1. Legal and Privacy Statements
1.1 Association of Facilitators Introduction
This statement includes sections on legislation and law, how data is handled or stored by us, and who to contact if you have any queries or concerns.
Association of Facilitators (AoF, we or us) is the controller and is responsible for your personal data. We have appointed a data privacy manager who is responsible for overseeing questions in relation to this privacy policy – they can be contacted via info@associationoffacilitators.co.uk
You have the right to make a complaint at any time to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the UK regulator for data protection issues (www.ico.org.uk). We would, however, appreciate the chance to deal with your concerns before you approach the ICO so please contact us in the first instance.
We keep our privacy policy under regular review. It is important that any personal data we hold about you is accurate and current. Please keep us informed if your personal data changes during your relationship with us.
This website may include links to third-party websites, plugins, and applications. Clicking on those links or enabling those connections may allow third parties to collect or share data about you. We do not control these third-party websites and are not responsible for their privacy statements. When you leave our website, we encourage you to read the privacy policy of every website you visit.
1.2 This statement covers the relevant laws relating to data in the UK
Please refer to the following portal for GDPR Europe:
https://gdpr-info.eu/
1.3 What data do we collect?
Personal data, or personal information, means any information about an individual from which that person can be identified. It does not include data where the identity has been removed (anonymous data).
We collect your personal data by positive opt-in via contact form(s). This can include your name, email and phone number, and other details including address if included. We may also collect your data for the purpose of registration for a newsletter sign-up. Signing up for a newsletter may include a third-party marketing email service like Constant Contact, MailChimp or iContact. These companies are covered by their own privacy statements and legislation governing email marketing companies. Any financial information, e.g. a card transaction is encrypted and data is not stored by our website.
We may also collect data relating to the transactions that you undertake with us, such as details of your bookings, membership and technical data, such as your IP address, login data, browser type and version, time zone setting and location, plug-in types and versions, operating system and platform, and other technology on the devices you use to access this website.
We also collect, use, and share Aggregated Data such as statistical or demographic data for any purpose. Aggregated Data could be derived from your personal data but is not considered personal data in law as this data will not directly or indirectly reveal your identity. For example, we may aggregate your Usage Data to calculate the percentage of users accessing a specific website feature. However, if we combine or connect Aggregated Data with your personal data so that it can directly or indirectly identify you, we treat the combined data as personal data which will be used in accordance with this privacy policy.
We do not collect any Special Categories of Personal Data about you (this includes details about your race or ethnicity, religious or philosophical beliefs, sex life, sexual orientation, political opinions, trade union membership, information about your health, and genetic and biometric data). Nor do we collect any information about criminal convictions and offences.
Where we need to collect personal data by law, or under the terms of a contract we have with you (such as completing a booking), and you fail to provide that data when requested, we may not be able to perform the contract we have or are trying to enter into with you. In this case, we may have to cancel your booking but we will notify you if this is the case at the time.
1.4 How is your personal data collected?
We use different methods to collect data from and about you including through direct interactions, where you provide information by requesting a service, completing forms, creating an account on our website, subscribing to our services, or giving feedback to us; automated technology, which gathers technical data when you interact with our website; and any third parties or other public sources, which may include the payment service we use.
We will only use your personal data when the law allows us to. Most commonly, we will use your personal data in the following circumstances:
- Where we need to perform the contract we are about to enter into or have entered into with you.
- Where it is necessary for our legitimate interests (or those of a third party) and your interests and fundamental rights do not override those interests.
- Where we need to comply with a legal obligation.
1.5 How do we use personal information?
Information is only used through the course of usual business so we can contact you to provide a service. Your personal information is not used for any other purpose. If you have subscribed to a newsletter, then your information will be used to provide that service/information. We may use technical data to assist in website development and troubleshooting and to improve your user experience.
We dislike spam as much as anyone, and will never send you inappropriate communications. You may unsubscribe at any time.
1.6 What legal basis do we have for processing your personal data?
We require your positive consent to receive and process your personal information. We only collect the minimum information to provide the service required and nothing else. You can withdraw and manage your consent for use of your personal information at any time by using the contact information at the bottom of this statement, or via the ‘unsubscribe’ link on any information email we send.
1.7 When do we share personal data?
We only share your personal data with designed email marketing companies like Constant Contact, MailChimp or iContact. In addition, should this site include e-commerce functionality, then your personal information will be processed in the usual manner through payment providers, e.g. Stripe, Paypal or similar. We do not share your personal information with any other company or individual.
