Online privacy notice

This website is operated by Parents And Children Together (PACT).

PACT respects your privacy and recognises how important it is that your personal data remains secure.  We ask that you read this privacy notice carefully as it contains important information on:

  • the personal data we collect about you
  • what we do with your personal data, and
  • who your personal data might be shared with.

Individual privacy notices for each of our service areas area also available. Please use the links below to view our privacy notices for the following services:

Who we are

Parents And Children Together is registered as a ‘data controller’ with the Information Commissioners Office (ICO), (i.e. we are responsible for, and control the processing of, your personal data).

What personal data we collect

Personal data is any information that can be used to identify you. PACT only collects personal data relevant to the involvement you have with us. For example, if you request a service, register to attend an information event, make a donation, or contact us by telephone, email, social media, post or text message, we may collect and process the personal information you have provided. When collecting your personal data we will explain to you what data is needed and why we need it. Data Protection Law recognises that some categories of personal information are more sensitive. Sensitive personal information can include information about a person’s health, race, ethnic origin, political opinions, sexual orientation or religious beliefs.

Personal data provided by you

We collect personal data about you (such as your name and email address) when you subscribe to our mailing list or make a donation. We collect additional information when you enquire about our adoption services, such as address and telephone number. We also collect personal data when you contact us or complete a user survey, but you can choose to remain anonymous if you prefer.

Personal data provided by third parties

We do not buy or request information about you from other sources (such as credit reference agencies).

Personal data about other individuals

If you give us data on behalf of someone else, you confirm that the other person has appointed you to act on his/her behalf and has agreed that you can:

  • give consent on his/her behalf to the processing of his/her personal data;
  • receive on his/her behalf any data protection notices;

Sensitive personal data

We may ask you to provide sensitive personal data, for example if you enquire about adoption, are referred for support from our community projects or apply for employment. If we request such data, we will explain why we are requesting it and how we intend to use it.

Sensitive personal data can include information about your health, race, ethnic origin, political opinions, criminal convictions and offences, sexual orientation or religious beliefs.

We will only process your sensitive personal data if you have given your explicit consent.

Monitoring and recording communications

We may monitor and record communications with you (such as telephone conversations and emails) for the purpose of quality assurance, training, compliance and safeguarding.

Use of cookies

A cookie is a small text file which is placed onto your computer (or other electronic device) when you use our website. We use cookies on our website.

For example, we may monitor how many times you visit the website, which pages you go to, traffic data, location data and the originating domain name of a user’s internet service provider. This information helps us to build a profile of our users. Some of this data will be aggregated or statistical, which means that we will not be able to identify you individually.

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 will never give PACT access to your computer or any information about you, other than the data you choose to share with us and your IP address.

You can set your browser to not accept cookies and the websites below tell you how to remove cookies from your browser. However, some of our website features may not function as a result.

For further information on our use of cookies, [including a detailed list of your information which we and others may collect through cookies] please click ‘Manage consent’ below and choose ‘Cookie settings’ on popup menu:

Manage consent

For further information on cookies generally visit www.aboutcookies.org or www.allaboutcookies.org

Why we collect personal data

We collect data about you so that we can:

  • identify you and manage any services we provide to you;
  • meet our safeguarding responsibilities for children and vulnerable adults
  • conduct research, statistical analysis and behavioural analysis;
  • if you agree, let you know about other products or services that may be of interest to you—see ‘Marketing’ section below;
  • detect and prevent fraud;
  • customise our website and its content to your particular preferences;
  • notify you of any changes to our website or to our services that may affect you;
  • carry out security vetting;
  • improve our services; and
  • process any charitable donation you make

Marketing

We would like to send you information by post, email, telephone or text message (SMS) about events, fundraising initiatives, awareness campaigns and PACT news and achievements which may be of interest to you.

We do not pass or sell your details to any other business or third party for marketing purposes.  

We will only ask whether you would like us  to send you marketing messages when you tick the relevant boxes when you enquire about our services, make a charitable donation or choose to receive our newsletters. Click here to see what this form looks like.

If you have consented to receive such marketing from us, you can opt out at any time. See ‘Your Rights and Your Personal Data’ below for further information.

You can also manage your preferences by using our unsubscribe form.

Sharing your personal data

We will only share your data with parties outside of the organisation with your consent or where we are obliged to do so for legal reasons.

Keeping your data secure

We will use technical and organisational measures to safeguard your personal data, for example, we store your personal data on secure servers.

While we will use all reasonable efforts to safeguard your personal data, you acknowledge that the use of the internet is not entirely secure and for this reason we cannot guarantee the security or integrity of any personal data that is transferred from you or to you via the internet. If you have any particular concerns about your information, please contact us (see ‘Contact details’ below).

Transfers outside of the UK and European Economic Area

We store all personal data we are responsible for within the UK and European Economic Area and do not transfer your personal data to other countries where data protection laws may not be as strong.

What can I do to keep my information safe?

If you want detailed information from Get Safe Online on how to protect your information and your computers and devices against fraud, identity theft, viruses and many other online problems, please visit www.getsafeonline.org. Get Safe Online is supported by HM Government and leading businesses.

Your rights and your personal data

Unless subject to an exemption (under the General Data Protection Regulation), you will have the following rights with respect to your personal data:

The right to request a copy of your personal data which PACT holds about you;

The right to request that PACT corrects any personal data if it is found to be inaccurate or out of date;

The right to request your personal data is erased where it is no longer necessary or legally required for PACT to retain such data;

The right to request that the data controller provide the data subject with his/her personal data and where possible, to transmit that data directly to another data controller (the right to data portability), where applicable;

The right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioners Office.

Contact details

To exercise all relevant rights, queries or complaints please in the first instance contact the Data Protection Lead – Head of HR, Facilities and IT, if you have any questions about the privacy notice or the information we hold about you.

If you wish to contact us, please send an email to info@pactcharity.org or write to us at PACT Head Office, 7 Southern Court, South Street, Reading RG1 4QS or telephone 0300 456 4800.

You can contact the Information Commissioners Office on 0303 123 1113 or via email or at the Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF.

Changes to the online privacy notice

We may change this online privacy notice from time to time. You should check this notice occasionally to ensure you are aware of the most recent version that will apply each time you access this website.

Do you need extra help?

[If you would like this notice in another format (for example: audio, large print, braille) please contact us (see ‘Contact details’ above).