Privacy Policy

1. Introduction

Youth Presence (charity number 1191305) is committed to protecting your privacy and security. This policy explains how and why we use your personal data, to ensure you remain informed and in control of your information.

This Privacy Policy applies to anyone that Youth Presence comes into contact with, including but not exclusively; Youth Presence members, staff, volunteers, participants, users, customers, donors, the general public and professional contacts.

This policy aims to give you an overview of how Youth Presence uses personal data.

Youth Presence Youth Presence asks its supporters to “opt-in” for marketing communications and research. This means you’ll have the choice as to whether you want to receive these messages and be able to select how you want to receive them (email, phone, or post). You can decide not to receive communications or change how we contact you at any time. If you wish to do so please contact us by emailing: info@youthpresence.org.uk.

We will never sell your personal data and will only ever share it with organisations we work with where necessary and if its privacy and security are guaranteed.

2. About Us

Youth Presence is the controller of the personal data we process, unless otherwise stated. Our Data Lead is Iain Biddle, Chairperson and can be contacted by emailing info@youthpresence.org.uk.

3. What Information We Collect

Personal data you provide

We collect data you provide to us in the course of our usual operations. This includes information you give when joining or communicating with us. For example:

  • personal details (name, date of birth, email, address, telephone, etc.) when you become a participant, users, customer, employee, volunteer, donor or supporter.
  • payment information such as credit/debit card or bank details, and whether donations are gift aided. Please see section 10 for more information on payment security.
  • details of your interests and preferences (such as the ways you support us).
  • medical and emergency contact details when you register to volunteer with us or attend an event or course when this is necessary.

Information recorded by your involvement with Youth Presence

Your activities and involvement with Youth Presence will result in personal data being recorded. This could include details of how you’ve helped us by volunteering, the roles you’ve been employed in, or how you’ve been involved with our campaigns/activities and projects. It might also include details of projects or events you’ve been engaged with.

If you decide to donate to us then we will keep records of when and how much you give to a particular project or programme.

Information from third parties

We sometimes receive personal data about individuals from third parties. For example, if we are partnering with another organisation / school (e.g. you provide your information to another charity we’re collaborating with on a project) or if a young person is referred to a project from a school. 

Your information may be shared with us by independent third parties when you have indicated that you wish to support Youth Presence (e.g. JustGiving or Facebook). You should check their Privacy Notice when you provide your information to understand fully how they will process your data. We may collect information from social media where you have given us permission to do so, or if you post on one of our social media pages.

Sensitive personal data

We may ask you to provide sensitive personal data such as information relating to physical and mental health. When this does occur (e.g. if you volunteer with us or attend a project or if you have an accident on one of our projects) we will take extra care to ensure your privacy rights are protected.

Accidents & Incidents

If an accident or incident occurs during a Youth Presence project, at one of our events or involving one of our staff (including volunteers) then we’ll keep a record of this (which may include personal data and sensitive personal data). This information is retained for legal reasons, for safeguarding purposes and to protect us (including in the event of an insurance or legal claim). If this does occur, we will take extra care to ensure your privacy rights are protected. We may also be required to share this with the appropriate statutory bodies and partners.

Please request a copy of our retention of records policy for further details.

Staff & Volunteers

If you are a staff member or volunteer then we may collect extra information about you (e.g. references, criminal records checks, details of emergency contacts, medical conditions, right to work evidence etc.). This information will be retained for legal reasons, to protect us and you (including in the event of an insurance or legal claim) and for safeguarding purposes.

4. How we use your information

We only ever use your personal data with your consent, or where it is necessary in order to:

  • enter into, or perform, a contract with you
  • comply with a legal duty
  • protect your vital interests
  • for our own (or a third party’s) legitimate interests, provided your rights don’t override these.

In any event, we’ll only use your information for the purpose or purposes it was collected for (or else for closely related purposes):

Marketing

We use personal data to communicate with people, to promote Youth Presence and to help with fundraising. This includes keeping you up to date with our news, updates, projects and fundraising information. For further information on this please see Section 6.

Administration

We use personal data for administrative purposes (i.e. to carry on our charity work). This includes:

  • receiving donations (e.g. direct debits or gift-aid instructions)
  • maintaining databases of our volunteers, Youth Presence staff and supporters
  • employing staff
  • performing our obligations under contracts
  • fulfilling orders for goods or services (whether placed online, over the phone or in person)
  • helping us respect your choices and preferences (e.g. if you ask not to receive specific or marketing material, we’ll keep a record of this).