We require all third parties to respect the security of your personal data and to treat it in accordance with the law. We do not allow our third-party service providers to use your personal data for their own purposes and only permit them to process your personal data for specified purposes and in accordance with our instructions.
1.8 How do we secure personal data?
Our computer systems are compliant with all the relevant legislation. We use a reputable UK-based hosting company with the appropriate security measures in place to prevent your personal data from being accidentally lost, used or accessed in an unauthorised way, altered or disclosed. We also have backups of any data stored securely. Access to data is also secure, and limited to those employees and third parties who have a business need to know. They will only process your personal data on our instructions and they are subject to a duty of confidentiality. The website uses encryption through a security certificate (SSL) so no data is transmitted without encryption.
We have put in place procedures to deal with any suspected personal data breach and will notify you and any applicable regulator of a breach where we are legally required to do so.
1.9 How long do we keep your data for?
We only keep personal information for as long as reasonably necessary to fulfil the purposes we collected it for, including for the purposes of satisfying any legal, regulatory, tax, accounting or reporting requirements. If you have subscribed for a newsletter, then will annually review our policy on keeping your information and delete it if it is no longer relevant. By law we have to keep basic information about our customers for six years after they cease being customers for tax purposes.
1.10 Your rights in relation to personal data
Under certain circumstances, you have rights under data protection laws in relation to your personal data. You may, by contacting us directly, request access to your personal data, seek correction or erasure of your personal data, object to or request a restriction in processing your personal data, request a transfer of your personal data, and withdraw any specific consent given in relation to your personal data. If you wish to exercise any such right, please contact us using the contact information below.
You will not have to pay a fee to access your personal data (or to exercise any of the other rights). However, we may charge a reasonable fee if your request is clearly unfounded, repetitive, or excessive. Alternatively, we could refuse to comply with your request in these circumstances.
We may need to request specific information from you to help us confirm your identity and ensure your right to access your personal data (or to exercise any of your other rights). This is a security measure to ensure that personal data is not disclosed to any person who has no right to receive it. We may also contact you to ask you for further information in relation to your request to speed up our response.
We try to respond to all legitimate requests within one month. Occasionally it could take us longer than a month if your request is particularly complex or you have made a number of requests. In this case, we will notify you and keep you updated.
2. Cookies and other Data
2.1 Use of cookies and other technologies
Our website uses cookies. A cookie is a small file of letters and numbers that we put on your computer which are essential for the website to function properly and which help to provide you with a better online experience. These cookies cannot be switched off and do not store any of your information. They pose no security risk. Our website may be connected to Google Analytics which uses cookies to analyse how visitors to our site use it.
2.2 Using our blog/news section if activated
If the blog/news section of this site is active, then you may be able to comment on posts. This may/may not require you to create an account on the website. To that end, we may collect your basic personal information (name/email/password) so you can participate in discussions. The use of your personal data is restricted to the blog and the website database which is secured at our hosting company.
2.3 Pseudonymisation
At this time GDPR requires pseudonymisation. Put simply, this means that an identifier (code) is added to sections of personal information that links this information together. The pieces of information are then separated. Without the code, your personal information and identity cannot be linked together. Almost all web applications using a Content Management System (CMS), e.g. WordPress (this site), Joomla, Drupal, Wix, Weebly, etc do not yet comply with this part of the legislation. For example, as of 2021, there are nearly 500 million WordPress sites on the web and none of them yet meet this requirement. It will take some time for this change to be developed by the application developers. As soon as it is available, then we shall implement it on all our websites.
2.4 Our hosting company is as secure as it can be
For all our websites we use a reputable UK hosting company. The hosting company industry is largely unregulated and many of the largest companies do not use sufficient levels of diligence to prevent hacking or other data breaches. The company we use complies with the Data Protection Act 1998 and has numerous measures to prevent the compromise of websites and data. Our sites are secured in a ‘container’ that includes round-the-clock protection from hackers using their customised WAF (Web Application Firewall). They also maintain up-to-date software and have closed the main routes often used by hackers. All traffic to/from our sites use encryption via https: (SSL – security certification). No website is 100% secure, but at theoakschildcare.co.uk we endeavour to ensure that everything we do online is as secure as it can be.
2.5 Issue with Data (Breaches)
We will report any data breach relating to this website and any of the associated storage. We will report this breach to the appropriate authorities within 72 hours as is the requirement under the relevant legislation.
2.6 Contact Information
If you have questions or concerns with regard to data or this policy, then please contact:
AoF Directors
Tel: 020 3282 7128
info@associationoffacilitators.co.uk