Information submitted from this website is only used for processing referrals to Providence Row - which means information collected in these forms allows us to contact and support people in need, about services that could help them; and means we will retain and process this information following our data protection policy and data protection law.
We also use information anonymously for statistics to allow us to maintain and evidence the work we do. Client information collected from this website is not shared outside Providence Row, except for referrals to Tower Hamlet's drug and alcohol service for specialist help and support.
Background
Providence Row processes personal information or data, to support clients and provide services; to manage staff, volunteers, trainees and partner relationships; and to support our work as a charity. From referrals to engaged clients, collecting and processing personal data means we can help people in need access things like benefits, accommodation and jobs; along with positive outcomes such as improved wellbeing, confidence and skill development. In general Providence Row needs information to run services, which often includes personal data that identify individuals we support or who work with us. We keep personal data to a minimum and where we can, retain and process it in anonymised form where identifiers are removed.
To support clients we need to record basic information such as a name, date of birth and contact details. Referral and assessment forms may collect more details to allow matching with our services or to external agencies and services. Some of our services will need to record sensitive information, such as health and risks that could affect clients themselves or other people they come in contact with. We also collect ‘demographic’ information for monitoring purposes. This means recording gender and other personal background details, to help us provide anonymous totals or counts of the number of people who use our services by different categories, which we use for reporting purposes, internally and externally to our funders and supporters. e.g. 20% of our service users are women.
The law
Everyone is protected by data protection law and have a number of rights to their personal data. Depending on the circumstances, these include a right to request information, right to correct or restrict information, right to delete information, right to object how information is being used, and right to transfer information. Where consent has been given for personal data to be used in a particular way, this can be withdraw at any time. However where consent is withdraw, it means there will be limits to what support can be given or external agencies that can be referred to.
The main legal reason to allow us to use client personal data is ‘legitimate interest’ – for someone accessing our service or being supported, it means we are using their details to provide them with a service to help them and keep them safe. It allows us to process and store personal data; and share a limited amount externally when required, for example a name and date of birth with Tower Hamlet’s drug and alcohol service, local medical or accommodation services. As a charity, we also use ‘legitimate activities as a not-for-profit organisation’ as our lawful basis for using sensitive information, such as health needs. The other legal reasons we use are: ‘consent’ for sharing sensitive information outside Providence Row, such as health information with medical professionals; ‘vital interest’ when contacting emergency services; ‘legal obligation’ and ‘legal claims’ when required to; ‘substantial public interest’ for safeguarding, counselling, and preventing or detecting unlawful acts.
The above is a summary of our data protection policy. Contact a member of staff if you have a query, complaint or comment, or email info@providencerow.org.uk directly. Providence Row are data controllers for personal data we collect and process. The ICO (Information Commissioner’s Office) are the UK’s data protection regulator, who you can also contact at any time.