Privacy Policy

PRIVACY POLICY

At Refugee Welcome Homes we seek to follow best practice and treat each client respectfully, in keeping with our Christian beliefs and values, according to UK law and according to your expressed preferences.

This privacy policy tells you what to expect us to do with your personal information when you make contact with us or use one of our services.

Our Privacy Pledge

  • We store your personal data securely.

  • We ensure your data’s security when dealing with banks and the postal service.

  • We won’t share your details with anyone else.

  • We won’t call you asking for donations.

  • You can change your preferences or opt out from communications at any time.

If you have any questions, comments or want to change your mailing or contact preferences, contact info@refugeewelcomehomes.net

About Refugee Welcome Homes

Refugee Welcome Homes (RWH) is a Community Interest Company that seeks to reduce homelessness for refugees and to help them access accommodation as a first step towards integration in their new life in the UK. We are registered in England Company no. 09187454

For the purposes of this document, ‘us’, ‘we’ and ‘our’ refer to RWH.

How we collect personal information from you

Personal information is collected directly from you when you interact with RWH. For example

  • Making a donation

  • Sending or receiving an email

  • Making an enquiry

  • Visiting our website

  • Applying for a role at RWH

  • Taking part in an event

  • Volunteering for RWH

  • Where we have a face-to-face relationship with you

Information may be collected in person, over the phone, through our website, social media, email or from something you’ve posted to us.

What information we collect about you

The information we hold will typically include some or all of the following:

  • Your name

  • Postal address

  • Email address

  • Phone number

  • The activity that you have completed or the information you have requested

If you make a donation, we may collect:

  • Bank details

  • Credit card details

  • Gift Aid Declaration details

If you interact with us online, we may also collect:

  • IP addresses

  • Details of pages visited

  • Details of files downloaded

Website usage information is collected using cookies: see the section on Cookies below.

We may also receive information about you from other sources (including public sources). This is explained in the ‘How we might use your information’ section below.

How we might use your information

We may use the personal data we collect to:

  • Process donations you give us including Gift Aid

  • Provide information or resources you have requested

  • Keep records of your relationship with us, e.g., feedback you have given or complaints you have made

Fundraising

We have a duty to make sure that we’re spending your donations wisely, and that means demonstrating accountability and impact.

If you make a major gift to our work, you will be offered a Relationship Manager who will discuss and agree with you any concerns you may have about the personal data we hold and the methods of contact suitable for you. We will do this at the earliest convenient opportunity. Where you do not wish to pursue such a relationship with us, we will not retain any additional, publicly sourced, personal data about you that we have used for this purpose.

Social media

Your settings or the privacy policies for social media and messaging services might give permission to access information from these sources. If we do access this data, for example to assess the effectiveness of our communications, we will not currently add this to your personal details that we hold. We advise you to check the privacy settings on your social media provider to ensure you are happy with the level of privacy you have chosen.

Basis of processing your data

Consent

We will process your personal data on the basis of the consent you provide us with. You are free to request a change to your contact preferences at any time by contacting us by telephone, post or email, as shown in the section ‘Your choices and telling us when things change’ below.

Legitimate Interest

We may also contact you by post or telephone where we have a legitimate interest to do so – for example, to follow up a request you have made. We will never call to seek a donation. For example, where you have previously made donations to RWH, we may continue to send you information about the work your donation is making possible or other ways to get involved.

Where you have previously asked us not to contact you in this way, we will continue to respect your contact preferences.

You can amend your preferences at any time by contacting us by post or email as shown in the section ‘Your choices and telling us when things change’ below.

When you make a donation or a series of donations, express an interest in our work, or show a potential to give to our work, we will rely on our legitimate interest in order to collect additional information as noted in the Fundraising section above. This helps us to identify those supporters who would benefit from an initial discussion with a Relationship Manager and to ensure we demonstrate appropriate levels of accountability for how we use donors’ funds.

We may also share details of the difference our work makes and update you on other ways you could support your persecuted family, for example letter writing, using new resources or raising funds.

Legal Obligation

RWH also has a legal duty to forward information if it is required by law or by a regulatory body. For example, a Gift Aid audit by the HMRC, or if asked for details by a law enforcement agency.

