Privacy Policy

General

Be My Family respects your privacy and recognises how important it is that personal information remains secure. This statement describes how Be My Family collects and uses information about people who visit our website. If you have any questions about this statement please contact the Be My Family Manager, Be My Family, Coram, Coram Campus, 41 Brunswick Square, London, WC1N 1AZ or email enquires@bemyfamily.org.uk.

Your personal data is protected by UK legislation, specifically the Data Protection Act 2018. We aim to exceed our legal obligations by following best practice and reviewing our procedures regularly.

What information does Be My Family collect about me and how is it obtained?

We may collect information whenever you interact with us. This can be done in many ways such as when you register to attend one of our Exchange Days or Activity Days, agree to be added to our database, subscribe to a newsletter, contact us via a contact form or otherwise provide us with your personal details. We may also receive information from third parties, but only if you have given them permission to share your information.

How does Be My Family use my information?

We will use your personal information to provide you with services, products or information you have requested, for administration purposes and in order to comply with financial regulations and the law.

We may analyse the personal information we collect about you, all this information is anonymised before publication.

You can opt out of receiving emails or telephone calls at any time – just contact us at enquiries@bemyfamily.org.uk or call us on 07740745598.

How do you protect my data?

Be My Family treats your data with the utmost care. We employ appropriate administrative, technical, organisational, and physical security measures to protect your information and data against accidental or unlawful destruction, loss, or alteration, and against unauthorised disclosure and access.

We use standard industry practices to protect user information, including firewalls, SSL encryption, and system redundancies. Our staff and volunteers all receive mandatory data protection and information security training and we have a set of detailed data protection procedures that personnel are required to follow when handling personal data.

Unfortunately, no data transmission or storage can be guaranteed to be 100% secure. While we strive to protect your personal information, we cannot guarantee security of the information you transmit to us via email or through our websites.

Where we use external companies to collect or process personal data on our behalf we do comprehensive checks before we work with them, and put a contract in place that sets out our expectations and requirements, especially regarding how they manage the personal data they process on our behalf. We have a robust partner monitoring framework to ensure these contractual obligations are met.

How does Be My Family use ‘Cookies’?

A cookie is a small file which asks permission to be placed on your computer’s hard drive. Once you agree, the file is added and the cookie helps analyse web traffic or lets you know when you visit a particular site. Cookies allow web applications to respond to you as an individual. The web application can tailor its operations to your needs, likes and dislikes by gathering and remembering information about your preferences.

The Be My Family website only uses cookies to track the pages you visit via Google Analytics. Overall, cookies help us provide you with a better website, by enabling us to monitor which pages you find useful and which you do not. A cookie in no way gives us access to your computer or any information about you, other than the data you choose to share with us. You can choose to accept or decline cookies. Most web browsers automatically accept cookies, but you can usually modify your browser settings to decline cookies if you prefer.  If you want to prevent our cookies being stored on your computer in future, you may do so by referring to your internet browser’s instructions. You can do this by clicking on the ‘Help’ menu. Further information on deleting or controlling cookies is available at www.aboutcookies.org.

What about links to other websites?

Be My Family’s website may contain links to other websites of interest. However, once you have used these links to leave our site, you should note that we do not have any control over that other website. Therefore, we cannot be responsible for the protection and privacy or any information which you provide whilst visiting such sites and such sites are not governed by this privacy statement. You should exercise caution and look at the privacy statement applicable to the website in question.

Does Be My Family share my information with anyone else?

Be My Family will not sell, distribute or lease your personal information to third parties unless we have your permission or are required to do so by law.

How can I access the information that Be My Family holds about me?

You have the right to ask for a copy of the information we hold about you and to have any inaccuracies in your information corrected. If you wish to exercise these rights, please write to:

Be My Family Manager, Coram, Coram Campus, 41 Brunswick Square, London, WC1N 1AZ or email enquiries@bemyfamily.org.uk.

We aim to issue an initial response within 5 working days, and will offer a full response to all information access requests within forty working days of receipt. It will help us locate your records more easily if you can tell us something about the nature of your contact with Be My Family.

How can I make changes to the information that Be My Family holds about me?

If your personal details change, please help us by notifying us at the above address and email address.

How long will Be My Family keep my information?

We will retain your personal information for as long as you have an active relationship with Be My Family. We will anonymise your record once you no longer have an active relationship with Be My Family, but retain some information for statistical purposes. However, if you wish to have all information relating to you removed, we will delete all information. This should be done by request to the Be My Family Manager via the contact details above.

If you have previously agreed to us using your personal information for direct marketing purposes, you may change your mind at any time.

Your consent

By providing us with your personal information you consent to the collection and use of that information for the purposes and in the manner described in this Privacy Policy. Be My Family reserves the right to modify or amend this privacy statement. Any alterations to our policy on the collection or use of your data will be posted on our website. The latest version will be available on our website so please check periodically. By continuing to use our website you will be deemed to accept any changes.

Last updated: September 2019