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Privacy Notice for Civicance Ltd

Civicance Ltd is committed to protecting the personal information we hold of people who use our services.

We comply with all laws concerning the protection of personal information, including the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). We have security measures in place to reduce the risk of theft, loss, destruction, misuse or inappropriate disclosure of personal information. All our systems have unique login details and access is only given to the staff who need it.

If you have any concerns about your personal information held by us e.g. someone else knows your password, or you have been given access to someone else’s information get in touch with us straight away.

This statement of privacy applies to Civicance‘s use of any personal information we collect or create about you. This includes information:

  • we collect from visitors to our website and users of our web applications
  • given to us by phone, social media, such as Facebook and Twitter, email, in letters, in forms and other correspondence
  • given in person
  • obtained from Land Registry

This privacy notice includes the following:

  • contact details of the Data Controller and the Data Protection Officer
  • what information we may collect about you and where it comes from
  • how we use information about you
  • why we can process your personal information
  • consent
  • when we may use your details to contact you
  • contacting you for marketing purposes
  • who we share your information with
  • transfers to third countries and safeguards
  • how long we keep your personal information
  • your rights in relation to your personal information, including how to make a complaint
  • offensive or inappropriate content on our website
  • the use of cookies on our website and how you can reject cookies
  • apps and devices
  • changes to our Privacy Notice
  • contacting us about this Privacy Notice

Contact details of the Data Controller and the Data Protection Officer

Data Controller Lead Officer


Tel:
Civicance Ltd. Municipal Buildings, Earle Street, Crewe, Cheshire

What information we may collect about you and where it comes from

Civicance collects personally identifiable information whenever you access or sign up to any of our services, request information, make a complaint or participate in activities provided by us. This information may include your name, email address, home or work address, telephone or mobile number, or bank account details.  We also collect anonymous demographic information, which is not unique to you, such as postcode.

There is also information about your computer hardware and software that is automatically collected by Civicance. This information can include unique identifiers such as your IP address, which is a number that can uniquely identify a specific computer or other network device on the internet, browser type, domain names, access times and referring website addresses.  We use this information for the operation of the service, to maintain quality of the service, and to provide general statistics regarding use of the Civicance website.

Job applications

When individuals apply to work for Civicance, we will only use the information they supply to us to process their application and to monitor recruitment statistics. Where we want to disclose information to a third party, for example where we want to take up a reference or obtain a 'disclosure' from the Disclosure and Barring Service we will not do so without informing them beforehand unless the disclosure is required by law.

Personal information about unsuccessful candidates will be held for 6 months after the recruitment exercise has been completed, it will then be destroyed or deleted.  We retain de-personalised statistical information about applicants to help inform our recruitment activities, but no individuals are identifiable from that data.

Once a person has taken up employment within the Company (Civicance Ltd), we will compile a file relating to their employment and store it electronically. The information contained in this will be kept secure and will only be used for purposes directly relevant to that person's employment. Once their employment with Civicance Ltd has ended, we will retain the file in accordance with the requirements of our retention schedule and then delete it.

We process personal information about the following people:

  • customers
  • suppliers
  • staff
  • people contracted to provide a service
  • claimants
  • complainants, enquirers or their representatives
  • professional advisers and consultants
  • students and pupils
  • witnesses
  • representatives of other organisations
  • elected members

The information comes from a variety of sources but in most cases the information comes from you. Sometimes other people provide personal information by making a complaint or submitting information on behalf of someone else; and sometimes agencies such as the Department for Work and Pensions or other local authorities provide Civicance with personal information. Our information asset register details the source of the specific information we hold.

How we use the information we collect about you

We process personal information to enable us to provide a range of commercial services to local people and businesses which include:

  • maintaining our own accounts and records
  • supporting and managing our employees
  • promoting the services we provide
  • marketing our services
  • carrying out health and public awareness campaigns
  • carrying out surveys
  • corporate administration and all activities we are required to carry out as a data controller
  • undertaking research
  • internal financial support and corporate functions
  • managing archived records for historical and research reasons
  • to serve Party wall award notices
  • debt management and collection arising from services provided by Civicance

Why we can process your personal information

Our information asset register details the legal basis for processing personal data for each function of Civicance. However, the processing of the majority of personal data will be solely to enable the company to deliver services requested by the customer.

Consent

We will ask you for your permission to process your personal information if it is not covered by the reason we first collected it for. This might be when we want to use your information in a way which is unexpected or different to the original purpose where there is no legal basis. If we rely on your consent to process your personal information, you have the right to withdraw that consent at any time. If you wish to withdraw your consent, please contact the service that asked for your consent in the first instance.

Due to the type of services Civicance provides, we do not knowingly offer any services to children. Any such services we provide would require parental consent for children under the age of 13. We will make reasonable efforts to verify age and parental responsibility.