Applying for a job or volunteering with us

If you apply for a job with us, and you provide personal and sensitive personal data such as the information on your CV or Application Form, we will process and store the personal data we collect to:

  • Support the recruitment and selection process

  • Answer any questions you may have

  • Use third parties to provide services such as references, qualifications, verification of information you have provided, health screening and psychometric evaluation or skills tests

  • Undertake checks on criminal convictions

  • Provide anonymised data to monitor compliance with equal opportunities policy.

If you work for RWH via an agency that RWH has a contract with, we commit to ensure that the agency is also compliant with the General Data Protection Regulations.

If you submit your personal information to a job board, online recruitment tool, social media platform, headhunting agency etc. your details could then be passed to RWH. We recommend that you ensure you have given your consent to that organisation who may share your data. If we receive your details via a third party and are unclear about consent, we may either check with you before using your data further or fully delete the information.

If you do not join us as an employee or volunteer for any reason, your data will be stored for a proportionate length of time in line with the RWH Data Retention Policy to ensure compliance with best practice, fairness and legislation.

Legal basis of processing your data

If you provide personal and sensitive data when applying for a job or to volunteer with us, we will process that data based on consent given by you at the point that the data is collected, or if existing information, based on legitimate interest.

How and where we store your information

We will keep your personal information only for as long as we consider it necessary to carry out each activity. We have a Data Retention Policy and Schedule to manage this, to summarise:

In the course of carrying out the day-to-day operations within RWH, a wide range of recorded information is created. Records need to be properly retained to enable RWH to meet its business needs, legal requirements and obligations, accounting and tax considerations, as well as realising what is required to evidence events or agreements in the event of allegations or disputes and to ensure that any records of historic value are preserved.

The untimely destruction of records could affect:

  • The conduct of RWH business

  • The ability of RWH to defend or instigate legal actions

  • The reputation of RWH and

  • The ability to comply with statutory obligations.

Conversely, the permanent retention of records is undesirable and disposal is necessary to free up storage space, reduce administrative burdens and to ensure that RWH does not unlawfully retain records for longer than necessary (particularly those pertaining to personal data).

If you have any questions about our Data Retention Policy, please contact us in writing at:

Data Protection Officer info@refugeewelcomehomes.net

Security

We ensure that we have appropriate technical controls in place to protect any personal data you provide. For example, we ensure that any online forms are encrypted and our network is protected and routinely monitored. Despite all our efforts, the internet cannot be guaranteed to be 100 per cent secure, and there is always a risk when you submit data. Nevertheless, we continue to invest in protecting your data in full compliance with best practice.

We ensure that access to personal data is restricted only to those staff members or volunteers whose job roles require such access and that suitable training is provided for these staff members and volunteers. All employees and volunteers sign a confidentiality agreement when they commence

Where we store your personal information

The data we process and store is within the European Economic Area (EEA). It may be that some of our suppliers use cloud-based storage; however, we take steps to make sure they provide an adequate level of protection in accordance with UK data protection law. We adopt the Information Commissioners approved measures and therefore ensure that personal data is held in compliance with European data protection regulations. We take all reasonable steps to ensure that your data is stored and processed securely in accordance with this policy. By submitting your personal data, you agree to this transfer, storing and processing of your information.

When we share your information

We do not share or swap your information with any other charities or organisations for the purposes of their marketing – as this would conflict with our core values and desire to treat supporters with respect.

Third Parties

Most of the information we process is provided to us directly by you via paper copies or electronically through email. The purpose of gathering this information is to provide you with either a refugee lodger or a room with a refugee landlord.

We also receive personal information indirectly, in the case of all refugee lodgers from an organisation that has referred you to us. This information contains some of the facts around how you received refugee status in the UK. Examples of these organisations are Bristol Refugee Rights, Borderlands, The Red Cross, ACH.

We will always ask the refugee lodger if they want us to share this information with the refugee landlord and respect their wishes accordingly.

Cookies

What are cookies?

We collect data using cookies. A cookie is a text file that is sent from our website as soon as you visit the site. It is stored on your computer’s hard drive and helps us to identify your computer (not you) and collects information in an aggregate, anonymous way.

