Privacy Policy
We are Social Workers Without Borders. We’re a Charitable Incorporated Organisation, Registered charity number 1174000, whose registered address is at Unit 13249, PO Box 6945, London W1A 6US. In this privacy notice, we will refer to ourselves as ‘we’, ‘us’ or ‘our’. We are the Data Controller of the personal information we collect, hold and use about you, as explained in this notice.
You can get hold of us in any of the following ways:
by emailing us at trustees@socialworkerswithoutborders.org; or
by writing to us at Unit 13249, PO Box 6945, London W1A 6US.
We take the privacy, including the security, of personal information we hold about you very seriously. This privacy notice is designed to inform you about how we collect personal information about you and how we use that personal information. You should read this privacy notice carefully so that you know and can understand why and how we use the personal information we collect and hold about you.
If you have any questions about this privacy notice or issues arising from it, you should contact trustees@socialworkerswithoutborders.org. The trustees are responsible for matters relating to data protection at our organisation, including any matters in this privacy notice. You can contact them using the details set out above.
We may issue you with other privacy notices from time to time, including when we collect personal information from you. This privacy notice is intended to supplement these and does not override them.
We may update this privacy notice from time to time. This version was last updated on 21 October 2022.
1. Key definitions
1.1. The key terms that we use throughout this privacy notice are defined below, for ease:
1.2. Data Controller: under UK data protection law, this is the organisation or person responsible for deciding how personal information is collected and stored and how it is used.
1.3. Data Processor: a Data Controller may appoint another organisation or person to carry out certain tasks in relation to the personal information on behalf of, and on the written instructions of, the Data Controller. (This might be the hosting of a site containing personal data, for example, or providing an email-marketing service that facilitates mass distribution of marketing material to a Data Controller’s customer base.)
1.4. Personal Information: in this privacy notice, we refer to your personal data as ‘personal information’. ‘Personal information’ means any information from which a living individual can be identified. It does not apply to information that has been anonymised.
1.5. Special Information – certain very sensitive personal information requires extra protection under data protection law. Sensitive data includes information relating to health, racial and ethnic origin, political opinions, religious and similar beliefs, trade union membership, sex life and sexual orientation and also includes genetic information and biometric information.
2. Details of personal information that we collect and hold about you
2.1. Set out below are the general categories in each case the types of personal information that we collect, use and hold about you:
Identity information
This is information relating to your identity such as your name (including any previous names and any titles that you use), gender, marital status and date of birth
Contact information
This is information relating to your contact details such as email address, addresses, telephone numbers
Payment information
This is information relating to the methods by which you provide payment to us such as bank account details, credit or debit card details and details of any payments (including amounts and dates) that are made between us.
Transaction information
This is information relating to transactions between us such as details of subscriptions and donations made on Kindlink. In order to claim Gift Aid we me collect information about your tax status.
Membership information
This is information required to subscribe you as a member. It includes identity information, contact information, your location, HCPC Registration, University Name/ID, payment details and details about your employment status.
Survey information
This is information that we have collected from you or that you have provided to us in respect of surveys and feedback
Campaigns/Marketing information
This is information relating to your marketing and communications preferences
Website, Device and Technical Information
This is information about your use of our website and technical data which we collect (including your IP address, the type of browser you are using and the version, the operating system you are using, details about the time zone and location settings on the device and other information we receive about your device)
2.2. The types of personal data we collect about you may differ from person to person, depending on who you are and the relationship between us.
3. Details of special information that we collect and hold about you
3.1. We only collect special information about you when there is a clear and specific reason for doing so, such as when you volunteer with us.
3.2. We collect this data to ensure that we provide appropriate facilities or support to enable you to carry out your role. We will provide clear notices so that it is clear what information we need and why we need it. We may need to carry out Disclosure and Barring Service checks to ensure that it is appropriate for you to undertake the role.
3.3. If you volunteer with us, we may collect this data for equality monitoring on an anonymous basis. This will be stored on a secure database to which only a limited number of staff have access and it will be deleted when it is no longer required for the purposes for which it was collected.
