Privacy & Cookies Policy

Cookie Policy

We are committed to safeguarding the privacy of our website visitors; this policy sets out how we will treat your personal information.

Our website uses cookies. By using our website and agreeing to this policy, you consent to our use of cookies in accordance with the terms of this policy.

1. What information do we collect?

We may collect, store and use the following kinds of personal information:

(a) information about your computer and about your visits to and use of this website (including your IP address, geographical location, browser type and version, operating system, referral source, length of visit, page views and website navigation);

(b) information relating to any transactions carried out between you and us on or in relation to this website, including information relating to any purchases you make of our goods or services;

(d) information that you provide to us for the purpose of subscribing to our website services, email notifications and/or newsletters;

(e) any other information that you choose to send to us

Before you disclose to us the personal information of another person, you must obtain that person’s consent to both the disclosure and the processing of that personal information in accordance with the terms of this privacy policy.

2. Cookies

A cookie is a file containing an identifier (a string of letters and numbers) that is sent by a web server to a web browser and is stored by the browser. The identifier is then sent back to the server each time the browser requests a page from the server. This enables the web server to identify and track the web browser.

We may use both “session” cookies and “persistent” cookies on the website. Session cookies will be deleted from your computer when you close your browser. Persistent cookies will remain stored on your computer until deleted, or until they reach a specified expiry date.

We will use the session cookies to: keep track of you whilst you navigate the website; keep track of items in your shopping basket; prevent fraud and increase website security. We will use the persistent cookies to enable our website to recognise you when you visit and keep track of your preferences in relation to your use of our website.

We use Google Analytics to analyse the use of this website. Google Analytics generates statistical and other information about website use by means of cookies, which are stored on users’ computers. The information generated relating to our website is used to create reports about the use of the website. Google will store this information. Google’s privacy policy is available at: http://www.google.com/privacypolicy.html.

Most browsers allow you to reject all cookies, whilst some browsers allow you to reject just third party cookies. For example, in Internet Explorer (version 9) you can refuse all cookies by clicking “Tools”, “Internet options”, “Privacy”, and selecting “Block All Cookies” using the sliding selector. Blocking all cookies will, however, have a negative impact upon the usability of many websites.

3. Cookies and personal information

Cookies do not contain any information that personally identifies you, but personal information that we store about you may be linked, by us, to the information stored in and obtained from cookies.

4. Blocking cookies

Most browsers allow you to refuse to accept cookies. For example:

(a) in Internet Explorer (version 9) you can block cookies using the cookie handling override settings available by clicking “Tools”, “Internet Options”, “Privacy” and then “Advanced”;

(b) in Firefox (version 16) you can block all cookies by clicking “Tools”, “Options”, “Privacy”, selecting “Use custom settings for history” from the drop-down menu, and unticking “Accept cookies from sites”; and

(c) in Chrome (version 23), you can block all cookies by accessing the “Customise and control” menu, and clicking “Settings”, “Show advanced settings” and “Content settings”, and then selecting “Block sites from setting any data” under the “Cookies” heading.

Blocking all cookies will, however, have a negative impact upon the usability of many websites.

5. Deleting cookies

You can also delete cookies already stored on your computer. For example:

(a) in Internet Explorer (version 9), you must manually delete cookie files (you can find instructions for doing so at http://support.microsoft.com/kb/278835;

(b) in Firefox (version 16), you can delete cookies by clicking “Tools”, “Options”, “Privacy” and then “Show Cookies”, and then clicking “Remove All Cookies”; and

(c) in Chrome (version 23), you can delete all cookies by accessing the “Customise and control” menu, and clicking “Settings”, “Show advanced settings” and “Clear browsing data”, and then selecting “Delete cookies and other site and plug-in data” before clicking “Clear browsing data”.

Again, doing this may have a negative impact on the usability of many websites.

Privacy Policy

6. Our Privacy Policy Explains:

What information we collect and how we collect it
Why and how we use your information
How long we keep your information
How we may share your information
Your rights on the information we hold about you
Security-how we keep your information safe
Changes to this Privacy Policy

How to contact us: The Data Controller is Children’s Contact Services Ltd

7. Information We Collect

In order to provide our services and for the other purposes set out in Use of Information below, we collect and process Personal Data from the users of our Contact Centre. We may collect the following information:

Personal information (for example, your name, email address, mailing address, phone numbers, date of birth and address)
Sensitive Personal Data
Attendance information (such as attended, number of absences and absence reasons)
Observation report from a contact session
Safeguarding incidents

From time to time and as permitted by applicable law(s), we may collect Personal Data about you and update any existing Personal Data that we currently hold from other third-party sources

We collect your information from:

Self-Referral Forms
Court orders
Where applicable Social Services or other professionals working with the family
Referrals from organisations e.g. Cafcass, Family Solicitors
Pre-contact meetings checklist

We may also collect information from telephone conversations, emails and written and verbal communications and from records and reports of the Contact sessions.

