Privacy Policy

Privacy Policy

If you wish to update your communication preferences with us, please complete the following form and press submit:

Your information will be processed securely and in line with current data protection legislation.

Carers and Clients:

We will only initiate contact with you if you have given your consent to hear from us or if you have contacted us directly. If you decide that you would like to use our services, we will use your personal data in order to provide support to you as a carer (a ‘public task’ task under the data protection legislation).

How we will use your Information:

Your personal information is used for the purposes of providing, advice, information and support to you in your caring role.  As a core part of our service we will send out newsletters, invitations to carer support groups, forums and other carer related events and activities, which we run. We also from time to time seek your views to help inform our service provision and compile anonymised statistical data and case studies for commissioning and research purposes.

The type of information we collect:

The types of personal information we may collect includes your name, address, email, telephone and mobile number, your age or date of birth and your GP Surgery.   We may also ask for other related information, which may be relevant to your caring role. These may include whether you are from an armed forces household, services that may be involved in your support and more detailed questions about your caring role or situation, e.g. practical, physical, emotional, family relationships and finance.  For young carers and young adult carers we may ask for the school or college attended.

If you have been referred by another professional this information may be supplied to us by them with your consent.

As part of our services, we may obtain sensitive information, e.g. information about your race, ethnic origin, religion, health, or sexual orientation (or similar information about the person you care for). We will only collect and use this kind of personal data about you if you have given your consent for this information to be shared with us, or if you share this information with us directly. If we collect this kind of information about the person you care for, we will always ensure that we have a substantial public interest to use their personal data in this way in order to provide our services to you.

If you have any specific communication, religious or cultural needs – you can choose whether you wish to advise us about these.

Your Preferences for how we communicate information:

You can choose the method we communicate with you and can change your preferences at any time.

To change your preferences:

You can contact our individual teams directly

Young Carers Team 01483 568269,
Adult Carers Team  0303 040 1234
or our main number 01483 302748 and ask for the Data Protection Officer.

Alternatively email [email protected] or write to FREEPOST Action for Carers Surrey

Sharing Information:

If you are receiving a service from us we may ask you to consent to information about you being shared with other professionals or organisations to help provide you with support, where appropriate, either now or in the future   These may include but not exclusively: GPs and Health Professionals, Employers/Employment Service, Housing Providers, Colleges and Training Providers, or other relevant voluntary/charitable organisations.   We may also ask your permission to share with Adult Social Care or Children’s services, to arrange, for example, a carer’s assessment. We will not share information with these organisations without your explicit consent except where disclosure is necessary for the purpose of safeguarding or as required by law.

Some of our data processing services (including IT, Database and Website support, mailing services and event organisers), are provided by consultants or contractors.  Where we chose to use these services we do so in accordance with current legislation and take all reasonable precautions regarding the practices employed by them to protect personal information.

COVID-19 Vaccination Programme:

The Department of Health and Social Care is rolling out a COVID-19 Vaccination Programme based on cohorts meeting specific criteria. In order to ensure that unpaid carers are given the opportunity to take up this vaccination we may share minimum and proportionate information about you with Surrey County Council so that they can share carers’ information with NHS partners. Your rights under Data Protection Law remain unaffected.

Data Retention:

We have a retention policy for adult carer records of 7 years from ceasing a service and for young carers until age 25, unless required otherwise in the event of safeguarding.  This is broadly in line with SCC retention policies for social care.

Other ways you may choose to be involved:

We raise awareness of carer issues both locally and nationally and invite you to participate in consultations and campaigns to help improve services for carers, or our own fundraising activities. You can choose whether you wish to receive this information and can change your preferences at any time.

Carer/Cared For Case Studies/Images/Stories:

We produce a range of communications to support carers and explain our work. Sometimes we like to share the experiences of real people to show others how we help. We will always ask your separate consent to use your image/story – this may include photos, video, audio and a written account of your experience.

We will ask you to complete a separate consent form in order to do this and you will have the right to withdraw that consent. If you do change your mind and want to withdraw your consent after we have used your image, we can only control our own website and publications.  We cannot control what happens to your image/story/video/audio once it has been published online or on social media and cannot be held liable for the use of images/stories by third parties without our knowledge/consent.
If your photo has been used in one of our publications such as a leaflet or magazine, it will continue to appear until we print a new version of the publication.

Your Rights:

Under data protection legislation you have the right to be informed, the right to restrict processing, the right to data portability, and the right to object.    You also have a right to know what personal data Action for Carers (Surrey) holds about you, to change your preferences or withdraw your consent at any time and to have your data corrected or deleted.  You can find out more about these rights on the ICO’s website (www.ico.org.uk). Please address any such request to us:

In writing to our Data Protection Officer at Freepost Action for Carers Surrey

You may phone 01483 302748

 or Email [email protected]

For further information, please see our  full Privacy and Personal Data Protection Policy at www.actionforcarers.org.uk

Workshops for Professionals – Because Carers Count and Think Carer Think Family

These are workshops we run predominantly for professionals.   In order to run these we may collect and store personal data such as your name, job role, contact address, email and telephone number. We use this information to:

  • register you as having attended a workshop
  • confirm attendance or absence with your employer
  • add you to a participant list for a future workshop
  • assist in evaluating a workshop
  • provide anonymised statistical data for the purposes of commissioning/monitoring and research

You have the same rights in relation to your personal data as detailed in the ‘Your Rights’ section above.

Sponsors, Donors and non-Carer Supporters:

We may also collect personal information from Sponsors, Donors and Supporters in order to keep them informed about  our activities, future fundraising events and to provide opportunities to attend forums and conferences  or  other events where appropriate.  We will only collect and use this kind of personal data about you if you have given your consent

You have the same rights in relation to your personal data as detailed in the ‘Your Rights’ section above.

You can download our full privacy policy here:

ACS Privacy and Personal Data Protection Policy 2021

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