Light Peer Support Privacy Policy

Address

Light Peer Support

Knowle House

4 Norfolk Park Road

Sheffield

S2 3QE

Telephone

0114 438 8962

Email

General enquiries: contactus@lightpeersupport.org.uk

Data Protection Officer: elizabeth.lydon@lightpeersupport.org.uk

Website

Home

We collect and use information about people who access our services, our staff and volunteers. We use this information for a variety of purposes, to:

• Confirm eligibility for our services
• Offer support that is best matched to an individual’s needs
• To monitor performance against targets and contractual obligations
• To process job or volunteer applications
• To fulfil our duties as an employer and ensure we comply with legislation
• To safeguard our service users, staff, volunteers and the public
• Where otherwise reasonably necessary for our purposes as a charity

We may not use your personal information for all of these purposes, it depends on the nature of your relationship with us.

We collect or use the following types of information for the purposes outlined above:

• Name and contact details
• Date of birth
• Sex
• Gender identity
• Preferred pronouns
• Main language
• Emergency contact information
• GP/Midwife/Health Visitor details
• Family information, for example whether you have any children, their names and dates of birth
• Records of your contact with Light
• Records of consent, where appropriate

We also collect or use special category information to:

• Offer support that is best matched to an individual’s needs
• To monitor performance against targets and contractual obligations
• To ensure we comply with legislation about equality

The special category information we collect for these purposes includes:

• Health information
• Racial or ethnic origin
• Sexual orientation information

Our lawful bases for collecting or using personal information for the purposes outlined above is Legitimate Interest.

We need to collect information about our service users in order to provide them with safe and effective peer support.  This includes keeping records of the support we provide.  We cannot provide our services without keeping records.

We also need to record the work we do in order to meet the contractual requirements of the bodies that fund our services and to comply with reporting requirements.

We process information about our staff in order to make sure they are qualified and able to do their jobs, to make sure we pay them and respect their rights and to ensure the safety of the people they provide services to.

Our lawful basis for collecting or using special category information for the purposes outlined above is Explicit Consent.

We get personal information directly from our service users, staff or volunteers when they:

• Enquire about, register for or use our services
• Apply to become a member of staff or a volunteer

We also sometimes receive personal information from other individuals as a part of a referral, with explicit consent from the person to whom the information pertains, e.g. referral to our services from a midwife or GP.

Light will retain records of support for eight years, in line with the 2021 Records Management Code of Practice for Health and Social Care. Records will be manually deleted once they reach the end of their retention period. 

Information	Retention Period
Service user information and records of support	8 years
Job applications and interview records of unsuccessful applicants	6 months
Employee and training records	Whilst employed and for up to 6 years after employment ceases
Volunteer and training records	Whilst actively volunteering and for up to 6 years after volunteering ceases
Any records made to comply with our statutory or legal responsibilities, for example Health & Safety reports	For 3 years after the report is made

External contractors

Sometimes we need to use outside organisations to process personal information on our behalf, for example an external payroll provider. In these situations, we put an agreement in place to ensure that any personal information being processed is secure and treated in accordance with the requirements of data protection legislation.

Other organisations

We may also need to share personal information with:

• Other health care organisations, with consent, where an onwards referral is required to ensure a service user receives the right level of care
• Relevant services if there is a safeguarding concern, in accordance with our safeguarding policy
• Our funders when we make funding applications and also to demonstrate the effectiveness of our services. We do not share any data in which individuals are personally identifiable for funding purposes

It may also be necessary in exceptional circumstances to share information with other organisations if there is a danger to an individual’s self or to others, consent will always be sought if possible.

Under data protection law, you have rights including:

Your right of access – You have the right to ask us for copies of your personal data.

Your right to rectification – You have the right to ask us to rectify personal data you think is inaccurate. You also have the right to ask us to complete information you think is incomplete.

Your right to erasure – You have the right to ask us to erase your personal data in certain circumstances.

Your right to restriction of processing – You have the right to ask us to restrict the processing of your personal data in certain circumstances.

Your right to object to processing – You have the right to object to the processing of your personal data in certain circumstances.

Your right to data portability – You have the right to ask that we transfer the personal data you gave us to another organisation, or to you, in certain circumstances.

Your right to withdraw consent – When we use consent as our lawful basis you have the right to withdraw your consent.

You don’t usually need to pay a fee to exercise your rights. If you make a request, we have one calendar month to respond to you.

To make a data protection rights request, please contact us using the contact details at the top of this privacy notice.

If you have any concerns about our use of your personal data, you can make a complaint to us using the contact details at the top of this privacy notice.

If you remain unhappy with how we’ve used your data after raising a complaint with us, you can also complain to the ICO.

Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF

Helpline number: 0303 123 1113

Website: https://www.ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint