Privacy Policy

We take your privacy and the security of your information very seriously. This policy sets out our approach to safeguarding the privacy of the personal information we hold

Introduction

Mosscare St Vincent's Housing Group (MSV) is responsible for collecting, processing, storing and safe-keeping personal and other information as part of our business activities. We manage personal information in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998, and are registered (registration number Z4969543 as Data Controllers with the Information Commissioner’s Office.

We take your privacy and the security of your information very seriously. This policy sets out our approach to safeguarding the privacy of the personal information we hold.

This policy applies to all personal information collected by MSV, our subsidiaries and partners, and contractors acting on our behalf.

Collecting, storing and using personal information

About the personal information we collect

The information we may collect about you could include, but is not limited to:

  • Date of birth
  • National Insurance number
  • Contact details (phone/mobile/email)
  • Racial or ethnic origin
  • Religious or other similar beliefs
  • Physical or mental health or condition
  • Convictions, proceedings and criminal acts
  • Photographs and CCTV images

We will not collect information about you that we do not need and we will ensure that the personal information we collect is updated to our systems in a timely and accurate manner.

We may apply markers to your information (for example, in relation to your vulnerability or health status) to enable us to tailor and deliver services to you.

How we use your personal information

We use your information to respond to your enquiries, provide you with services and manage your relationship with us. We may also use your personal information for technical administration, research and development, customer administration, marketing and mystery shopping to identify areas where we can improve the services we provide. We only collect or use personal information for those purposes indicated in our notification with the Information Commissioner’s Office.

We will regularly review the personal information we hold about you and make changes to any service or information-handling processes when the law or the Information Commissioner request such changes.

Visiting our websites

When you visit one of our websites, we collect standard internet log information for statistical purposes.

We use cookies to collect information in an anonymous way, including the number of visitors to the site, where visitors have come to the site from and the pages they visited. A cookie is a small file which asks permission to be placed on your computer’s hard drive. Once you agree, the file is added and the cookie helps analyse web traffic or lets you know when you visit a particular site.

We do not make any attempt to identify visitors to our websites. We do not associate information gathered from our sites with personally identifying information from any source.

When we collect personal information, for example via an online form, we will explain what we intend to do with it.

You can choose to accept or decline cookies. Most web browsers automatically accept cookies, but you can usually modify your browser setting to decline cookies if you prefer. This may prevent you from taking full advantage of the website.

Our websites contain links to various third-party websites. We are not responsible for the content or privacy practices of any external websites that are linked from our sites.

Applying to work at Mosscare St Vincent's Housing Group

If you submit an application to work for MSV we will use your personal information to process your application and to produce and monitor recruitment statistics. We will not take up references without your prior permission. We will not share or disclose your information unless you have given us your consent or we are required to by law. Where we are required to carry out a Disclosure and Barring Service check we will comply with the law and your rights when carrying out these checks.

We retain personal information relating to unsuccessful applicants for no longer than 12 months, for use in the event of an appeal. We produce statistical information to assist with recruitment analysis.

How we share your personal information

We will not normally share your information without your consent unless we are required to by law. We may seek your consent directly or may obtain it by telling you about how your information may be used at the time you provide information or enter into a contract (e.g. sign a tenancy agreement) with us.

Our legal obligations

We will share specific and relevant information with law enforcement and government agencies or public bodies where we are legally required to do so. Examples may include:

The prevention or detection of crime and fraud

The apprehension or prosecution of offenders

The assessment or collection of tax or duty owed to customs and excise

Sharing in connection with legal proceedings

Sharing in relation to the physical or mental health of an individual, where disclosure is required to protect them or others from serious harm

Research and statistical purposes

We may also share your information with emergency services and local authorities, where this is necessary to help them respond to an emergency situation that affects you.

Sharing information with our partners

In some areas we may enter into partnerships with other organisations such as local authorities and the police. For example, we may join a partnership to help prevent and control anti-social behaviour.  We will enter into a data sharing agreement before any sharing takes place with a partner organisation.