Internal data analysis

We may aggregate and anonymise personal data so that it can no longer be linked to any particular person. This information can be used for a variety of purposes, such as for evaluation, evidencing our impact, recruiting new volunteers/staff and supporters or to identify trends or patterns within our existing base. This information helps inform our actions and improve our projects, fundraising, services and materials.

5. Disclosing & sharing data

We will never sell your personal data. If you have opted-in to communications, we may contact you with information about our partners, or third party products and services, but these communications will always come from Youth Presence and are usually incorporated into our own communications (e.g. leaflets or articles in magazines or email newsletters).

We may share personal data with subcontractors or suppliers who provide us with services. For example, if you order something from Youth Presence, your name and address may be shared with a delivery company. However, these activities will be carried out under a contract which imposes strict requirements on our supplier to keep your information confidential and secure.

In our work with children and families, it will sometimes be helpful to share information, for example about the support we are offering, with other professionals who are supporting your child or family.

We do this to ensure you receive the best possible service to meet your child or family’s needs; however, we will only do so with your agreement and we will always talk with you about this first, unless we are concerned about the welfare of a child, young person or vulnerable adult.

We will share personal information with the appropriate authorities, if we consider it to be a safeguarding incident or concern of harm. Any such sharing is in accordance with our Safeguarding Policy.

We will share personal information with the appropriate authorities, if we are legally required to or consider it to be a health and safety incident or concern of harm. Occasionally, where we partner with other organisations, we may also share information with them (for example, if you register to attend an event being jointly organised by us and another organisation). We’ll only share information when necessary and for the purposes that you have provided the data to us.

6. Marketing

Youth Presence will ask its supporters to “opt-in” for marketing communications. This means you have  he choice as to whether you want to receive these messages and be able to select how you want to receive them (e.g. post, phone, email). Where we communicate via a social media platform (e.g. Twitter, Facebook, Instagram) we adhere to the rules of the specific platform governing that marketing activity.

You can decide not to receive communications or change how we contact you at any time. If you wish to do so, please contact info@youthpresence.org.uk.

What does marketing mean?

Marketing does not just mean offering things for sale, but also includes news and information about:

  • our charitable incorporated organisation and work
  • volunteering opportunities and how you can help
  • fundraising
  • our events, courses and activities
  • leaving a legacy
  • taking part in projects.

When you receive a communication, we may collect information about how you respond to or interact with that communication and this may affect how we communicate with you in future.

Newsletters

Email newsletters are provided as a benefit to our users, customers, supporters and those who have joined our membership schemes. These are only sent to people who have opted-in to do so, and they can choose to unsubscribe at any time. We offer options for areas of interest, so someone can be subscribed to one or more of these areas and receive relevant email newsletters for each. These same areas of interest are also used for marketing as defined above. If you unsubscribe from any or all of the areas of interest, you will stop receiving both newsletters and other marketing emails for that area(s).

Fundraising

As a CIO, we rely on donations and support from others to continue our work. From time to time, we will contact Youth Presence members and supporters with fundraising material and communications.

This might be about an appeal or to suggest ways you can raise funds (e.g. a sponsored event or activity, or even buying a product if Youth Presence will receive some of the proceeds). As with other marketing communications, we’ll only contact you specifically about fundraising if you’ve opted into to receiving marketing from us (and you can, of course, unsubscribe at any time).

7. Building profiles of supporters and targeting communications

In the future we may use personal data to build profiles which enable us to understand our users, customers, members and supporters, improve our relationship with them and provide a better supporter experience.

8. Participants on our projects, including children, young people & adults with learning difficulties

Permission from parents or legal guardians: If the individual is under 18 or is an adult with learning difficulties, we will gain informed agreement from a parent or legal guardian for them to attend events without parents or guardians, as well as marketing (particularly photographs or video), research and evidencing our impact.

It is necessary for us to collect personal data in order to deliver our services and projects safely and effectively (for example medical information for Health & Safety purposes). When we collect and manage information from children & young people (under the age of 18) or adults with learning difficulties, we aim to collect it in a way which is appropriate for the age or level or understanding of the individual.

We will not collect, store or use this personal data unless fully informed agreement has been gained by participants and, for individuals under 18 or adults with learning difficulties, their parent/legal guardian.

9. Understanding our impact

Youth Presence is committed to understanding and evidencing the impact of what we do and develop our service based on that. To allow us to do this we need to collect data from both adults and young people.

