Privacy Policy

Our contact details

Name:
The First Step

Address:
Old Schoolhouse,
St Johns Road,
Huyton,
Knowsley L36 0UX

Phone number:
0151 548 3333

Email:
enquiries@thefirststep.org.uk

Who to contact:

Data Protection Officer
The First Step
Old Schoolhouse
St Johns Road
Huyton
L36 0UX

The First Step is registered with the Information Commissioners Office, registered number: Z7213053

This policy was reviewed and updated January 2022

The type of information we collect

We collect the following information to assist us in ensuring we can provide the best support and quality services when you contact The First Step for help, support and advice.

• Name, address, age, ethnicity, religion or faith, gender, non-binary
• Details of the perpetrator/alleged perpetrator of the abuse
• Medical history
• Financial circumstances
• Relevant family and/or friends
• Reasons for your referral
• Your needs and the support you require
• Your safety and any concerns you may have about your safety
• Any risks to yourself and/or any children
• Details of any other professionals who support you
• Any previous contact with The First Step

Depending on the help and support you require we may not need all the above information

How we get the personal information and why we have it

Most of the personal information we process is provided to us directly by you for one of the following reasons:

• To assess you and your family’s needs and, with your support, to identify and plan the appropriate support and/or advice and information for you and your family enabling us to provide our services.
• To maintain a record of the support, advice and information we provide you
• Challenge and change the way other agencies/individuals work where this has a direct effect on families experiencing domestic abuse
• To undertake research around who uses our services, what support is provided and the impact of that support. This will enable us to create statistics which help us to see whether our services are reaching as many people as possible, and to decide what types of support we should focus on in the future. This data is anonymised.
• To investigate any worries or complaints you may have about our services
• To get feedback from the people using our services and to help us improve our services

People who have been affected by domestic abuse are also referred to The First Step by the police and by other agencies.  Such agencies pass information to The First Step on the basis of the consent of the individual the information is about, or on the basis of legitimate interests, occasionally on the basis of vital interests.

Who we share your information with

When you engage with The First Step we outline the services we offer and ask you to sign a ‘Consent to disclosure and Use of Information’ form.  This form details how we will use your information, who we share it with, what giving your consent means, how we keep your information secure and how you can complain.  On receiving your consent The First Step may contact relevant agencies to request additional information that will assist in providing support services to you and/or your family. For this purpose, and where appropriate, any of the agencies shown below could be contacted to provide information about you.

Consent

Consent gives us, as a Domestic Abuse Agency, a legal basis for holding and using your information as outlined in this document. You have the right to withdraw your consent at any time.

Your consent enables us to share your information with any or all of the organisations set out above. 

We will not share your information or contact any agency you specifically ask us not to, unless we have a legal obligation to do so, such as when there are concerns regarding personal safety or the welfare of a child/adult.  The legal frameworks covering this requirement are The Care Act 2014 for Adult Safeguarding and Working Together to Safeguard Children 2015. These provide a legal framework to protect children and adults from abuse and/or neglect.              

The First Step is signed up to various Information Sharing Protocols and Data Processing Agreements with external agencies for the protection of service users and/or their children.  Any information shared either with The First Step, or with any external agency is provided strictly on a ‘need to know’ basis.

How we store your personal information

All data is stored in a locked filing cabinet or on computer systems which are password protected.  Stored data can only be accessed by authorised workers.  Our Information Retention Policy details how long your information is kept, which, as a general rule, is 6 years following your final contact with The First Step. Disposal of your information is completed in line with our Information Management Policy.

You can also instruct, at any time, a correction to your information; or erasure, which is the right to be forgotten.

Your data protection rights

Under data protection law, you have rights including:

• Your right of access – You have the right to ask us for copies of your personal information.
• Your right to rectification – You have the right to ask us to rectify personal information 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 information in certain circumstances.
• Your right to restriction of processing – You have the right to ask us to restrict the processing of your personal information in certain circumstances.
• Your right to object to processing – You have the the right to object to the processing of your personal information in certain circumstances.
• Your right to data portability – You have the right to ask that we transfer the personal information you gave us to another organisation, or to you, in certain circumstances.

You are not required to pay any charge for exercising your rights. If you make a request, we have one month to respond to you.

If you wish to make a request, please contact us at:

Email:  enquiries@thefirststep.org.uk 

Telephone: 0151 548 3333

Postal address: The First Step, Old Schoolhouse, St Johns Road, Huyton, Knowsley L36 0UX

Complaints

If you have any questions or concerns about how we use your personal information please contact The First Step Data Protection Officer.  Our Data protection Officer is the Chief Executive who can be contacted by:

Email:  enquiries@thefirststep.org.uk  

Telephone: 0151 548 3333

Postal address: The First Step, Old Schoolhouse, St Johns Road, Huyton, Knowsley L36 0UX

You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) if you are unhappy about how we process your information.  The ICO can be contacted as follows:

Website: www.ico.org.uk

Tel: 0303 123 1113 Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm

Postal address: ICO, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF