Privacy policy

Privacy Policy

Age UK Merton is committed to protecting and respecting your privacy and security. Whenever you provide us with your personal information via our website “Site(s)”, we will treat that information in accordance with this policy, our terms and conditions and current UK Data Protection legislation.

By using the Site and any services we offer via our Site, you are agreeing to be bound by this policy.

Please read the following carefully to understand our views and practices regarding your personal data and how we will treat it. This policy may change from time to time, so please check this page periodically. Age UK Merton is a registered charity (number 1105384 and company limited by guarantee (number 5173595). The registered address is 277 London Road, Mitcham, London, CR4 3NT. If you have any questions around this privacy policy, you should contact reception on 020 8648 5792.

This policy may change from time to time, so please check this page periodically.

1.1 Cookies

Cookies are tiny software files that are stored on a computer or mobile device when an individual visits a website. Cookies allow websites to recognise that a user on an individual computer has previously visited the site. The cookies save some information about that user for when they access the site again in the future. You can find out what cookies our Site uses in the table below. You can withdraw your consent and / or block cookies sent to you from our Site but parts of our Site may not then work.

For more information about the different types of cookie, visit the About Cookies website www.aboutcookies.org.uk.

1.2 Cookie Purpose  

2. Data Protection

The legal basis on which we process your information are set out below:

• Where we are providing services to you: contractual obligation. If you do not provide us with the information we request then we may not be able to provide the services you have requested and / or we may be restricted in the manner in which we can provide such services.
• Where we are marketing to you: explicit consent

2.1 What personal information is collected from you?

When you visit our Site and access our services we collect various personal information which may include your name, address, contact details, IP address, and information regarding what pages are accessed and when they are accessed. If you make a donation online or purchase a product from us, your card information is collected by our partner organisations Virgin Money Giving or Donorfy, but is not held by us.

2.2 How is your information used?

We may use this information in the following ways:

• to carry out our obligations arising from any contracts entered into by you and us;
• verify your identity;
• seek your views or comments on the services we provide;
• notify you of changes to our services;
• improve our services or marketing purposes;
• send you communications which you have consented to (these may include information about campaigns, appeals, other fundraising activities, promotions of our associated companies goods and services).
• to provide support via Age UK Merton services

We do not carry out any automated decision-making.

We would like to keep in touch with you to let you know about the vital work we do for older people, our products and services. When you submit your email, address and/or phone number(s) on our Site or following an assessment to access Age UK Merton services, we will ask you for your consent to contact you for these purposes. You can unsubscribe from these communications at any time by emailing info@ageukmerton.org.uk.

2.3 Who has access to your information?

We may share your information with other companies in our group (other companies within Age UK nationwide) or third party organisations for the purposes of:

• Onward referral for services (where applicable). We will always check with you before sharing your data for this purpose
• Referral of safeguarding issues (where applicable).

Please note that where we share your information with other organisations, it will be subject to their policies and procedures regarding data protection and therefore you should make yourself familiar with those terms.

Other than sharing with our group companies as set out above, we will not sell, share, or rent your information to third parties, unless we have your explicit permission to do so, or we are required to do so by law, for example, by a court order or for the purposes of prevention of fraud or other crime. Where you have given us permission we may contact you about other services and products or pass your details to similar organisations.

2.4 How you can access, update or delete your information and what are your rights

Update

The accuracy of your information is important to us. We are working on ways to make it easier for you to review and correct the information that we hold about you. In the meantime, if you change email address, or any of the other information we hold is inaccurate or out of date, please email us at info@ageukmerton.org.uk or write to us at our head office above.

Access

You have the right to ask for a copy of the information that Age UK Merton holds about you.

Erasure (“Right to be forgotten”)

You have the right to request that Age UK Merton Group delete your personal data in certain circumstances if you would like more information about this please email us at info@ageukmerton.org.uk or contact us at the address above. Any such deletion will be in accordance with our data retention policy (set out below).

Portability

You have the right to have a copy of your information to reuse your personal data for your own purposes across different services.

Consent

Where we are processing your personal data on the basis of consent, you can opt out at any time by contacting info@ageukmerton.org.uk.

Object to processing

You have the right to object to and / or restrict processing.

Complain                                                                                                                      

You have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office.

2.5 How long will we keep your information?

The information we collect from you will be deleted in accordance with the timetable set out below:

We will only keep personal data for two years after you last access a service from our organisation (apart from Information & Advice which needs to be kept for 6 years). . After this time, records will be anonymised with minimal information kept and access restricted to the data controller and chief executive. We will archive and store this minimised information in the event that we need to refer to this to justify any future legacy claim or at your request.

2.6 Security precautions in place to protect the loss, misuse or alteration of your information

When you give us personal information, we take steps to ensure that it is treated securely. Any sensitive information (such as credit or debit card details) is encrypted and protected with the following software 128 Bit encryption on SSL.

When you are on a secure page on the internet, a lock icon will appear on the bottom of web browsers such as Microsoft Internet Explorer.

Non-sensitive details (your email address etc.) are transmitted normally over the internet, and this can never be guaranteed to be 100% secure. As a result, while we strive to protect your personal information, we cannot guarantee the security of any information you transmit to us, and you do so at your own risk. Once we receive your information, we make our best effort to ensure its security on our systems.

2.7 Stipulations regarding use of the discussion boards

Any communication or material that you transmit to, or post on, any public area of the Site, Facebook or Twitter pages including or any consultation or forum you may participate in (virtual and physical), but not limited to, any data, questions, comments, suggestions, reviews, or the like, is, and will be treated as, non-confidential and non-proprietary information. When entering the discussion forum, you agree not to publish, post, disseminate distribute or otherwise transmit any defamatory, offensive, infringing, indecent or otherwise unlawful or objectionable material or information.

2.8 What happens when visitors link to another site?

Our Site contains links to other websites. This privacy policy applies only to our Site‚ so visitors should always be aware when they are moving to another site and read the privacy statement of any site which collects personal information. We cannot be responsible for the privacy policies and practices of other sites even if you access those using links from our Site.

We do not pass on any personal information about our visitors to any other site (unless we have obtained your consent to do so). In addition, if you linked to this Site from a third party site, we cannot be responsible for the privacy policies and practices of the owners and operators of that third party site and recommend that you check the policy of that third party site and contact the owner or operator if you have any concerns or questions.

2.9  16 or Under

If you are aged 16 or under‚ please get your parent/guardian's permission beforehand whenever you provide personal information to the Site. Users without this consent are not allowed to provide us with personal information.

2.10  Contact us

If at any time you would like to contact us with your views about our privacy practices, or with any enquiry relating to your personal information, you can do so through the "contact us" link on our Site.

2.11 Transferring your information outside of Europe

As part of the services offered to you through the Site, the information which you provide to us may be transferred to countries outside the European Union ("EU"). By way of example, this may happen if any of our servers are from time to time located in a country outside of the EU. If we transfer your information outside of the EU in this way, we will take steps to ensure that it is to a country with data protection laws which are at least as stringent as those in England.

If you use our services while you are outside the EU, your information may be transferred outside the EU in order to provide you with those services.

3. Changes

Any changes we make to our privacy policy in the future will be posted on this page and, where appropriate, notified to you by email or highlighted on our Site.