4. Details of how and why we use personal information
4.1. We are only able to use your personal information for certain legal reasons set out in data protection law. There are legal reasons under data protection law other than those listed below; but, in most cases, we will use your personal information for the following legal reasons:
Contract Reason: this is in order to perform our obligations to you under a contract we have entered into with you;
Legitimate Interests Reason: this is where the use of your personal information is necessary for our (or a third party’s) legitimate interests, so long as that legitimate interest does not override your fundamental rights, freedoms or interests;
Legal Obligation Reason: this is where we have to use your personal information in order to perform a legal obligation by which we are bound; and
Consent Reason: this is where you have given us your consent to use your personal information for a specific reason or specific reasons.
4.2. As explained in section 3 above, there are more sensitive types of personal data, which require higher levels of protection. Where we process such sensitive types of personal data, we will usually do this in the following circumstances:
We have your explicit consent;
Where it is necessary for us to perform our legal and professional obligations to you;
In relation to legal claims
Where you have made the personal data public.
4.3. Providing your personal information to Social Workers Without Borders is voluntary. However, some of the personal information that we request from you is necessary: to provide you with access to our services, to create your membership, to process your donations or to add you to our volunteer database. If you chose not to provide us with this information, we may not be able to carry out such actions for you.
4.4. It is important that you keep your personal information up to date. If any of your personal information changes, please contact us as soon as possible to let us know. If you do not do this, then we may be prevented from supplying the services to you. for example we may be prevented from adding you to our volunteer database.
4.5. Where we rely on consent for a specific purpose as the legal reason for processing your personal information, you have the right under data protection law to withdraw your consent at any time. If you do wish to withdraw your consent, please contact us using the details set out at the beginning of this notice. If we receive a request from you withdrawing your consent to a specific purpose, we will stop processing your personal information for that purpose, unless we have another legal reason for processing your personal information – in which case, we will confirm that reason to you.
4.6. We have explained below the different purposes for which we use your personal information and, in each case, the legal reason(s) allowing us to use your personal information. Please also note the following:
if we use the Legitimate Interests Reason as the legal reason for which we can use your personal information, we have also explained what that legitimate interest is; and
for some of the purposes, we may have listed more than one legal reason on which we can use your personal information, because the legal reason may be different in different circumstances. If you need confirmation of the specific legal reason that we are relying on to use your personal data for that purpose, please contact us using the contact details set out at the start of this privacy notice.
Purpose and Legal Reason(s) for using the personal information
To subscribe you as a member:
Contract Reason,
Legitimate Interests Reason (in order to enable you to join our volunteer database, follow our campaigns and access training events.
To process your donation. This includes taking payment from you, confirming receipt, saying thank you, providing details of how your donation has been used and administering Gift Aid claims:
Contract Reason
Legal obligation
Legitimate Interests Reason (in order to receive money that you donate to us)
To manage your subscription with you and to notify you of any changes
Contract Reason
Legal Obligation Reason
To comply with audit and accounting matters
Legal Obligation Reason
For record keeping
Contract Reason
Legal Obligation Reason
To improve the services, and/or digital content that we supply
Legitimate Interests Reason (in order to improve our services to beneficiaries, and/or digital content for members and to raise awareness of our campaigns and grow our donations)
To send you a copy of our newsletter
Contract reason
To recommend and send communications to you about our campaigns, educational events and/or digital content that you may be interested in. More details about marketing are set out in section 11 below
Legitimate Interests Reason (in order to raise awareness of our campaigns and recruit volunteers)
Consent Reason
To ensure the smooth running and correct operation of our website
Legitimate Interests Reason (to ensure our website runs correctly)
To understand how members and visitors to our website use the website and interact with it via data analysis
Legitimate Interests Reason (to improve and grow our business, including our website, and to understand our customer’s needs, desires and requirements)
4.7. Sometimes we may anonymise personal information so that you can no longer be identified from it and use this for our own purposes. In addition, sometimes we may use some of your personal information together with other people’s personal information to give us statistical information for our own purposes. Because this is grouped together with other personal information and you are not identifiable from that combined data we are able to use this.
