Privacy notice

Introduction

This is the privacy notice of Mind Connect Mental Health CIC, a Community Interest Company (company number 15192777).

As part of the services we offer, we are required to process personal data about our staff, our service users and, in some instances, the friends or relatives of our service users and staff. “Processing” can mean collecting, recording, organising, storing, sharing or destroying data.

We are committed to being transparent about why we need your personal data and what we do with it. This information is set out in this privacy notice. It also explains your rights when it comes to your data.

If you have any concerns or questions, please contact us at leemonaghan@mindconnect.org.uk.

Service users

What data do we have?

So that we can provide a safe and professional service, we need to keep certain records about you. We may process the following types of data:

• your basic details and contact information, for example your name, address, date of birth and next of kin
• your financial details, for example details of how you pay us for your care or your funding arrangements

We also record the following data, which is classified as “special category”:

• health and social care data about you, which might include both your physical and mental health data
• we may also record data about your race, ethnic origin, sexual orientation or religion

Why do we have this data?

We need this data so that we can provide high-quality care and support. By law, we need to have a lawful basis for processing your personal data.

We process your data because:

• we have a legal obligation to do so, generally under the Health and Social Care Act 2012 or the Mental Capacity Act 2005

We process your special category data because:

• it is necessary due to social security and social protection law (generally this would be in safeguarding instances)
• it is necessary for us to provide and manage social care services
• we are required to provide data as part of our public interest obligations

We may also process your data with your consent. If we need to ask for your permission, we will offer you a clear choice and ask that you confirm to us that you consent. We will also explain clearly to you what we need the data for and how you can withdraw your consent at any time.

Common law duty of confidentiality

In our use of health and care information, we satisfy the common law duty of confidentiality because:

• you have provided us with your consent (either implicitly to provide you with care, or explicitly for other uses)
• we have a legal requirement to collect, share and use the data
• the public interest to collect, share and use the data overrides the public interest served by protecting the duty of confidentiality (for example, sharing information with the police to support the detection or prevention of serious crime)

Where do we process your data?

So that we can provide you with high-quality care and support, we need specific data. This is collected from or shared with:

• you or your legal representative(s)
• third parties

We do this face to face, by phone, by email, through our website, by post, through application forms, or through apps.

Third parties are organisations we might lawfully share your data with. These include:

• other parts of the health and care system, such as local hospitals, the GP, the pharmacy, social workers, clinical commissioning groups, and other health and care professionals
• the Local Authority
• your family or friends, with your permission
• organisations we have a legal obligation to share information with, for example for safeguarding, the CQC
• the police or other law enforcement agencies if we have to by law or court order

National data opt-out

We review our data processing on an annual basis to assess if the national data opt-out applies. This is recorded in our Record of Processing Activities. All new processing is assessed to see if the national data opt-out applies.

If any data processing falls within scope of the national data opt-out, we use MESH to check if any of our service users have opted out of their data being used for this purpose.

At this time, we do not share any data for planning or research purposes for which the national data opt-out would apply. We review all of the confidential patient information we process on an annual basis to see if this is used for research and planning purposes. If it is, then individuals can decide to stop their information being shared for this purpose. You can find out more at nhs.uk/your-nhs-data-matters.

Staff

What data do we have?

So that we can provide a safe and professional service, we need to keep certain records about you. We may record the following types of data:

• your basic details and contact information, for example your name, address, date of birth, National Insurance number and next of kin
• your financial details, for example details so that we can pay you, insurance, pension and tax details
• your training records

We also record the following data, which is classified as “special category”:

• health and social care data about you, which might include both your physical and mental health data. We will only collect this if it is necessary for us to know as your employer, for example fit notes or so that you can claim statutory maternity or paternity pay
• we may also, with your permission, record data about your race, ethnic origin, sexual orientation or religion

As part of your application you may, depending on your job role, be required to undergo a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check (criminal record check). We do not keep this data once we've seen it.

Why do we have this data?

We require this data so that we can contact you, pay you and make sure you receive the training and support you need to perform your job. By law, we need to have a lawful basis for processing your personal data.

We process your data because:

• we have a legal obligation under UK employment law
• we are required to do so in our performance of a public task
• we are required to provide data as part of our public interest obligations

We process your special category data because:

• it is necessary for us to process requests for sick pay or maternity pay

If we request your criminal records data, it is because we have a legal obligation to do this due to the type of work you do. This is set out in the Data Protection Act 2018 and the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975. We do not keep a record of your criminal records information (if any). We do record that we have checked this.

We may also process your data with your consent. If we need to ask for your permission, we will offer you a clear choice and ask that you confirm to us that you consent. We will also explain clearly to you what we need the data for and how you can withdraw your consent at any time.

