Privacy Policy

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Contact our Data Protection Officer

The Data Protection Officer is Steven Jones who can be contacted:

By email: info@disabilityconnect.org.uk 

By phone: +(0) 77 599 11 56 15

Reasons and purposes for processing personal data

We need to handle personal data to ensure we deliver a high-quality service. High standards in handling personal data are essential because they help us maintain the confidence of everyone who deals with us. 

When we handle your data, we undertake to:

• make sure you know why we need it
• only ask for what we need, and not to collect too much or irrelevant information
• protect your information and ensure no one has access to it who should not
• let you know if we are going to share it with other organisations
• ensure that measures are put in place to allow appropriate consent to be obtained for holding personal data of anyone aged under 13
• make sure we do not keep your information for longer than necessary
• assure you that your rights under UK GDPR can be exercised

Why do we process personal data

We process personal data to enable us to:

• provide our services 
• maintain our accounts and records
• support and manage our staff and programmes 

The information we process

We process information about:

• our employees and former employees
• our customers and clients
• our suppliers and service providers
• our advisers, consultants and other professional experts
• complainants and enquirers
• academics
• research applicants
• researchers

Who we share personal data with

We sometimes need to share the personal data we control (and our data processors may also share information) with other organisations. We must comply with all aspects of data protection legislation where this is necessary. What follows is a description of the types of organisations we may need to share personal data we process for one or more reasons.

Where necessary, required, and within the law, we may share information with:

• Government and Regulatory Authorities: This might include tax authorities, financial oversight bodies, or any other governmental agencies that oversee aspects of your operations.
• Financial Institutions: Such as banks, credit card companies, and other entities that process payment transactions or require information for financial audits.
• Service Providers: Companies that provide services to us, like IT support, data hosting, marketing platforms, and other outsourced functions.
• Legal and Advisory Entities: Our legal representatives, consultants, or other professional advisors when they need this information to provide advice or representation.
• Third-party vendors: Organsations that provide us with tools or software that integrates with our product or service.

Data retention

Outside of specific exemptions under the legislation, your personal data shall be retained for no longer than the purposes for which it is being processed.

Your rights

The data we are collecting is your personal data. You have the right to:

• see what data we hold about you (this is known as a ‘right of access request’)
• ask us to stop using your data but keep it on record
• have some or all of your data deleted
• have some of your data corrected
• complain with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) if you think we are not handling your data fairly or following the law

Right of access requests

Data protection legislation allows you to find the personal data we hold about you on computer and IT records (formerly known as a ‘subject access request’).

The legislation requires us to respond to a valid request within one month. However, suppose we cannot meet this timescale (for example, due to a large volume of information to be assessed). In that case, we will inform you of progress towards fulfilling your request.

To request access to personal data, we hold about you, please write to our Data Protection Officer. 

This policy was last updated in September 2023.