Privacy Notice

Data controller and protection officer

Contact the Data Protection Offier, Emma Back at [email protected].

The Equal Care Co-op office is the controller for the personal information we receive. The address is:

Birchcliffe Centre, Birchcliffe Road, Hebden Bridge HX7 8DG.

How we get your information

  • You have made an enquiry to us, either through our website or over the phone or face to face

  • You have asked for us to find some support for you

  • You have applied to offer support with us

  • You have made an information request to us

  • You have made a complaint or given us feedback

  • You wish to attend, or have attended, an event

  • You subscribe to our newsletter

  • You have applied for a job or secondment with us

  • You are representing your organisation

  • Y‌ou are receiving support from us

  • You are a family member or friend who has joined a person's team

  • You are a volunteer

  • You are giving care and support in a paid capacity

  • You are a staff member


We also receive personal information indirectly, in the following scenarios:

  • We have contacted an organisation about a complaint you have made and it gives us your personal information in its response

  • Your personal information is contained in reports of breaches of data protection law (‘breach reports’) or safeguarding concerns, given to us by independent care and support workers and other stakeholders.

  • Whistleblowers include information about you in their reporting to us

  • From other public authorities, regulators or law enforcement bodies

  • An employee of ours, someone getting support or an independent care and support worker or volunteer gives your contact details as an emergency contact or a referee

If it is not disproportionate or prejudical, we’ll contact you to let you know we are processing your personal information. ​

Your rights

They are:

  1. Your right to be informed

  2. Your right of access

  3. Your right to rectification

  4. Your right to erasure

  5. Your right to restrict processing

  6. Your right to data portability

  7. Your right to object

  8. Your rights in relation to automated decision making and profiling

You can exercise any of these rights by emailing [email protected]. There are some limits to this though - we're bound by law to keep certain types of data‌ for set periods of time.

As we are processing your personal data for legitimate interests, you have the right to object to our processing of your personal data. There are legitimate reasons why we may refuse your objection, which depend on why we are processing it.

For more information on your rights, please see ‘Your rights as an individual’.

Special categories and criminal offences data

This is information concerning:

  • Racial or ethnic origin

  • Political opinions

  • Religious belief or similar including philosophical belief

  • Trade union membership

  • Physical/mental health or condition

  • Sex life or sexual orientation

  • Genetic data

  • Biometric data

  • Commission or allegation of an offence

  • Proceedings of any offence, disposal of proceedings, sentences

We collect special category and criminal offences data in the course of our work with you. This is in order to provide a safe, trusted, effective care and support service. We will always tell you when and why we need to collect this type of data.

Sharing your information

We will not share your information with any third parties for the purposes of direct marketing. 

We use data processors who are third parties who provide elements of services for us. We have contracts in place with our data processors. This means that they cannot do anything with your personal information unless we have instructed them to do it. They will not share your personal information with any organisation apart from us. They will hold it securely and retain it for the period we instruct.


In some circumstances we are legally obliged to share information. For example under a court order or where we cooperate with other agencies and statutory services in handling complaints or investigations. We might also share information with other regulatory bodies as required by law. In any scenario, we’ll satisfy ourselves that we have a lawful basis on which to share the information and document our decision making and satisfy ourselves we have a legal basis on which to share the information.


We may also share your information in the event of the non-payment of an invoice. If the debt remains outstanding after the specified timeframe for payment, no payment plan is in place or an agreed payment plan is not being adhered to, we may initiate formal proceedings to recover the full amount of the unpaid penalty. As a result we will share personal data with the litigation and recovery specialists we instruct in order for them to identify assets and undertake recovery action through the courts.


There are no current data disclosures taking place which are in scope of the national data opt-out policy and none intended in the near future. The scope of data disclosures is reviewed annually to ensure compliance with the National Data Opt-Out. A technical solution is not required at present. Further questions about the NHS Data Opt-out should be directed to [email protected].

External links and signposting

Where we provide links to websites of other organisations or refer or signpost you to them, this privacy notice does not cover how that organisation processes personal information. We encourage you to read the privacy notices on the other websites you visit.

Making a complaint

We work to high standards when it comes to processing your personal information. If you have queries or concerns, please contact us at [email protected] and we’ll respond.


Getting in touch with us

Calling our numbers

When you call our main number (01422 754321), our on call number or any of our staff direct numbers, we collect Calling Line Identification (CLI) information. This is the phone number you are calling from (if it’s not withheld). We hold a log of the phone number, date, time and duration of the call, but do not audio record the call itself unless you leave a voicemail. We hold this information for three years.