Where do we process your data?

As your employer we need specific data. This is collected from or shared with:

• you or your legal representative(s)
• third parties

We do this face to face, by phone, by email, through our website, by post, through application forms, or through apps.

Third parties are organisations we might lawfully share your data with. These include:

• HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC)
• our pension and healthcare schemes
• our external payroll provider
• organisations we have a legal obligation to share information with, for example for safeguarding, the CQC
• the police or other law enforcement agencies if we have to by law or court order
• the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS)

Friends and relatives

What data do we have?

As part of our work providing high-quality care and support, it might be necessary for us to hold the following information about you:

• your basic details and contact information, for example your name and address

Why do we have this data?

By law, we need to have a lawful basis for processing your personal data. We process your data because we have a legitimate business interest in holding next of kin and lasting power of attorney information about the people who use our service, and in keeping emergency contact details for our staff.

We may also process your data with your consent. If we need to ask for your permission, we will offer you a clear choice and ask that you confirm to us that you consent. We will also explain clearly to you what we need the data for and how you can withdraw your consent at any time.

Where do we process your data?

So that we can provide high-quality care and support, we need specific data. This is collected from or shared with:

• you or your legal representative(s)
• third parties

We do this face to face, by phone, by email, through our website, by post, through application forms, or through apps.

Third parties are organisations we might lawfully share your data with. These include:

• other parts of the health and care system, such as local hospitals, the GP, the pharmacy, social workers, and other health and care professionals
• the Local Authority
• the police or other law enforcement agencies if we have to by law or court order

How we store your personal information

Your information is securely stored for the time periods set out in the Records Management Code of Practice. We then dispose of it as the Code recommends, for example by shredding paper records or wiping hard drives to legal standards of destruction.

Our website

Contact form

If you use our contact form, we collect your name, the email address and/or phone number you give us, and your message. Your message may include information about your mental or physical health. We only use it with your consent, which you give by ticking the box on the form, and only to reply to you and give you the support you ask for.

Your message is sent straight to our team's email inbox using an email delivery service (Resend). It is not stored on the website. Enquiry emails are deleted in our weekly data cleanse, unless you go on to use our services. If you do, we keep your information as described in the rest of this notice.

Log data

Our website is hosted by Vercel. Like all web hosts, it keeps short-term technical logs, such as your IP address, browser version, the pages you visit and the time of your visit, to keep the site secure and working.

Cookies

Our website doesn't use cookies to track you, and we don't use analytics or advertising cookies. See our cookies page for details.

Service providers

We use a small number of companies to run the website: Vercel (hosting), Sanity (where our website content is managed, which holds no information about visitors) and Resend (delivering contact form messages). They can only use your information to provide their service to us, and must not disclose or use it for any other purpose.

Security

We value your trust in providing us your personal information, so we use commercially acceptable means of protecting it. But no method of sending information over the internet, or of storing it electronically, is 100% secure and reliable, and we cannot guarantee its absolute security.

Links to other sites

Our website links to other sites, such as Patreon, Discord and Instagram. These sites are not run by us, so we strongly advise you to read their privacy policies. We have no control over, and take no responsibility for, the content, privacy policies or practices of any third-party sites or services.

Children's privacy

Our services are not aimed at anyone under the age of 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If we find that a child under 13 has given us personal information, we delete it immediately. If you are a parent or guardian and you know your child has given us personal information, please contact us so we can take the necessary action. This may change should we take on paid support, education or projects that involve children under the age of 13. Please refer to our safeguarding policy.

Your rights

The data that we keep about you is your data, and we make sure we keep it confidential and use it appropriately. You have the following rights when it comes to your data:

• You have the right to request a copy of all of the data we keep about you. Generally, we will not charge for this.
• You have the right to ask us to correct any data we have which you believe to be inaccurate or incomplete. You can also ask us to restrict all processing of your data while we consider your request.
• You have the right to ask us to erase any of your personal data which is no longer necessary for the purpose we originally collected it for. We keep our data in line with the Information Governance Alliance's guidelines.
• You may also ask us to restrict processing if we no longer need your personal data for the purpose we originally collected it for, but you do not want it to be erased.
• You can ask for your data to be erased if we have asked for your consent to process it. You can withdraw consent at any time. Please contact us to do so.
• If we are processing your data as part of our legitimate interests as an organisation, or to complete a task in the public interest, you have the right to object to that processing. We will restrict all processing of this data while we look into your objection.

You may need to give us enough information to identify you, for example a passport or driving licence. This is to make sure your data is not shared with the wrong person. We will always respond to your request as soon as possible, and at the latest within one month.

To make a request, email leemonaghan@mindconnect.org.uk.

If you would like to complain about how we have dealt with your request, please contact: