Privacy & Cookies

We are committed to protecting and respecting your privacy.

Everyone has rights with regard to the way in which their personal information is handled. During the course of our activities, we will collect, store and process personal information about our customers, suppliers and other third parties, and we recognise that the correct and lawful treatment of this data will maintain confidence in the organisation and will provide for successful business operations.

This policy sets out the basis on which any personal information we collect from you, or that you provide to us, will be processed by us. Please read the following carefully to understand our views and practices regarding your personal information and how we will treat it.

For the purpose of UK data protection laws, the data controller is To The Moon and Back Foster Care Limited of 7 St Johns Street Mansfield NG18 1QH

Our Data Protection Officer is Angela Hunt, who can be contacted by writing to the address above or by emailing Angela@moonandbackfostering.com

• processed lawfully, fairly and in a transparent manner,
• processed for specified, explicit and legitimate purposes,
• adequate, relevant and limited to what is necessary,
• accurate and kept up-to-date,
• kept for no longer than is necessary, and
• processed in a manner that ensures appropriate security.

We may collect, use, store and transfer different kinds of personal information about you, including:

• Identity Data, such as your name, title, marital status, date of birth, gender, a copy of your passport and driving licence
• Lifestyle Data, such as your current living arrangements, number of dependents, details of languages spoken, employment details, significant relationships, and details of any previous fostering arrangements
• Contact Data, such as your address, email address and telephone number
• Financial Data, such as bank account and payment card details, national insurance number, confirmation of personal insurance and details of any benefits of which you may be in receipt
• Special Category Data, including your race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, religious or philosophical beliefs and details about your health
• Criminal Records Data including details of any spent convictions, cautions or warnings
• Medical Data, including a medical assessment report and details of any social care support you may be receiving
• Transaction Data, including details about payments to and from you
• Technical Data, including IP addresses, your log-in data, browser type and version, time-zone setting and location, browser plug-in types and versions, operating system and platform and other technology on the devices you use to access our website
• Usage Data, including information about how you use our website, products and services
• Marketing Data, such as your preferences in receiving marketing from us and our third parties, and your communication preferences
• Referral Data, placement information shared at the matching stage from local authorities relating to children or young persons
• Care Data, covering the key care documents and information relating to children and young persons including care plan, placement plan, risk assessments, personal education plan, pathway plan and other related reports
• Education Data, such as children or young’s school/other educational information and grades relating to their school performance

During the course of dealing with you, we may collect information about you relating to your racial or ethnic origin, religious or philosophical beliefs, sexual orientation, details of any criminal convictions and details about your health (such information is known as ‘special category’ data).

This is most likely to occur, for example, if you make an application to become a foster carer with us.

We may obtain personal information by directly interacting with you, such as when you:

• complete an application form to become a foster carer either in paper form or via our website,
• request further information about becoming a foster carer,
• attend one of our fostering information or training events,
• complete one of our feedback forms either in paper form or via Survey Monkey,
• participate in our assessment process to become a foster carer;
• subscribe to our services or publications, or otherwise requesting marketing material to be sent to you, or
• correspond with us by phone, email, letters or otherwise.

We may obtain personal information via automated technology when you interact with our website by using cookies, server logs and other similar technologies.

We may also collect personal information about you from third parties or publicly-available sources, such as:

• local authorities and other foster care agencies
• Form F assessors and panel members responsible for evaluating your application
• Your GP or medical practice
• Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS)
• your employer or other referees
• analytics providers (such as Google)
• advertising networks
• search information providers
• providers of technical, payment and delivery services
• Companies House, LinkedIn and the electoral register

We will only use your personal information when the law allows us to. Most commonly, we will use your personal information in the following circumstances:

• you have given us consent
• we need to perform a contract we are about to enter into, or have entered into, with you
• where it is necessary for our or a third party’s legitimate interests and your interests and rights do not override those interests, or
• where we need to comply with a legal or regulatory obligation

We will only use ‘special category’ information:

• provided we have your explicit consent to use it
• where we believe that we need to use that data to protect your vital interests where you are not able to provide us with your explicit consent
• where it is necessary for reasons of substantial public interest
• where you have previously made that data public knowledge
• if we need to use data to establish, exercise or defence legal claims.

We may use your personal information for a number of different purposes. For each purpose, we are required to confirm the ‘legal basis’ that allows us to use your information, as follows:

Legal basis we will use the information you give to us

It will be necessary for us to comply with a legal obligation to which we are subject under The Fostering Services (England) Regulations 2011 legislation.
Where this involves special category data, it will be necessary for the provision of social care or treatment, or the management of health or social care systems and services.

It will be necessary to take steps at the request of the data subject prior to entering into a contract.
Where this involves special category data, it will be necessary for the provision of social care or treatment, or the management of health or social care systems and services.

It will be necessary for us to comply with a legal obligation to which we are subject under Fostering Services (England) Regulations 2011 legislation.
It will be necessary for the performance of the contract between you and us. Where this involves special category data, it will be necessary for the provision of social care or treatment, or the management of health or social care systems and services.

It will be necessary for us to comply with a legal obligation to which we are subject under The Fostering Services (England) Regulations 2011 legislation.
It will be necessary for the performance of the contract between you and us
Where this involves special category data, it will be necessary for the provision of social care or treatment, or the management of health or social care systems and services.

It will be necessary for us to comply with a legal obligation to which we are subject under Fostering Services (England) Regulations 2011 legislation.

It will be necessary for the performance of the contract between you and us.

Where this involves special category data, it will be necessary for the provision of social care or treatment, or the management of health or social care systems and services.

It will be necessary for us to comply with a legal obligation to which we are subject under Fostering Services (England) Regulations 2011 legislation.
Where this involves special category data, it will be necessary for the provision of social care or treatment, or the management of health or social care systems and services.

It will be necessary for our legitimate business interests, namely to ensure you are aware of our current terms and conditions

It will be necessary for our legitimate business interests to ensure you receive the best experience possible when accessing and using our website. We will comply with our cookie policy when processing this information

Where you have previously received marketing communications from us, then it will be necessary for our legitimate business interests, namely to ensure you continue to receive communications that you have previously agreed to receive. In all other cases, we will only do this if you give us your consent

We will only use your personal information for the purpose(s) for which we collected it, unless we reasonably consider that we need to use it for another reason and that reason is compatible with the original purpose. If we need to use your personal information for an unrelated purpose, we will notify you and we will explain the legal basis which allows us to do so.

Please note that we may process your personal information without your knowledge or consent, in compliance with the above rules, where this is required or permitted by law.

It is a contractual requirement for you to provide us with certain information. If you are applying to become a foster carer, this will include your name, address, email address, telephone number, details of any criminal convictions, date of birth, employment details and bank account information. If you do not provide us with that information, we will be unable to accept and process your application. For a placement to made with a Local Authority, we shall require relevant information on the child or young person, if this is not complete, we may not be able to make a relevant match. Further information will be required if a placement proceeds to support the child or young person’s care effectively.

Our website uses cookies to distinguish you from other users of our website. This helps us to provide you with a good experience when you browse our website and also allows us to improve our website.

Cookies are small pieces of text sent by your web browser by a website you visit. A cookie file is stored in your web browser and allows us or any third¬ parties to recognise you to make visits easier and more useful to you. Many websites do this whenever a user visits a website and can send it’s own cookies to your browser if your browser preferences allow for it. Cookies enable us to monitor our website usage and any traffic patterns so we can continually develop and improve our designs and layouts of our website so it can be more user-friendly for you. Cookies cannot harm your computer or transmit viruses. We do use encrypted information to help improve our site to help us identify and fix errors.

You can use your browser settings to restrict or block cookies set by our website but doing so may impact the functionality of the website. For more information on cookies please visit www.whatarecookies.com

We will use this information to make our website and the advertising displayed on it more relevant to your interests.

• Estimate our audience size and usage pattern
• Collect information about your preferences, and so allow us to customise our site and to provide you
  targeted individual interests
• Speed up your searches
• Recognise you when you return to our site
• Allow you to use our site in a way that makes your browsing experience more convenient. If you register with us or complete our online forms, we will use cookies to remember your details during your current visit, and any future visits provided the cookie was not deleted in the interim.

• Strictly necessary cookies. These are cookies that are required for the operation of our website. They include, for example, cookies that enable you to log into secure areas of our website.
• Analytical/performance cookies. They allow us to recognise and count the number of visitors and to see how visitors move around our website when they are using it. This helps us to improve the way our website works, for example, by ensuring that users are finding what they are looking for easily.
• Functionality cookies. These are used to recognise you when you return to our website. This enables us to personalise our content for you, greet you by name and remember your preferences (for example, your choice of language or region).
• Targeting cookies. These cookies record your visit to our website, the pages you have visited and the links you have followed. We will use this information to make our website and the advertising displayed on it more relevant to your interests. We may also share this information with third parties for this purpose.

Used to distinguish users

Used to distinguish users

This session cookie is set to let Hotjar know whether that visitor is included in the sample which is used to generate Heatmaps, Funnels, Recordings, etc.

Used to distinguish users

A cookie for identifying the browser session

A cookie for checking if the user is new or returning

We may share your personal information with the parties set out below:

• providers of IT and system administration services to our business, including CHARMS, Survey Monkey, website, and Intranet.
• providers of email marketing platforms and web-based project management applications to our business, including MailChimp, Egress and Survey Monkey
• our professional advisers (including solicitors, bankers, auditors and insurers),
• HM Revenue & Customs, the Information Commissioner’s Office, regulators and other authorities who require reporting of processing activities in certain circumstances,
• The Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS),
• other foster care agencies, social workers, police, Ofsted and local authorities where necessary,
• Form F assessors and panel members,
• training providers or external events organisers,
• social media outlets, including Facebook and Twitter,
• our property landlords, or their agents, for our serviced or leased offices,
• analytics and search engine providers that assist us in the improvement and optimisation of our website, and
• third parties to whom we may choose to sell, transfer, or merge parts of our business or our assets. Alternatively, we may seek to acquire other businesses or merge with them. If a change happens to our business, then the new owners may use your personal information in the same way as set out in this policy.

