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Privacy Notice

Introduction

This Privacy Notice describes the types of personal information The Child Law Advice Service collects, why we collect it, how we use it, the conditions under which we may disclose it to others, how long we keep it for, how we keep it secure, and what your rights are in relation to your information.

Any questions regarding this Privacy Notice and our privacy practices should be sent by email to CLAS@coramclc.org.uk or by writing to CLAS Manager, CCLC, Wellington House, 90-92 Butt Road, Colchester, Essex, CO3 3DA. 

Who we are

The Child Law Advice Service provides legal advice and information on family, child and education law affecting children and families in England. This advice is provided via our website which is packed with how to guides and information pages. A dedicated intensive support telephone line is also available for complex matters and clarifying questions.

What personal information do we collect?

Child Law Advice collects the following kinds of information from people visiting our website:

  • legal advice (through visitors completing contact forms)
  • feedback (through visitors emailing CLAS or completing feedback forms)
  • customer satisfaction survey results (via the CLAS website)
  • site usage information, using cookies

Child Law Advice collects the followings kinds of information from people contacting its advice lines:

  • Basic personal information relating to your case, including your name, contact details, and brief notes on your legal case. In line with our regulatory obligations this information will be kept securely for six years from the date you first gave it, before being destroyed. You can ask for a copy of the information we hold relating to you at any time during this period.

How does the Child Law Advice Service use your information?

All information collected from you is treated with the strictest confidentiality, we do not share your personal information, unless required to do so by law. Information collected by CCLC is used to:

  • monitor and evaluate our services
  • provide legal advice 
  • report to our funders (data is always shared on an anonymous and non-identifiable basis)
  • improve the content and design of the website
  • contact service users (if consent has been given).

Child Law Advice will never share your information with other organisations for marketing, market research or commercial purposes. However, in exceptional circumstances where a caller gives information that suggests a person is at serious risk of harm, then a breach of confidentiality may be necessary in order to protect that person.

Legal basis for processing your data

We obtain your personal data with your consent. If however you do not consent to your details being provided, we will not provide advice to you and will try and signpost you to another organisation to help you. We ask for your details in order to check our legal advice is accurate and to fulfill our safeguarding duties as a children’s charity.

Who at The Child Law Advice Service will have access to your personal information?

Under data protection laws, Child Law Advice must protect any data we collect from you. We will respect your privacy by not holding any personal information that is not strictly necessary for the provision of our service. Your data will be viewed by The Child Law Advice Service team who provide the legal advice to enquirers.

Your rights

We take reasonable steps that are designed to keep your personal data accurate, complete and up-to-date for the purpose for which it is collected and used. We have implemented measures that are designed to ensure that our processing of your personal data complies with this privacy notice and applicable law e.g. General Data Protection Regulations.

You have the right to request access to the personal data that we have collected about you for the purposes of reviewing, modifying or requesting deletion of the data. You also have the right to request a copy of the personal data we have collected about you and withdraw your consent at any time.

If you would like to make a request to access, review, correct or withdraw the personal data we have collected about you, please contact the CLAS Manager by email CLAS@coramclc.org.uk.

How long will Child Law Advice Service keep your personal information?

If we give you legal advice, we will electronically store information relating to your case securely for six years in line with our regulatory obligations and then destroy it. We will never share your data with anyone unless you give us permission to do so, unless there are exceptional circumstances and you or others are at risk of harm.

You can withdraw your consent at any time by emailing CLAS@coramclc.org.uk.

Confidentiality and Exceptional Circumstances

Child Law Advice’s services are confidential. When an individual provides us with their name, address or phone number it will remain confidential and will not be passed on to third parties. However, in exceptional circumstances where a caller gives information that suggests a person is at serious risk of harm, then a breach of confidentiality may be necessary in order to protect that person.

Call Recording

Please note that calls to the Child Law Advice Service are not recorded.

However some calls to Coram Children’s Legal Centre are recorded. This is to ensure that the highest quality of call handling is maintained.

In the interest of confidentiality, these records will only be accessible by Coram Children’s Legal Centre management unless further action needs to be taken and the record produced to a third party. All records will be destroyed after three months unless still in use.

Other Websites

Child Law Advice contains links to and from websites. This privacy policy applies only to Child Law Advice.

Cookies

A cookie is a small file which asks permission to be placed on your computer’s hard drive. Once you agree, the file is added and the cookie helps analyse web traffic or lets you know when you visit a particular site. Cookies allow web applications to respond to you as an individual. The web application can tailor its operations to your needs, likes and dislikes by gathering and remembering information about your preferences.

We use traffic log cookies to identify which pages are being used. This helps us analyse data about web page traffic and improve our website in order to make sure that the site reflects your needs. We only use this information for statistical analysis purposes. Overall, cookies help us provide you with a better website, by enabling us to monitor which pages you find useful and which you do not. A cookie in no way gives us access to your computer or any information about you, other than the data you choose to share with us.

You can choose to accept or decline cookies. If you want to prevent our cookies being stored on your computer in future, you may do so by referring to your internet browser’s instructions. You can do this by clicking on the “Help” menu. Please note, however, that if you disable our cookies you may not be able to access certain services or facilities on our site and your use of our site may be restricted. Further information on deleting or controlling cookies is available at www.aboutcookies.org.

How will we secure your personal information?

Your information is kept secure on our hosted database. Only members of Child Law Advice have access to this information, unless they are given express consent by the management. We use secure services, firewalls and SSL encryption to ensure your data is safeguarded and secure.

All payments processed for Child law Advice are by PayPal and we do not hold any credit card details that are provided when making a payment online.

Changes to this privacy notice

If we modify this privacy notice, we will post the revised version here, with an updated revision date. Please check back periodically, and especially before you provide any personally identifiable information.

How to make a complaint

The Child Law Advice service tries to meet the highest standards when collecting and using personal information. For this reason, we take any complaints we receive about this very seriously and encourage people to bring it to our attention if they think that our collection or use of information is unfair, misleading or inappropriate. You have the right to complain at any time to the CLAS Manager (CLAS@coramclc.org.uk).

In the event of a conflict concerning the processing of your personal data, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the supervisory authority in the UK:

Information Commissioner’s Office

☎ 0303 123 1113
Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5A
www.ico.org.uk

Contacting us

For further information on how your information is used, how we maintain the security of your information, and your rights to access information we hold on you, please contact us:

  • By email: CLAS@coramclc.org.uk
  • Or write to us at: CLAS Manager, CCLC, Wellington House, 90-92 Butt Road, Colchester, Essex, CO3 3DA.