We may collect cookies to enable users to complete actions on our website without creating an account.

How do we use cookies?

Cookies may be used to collect information about your visit to our website, such as:

  • Traffic data

  • Location data

  • Device information

  • The date and time of your visit

  • The pages that you visit

We may use this information to:

  • Customise the content on our website and help to understand visitors’ current and future needs

  • Process any requests, applications or transactions you may make

  • Aid internal administration and analysis

Managing Cookies

Most browsers allow you to turn off the cookie function. To do this you can look at the help function on your browser or visit aboutcookies.org.uk

To experience the RWH website to the full, we recommend that you leave cookies turned on. If you turn off cookies then you may not be able to enter parts of the site.

Third Party Cookies

RWH uses third party suppliers such as Facebook, Google Analytics, and these providers may use cookies. They may also use tracking pixels, which are commonly found in advertising to track the effectiveness of adverts.

As some of these services may be based outside of the UK and the European Union, they may not fall under the jurisdiction of UK courts. If you are concerned about this you can change your cookie settings (see above) and can find more information about this here.

How we treat young people and vulnerable persons

Young people

We do not actively seek to collect data for anyone under the age of 18 and we require a date of birth for anyone under 21 to ensure that we treat them appropriately.

Supporters in vulnerable circumstances

We recognise the importance of identifying and supporting people in vulnerable circumstances. When we respond to emails, mailings or calls we are trained to identify signs of vulnerable circumstances and to deal with the supporter appropriately in line with our 'Guidelines for safeguarding vulnerable supporters' policy.

Your choices and telling us when things change

Preferences

You can change your preferences at any time by contacting us by post to Data Protection Officer by email at info@refugeewelcomehomes.net

Updating your details

We want to communicate with you effectively. It’s much easier if your details are up to date, so we really appreciate it if you let us know when your details change. You can do so in the same way as updating your preferences (above).

If we are unsure of the details you have entered on a form, or if you have changed address and given the Post Office permission to share this, we may use Post Office address search, postcode lists or other available sources to confirm data that you provide us with.

How to have your information deleted

The General Data Protection Regulations introduce a right for individuals to have personal data erased and this can be requested verbally or in writing from the data protection officer. If you have donated to us and requested that we Gift Aid your donation, we are legally required to keep your information for at least six years after the date of your last gift, and in these circumstances, we cannot delete your data. However, we can and will remove your consent to be contacted by us.

How your data will be deleted

We retain information on previous customers for analysis purposes, and so the action we will take is to anonymise your data so that we can continue to use this information for historical research and statistical purposes whilst preserving your privacy. We have a standard procedure for doing this across all of our record systems. Our commitment is to complete this change within one month of the request being received.

What about data you share with other organisations - will this be deleted?

We do not share your information with third parties except where we need to fulfil a contract, e.g., a Gift Aid claim or if you travel with us, and this data is subject to our need to retain this information.

Your information – your rights

For any of the following areas, please contact the Data Protection Officer.

  • Telling us to stop processing

  • You have the right to ask us to stop using your personal information for marketing purposes or for any other purpose where there is no legal requirement for continued processing.

  • How to request a copy of the information that we hold about you, otherwise known as a Subject Access Request

  • You have the right to ask for a copy of all the information related to you that we hold.

  • How to ask us to amend or delete your information

  • If your information is out of date, or if there is no longer justification for us to hold it, you can ask for it to be updated, removed or blocked by contacting the Data Protection Officer in writing.

How to request your information

You can ask for a copy of any personal information that you have provided to us in the past. We will provide it in a clear and easy to follow format.

Changes to this policy

This policy was last updated in January 2022. We may amend this policy from time to time to take account of changes to our processes or changes to data protection or other associated legislation. If we make any significant changes to this policy, we will show this clearly on our website, and/or by contacting you directly.

Complaints

You can lodge any complaints you have with us at info@refugeewelcomehomes.net

You can also complain to the GDPR Legal Organisation called the ICO if you are unhappy with how we have used your data. Their address is:

Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF


Helpline number: 0303 123 1113

ICO website: https://www.ico.org.uk