When we collect this information, we aim to manage it in a way which is appropriate for the age and understanding of the individual. The information can be collected before, during and after a project or through wider consultation / research (for example personal demographics, referral information, evidence of a change in outcomes or case studies). We will not use this personal data for marketing, unless it has been anonymised and aggregated.

10. How we protect data

We employ a variety of physical and technical measures to keep your data safe and to prevent unauthorised access to, or use or disclosure of, your personal information. Electronic data and databases are stored on secure online platforms and we control who has access to information. Our Trustees receive data protection training and we have data protection procedures which staff are required to follow when handling personal information.

11. Storage

Where we store information. Youth Presence’s operations are based solely in the UK and we store our data within the European Union. Some organisations which provide services to us may transfer personal data outside of the EEA, however these transfers will be subject to adequate data protections.

How long we store information

Under data regulations, we are required to make sure that we use and store information for so long as it is required for the purposes it was collected. How long information will be stored depends on the information in question and what it is being used for. We regularly review what information we hold and delete what is no longer required. For more information on statutory retention periods please see our Record and Retentions policy available on request.

12. Keeping you in control

We want to ensure you remain in control of your personal data. Part of this is making sure you understand your legal rights, which are as follows:

  • The right to be informed. You have the right to be informed about the personal data we collect, share and hold about you. This policy is one way that we inform you and there are others e.g. detailed privacy notices, induction, project joining instructions.
  • The right to access. You can obtain a record of the personal data we hold about you, why we hold it and who we disclose it to by making a Subject Access Request and sending it to info@youthpresence.org.uk. We will respond within one month.
  • The right to erasure. You can ask us to remove your personal details from our records (though this will not apply where it is necessary for us to continue to use the data for a lawful reason). We will review these on a case-by-case basis.
  • The right to restrict processing. You can ask us to stop or supress the use of your personal data. However, we will continue to store your data but not further process it. We do this by retaining just enough of your data so we can ensure that the restriction is respected in future. This is not an absolute right and will only apply in certain circumstances.
  • The right to rectification. The accuracy of your data is important to us. If we have captured information about you that is inaccurate or incomplete, we will update it. You can also send us updated information on your address or contact details at any time.
  • The right to object. You can ask to be excluded from marketing activity (including automated decision making and profiling). From your first communications with us and every marketing communication thereafter will give you the opportunity to opt out of further communications.
  • Rights in relation to automated decision making and profiling. We respect your right not to be subject to a decision that is based in automated processing.
  • The right to data portability. Where technically feasible, you have the right to get your data from us in a way that is accessible and machine-readable (e.g. a CSV file). You also have the right to ask us to transfer data you have provided us with to another organisation where technically feasible to do so.

For more information on your individual rights, please see the Information Commissioner’s Office

https://ico.org.uk/

Please keep in mind that there are exceptions to the rights above and, though we will always try to respond to your satisfaction, there may be situations where we are unable to do so.

If you would like further information on your rights or wish to exercise them, please email info@youthpresence.org.uk.

If you wish to make a complaint (including a complaint about fundraising activity) you can do so by emailing: info@youthpresence.org.uk.

If you are not happy with our response relating to your data protection rights, or you believe that your data protection or privacy rights have been infringed, you can contact the Information Commissioner’s Office which regulates and enforces data protection law in the UK. Details of how to do this can be found at www.ico.org.uk.

13. Cookies and links to other websites

Cookies

Our website uses local storage (such as cookies) to provide you with the best possible experience and to allow you to make use of certain functionality (such as being able to shop online).

Links to other websites

Our website may contain hyperlinks to other websites. We are not responsible for the content or functionality of any of those external websites (but please let us know if a link is not working). If an external website requests personal information from you (e.g. in connection with an order for goods or services), the information you provide will not be covered by Youth Presence’s Privacy Policy.

We suggest you read the privacy policy of any website before providing any personal information.

Social Media

We will operate several social media accounts. Although this policy covers how we will use any data collected from those pages, it does not cover how the providers of social media websites will use your information. Please ensure you read the privacy policy of the social media website before sharing data and make use of the privacy settings and reporting mechanisms to control how your data is used.

14. Changes to this privacy policy

We will amend this Privacy Policy from time to time to ensure it remains up-to-date and accurately reflects how and why we use your personal data. The current version of our Privacy Policy will always be posted on our website.

This Privacy Policy was last reviewed in October 2024.