Privacy Policy

Who we are

Carers Together is a registered charity providing information, support and guidance to unpaid carers in Redcar and Cleveland, and Middlesbrough. Carers Together is called the ‘Data Controller’- see information below for contact details. Your information will be processed securely and in line with current data protection legislation.

Carers

We will only initiate contact with you if you have given your consent to hear from us or if you have contacted us directly. If you decide that you would like to use our services, we will use your personal data in order to provide support to you as a carer.

Why do we collect your data?

The information we keep about you is to help us provide the best possible service by offering accurate information and support. By keeping a record of our contact with you it will reduce the times you have to explain your situation and help us plan with you what support you need.

We will only use your personal information when the law allows us and when at least  one of the following legal bases arises:

• Where consent has been given
• Where it is a legitimate interest of Carers Together or other third parties
• Where it is necessary for the performance of a contract to which you are a party
• Where it is necessary to protect an individual from harm.

How we will use your information:

We will use your personal information for the purpose of providing, information and support to you in your caring role. As a vital part of our service, we will send you literature such as leaflets, Newsletters, and invitations to our events including any other carer related activities. We also, from time to time seek your feedback regarding our services to help inform our service provision. We also raise awareness of any issues carers may be facing locally and nationally and at times may invite you to participate in consultations to help improve support services for you.

What information do we collect?

Carers Together collects, uses and stores personal information on the carers who come to our service for information and support. When we ask you for personal information, we will only ask for what we need, treat the information highly confidential and store the information on a secure database. Carers can tell us what information they want to share with us. But we usually record your name, date of birth, ethnicity, address, contact number, contact with professionals and your caring situation. We may also ask for other related information, which may be relevant to your caring role, these may include more detailed questions about your caring role or situation, e.g., practical, physical, emotional, family relationships and finance. As part of our services, we may obtain sensitive information, e.g., information about your religion, health, or sexual orientation (or similar information about the person you care for). We will only collect and use this kind of personal data if you have given your consent for this information to be shared with us, or if you share this information with us directly.

If you have any specific communication, religious or cultural needs – you can choose whether you wish to advise us about these.

How you would like us to communicate information:

At Carers Together you can choose the method we communicate with you e.g., Email, text, phone or letter. You can change your preferences at any time. Please contact us on 01642 488977 (Monday-Friday, 9am-5pm) to update your preferences.

Do we share information?

Whilst you are accessing our services, we may ask you to consent to information about you or the person you care for being shared with other professionals or services to help provide you with support, either now or in the future. These may include but not limited to: GPs and Health Professionals, Housing Providers, Employers, Education/Training Providers, as well as other relevant voluntary/charitable. We may also ask for your consent to share with Adult Social Care for the purposes of arranging a Carers Assessment. We will not share information with these organisations without your consent except where disclosure is necessary for the purpose of safeguarding or as required by law.

We employ organisations (“Data Processes”) to help us manage our records. We use Charity Log as our database. We employ IT advisors to help us manage our digital records. These organisations are used in accordance with current legislation in order to protect your personal information.

How long do we keep your personal data?

Carers Together will only retain your personal data for as long as necessary to fulfil the purpose it was collected for, this may include legal, reporting, and financial reasons, unless required otherwise in the event of safeguarding from the date of your last contact.

Your Rights:

Under the data protection legislation, you have the right to be informed, the right to restrict processing, the right to data portability, and the right to object. You also have the right to know what personal data Carers Together holds about you, to change your preferences or withdraw your consent at any point, and to have your data corrected or deleted.

You can contact us 01642 488977 and request a Data Subject withdrawal of Consent form which you will need to complete and return to:

Carers Together,
The Innovation Centre,
Vienna Court,
Kirkleatham Business Park,
Redcar,
TS10 5SH

You can also refer to the ICO website for information about your rights: www.ico.org.uk

Data Breach

In the unlikely event of a personal data breach by Carers Together, the appropriate data controller is notified immediately. We will record the communication of the breach in the Internal Personal Data Breach Register, stating how the notification was made (whether by email, telephone call etc.), to whom and how the confirmation of receipt was provided. Carers Together will carry out an assessment in order to determine whether the personal data breach is likely to cause a risk to the affected data subject’s rights and freedoms under the GDPR. If a risk is considered likely, Carers Together will report the personal data breach to the supervisory authority immediately and in any event, no later than 72 hours after the risk assessment. If the notification is made outside of the 72-hour window, Carers Together will provide reasons for the delay. If it is likely, that there is a high risk to the affected data subject’s rights and freedoms under the GDPR, Carers Together will provide immediate notification to the relevant data subjects. The notification to the data subject will be made in clear and plain language.

We use cookies on our website

If you leave a comment on our website, you may opt-in to saving your name, email address and website in cookies. These are for your convenience so that you do not have to fill in your details again when you leave another comment. These cookies will last for one year. If you visit our login page, we will set a temporary cookie to determine if your browser accepts cookies. This cookie contains no personal data and is discarded when you close your browser.
When you log in, we will also set up several cookies to save your login information and your screen display choices. Login cookies last for two days, and screen options cookies last for a year. If you select “Remember Me”, your login will persist for two weeks. If you log out of your account, the login cookies will be removed. If you edit or publish an article, an additional cookie will be saved in your browser. This cookie includes no personal data and simply indicates the post ID of the article you just edited. It expires after 1 day.

Embedded content from other websites

Articles on our website may include embedded content (e.g., videos, images, articles, etc.). Embedded content from other websites behaves in the exact same way as if the visitor has visited the other website. These websites may collect data about you, use cookies, embed additional third-party tracking, and monitor your interaction with that embedded content, including tracking your interaction with embedded content if you have an account and are logged in to that website.