We use this information to understand the demand for our services and to improve how we operate. We may also use the number to call you back if you have asked us to do so, if your call drops, or if there is a problem with the line. We may also use it to check how many calls we have received from it.

We don’t audio record any calls, but we might make notes to help us answer your query. Sometimes we may ask if we can record the call. We will do this if you have a lot of information to tell us or if we are out and about and can't note down what you tell us there and then. We will always ask for your consent to record the call and will let you know when recording starts and ends. We delete the recording once we have noted down the relevant information and shared this with you.

We may use a translation service provided by Language Line Limited for people when English is not their first language. We don’t retain call scripts and neither do Language Line. It is processed live for the purposes of translating the call.

We also hold statistical information about the calls we receive for a number of years, but this does not contain any personal data.

Social media

We use a third-party provider, Loom, to manage our social-media interactions. If you send us a private or direct message via social media, it will be stored on the social media channel you have used according to their data and security rules. It will not be shared with any other organisations.

We see all this information and decide how we manage it. For example, if you send a message via social media that needs a response from us, we may process it in our system as an enquiry, a concern or a complaint. When contacting us through a social media platform, we suggest you also familiarise yourself with the privacy information of that platform.

Live chat

We don't yet offer live chat.

Emailing us

We use Transport Layer Security (TLS) to encrypt and protect email traffic in line with government guidance on email security. Most webmail such as Gmail and Hotmail use TLS by default. We are compliant with NHS Secure Email standards.

We’ll also monitor any emails sent to us, including file attachments, for viruses or malicious software. You must ensure that any email you send is within the bounds of the law.

Purpose and lawful basis for processing

The lawful basis we rely on to process personal data for the above purposes is article 6(1)(f) of the GDPR which allows us to process personal data on the basis of legitimate interests.

Exceptions to this are signups to our newsletter and initial conversations for the purposes of clarifying and responding to questions about Equal Care Co-op and the service we offer. The basis we rely on in these cases is article 6(1)(a), which is consent.

Once we begin the process of either taking information so that we can offer you care and support or taking information for you to apply for a job with us or offer support as an indepednent care and support worker, we process your data on the basis of legitimate interests.

Our website

Analytics

When you visit www.equalcare.coop we do not collect any personal data.

If we do decide to collect analytics information to collect personal data through our website, we’ll be upfront about this. We’ll make it clear when we collect personal information and we’ll explain what we intend to do with it.

Cookies

We don't use any cookies except for temporary ones that do not stay on your computer but are only used for the duration of your browsing our website.

We embed videos from our official YouTube channel using YouTube’s privacy-enhanced mode. This mode may set cookies on your computer once you click on the YouTube video player, but YouTube will not store personally-identifiable cookie information for playbacks of embedded videos using the privacy-enhanced mode. Read more at YouTube’s embedding videos information page.

PREF - * Expires after eight months VSC - * expires at the end of your session VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE - *expires after eight months remote_sid - * expires at the end of your session

Purpose and lawful basis for processing

We do not collect any personal data through the use of our website unless you actively make contact with us through one of our forms.

Visiting the office
W‌e have two offices: 
  • Birchcliffe Centre, Birchcliffe Road, Hebden Bridge HX7 8DG (Registered Office of the Co-operative Society)
  • 113-115 Fonthill Rd, Finsbury Park, London N4 3HH (London Circle)

We meet visitors at our offices, including:

  • staff from other agencies and the public and private sectors;

  • external training providers;

  • job applicants;

  • applicants to be independent care and support workers

  • people receiving support

  • people looking for care and support

  • people involved in giving care and support

  • volunteers and applicants to be volunteers

  • suppliers and tradespeople;

  • researchers

  • stakeholders.

You must sign in at reception and ensure that visits are planned in advance.

We have Wi-Fi on site for the use of visitors. We’ll provide you with the address and password.The controller of this information is Pennine Heritage and Space4, who manage the Birchcliffe Centre and Space4 respectively. They will record the device address and will automatically allocate you an IP address whilst on site. They also log traffic information in the form of sites visited, duration and date sent/received.

They don’t ask you to agree to terms.

We sometimes record audio, photos and video of workshops or meetings. We don’t do this without the prior written consent of the workshop and meeting participants. The lawful basis we rely on to process personal data is article 6(1)(a) of the GDPR, which allows us to process personal data on the basis of consent.