This Statement sets out the basis on which any personal data 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 data and how we will treat it.

 

Purpose

Mind BLMK is committed to protecting the privacy of its data subjects by handling data it collects in a safe and responsible way.

Types of data Mind BLMK collects

Mind BLMK will collect and process personal data and sensitive personal data.

Personal data only includes information relating to living individuals where they can be either:

  • directly identified from a piece of information
  • indirectly identified from a combination of information

Sensitive personal data is a type of data that reveals or concerns an individual’s:

  • race or ethnic origin
  • political opinions
  • religious or philosophical beliefs
  • trade union membership
  • genetic data
  • biometric data (when used for identification purposes)
  • health
  • sex life
  • sexual orientation

The personal data we collect will depend on the purpose for which it is collected and may include:

  • name, address, date of birth, gender and contact details including email address and telephone number
  • qualification details including skills, experience and employment history
  • recruitment information including right to work documents, CVs and covering letters
  • bank account details, national insurance number and tax status
  • information about next of kin and emergency contacts

The sensitive personal data we collect includes:

  • information on criminal convictions and/or offences
  • health and sickness records
  • information relating to equal opportunities monitoring including ethnic origin, sexual orientation, disability and religion
  • health and wellbeing history
Why Mind BLMK collects this data

Mind BLMK collects this information so it can comply with its legal and health and safety obligations as well as the following:

  • allowing Mind BLMK to build a comprehensive picture of its workforce including its diversity
  • shaping the development and retention of its employees
  • shaping the development of its policies
  • allowing employees to be properly paid
  • allowing employees to have the appropriate employee benefits provided
  • processing applications for job vacancies and volunteering opportunities
  • to keep a record of our relationship with volunteers and to administer the volunteering arrangement
  • processing referrals to use our services and providing service users with support and to ensure their health, safety and wellbeing
  • managing donations and participation in fundraising
  • corresponding with us by phone/email. We may record calls to HQ for monitoring, training and quality purposes. Where this applies it will be stated in the recorded message callers will hear.
  • processing and administering applications for guarantor membership
  • managing requests for newsletters, to provide feedback or complete a survey
  • managing participation in training provided by us
  • managing participation in our Influence and Participation programme
  • managing compliments and complaints
Legal basis for processing data

There are 6 grounds for lawfully processing personal data. These are:

  • consent
  • contract
  • legal obligation
  • vital interests
  • public task
  • legitimate interests

Mind BLMK may process the data it collects on the following basis/bases:

  • consent
  • contract
  • legal obligation
  • vital interests
  • legitimate interests

With regards to processing special category data Mind BLMK processes the information on the grounds of consent, contract and legal obligation as well as the following conditions under Article 9 of the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR):

  • Explicit consent
  • Where there are conditions for processing special category data that may apply
Data retention

Mind BLMK follows the UK GDPR rules on data retention. This means it:

  • only keeps data for as long as it’s needed – all data is retained for the shortest length of time necessary
  • will securely delete or anonymise documents no longer needed
  • complies with requests for data to be changed or deleted as long as there are no other legal grounds or overriding legitimate grounds to not do so
  • complies with an individual’s request to see data held on them unless there are exemptions under the UK GDPR that apply
  • carries out data audits to make sure it doesn’t keep data for longer than necessary and to help responses to subject access requests

Mind BLMK have a Records Management Policy which can be provided on request. This has further details about Mind BLMK’s data retention procedure.

Sharing data

Mind BLMK may share data internally with relevant departments such as the HR team, managers or supporting staff. However, this will only be done if it is required.

There may be occasions where Mind BLMK shares data it has collected with third parties. These instances may include but are not limited to:

  • when requested to by law
  • ensuring the safety and/or wellbeing of someone
  • when references are requested from other employers
  • facilitate a contract of employment

As we receive funding from the NHS for some of our services, we are required to provide information to NHS digital via the Mental Health Services Data Set (MHSDS). To find out more about this, please visit https://www.nhs.uk/your-nhs-data-matters/. If you would like to opt out of this, please ring NHS Digital Contact Centre on 0300 303 5678.

