Coram Voice Privacy Statement
Return Home Interviews – Young People
Coram Voice is part of the Coram Group of charities
What is a Privacy Statement?
This is a privacy statement, it is about the information we collect about you. We have to have this by law (General Data Protection Regulation. May 2018) so you know what we do with information we have about you.
We are only able to keep information about you when you know:
• Exactly who is keeping your information and data
• Why we are keeping your information
• What reasons we have for keeping your information
• The types of personal information we will keep
• Where your personal data has come from
• Who we might share information with and why
• How long we will keep your information
• What your rights are for example- if you want to see your records
• What if I think the information you have about me is wrong?
• How you can stop us from having your information
• How you can make a complaint
We can only keep information that is relevant to our work with you. These are called records. Records have to be accurate, up to date, secure and kept for a limited amount of time only. You might ask us:
What information do we collect from you?
From the time we start working with you we record basic information about who you are (name, age, gender, language you speak, if you have a disability and your ethnicity), and other things like where you live, your interests, names of carers, friends and family. We also have information about what is happening in your life and events that have occurred like being reported as missing or having run away.
The personal data we have about you come from children’s services and from what you tell us. All the information we have about you we will share with you unless it would put you or someone else in danger.
Why do you keep this information?
We keep information about you to help us to:
• Decide the best advice and support to give you and so we know what work we have done with you and where things are up to.
• To share what you have told us with the local authority in order that they can try and keep you and other young people safe.
• Assess the type and quality of support you have received.
• Check if you (or anyone else) is in serious danger;
• We also keep this information so you can see the work we did to support you and the information we have
We may also use your information to:
• investigate your concerns if you need to complain about our services;
• refer you to another service (we would only do this with your agreement);
• check you have got a good service from us (this is known as an audit and involves us reviewing young people’s records. This is done in such a way that you can’t be individually identified);
• investigate serious incidents (this is when we notice that something has gone wrong, or nearly went wrong, with the service we provide to you);
• plan future services to ensure we meet the needs of young people;
• report on our performance to the organisations who fund us to provide Return Home Interviews;
• conduct research and development, with your consent;
• communicate publically about the difference that we make to young people. This would never be done in a way that would identify individual young people without their explicit permission.
In addition to the staff and volunteers who work in our services, our managers and our small team of data analysts may have access to your data but only if they need to. Everyone who works at Coram Voice has signed an agreement to keep your information confidential.
Who might we share this information with?
We have to report about each Return Home Interview we have with a young person. This means that we will share with children’s services and the police what we have recorded you having told us when we work with you.
Who is keeping my information and data?
Coram Voice workers record your information on a system which is safe and secure. The organisation is Coram Voice, QEII Centre, Coram Campus, 41 Brunswick Square, London, WC1N 1AZ , telephone 020 7833 5792.
Coram Voice is part of the Coram group of charities. For Coram Voice services, electronic records are saved on our secure computer system that is available to Coram Voice and Coram Workers on a need to know basis. This means no one who will look at your information who does not need to.
Any paper records we have are kept in locked cabinets.
How long will you keep my information?
We will keep your information until you are 25 if we worked with you when you were under 18 years old or if you were older than 18 when we worked with you, for 7 years once we have stopped working with you. We may keep it longer if policy or law means we have to. After that time all the information we have is securely destroyed.
Anonymized data may be stored on our secure system. This means that we remove any information that would allow you to be identified before we save information on our system.
All workers who have access to your records have been trained to work to the same confidentiality policy where your rights to confidentiality are respected and protected.
What are my rights over my information?
To keep information about you we have to have a legal reason for doing this. These are that you agree and want us to work with you (give consent), to make sure we provide you with the support you need (contractual compliance, legal obligation, vital interests) and to ensure we give you advocacy support where we are contracted by a local authority (contractual compliance)
Can I see my records?
You have a right to see all the information we hold on you by asking your independent visitor to see your records at any time. To do this just phone or speak to your Independent Visitor or contact Coram Voice, QEII Centre, Coram Campus, 41 Brunswick Square, London, WC1N 1AZ , telephone 020 7833 5792, email at: data.protection@coramvoice.org.uk
You should be able to see your file within one month.
What if I think the information you have about me is wrong?
You have a right that all information we have about you is correct. If you think that some of the information we hold about you is inaccurate (for example you name is spelt wrong , we have recorded work done incorrectly) please speak to your independent Visitor or contact Coram Voice, QEII Centre, Coram Campus, 41 Brunswick Square, London, WC1N 1AZ , telephone 020 7833 5792 or email at data.protection@coramvoice.org.uk.
We will give you an answer about your request within one month.
How can I stop you keeping my information?
You can say you do not want to have a Return Home Interview and you do not have to tell us anything.
If you do not want us to keep any information about the work that we have done with you please contact us at Coram Voice, QEII Centre, Coram Campus, 41 Brunswick Square, London, WC1N 1AZ , telephone 020 7833 5792, email at data.protection@coramvoice.org.uk
How can I make a complaint?
If you are unhappy with how we are using the information we have about you please speak to your independent visitor to see if they can sort it out. You can also make a complaint.
You can complain to: The data controller Coram Voice, QEII Centre, Coram Campus, 41 Brunswick Square, London, WC1N 1AZ , telephone 020 7833 5792, email at data.protection@coramvoice.org.uk
If you are not happy then you can also complain to:
The Information Commissioner
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Help line: 0303 123 1113
This notice was last updated on 13/03/2019