4.8. Under data protection laws, we can only use your personal information for the purposes we have told you about, unless we consider that the new purpose is compatible with the purpose(s) we told you about. If we want to use your personal information for a different purpose that we do not think is compatible with the purpose(s) we told you about, then we will contact you to explain this and what legal reason is in place to allow us to do this.
5. Details of how we collect personal information and special information
5.1. We usually collect Identity Information, Contact Information, Payment Information, Transaction Information, Campaigns and Marketing Information; directly from you when you make a donation on our website, fill out a form, survey or questionnaire, purchase services from us, contact us by email, telephone, in writing or otherwise. This includes the personal information that you provide to us when you subscribe to our mailing list .
5.2. We may receive some of your personal information from third parties or publicly available sources. This includes:
Contact Information and Payment Information from our selected third-party suppliers, such as Kindlink ;
Identity Information and Contact Information from publicly available sources such as your firm's website, professional networks;
Website, Device and Technical Information from third parties such as analytics providers (like Google and Squarespace);
Referral Agencies or Solicitors Firms may share your personal information with us when the request our services;
Social Media Platforms such as Twitter, Facebook or What's app. If you do not wish us to obtain your personal data from these sites you can change your settings on these services. Please read their privacy notices which will explain how they share your personal data and tell you how to change your settings. These can be found at: https://twitter.com/en/privacy, https://facebook.com/privacy/policy and https://www.whatsapp.com/legal/privacy-policy.
5.3. We may also receive Website, Device and Technical Information automatically from technologies such as cookies that are installed on our website. To find out more about these please see our cookie policy, which is available on our website.
6. Details about who personal Information may be shared with
6.1. We may need to share your personal information with other organisations or people. These organisations include:
Third parties who may include:
Suppliers: such as IT support services, payment providers, administration providers, marketing agencies;
Government bodies and regulatory bodies: such as HMRC, The Charity Commission, Social Work England, fraud prevention agencies;
Our advisors: such as lawyers, accountants, auditors, insurance companies;
Our bankers;
The Disclosure and Barring Service
Credit Reference Agencies;
Email platforms;
Others
6.2. Depending on the circumstances, the organisations or people who we share your personal information with will be acting as either Data Processors or Data Controllers. Where we share your personal information with a Data Processor, we will ensure that we have in place contracts that set out the responsibilities and obligations of us and them, including in respect of security of personal information.
6.3. We do not sell or trade any of the personal information that you have provided to us.
7. Details about transfers to countries outside of the EEA
7.1. If any transfer of personal information by us will mean that your personal information is transferred outside of the EEA, then we will ensure that safeguards are in place to ensure that a similar degree of protection is given to your personal information as is given to it within the EEA and that the transfer is made in compliance with data protection laws (including, where relevant, any exceptions to the general rules on transferring personal information outside of the EEA that are available to us – these are known as ‘derogations’ under data protection laws). We may need to transfer personal information outside of the EEA to the third parties listed above in section 6 who may be located outside of the EEA.
7.2. The safeguards set out in data protection laws for transferring personal information outside of the EEA include:
where the transfer is to a country or territory that the EU Commission has approved as ensuring an adequate level of protection;
European Commission Standard Contractual Clauses (also known as Model Contractual Clauses) and the UK’s International Data Transfer Addendum (UK Addendum) as the legal basis for transferring personal data to third countries, including the United States;
compliance with an approved code of conduct by a relevant data protection supervisory authority (in the UK, this is the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO);
certification with an approved certification mechanism;
where the EU Commission has approved specific arrangements in respect of certain countries compliance with those arrangements;
8. Details about how long we will hold your personal information
8.1. We will only hold your personal data for as long as is necessary. How long is necessary will depend upon the purposes for which we collected the personal information (see section 4 above) and whether we are under any legal obligation to keep the personal information (such as in relation to accounting or auditing records or for tax reasons). We may also need to keep personal information in case of any legal claims.