Mind BLMK regularly shares data with third parties outside of the organisation. To ensure that data is processed and properly retained we have a formal agreement, called an information sharing agreement (ISA) which sets this out. This includes:

  • what data is shared
  • which laws allows the sharing of this data
  • how the data is shared
  • who the agreement is between
  • necessary security requirements

Where necessary, Mind BLMK, may transfer personal information outside of the UK. When doing so, we comply with the UK GDPR, making sure appropriate safeguards are in place. For further information or to obtain a copy of the appropriate safeguard we use, please contact us using the contact information provided below.

Data subject's rights

Mind BLMK is obligated to inform data subjects of their data protection rights. Data subjects have the right to:

  • access – data subjects can request Mind BLMK provide them with the personal data it holds on them
  • rectification – data subjects can request Mind BLMK correct information on them that they believe to be incorrect
  • erasure – personal data can be deleted under certain conditions
  • restrict processing and is where Mind BLMK restrict processing of personal data under certain conditions
  • object to processing – this is where data subjects can object to their personal data being processed under certain conditions
  • data portability – data subjects can request Mind BLMK transfer data it collects on them to a third party or to them under certain conditions
  • rights related to automated decision-making and profiling – data subjects have the right to not be subject to decisions based solely on automated processing (including profiling) that have legal or significant effects, and can request human intervention or challenge such decisions
  • consent – data subjects have the right to withdraw consent if they change their mind about Mind BLMK having access to their personal data.

Please note, some of these rights only apply in certain circumstances, where a right does not apply, we will communicate the reason to you. We may need to request specific information from you to confirm your identity and ensure your right to access your personal data or to exercise any of your other rights. This is a security measure to ensure your personal data is not disclosed to any person who has no right to receive it. We will respond to legitimate requests within one month. Occasionally it may take longer than a month and where this is the case, we will notify you and keep you updated.

If you wish to exercise any of these rights, or if you wish to make a complaint to complain about how Mind BLMK have handled their personal data, you should contact Mind BLMK’s Data Protection Officer. Their contact details are:

Phone: 0300 330 0648

Email:  hq@mind-blmk.org.uk  

Post: Mind BLMK, The Rufus Centre, Steppingley Road, Flitwick, Bedfordshire, MK45 1AH

 

If data subjects remain unhappy with how Mind BLMK used their data after raising a complaint with Mind BLMK, they can complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office.

The ICO’s address:          

Information Commissioner’s Office

Wycliffe House

Water Lane

Wilmslow

Cheshire

SK9 5AF

The ICO’s helpline number is 0303 123 1113 or you can make a complaint online.

How we use cookies

How we use cookies

We use cookies and similar technologies (also known as tags, pixels, beacons and floodlights) on our websites to:

  • Personalise content and digital ads
  • Offer social media features
  • Analyse traffic

This policy refers to both ‘cookies’ and ‘similar technologies’ as cookies. You can accept all the cookies that we use by clicking on the ‘Accept all’ button on our cookie banner. If you’d rather decide what cookies are set, you can choose by clicking on ‘Manage cookies’ on our cookie banner. You can opt out of all our cookies (except the strictly necessary ones) by clicking the ‘Reject all’ button on our cookie banner. You can also find out how to control and delete cookies in your browser. If you choose to refuse all cookies, our website might not work as well. 

What are cookies?

Cookies are small text files. Websites you visit will place cookies on your computer, phone or other devices. They don’t store or collect information about you (like your name). But they’ll collect information related to:

  • The devices you use to access the internet
  • Your browser
  • Your browsing history

Cookies are widely used to make websites work better for visitors. And to give information to the owners of the site.

 

What are tags?

We use tags to transfer data from our users to external sources like Facebook. We use them to track:

  • How you interact with our websites and digital adverts (for example, when you’ve downloaded content, clicked on an advert or viewed a video)
  • What pages you visit on our website
  • How long you spent on those pages
  • How you got to our website and when you left it

We use this information to monitor how well our digital adverts are doing.

How do we use cookies on our websites?

We use cookies on the websites to:

  • Help users navigate around the website
  • Work out whether the website is working well
  • Gather statistics on how our website is being used, which can help us to improve it
  • Personalise the service we offer by working out which areas of the website are most relevant to you

We also use cookies to make sure we keep your information confidential and secure as you move through secure or password-protected areas of our website. Some of the cookies that we use are Session Cookies. These are deleted when you close your browser. Others stay on your browser or device until they expire or until you delete them from your browser history. These are known as Persistent Cookies. All cookies have an owner. You can identify the owner by looking at the domain. The domain is the company or website name in the cookie. Cookies can be first-party. This means they’re owned by the website who set them. Or they can be third-party. This means they’re not owned by the website who set them. We use both first-party and third-party cookies on our websites. If you haven’t given us permission to set cookies through the cookies banner, we can’t track your visit and how you got here. If you visit our website using a different device or browser in the future, you’ll need to set your cookie preferences again.

