. Sensitive personal information can include information about a person’s health, race, ethnic origin, faith or religious beliefs, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation and political opinions.
We will only use this information:
To provide you with a service or services which meet your specific needs;
To liaise with other professionals who are involved in your care and support;
To quality monitor and evaluate the services we provide;
To report in an anonymised manner to funders; and,
To share your story where you have given us your consent to do so.
We will not pass on your details to anyone else without your express permission except in exceptional circumstances. For example, where we have concerns about any form of abuse or exploitation.
LEGAL BASIS FOR USING YOUR INFORMATION
We are required to identify the Lawful Basis we have for collecting, processing and storing your personal information. We have identified that the lawful basis we have is one of fulfilling our contractual obligations. Without this information we would not be able to deliver the services we are contracted to supply by our various funders.
As we also collect information which is of a particularly sensitive and personal nature, we are also required to set out the Lawful Basis for collecting, using and storing this information. We have identified that our lawful basis for this purpose is ‘public interest’. This means that we need to collect, process and store the sensitive personal information that is provided or collected in order to ensure that your interests, as a member of the public that we provide a service to, are safeguarded. An example of this would be that you require a female worker who can speak your preferred language and has cultural knowledge to ensure your needs are met.
SHARING YOUR INFORMATION
The personal information we collect about you will primarily be used by our staff (and volunteers where appropriate) to support you.
We will never sell or share your personal information with another organisation so that they can contact your for marketing purposes.
In some cases, data submitted via our website, will be stored on Google Drive and this will be accessible be authorised staff within MECOPP, and also within our creative agency (TMD). TMD oversees the ongoing maintenance of our website, creation of new assets for the website, and other digital operations. They will only access data stored on Google Drive for backup restoration or fault diagnosis purposes.
There may be some circumstances where we have to disclose your information if we are required to do so by law.
KEEPING YOUR INFORMATION SAFE
We want you to know that we take looking after your information very seriously. We have put in place appropriate technical, physical and organisational safeguards to protect the information we have under our control. Your information will be protected from improper access, use, alteration destruction and loss whether that information is kept electronically or physically.
It is important to note that using the internet to send information to us is not completely secure. Although we do our best to protect your information which is sent to us in this way, we cannot guarantee the security of data transmitted to us.
There may be links to other organisational sites on our website. We are not responsible for how these sites protect your privacy.
HOW LONG DO WE KEEP YOUR INFORMATION FOR?
We will only keep your information for as long as it is reasonable and appropriate to do so for the relevant activity. There are some types of information that we have to keep for a certain period of time by law and we will comply with these timescales.
YOUR RIGHTS
You have a number of rights in regard to the personal information we hold about you. These are set out in more detail below. If you wish to use these rights or to make a complaint, you should contact our data protection officer at info@mecopp.org.uk or by phone on 0131 467 2994. You can also contact the Information Commissioner’s Office Scotland directly at 45 Melville Street, Edinburgh EH3 7HL or by telephone on 0303 123 1115 or email at scotland@ico.org.uk
Access to personal information: you have the right to ask for a copy of the information we hold about you, what information is used, why we use it, who we share it with, how long we keep it for and whether it has been used for any form of automated decision making. This is known as a subject access request. You can make your request in a number of ways such as by email, letter or using our standard form. You will also be asked to provide proof of identity, such as a passport, before any information is provided. You will not be charged for the subject access request unless it is deemed to be manifestly unfounded or excessive. The data protection officer will aim to provide the relevant data within 14 days and not exceeding a period of 28 days.
Right to object: You have the right to object to how we process your personal information if you have concerns that it falls outside the lawful basis we have identified. Please contact us using the details given above providing details of your concerns.
Consent: You can withdraw your consent for us to use your personal information at any time.
Rectification: Sometimes the information we have about you may become out of date. You have the right to ask us to change it or to update it as your circumstances have changed.
Erasure: You have the rightto ask us to delete your personal information where it is no longer necessary for us to keep it, you have withdrawn consent or where we have no lawful basis for keeping it.
Portability: You have the right to ask us to provide you or a third party with some of the information we hold about you in a commonly used electronic form so that it can be easily transferred between parties.
Restriction: You have the right to ask us not to use personal information about you where you have withdrawn consent or asked for it to be erased.
No automated decision making: automated decision making takes place when an electronic system makes a decision based on the personal information held about you and where there is no human input. We do not use any form of automated decision making.