When we may use your details to contact you

Civicance may contact you in a variety of circumstances, for instance:

  • in relation to any service, activity or online content you have requested or signed up for to make sure that we can deliver the services to you, e.g. to verify your email when you sign up to an online account to check if you still want to use the service (if your account has not been active recently)
  • in response to any correspondence we receive from you or any comment or complaint you make
  • in relation to any personalised services you are receiving, such as advice on Party Wall Surveys, Structural Designs, Thermology Surveys, etc.  
  • in relation to any contribution you have submitted to Civicance via social media
  • to invite you to participate in surveys about Civicance services

Detailed information about how Civicance will contact you in relation to specific services, activities or online content will be provided on the relevant service webpage.

Contacting you for marketing purposes

Civicance will only send you marketing emails where you have agreed to this.

Who we share your information with

Where required by law like those listed in the section 'how we use your information', we will share your personal information with:

  • family, associates or representatives of the person whose personal data we are processing
  • providers of goods and services
  • debt collection and tracing agencies
  • local and central government
  • ombudsman and regulatory authorities
  • professional advisers and consultants
  • trade unions
  • professional advisers
  • professional bodies
  • data processors
  • regulatory bodies
  • customs and excise
  • partner agencies, approved organisations and individuals working with the police
  • legal representatives, defence solicitors, magistrate
  • the disclosure and barring service (DBS)

Transfers to third countries and safeguards

We do not usually transfer personal information overseas.

Any contracts with providers who might host personal information abroad have appropriate clauses to ensure adequate technical and organisational security measures are in place by the provider.

How we use information about children

We do not provide any services directly to children and therefore do not record any personal information with regard to children.

How long we keep your personal information

We keep personal information in line with its retention schedule which is based on retention guidelines set out by Civicance. We can confirm details of any specific retention period from our asset register when formally requested.

Your rights in relation to your personal information, including how to make a complaint

You have a number of information rights under the GDPR which give you more control over your personal data. These rights include:

Right of access

You can make a request to see the information we hold about you by submitting a subject access request to our Data Controller Lead Officer.

Right to rectification

If your details change, or you believe we are processing inaccurate information about you, you can ask us to change it. Factual inaccuracies will be amended promptly but there may be instances where we are unable to change a record, such as where there is a difference of opinion on a comment made during a meeting. However, in such cases a note will be placed on record to make sure your views are recorded. If you wish to amend inaccurate information, please contact the relevant service in the first instance.

Right to restrict processing

You have the right to restrict the processing of your personal data if you are in dispute with us over its accuracy while it is being verified. You can also restrict our use of your personal information if the processing is unlawful. If we no longer need your personal information for the purpose it was held, you can ask us to keep records if they are required to establish, exercise or defend legal claims. If you wish to restrict the processing of your information, please contact the relevant service in the first instance.

Right to object

You can object to specific types of data processing, including direct marketing and automated decision making. When we intend to process your personal data for such purposes, you will be given the opportunity to object when we contact you about it.

Right to data portability

You have the right to receive personal information, which you have provided to us by electronic means, in a reusable format. This means that where you have submitted information to us online or through an automated process, you can have a copy of that information returned to you in an electronic format to enable you to transfer the information to another organisation. Further details about your right to data portability are on our data protection page.

Right to erasure (right to be forgotten)

If you withdraw consent or there is no lawful basis to process your personal information, you can request that any data we hold on you is erased. If there is no lawful basis for us to process your personal information we will take reasonable steps to delete it as soon as possible. Further details about your right to be forgotten are on our data protection page.

Offensive or inappropriate content on our website

If you post or send offensive, inappropriate or objectionable content on or to our websites or social media or otherwise engage in any disruptive behaviour at either Civicance’s office’s or on site, we will use your personal information to stop such behaviour.

Where we reasonably believe that you are or may be in breach of any applicable laws, such as the Malicious Communications Act 1988, because content you have posted may be defamatory, we may use your personal information to inform relevant third parties such as your employer, school, email/internet provider or law enforcement agencies about the content and your behaviour.

The use of cookies on our website and how you can reject cookies

The Civicance website uses cookies to help you personalise your online experience.  A cookie is a text file that is placed on your hard disk by a website via your web browser. Cookies cannot be used to run programs or deliver viruses to your computer. Cookies are uniquely assigned to you, and can only be read by a web server in the domain that issued the cookie to you.

You can read more about how we use cookies and Do Not Track browser settings on our ‘cookies page’.

Apps and Devices

When you download or use our apps on your mobile device, information may be accessed from or stored to your device. Most often this is used in a similar way to a web browser cookie, such as by enabling the app to ‘remember’ you or provide you with the content you have requested.

Your web browser or device may also provide us with information about your device, such as a device identifier or IP address. Device identifiers may be collected automatically, such as the device ID, IP address, MAC address, IMEI number and app ID (a unique identifier relating to the particular copy of the app you are running).

If you have any concerns about the information which might be accessed from or stored on your device by us, you may wish to only access our content through a web browser and review your web browser settings.

Changes to our Privacy Notice

We will regularly review our privacy notice and encourage you to check it from time to time. This notice was issued on 18 May 2018.

Contacting us about this Privacy Notice

If you have any questions or comments about this privacy notice please contact:

  • Service Support Manager

Civicance Ltd
Municipal Buildings
Earle Street
Crewe