8. How we Use Information

Your Personal Data may be used in the following ways:

To provide our services to you,
To respond to your requests and inquiries,
To improve our services, for example; Questionnaires and evaluation sheets,
To request your participation in surveys, or other initiatives which help us to gather information used to develop and enhance our services,
To comply with applicable law(s) (for example, to comply with a search warrant or court order) or to carry out professional ethics/conduct investigations,
To enable us to provide, to maintain our own accounts and records and to support and manage our employees.

Consent and lawful Processing of Data.

Our legitimate interests, which include processing such Personal Data for the purposes of:

providing and enhancing the provision of our services.
administration and programme delivery
for dealing with medical needs-any information you provide we must have had explicit consent to use.
all other cases: that it is necessary for our legitimate interests which are to run the contact centre

9. How long will we keep your information?

File Type	Retention Period
HR files Employment references Redundancy details	6 years after employment/volunteering ceases
Parental leave	5 years from birth/adoption or 18 if child receives a disability allowance
Disclosure and Barring Service Certificate (formerly Criminal Records Bureau disclosures certificates) obtained as part of the vetting process.	The actual disclosure form must be destroyed after 6 months. However, it is advisable that organisations keep a record of the date of the check, the reference number, the decision about vetting and the outcome.
Finance records Income tax, NI returns, income tax records and correspondence with IR, Parental leave, Wages and salary records	HMRC advise you must keep records for 6 years from the end of the last company financial year they relate to, or longer if: they show a transaction that covers more than one of the company’s accounting periods.
Supported contact only – Referrals, with court orders or CAFCASS involvement, pre- visit forms, attendance records	Securely disposed of after three years unless a safeguarding or child protection issue
Supported contact only – Self-referrals with NO court order or CAFCASS involvement, pre- visit forms, attendance records	Securely disposed of after one year unless a safeguarding or child protection issue
Supervised contact only – Referrals, with court orders or CAFCASS involvement, pre- visit forms, attendance records	Securely disposed of after three years unless a safeguarding or child protection issue
Supervised contact only – Self-referrals with NO court order or CAFCASS involvement, pre- visit forms, attendance records	Securely disposed of after one year unless a safeguarding or child protection issue
Supervised contact only – Reports	Should be kept indefinitely (So long as the company is trading) as children can request this information up to the age of 25 years by Local Authorities.
Information relating to paid/unpaid staff not covered above that are not used for three years should be treated as confidential waste and disposed of as such.	Securely disposed of after three years.
Accident books and paperwork relating to safeguarding or child protection issues about a specific child	Should be kept indefinitely as children can request this information up to the age of 25 years by Local Authorities.

10. Sharing and Disclosure to Third Parties

Contact Reports are available upon request to the resident and non-resident parent/s. Reports will be sent by secure email (only). If the contacts are funded by the Local Authority, then reports will be sent directly to the social worker and it is the responsibility of the social worker to share the contents of the reports with the parent/relative involved.

We may disclose your Personal Data to third parties from time-to-time under the following circumstances:

You request or authorise the disclosure of your personal details to a third party.
The information is disclosed as permitted by applicable law(s) and/or in order to comply with applicable law(s) (for example, to comply with a search warrant or court order).
The information is provided to service providers who perform functions on our behalf.
Hosting providers for the secure storage and transmission of your data
Legal and compliance consultants, such as external counsel, external auditors
Technology providers who assist in the development and management of our web properties

11. Subject Access/User Rights

As a user, you are subject to the following rights:

The right to be informed of the use of your Personal Data
The right to access and/or to require the correction or erasure of your Personal Data
The right to block and/or object to the processing of your Personal Data
The right to not be subject to any decision based solely on automated processing of your Personal Data
In limited circumstances, you may have the right to receive Personal Data in a format which may be transmitted to another entity.

If you have a complaint in relation to the processing of your data carried out under this Privacy Policy, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner Office.

You may seek to exercise any of these rights by updating your information online (where possible) or by sending a written request to Childrens Contact Service Ltd, 184a Henleaze road. Henleaze. Bristol. BS9 4NE

12. Information Security

We are working to protect your personal information that we hold, its confidentially, integrity and availability:

We review our information collection, storage and processing practices, including physical security measures, to guard against unauthorized access to systems.
We restrict access to personal information to contact centre staff and volunteers subject to strict contractual confidentiality obligations and may be disciplined or terminated if they fail to meet these obligations.
We have Security Information Policy in place which defines the measures we take to protect your personal information. We use a combination of technology and procedures to ensure that our paper and computer systems are protected, monitored and are recoverable.
We only use third party service providers where we are satisfied that they provide adequate security for your personal data.

13. Compliance and cooperation with regulatory authorities

We regularly review our compliance with our Privacy Policy. If we receive formal written complaints, we will contact the person who made the complaint to follow up. We work with the ICO to resolve any complaints regarding the transfer of personal data that we cannot resolve with our users directly.

14. Changes

Our Privacy Policy may change from time to time. We will not reduce your rights under this Privacy Policy without your explicit consent.

15. How to Contact Us

Childrens Contact Services Ltd

184a Henleaze Road

Henleaze

Bristol

BS9 4NE