We require all third parties to respect the security of your personal information and to treat it in accordance with the law. We do not allow our third-party service providers to use your personal information for their own purposes and only permit them to process your personal information for specified purposes and in accordance with our instructions.

All information you provide to us is stored on CHARM’s or is stored securely in locked facilities in secure offices.

We will take all steps reasonably necessary to ensure that your data is treated securely, including taking the following safeguards:

• Building entry controls. We require staff to use security fobs to access our premises at selected locations
• Secure lockable cupboards. Cupboards are kept locked when not in use if they hold confidential information of any kind
• Methods of disposal. Paper documents are disposed of by shredding in a manner that ensures confidentiality
• Firewalls and encryption. We apply industry-standard firewall protection and encryption technology
• Training. We ensure our employees are trained in the importance of data security
• Cyber Essentials. Maintenance of cyber essentials accreditation
• In the rare event of overseas transfers. Whenever we transfer your personal information outside the United Kingdom, we will ensure a similar degree of protection is afforded to it by ensuring that we apply appropriate safeguards
• Unfortunately, the transmission of information via the internet is not completely secure. Although we will do our best to protect your personal information, we cannot guarantee the security of your data transmitted to our website; Any transmission is at your own risk. Once we have received your information, we will use strict procedures and security features to try to prevent unauthorised access

The length of time that we will store your data will depend on the ‘legal basis’ for why we are using that data, as follows:

10 years from the date on which their approval is terminated

15 years from the date of the last entry

3 years from the date of refusal or withdrawal

15 years from the date of the last entry

15 years from the date of closure

Relevant time to support the relevant inquiry or concern

We will use/store your data for as long as it is necessary for the performance of the contract between you and us

We will use/store your data for as long as it is necessary for us to comply with our legal obligations

We will use/store your data until you ask us to stop. However, if we can demonstrate the reason why we are using/storing your data overrides your interests, rights and freedoms, then we will continue to use and store your data for as long as it is necessary for the performance of the contract between you and us (or, if earlier, we no longer have a legitimate interest in using/storing your data)

We will use/store your data until you ask us to stop

To determine the appropriate retention period for personal information, we consider the amount, nature and sensitivity of the personal information, the potential risk of harm from unauthorised use or disclosure of your personal information, the purposes for which we process your personal information and whether we can achieve those purposes through other means, and the applicable legal requirements.

You have various legal rights in relation to the information you give us, or which we collect about you, as follows:

• You have a right to access the information we hold about you free-of-charge, together with various information about why and how we are using your information, to whom we may have disclosed that information, from where we originally obtained the information and for how long we will use your information.
• You have the right to ask us to rectify any information we hold about you that is inaccurate or incomplete.
• You have the right to ask us to erase the information we hold about you (the ‘right to be forgotten’). Please note that this right can only be exercised in certain circumstances and, if you ask us to erase your information and we are unable to do so, we will explain why not.
• You have the right to ask us to stop using your information where: (i) the information we hold about you is inaccurate; (ii) we are unlawfully using your information; (iii) we no longer need to use the information; or (iv) we do not have a legitimate reason to use the information. Please note that we may continue to store your information, or use your information for the purpose of legal proceedings or for protecting the rights of any other person.
• You have the right to ask us to transmit the information we hold about you to another person or company in a structured, commonly-used and machine-readable format. Please note that this right can only be exercised in certain circumstances and, if you ask us to transmit your information and we are unable to do so, we will explain why not.
• Where we use/store your information because it is necessary for our legitimate business interests, you have the right to object to us using/storing your information. We will stop using/storing your information unless we can demonstrate why we believe we have a legitimate business interest which overrides your interests, rights and freedoms.
• Where we use/store your data because you have given us your specific, informed and unambiguous consent, you have the right to withdraw your consent at any time.
• You have the right to object to us using/storing your information for direct marketing purposes.

If you wish to exercise any of your legal rights, please contact our Data Protection Officer by writing to the address at the top of this policy, or by emailing us at angela@moonandbackfostering.com

You also have the right, at any time, to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office if you believe we are not complying with the laws and regulations relating to the use/storage of the information you give us, or that we collect about you.

You can ask us to stop sending you marketing communications at any time by writing to the address at the top of this policy, or by emailing us at hello@moonandbackfostering.com

We do not use automated decision-making processes.

Our website may include links to third-party websites, plug-ins and applications. Clicking on those links or enabling those connections may allow third parties to collect or share data about you. We do not control these third-party websites and are not responsible for their privacy statements. When you leave our website, we encourage you to read the privacy notice of every website you visit.

Any changes we make to our policy in the future will be posted on our website and, where appropriate, notified to you by email or via social media. Please check our website frequently to see any updates or changes to our policy.

Questions, comments and requests regarding this policy are welcomed and should be addressed to our Data Protection Officer by writing to the address at the top of this policy, or by emailing us at hello@moonandbackfostering.com