8.2. You can contact us (using the details at the beginning of this notice) to request a copy of our retention policy, which sets out how long different types of personal data will be kept for.
9. Automated decision making
9.1. ‘Automated decision making’ is where a decision is automatically made without any human involvement. Under data protection laws, this includes profiling. ‘Profiling’ is the automated processing of personal data to evaluate or analyse certain personal aspects of a person (such as their behaviour, characteristics, interests and preferences).
9.2. Data protection laws place restrictions upon us if we carry out any automated decision making (including profiling) that produces a legal effect or similarly significant effect on you.
9.3. We do not carry out any automated decision making (including profiling) that produces a legal effect or similarly significant effect on you. If we do decide to do this then we will notify you and we will inform you of the legal reason we are able to do this.
10. Your rights under data protection law
10.1. Under data protection laws, you have certain rights in relation to your personal information, as follows:
Right to request access: (this is often called ‘subject access’). You may ask us to provide you with a copy of the personal information that we hold about you and information to help you understand how your personal information is being used. In certain circumstances, where legally permitted to do so, we may refuse your request. If we refuse your request we will always tell you the reasons for doing so.
Right to correction: this is the right to request that any incorrect personal data is corrected and that any incomplete personal data is completed.
Right to erasure: (this is often called the 'right to be forgotten').This right only applies in certain circumstances. Where it does apply, you have the right to request us to erase all of your personal information.
Right to restrict processing: this right only applies in certain circumstances. Where it does apply, you have the right to request us to restrict the processing of your personal information.
Right to data portability: this right allows you to request us to transfer your personal information to someone else.
Right to object: you have the right to object to us processing your personal information for direct marketing purposes. You also have the right to object to us processing personal information where our legal reason for doing so is the Legitimate Interests Reason (see section 4 above) and there is something about your particular situation that means that you want to object to us processing your personal information. In certain circumstances, you have the right to object to processing where such processing consists of profiling (including profiling for direct marketing).
10.2. In addition to the rights set out in section 10.1, where we rely on consent as the legal reason for using your personal information, you have the right to withdraw your consent. Further details about this are set out in section 4.5.
10.3. If you want to exercise any of the above rights in relation to your personal information, please contact us using the details set out at the beginning of this notice. If you do make a request, then please note:
we may need certain information from you so that we can verify your identity;
we do not charge a fee for exercising your rights unless your request is unfounded or excessive; and
if your request is unfounded or excessive, then we may refuse to deal with your request.
11. Marketing
11.1. You may receive marketing from us about our campaigns and services, where either you have consented to this, or we have another legal reason by which we can contact you for marketing purposes.
11.2. However, we will give you the opportunity to manage how or if we market to you. In any email that we send to you, we provide a link to either unsubscribe or opt out, or to change your marketing preferences. To change your marketing preferences, and/or to request that we stop processing your personal information for marketing purposes, you can always contact us on the details set out at the beginning of this notice.
11.3. If you do request that we stop marketing to you, this will not prevent us from sending communications to you that are not to do with marketing (for example in relation to services that you have purchased from us).
11.4. We do not pass your personal information on to any third parties for marketing purposes.
12. Complaints
12.1. If you are unhappy about the way that we have handled or used your personal information, you have the right to complain to the UK supervisory authority for data protection, which is the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). Please do contact us in the first instance if you wish to raise any queries or make a complaint in respect of our handling or use of your personal information, so that we have the opportunity to discuss this with you and to take steps to resolve the position. You can contact us using the details set out at the beginning of this privacy notice.
13. Third-party websites
Our website may contain links to third-party websites. If you click and follow those links, then these will take you to the third-party website. Those third-party websites may collect personal information from you and you will need to check their privacy notices to understand how your personal information is collected and used by them.