Privacy Policy - Supporting Justice

What personal data we collect and why we collect it

Supporting Justice who own and run the brand Victims Choice are committed to protecting your privacy and take our responsibility for data handling seriously. We collect and store personal data for the following purposes; 

To collect reviews of service experiences
To work with providers listed on Victims Choice to improve the services they offer
To carry out research on victim and witness issues on our behalf or those of our clients
To participate in criminal justice networks and work with stakeholders to improve the sector
To undertake a consultancy contract
To inform interested parties about the work we do

We only store personal data for the purposes above and we only access it when there is a business need to do so. We do not share it with anyone without your permission and do not sell any information.

It is important to us that we are transparent about what we do with data and that will depend on the purpose. The below outlines our different uses of data.

Cookies are small text files that are placed on your computer by websites that you visit. A key function of them is to make our website work more efficiently and to provide information to us through Google Analytics. Cookies contain basic information about your internet use and do not identify you personally. Cookies are sent from your browser to the website every time you revisit it.

We use cookies for the following purposes:

To analyse the number of visitors and to see how visitors move around our site when they are using it. We do this to help improve the website search functionality, structure, design and content.

Find out more about cookies, including how to manage and delete them, by visiting www.aboutcookies.org or www.allaboutcookies.org

Controlling Cookies

If you do not want our website to store your cookies, you can set your web browser to refuse cookies. However, by doing this you may have issues with website functionality, including some pages not being available. Unless you actively set your web browser to refuse cookies, our site will issue cookies when you visit it.

To carry out research on victim and witness issues on our behalf or those of our clients

From time to time we conduct research using google forms or survey monkey. These surveys often collect personal data such as name, contact details and will sometimes include information such as gender or age so that we can better understand the pool of people that have responded. If for any reason respondents provide us with special category data (eg ethnicity, religion, health data etc) we understand that this needs to be especially protected due to the nature of the data.

We use the information to write and publish reports, to support funding applications, training or for the purpose of a campaign/marketing. Unless specifically stated to participants when they take part, the information is always aggregated and shared in an anonymised format so individuals can not be identified.

We always ask for consent to collect this information and make it clear that giving the information is optional. Any special category data collected must be done so with explicit consent.

This information was previously stored on the third party website Survey Monkey and the anonymised results are then downloaded to our google drive. We no longer use Survey Monkey and have no data stored with them, however you can see Survey Monkey’s Data Privacy and Security Statement here. We now only use google forms for surveys and you can see google’s privacy policy here.

We keep personal data for 1 year after the research concludes and then keep it in an anonymised format

To participate in criminal justice networks and work with stakeholders to improve the sector.

We work with a range of partners and have an extensive network of contacts. This usually includes names, contact numbers and job title. This information is held in digital or hard copy address books and within emails sent and received. Details are used to make connections or introductions with the purpose of working together to improve service for victims and witnesses.

We have a legitimate interest to to use and store this information to carry out usual business functions. We keep emails for 3 years and then they are archived and deleted after 5 years.

To undertake a consultancy contract

We keep personal details of our clients for the lawful basis to carry out contracts. All contracts will state if there are any responsibilities for data processing and where this may be required the terms will be set out in the contract. We keep details of our contracts up to 20 years.

To inform interested parties about the work we do

We regularly tell interested parties about the work we are doing including our latest products and services. We usually do this through a newsletter sent via Mailchimp, a third party website. To do this we store personal data including name and email addresses to send these communications.

People are asked to join our mailing list in different ways. Firstly all those that have created a profile on Victims Choice are asked if they would like to be added to our mailing list. With their consent they are then manually added as subscribers to our mailing list stored within mailchimp.

We also ask others to join our mailing list on an ad hoc basis. Where they express an interest to receive the mailing list we send them a google form which allows them to directly register with mailchimp to receive our communications.

Please see Mailchimp’s privacy policy here.

Finding out more

If you have any questions about how we process your data or want to exercise any of your data right then send us an email at info@supportingjustice.org.uk and we will respond within 5 working days.

If you make a request relating to any of the rights listed above, we will consider each request in accordance with all applicable data protection laws and regulations. No administration fee will be charged for considering and/or complying with such a request unless the request is deemed to be excessive in nature.

Supporting Justice is registered under the Data Protection Act 1998 as a Data Controller under number ZA241721 

Complaints or queries

We aim to meet the highest standard when collecting and using any data. Because of this, we take very seriously any complaints against us. We fully encourage users to notify us if they believe that their information is being collected unfairly, in a misleading way or is inappropriate. We also welcome any suggestions for improving our processes.

Any complaint received by us will be logged and filed, including all the details of the complaint. We will not store details or publish data on statistical information related to complaints, such as the number of complaints we receive. We will only use the personal information collected to help process the complaint.

All information from complaints will be stored in a secure environment and will only be accessed on a ‘need to know’ principle.

Changes to this Privacy Policy

We reserve the right to amend and change this Privacy Policy at our discretion, and at any time. We will note the date that changes to the Privacy Policy have taken place, and any revision that has been made will take effect upon posting. Please check back frequently to see any updates or changes to our Privacy Policy. This policy was last update on [23rd May 2018].