Sharing information with our contractors and suppliers

There are some cases when we will share your information to support legitimate business purposes. We do this to ensure that we can meet your needs, and also to meet our health and safety obligations towards those delivering services on our behalf. This may include sharing information with our contractors and suppliers to enable them to carry out duties on our behalf or to meet contractual obligations we may have. For example, we share information to enable our maintenance contractors to make appointments with you to carry out repairs and/or deliver services.

Keeping your information secure

We store personal information both electronically and in paper form.

We implement security policies, processes and technical security solutions to protect the personal information we hold from:

  • Unauthorised access
  • Improper use or disclosure
  • Unauthorised modification
  • Unlawful destruction or accidental loss

When you contact us, we may ask you to provide us with some information so that we can confirm your identity. If other people (e.g. family members, support workers, solicitors) act on your behalf we will take steps to ensure that you have agreed for them to do so. This may include asking them to provide us with supporting information to indicate your consent. We do this to protect you and to make sure that other people cannot find things out about you that they are not entitled to know.

Employees and third parties who have access to, or are associated with the processing of, your personal information are obliged to make reasonable efforts to safeguard it.

How we use your telephone number

Text messages and contact via telephone provide a direct way to contact and share information with you about the services we can deliver to you. It can also help you receive important promotional/marketing messages which may interest or help you.

We may use your telephone number that you have provided us to keep in contact with you by text. When we send SMS/text messages, there may be someone in your household who may read the message before you are able to. You may like to inform the people who live with you that you may receive text messages from time to time.

Operational SMS/text messaging and calls

If you supply us with your telephone contact details, we may use them to call or send you operational text messages.

Examples of operational text messages include:

  • Confirming a repair and/or a time and date for a repairs contractor to visit
  • Confirming a home visit
  • Sending a reminder about an appointment
  • Asking you to contact a named person

Promotional and marketing SMS/text messaging and calls

Our promotional or marketing SMS/text messages can benefit you by giving you information about our own services and those provided by approved third parties (such as companies or groups we work with).

Representative examples of the promotional or marketing text messages which we may send you include:

  • Helping you if you have money worries, through advice, guidance and appropriate referrals to support agencies
  • Promoting services that may interest you, including supporting families with young people not in education, employment or training
  • Supporting families affected by anti-social behaviour
  • Giving you information on energy, heating or water saving services
  • Telling you how you can get advice on setting up your own business
  • Inviting you to take part in telephone surveys
  • Access to work readiness programme or employment training or employment opportunities
  • Activities to help bring communities together

When you supply your telephone contact details, you can ask us to either send or not send SMS/text messages. You can opt-out of receiving these types of SMS/text messages by telephoning St Vincent’s on 0345 606 6565. Please note if you opt out of SMS/Text message you will not receive any operational or promotional/marketing texts.

Sharing your telephone number with third parties

We may pass your telephone number to third parties so that we can meet our contractual obligations with you. We may also share your telephone numbers if we are required to by law. In doing so we will comply with the Data Protection Act 1998.

We may supply the details to our approved marketing or third party contractors who are delivering or performing services on our behalf, and these companies must not use your information for any other purpose. We never share or sell your telephone numbers telesales/marketing companies.

If you contact us about your personal information

We will be as open as possible with you about the personal information we hold about you, and if something is wrong we want to work with you to put it right.

Telling us about changes to your personal information

You have the right to have inaccurate/outdated information amended, deleted or destroyed. If any of your circumstances change please contact us on 0345 606 65656.

Finding out about the personal information we hold about you

As part of our service to you, we are happy to provide you with copies of specific documents (eg rent statements, tenancy agreements) upon request on an informal basis. If you want to make a larger or more comprehensive request, you can do this formally by making a ‘subject access request’.  Click on this link for full detail on how to make a subject access request.

Questions and complaints

Please tell us if you have a concern about the personal information we hold about you, or how we use it. We’ll do our best to help.

If, after contacting us, you are still not satisfied you can complain to the Information Commissioner

Contacting us

If you have any questions, concerns, or comments about our privacy policy you may contact us using the information below:

By e-mail: enquiry@MSV.co.uk

By Phone: 0345 606 6565

We reserve the right to make changes to this policy. Any changes to this policy will be updated on our website.