LifeLines Privacy Notice

This privacy policy explains how we use any personal information we collect about you when you contact us by phone, email, letter, attend any of our events or when you use our website www.lifelines-uk.org.uk.

We take your privacy seriously and are committed to protecting your personal information. We aim to be clear and open about our data and security practices.

Where we ask you to provide us with any information by which you can be identified, you can be assured that it will only be used in accordance with this privacy statement, and in line with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) 2018.

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What information do we collect about you?

We collect information about you when you:

Contact us

Apply for membership

This information may include:

Contact details including email address

Demographic information such as postcode and interests.

We collect material that you proactively post or contribute to our sites and any correspondence you have with us.

We also collect information on your website usage through cookies, if your browser accepts them. Our website feature tracking software – this means that if you have filled an online form or have previously clicked a link in one of our emails, we may link your website usage information (such as pages visited, IP address, browser and device used) to other information we hold about you, such as your name and organisation.

When you contact us by email, letter or on the phone, we may also record this information on our relationship management system to help us process your request efficiently.

How do we use your information?

We collect information about you to manage your membership or process your enquiry.

We use information collected from your website visits to personalise your future visits and to improve the experience we provide to our online users. For example, information like the browser and device you are using helps us to maintain usable and accessible websites for all our audiences.

We also use your information to help us develop services that you need, and where we have a lawful basis and permission to contact you, we may use it to help us send you relevant and timely information about the help and support that we offer.

Where do we store your information?

Online forms

The forms on our website are built using a platform hosted in the UK, so the information you provide to us is initially stored there. The contract we have with this provider ensures their practices comply with the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation 2018 and we regularly delete data from this system.

In the longer term your data is stored in our relationship management system, which is hosted on a secure server in the EU.

Security and encryption

We take great care to ensure that our website operate at the highest security levels and that our suppliers are committed to best practice in digital security. All personal information is encrypted in transmission. However, the security of data transmission via the internet can never be 100% guaranteed, and data transmission is at your own risk.

Cookies

What are cookies and how do we use them?

The use of cookies is common practice on modern websites. A cookie is a small text file which is placed on your computer’s hard drive by a website. When you visit one of our websites, your browser checks to see if it has any cookies for it and sends the information contained in those cookies back to the site in order to tailor and improve your experience.

Our cookies ensure the display settings you’ve previously selected (for example, preferred language) are activated correctly.

We also use cookies to collect anonymous usage and visitor behaviour information – this includes IP address, operating system, browser type and pages visited. We use this to track how our websites are used, measure their effectiveness, and to help us improve our content and user experience.

Third party cookies

Some of the services on our websites, such as sharing functions from Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn, may also place cookies on your computer. We do not take responsibility for third party cookies.

Can I refuse cookies?

Yes, you can use your browser settings to disable cookies. Different browsers offer different levels of control – for example you may be able to accept certain cookies and reject others, such as third party cookies.

If you refuse cookies please be aware our websites may not work smoothly for you and there will be certain parts that won’t function correctly.

You can delete the cookies stored on your computer at any time.

More information

For further information about cookies, you can visit www.aboutcookies.org or www.allaboutcookies.org.

How long do we keep your information?

We do not keep your information for longer than necessary. We keep financial information for seven years due to legal requirements, and we delete all other personal information from our relationship management system if we have had no contact with you for one year.

Marketing

LifeLines only uses your personal data to provide membership services and does not use your personal data for marketing purposes.

Access to your information

You have the right to request a copy of the information that we hold about you. If you would like a copy of some or all of your personal information, you can email: secretary@lifelines-uk.org.uk

Lifelines is an all volunteer charity. We will not charge you for this service unless the request is ‘manifestly unfounded or excessive or repetitive’.

Keeping your information up to date

We want to make sure that any personal information we hold about you is accurate and up to date. Please contact us to correct or remove information you think is inaccurate.

Sharing your information with other organisations

LifeLines will not sell your information to any third party. We may share your information with third parties where we have legal duty to do so or to provide you with a service you have asked for.

Other websites

Our websites contain links to other websites not run by LifeLines. This privacy policy only applies to the LifeLines website, so when you link to other websites you should read their own privacy policies.

Changes to our privacy policy

We keep our privacy policy under regular review and we will place any updates on this web page. This privacy policy was last updated on 10 December 2020.

Your rights

Data protections regulations give you clear rights over how your data is used by us. You can find out more detail about your rights by visiting the Information Commissioner’s Office website sections on individual rights.

Currently, LifeLines is exempt from registering with the Information Commissioner’s Office, but you have the right to report concerns or complain about our handling of your data to the Information Commissioner’s Office. Details of how to do this can be found on their website.

Who are we and how to contact us

LifeLines is registered in England as a charity.

If you have any questions about our privacy policy or information we hold about you or you want to see our full data protection policy , you can email: secretary@lifelines-uk.org.uk