Privacy Policy and Data Protection

Hand of Solace Privacy Policy, Principles on Personal Data and Principles of Data Protection:

Our approach to data protection is built around four key principles. They’re at the heart of everything we do relating to personal data.

Transparency: We process personal data in an open, honest and transparent way.

Enablement: We use data to enable connections between individuals and employers, finding the right role for the right person. Providing and matching befrienders with our service users(befriendees).

Security: We ensure security through good organisational practice as well as technical measures, this is at the heart of what we do

Accountability: We promote the practice of good governance, and responsibility that comes with processing personal data.

You can find out more information about the ‘GDPR’ here: https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/guide-to-the-general-data-protection-regulation-gdpr/

This Privacy Notice is intended to set out your rights and answer any queries you may have about your personal data. If you need more information, please contact:
info@handofsolace.co.uk

Who We Are

Hand of Solace is a Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organization (SCIO) whose objective is solely to improve health, well-being and communal inclusion by offering direct services and support, all designed to help you make the most of life based at 11 Good hope Gardens, Aberden.AB21 9NG. Where we act as a Data Controller, we are responsible for determining what personal data is processed and for what purpose. You have rights about how we process your data which are listed in the section “Your Privacy Rights” below. You can always contact us at info@handofsolace.co.uk

What information do we collect?

From the moment you contact us, whether it be via email, telephone, visiting our website, or some other means, we start collecting information about you. In some cases, this is done when you provide information to us directly, but in other times it may be collected automatically.

When visiting our website

Data Types we Collect

We may place use session cookies for our own use and management and to allow the website to function as expected.

Our webservers themselves may log IP addresses as part of their normal function.

How and why we use the data

Our own cookies are sometimes used to enable functionality on the website, and if you disable these the website may not perform as expected, or you might have limited access to areas for features.

Third Parties who have access to this information

Cookies we use for our self to enable functionality on site – often referred to as ‘first party cookies’ are never shared with third parties.

IP addresses on webserver logs are never shared with third parties unless in response to an incident or if requested through a valid legal request.

The lawful basis for holding this information

IP addresses may be retained in other logs from our webserver. These are not shared with any third parties and held under the lawful basis of Legitimate Interest. This is because we have a legitimate interest to ensure potential cyber-attacks against our website are logged. The data is retained for 1 month unless an incident occurs in which case we may assess a longer retention period.

When registering or logging into our website

You can register on our website to share and receive information with us. When you register on the website, you may supply additional information in accordance with the conditions on the registration page.

Data Types we collect

We may hold the additional following information categories:

Contact Details
Data that can identify you
Location
Employment Information
CV
Cookies with your user ID

How and why we use the data

We hold the information you send us in order to assess job /volunteering/ befriending opportunities for you, and to allow you to log in securely to our website.

Third Parties who have access to this information

We will not share your information with third parties without contacting you first and asking for your written consent.

The lawful basis for holding this information

To create an account or login to our website, we must set some ‘first party session’ cookies which could be used to identify you. These are exempt from requiring consent and are just used to enable the functionality of the website.

If you upload additional personal information such as your CV, then you may reasonably expect Hand of Solace to evaluate your eligibility, skills and /or employment record to find suitable positions /befriender for your consideration. This personal data is therefore processed on the basis of a contract regardless of whether a position is found. We retain the information you provide for a period of 4 years after your last job/volunteer/befriending placement with us. If you wish us to remove your information, please read the section below under ‘Your Privacy Rights’

When You ‘Refer a Friend’

If you recommend/refer a friend/service user, we will contact that person to gain their consent to hold and process their information, and we use your name as a reference in the introduction. If the person refuses consent, their details will be deleted from our systems.

Data Types we collect

The information we request from you may include:

Your name and contact details
Your friends/referee’s name and contact details
Your friend/referee’s employment information
Your location
Your friend’s/referee’s location

How and why we use the data

We hold this information to contact the friend/referee you have referred to us and gain their consent to continue to hold their data. If we cannot contact your friend/referee within 1 month, or if they refuse to give consent, then we delete their data.

Third Parties who have access to this information

At the stage where we are gathering consent from your friend/referee, we do not share this information with any third parties.

The lawful basis for holding this information

The Legal basis for processing this information is Legitimate Interest when it is provided to us, and then Consent if your friend/referee agrees to us processing their data.

Your Privacy Rights

You have rights over how we store and process your data.

You can choose not to provide us with personal data

If you choose not to provide us with personal data, you can use our website, but we cannot create an account for you, or interact with you online, including about potential jobs/ referals.

You can manage your browser cookies

Hand of Solace does not use third party cookies with the exception of Google Analytics nor cross-domain cookies that track you when you visit different websites. The cookies on our site are Non-Persistent Session (e.g. keeping you logged in during your visit to our website)

You can choose to block use of cookies using your browser settings. If you choose to disable session cookies, then you will be unable to register or login to our site. You can disable cookies used for analytics without any functional effect on your experience.

You can request that we don’t use your data for marketing to you

We may also contact you with surveys or to invite you to events. If we intend to share your information with third parties, we’ll let you know. You can opt-out from marketing by sending us an email at info@handofsolace.co.uk

You have the right to access the information we hold on you

If you wish to know what information we hold on you, please email us at info@handofsolace.co.uk and within one month we will send you information we may hold on you, for example:

The categories of data
The reason or purpose we are using your data
How long we plan to hold your data for
The categories of any third parties we may disclose your data to
Your rights on our use of your data

In some cases, there may be a conflict whereby providing your data infringes the rights and freedoms of another party, or an outstanding legal matter, which means that some of the data cannot be shared with you. In that case, we will tell you that we can’t meet your request for this reason.

You have the right to object to, or restrict the processing of your data

If you don’t want us to delete your data, but you wish for processing of some or all of it to be stopped, then you can request us to restrict the processing.

Data Portability

Data Portability applies when you have provided information in electronic means that is automatically processed. The functionality of our website does not include such systems.

You have the right to have all your data erased

You have the right to request that we erase all the information we have about you. Contact info@handofsolace.co.uk to find out how we can do this for you. There are sometimes limitations, for example during a legal dispute where Hand of Solace may be required to retain information, or where the information is still necessary in the performance of a contract that Hand of Solace has.

You can complain

You have a right to complain about the way we process your data to the ICO, which is the UK’s Supervisory Authority. If you have a complaint, we’d like to ask if you would contact us first to see if we can resolve your concern. Otherwise, the ICO has a helpline https://ico.org.uk/global/contact-us/helpline/

We do not transfer data outside the EU

The data you provide to us on this website does not get transferred outside of the EU.

Data Security

Hand of Solace website uses encrypted communications across the entire site. Password credentials are required for secure areas, and data stored on our servers are in a physically secure data centre, backed up, and encrypted.

All systems will have some weakness that a dedicated and skilled hacker can exploit, but we review our security measures regularly and ensure that identified risks are dealt with promptly.

Hand of Solace is a Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organization (SCIO) registered in Scotland; Registration Number SC048192– Registered office address: 11 Good hope Gardens, Aberden.AB21 9NG.