Privacy Notice

For the purpose of this notice “we”, “us”, “our” etc, refers to About Children Ltd.

This Privacy Notice states how we use and protect any information you may give us when you use this site. We are committed to ensuring your privacy is protected. Should we ask you to provide certain information by which you can be identified when using this website; you can be assured that it will only be used in accordance with this privacy statement. We may change this policy from time to time by updating this page. You should check this page from time to time to ensure you are happy with any changes.

How do we collect personal information?

We obtain personal information from you when you enquire about our activities, register with us, send, or receive an email, ask a question about our services, or otherwise provide us with your personal information.

What personal information do we collect?

The personal information we collect might include name, address, email address and telephone numbers. Data Protection law recognises that certain categories of personal information are more sensitive. These are known as special categories of data and cover health information, race, religious beliefs, and political opinions. We do not usually collect special categories of data through our website unless there is a clear reason for doing so.

We do not use cookies

We do not use cookies to gather general information about the use of our websites such as pages visited and areas that are of most interest to users.

Why do we collect personal information?

We only collect the minimum amount of personal information required to fulfil the purpose for which it is collected. You may decide not to provide us with your information or to request that we stop processing your information at a later date, though this may affect your ability to participate in or benefit from some of the activities undertaken. Personal information which we collect from you may be used in a number of ways including, but not limited to: -

  • Replying to an enquiry you have made via phone, text, email, or post
  • Carrying out our obligations arising from any contracts entered into by you and us
  • Seeking your views/comments on the services we provide or activities we undertake
  • Notifying you of changes to our services, events, or activities

    • We will only process your personal data where we have a legal basis for doing so as stipulated by current data protection and privacy legislation, namely:-

  • Where we have your explicit consent (see below)
  • In order to comply with a legal obligation
  • When performing official functions or tasks in the public interest
  • If it is in your or somebody else’s vital interests
  • To fulfil contractual requirements
  • When to do so is in our legitimate interests (see below)
    • Consent

    Consent means offering you a real opportunity to state whether or not you wish to allow the processing of your personal information. When processing your information on the basis of consent, we will ensure you are fully aware of what you are consenting to and only use your information for that purpose. You can withdraw your consent at any time using the contact details above.

    Legitimate Interests

    We may undertake data processing in pursuit of our legitimate interests, where to do so will not infringe your rights or interests as the data subject. To ensure this is correctly assessed, we undertake a balancing exercise to ensure that our processing does not adversely impact you. In the case of the following data processing activities, we have determined that the processing of your information for these purposes is lawful and legitimate: -

  • • Sending communication to you via the post about our work and ways you can support us
  • • Maintaining your information on our secure database to record your support
  • • Recording your contact details to enable collections/deliveries to addresses you provide

    • You have the right to object to the processing of your personal information on the grounds of legitimate interests as detailed below in ‘Right to object’.

    Who do we share personal information with?

    We will not share your information with third parties for marketing purposes and will not sell or rent your information to third parties.

    How do we protect personal information?

    We take appropriate physical, electronic and managerial measures to ensure that we keep your information secure, accurate and up to date, and that we only keep it as long as is reasonable and necessary.

    How long do we keep personal information?

    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. We will hold your personal information on our systems for as long as is necessary for the original purpose, or as long as is set out in any relevant contract you hold with us.

    What are your rights regarding your personal information?

    Under the Data Protection Act 1998 and the UK General Data Protection Regulation, which came into force on May 25th, 2018, you have the following rights:

    The right to access your personal information

    You may obtain a copy of the personal information we hold about you by submitting your request to the contact details above. We will reply within one month of receipt of your request unless there is a compelling reason to extend this response time. We may refuse a request in certain circumstances, in which our justification will be communicated to you.

    The right to be informed

    You have the right to be informed about the collection and use of your personal data by us. Details of the types of information we collect, the purposes for which it is collected, who we share the information with and how long we retain it are detailed in this privacy policy which is updated periodically and always accessible via our website.

    The right to rectification

    You have the right to have any inaccurate personal information that we may hold for you rectified (corrected) and to request that any incomplete information be completed. You can make your request using the contact details above. If we accept that your information should be rectified, we will do so within one month. In certain circumstances, we may refuse a request if we consider the request to be unfounded or excessively repetitive.

    The right to erasure

    You can request that the information we hold about you be deleted by contacting us using the details above and we will respond within one month. The right to erasure applies if:

  • We no longer need your information for the purpose for which we collected it
  • Our processing of your information is based on consent, and you withdraw that consent
  • Processing of your information is based on legitimate interests, and you successfully object
  • You object to the use of your personal information for direct marketing purposes
  • Your information has been processed unlawfully
  • We have a legal obligation to remove your personal information

    • In certain circumstances, we may refuse a request for erasure if we consider the request to be unfounded or excessively repetitive, or if any of the specific provisions of the current data protection legislation apply.

    The right to restrict processing

    You can make a request for information we hold about you to be suppressed (to be stored but not used) in the following circumstances: -

  • You have contested the accuracy of the information we hold, and we are investigating
  • Your information has been unlawfully processed but you want to restrict it, not erase it
  • You want us to keep your information after we need it in support of a legal dispute
  • You have objected to our processing of your information, and we are investigating

    • You can make your request using the contact details above and we will respond within one month. In certain circumstances, we may refuse a request to restrict processing of your information if we consider the request to be unfounded or excessively repetitive.

    The right to data portability

    The right to data portability gives you the right to receive the personal information you have provided to us in a structured, commonly used, and machine-readable format. It also gives you the right to request that we transfer it directly to another controller. This only applies to information stored electronically, provided directly by you and which we process based on your consent.

    The right to object

    You have the right to object to the processing of your personal data in certain circumstances. In the case of direct marketing, this is an absolute right. In other circumstances, we may continue the processing if there is a compelling reason for doing so, or if we consider the request to be unfounded or excessively repetitive. You can make your request using the contact details above and we will respond within one month.

    Rights related to automated decisions and profiling

    We do not conduct any automated decision making or automated processing/profiling.

    What should you do if you have a complaint?

    If you have a complaint concerning our processing of your personal data, you can contact us. Data Protection legislation also gives you the right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority. More information can be found on the Information Commissioner’s Office website at www.ico.org.uk