Types of cookies we use

Below is a list of the main cookies we use on this website. The categories we use are based on the International Chamber of Commerce’s Guide for Cookie categorisation.

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website asks your browser to store on your device. It does this to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies.

We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a different website domain – for our advertising and marketing. We use the cookies listed below.

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We need these cookies for the website to work properly. This means we can’t switch them off. They’re only set when you take certain actions – like setting your privacy preferences, logging into our sites, or filling in forms. You can set your browser to block these cookies, but this will mean our website won’t work as well.

Performance Cookies

These cookies allow us to count the number of people visiting our website and see where they’re coming from. This helps us to measure and improve the performance of our website and our digital ads.

They help us to:

  • Know which pages are the most and least popular
  • See how visitors move around the site
  • Measure the impact of our digital adverts

If you don’t allow these cookies, we won’t know when you’ve visited or how you’ve reached our website. This means we won’t be able to monitor how well our digital ads or website are doing.

Personalisation Cookies

We use personalisation cookies to track the pages you visit on our websites. We track these so we can suggest relevant content based on the pages you’ve previously visited. If you don’t allow these cookies, you’ll get a less personalised experience on our websites.

Targeting Cookies

“Targeting Cookies” are used by our advertising partners (e.g. Facebook) to collect information about how you use our website (including visits to our information pages) and show you associated adverts on other sites. The information that’s been used to build that profile may also be used to find other people with similar interests to yours so that our adverts can be shown to them too. No directly identifiable personal information is shared with our advertising partners e.g. details such as your email address), but information that uniquely identifies your browser and internet device will be shared. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Third party cookies

So we can make improvements to our websites, take steps to ensure that our online advertising is cost effective, and provide you with content and ads that we think you’ll find interesting, our sites place cookies which are owned by third-party suppliers. Further details about the main suppliers that we use and links to their privacy information is provided below:

Google

We use Google’s Marketing Platform cookies so that we can measure the impact of our digital advertising campaigns. This helps us to ensure that the money we spend on digital advertising is cost-effective. They also help us to serve adverts to people who have visited our websites and control the number of times that a website visitor sees an advert. We use Google Analytics cookies to help us measure how visitors use our websites. This helps us to improve peoples’ experience of using our sites and measure the effectiveness of our digital advertising campaigns.

Read Google’s privacy policy    

Meta

We use Meta cookies so we can collect and send information to Meta about actions taken by visitors on our website. We also use Meta cookies to measure the effectiveness of our Meta ad campaigns which, in turn, helps ensure that we’re using our resources effectively.

Meta uses this information to provide services to us and also for further processing for its own business purposes.  We and Meta are joint controllers of the processing involved in collecting and sending your personal information to Meta using cookies and similar technologies as each of us has a business interest in Meta receiving this information. The services we receive from Meta that use this information are delivered to us through Meta’s Business Tools. These tools allow us to target advertising to you within Meta’s social media platforms by creating audiences based on your actions on our website and allow Meta to improve and optimise the targeting and delivery of our advertising campaigns for us.

Our relationship with Meta. As we are joint controllers with Meta for certain processing, we have:

  • entered into an agreement in which we have agreed each of our data protection responsibilities for the processing of your personal information described above;
  • agreed that we are responsible for providing to you the information in this privacy policy about our relationship with Meta; and
  • agreed that Meta is responsible for responding to you when you exercise your rights under data protection law in relation to it’s processing of your personal information as a joint controller.

Meta also processes, as our processor, personal information that we submit for the purposes of matching, online targeting, measurement, reporting and analytics purposes.  These services include processing carried out on the platform when they display our advertisements to you in your news feed at our request after matching contact details for you that we have uploaded to them.  These advertisements may include forms through which we collect contact information you give to us.

 

Further information. The Meta company that is a joint controller of your personal information is Meta Platforms, Inc., 1601 Willow Road, Menlo Park, CA 94025, USA in the UK. For further information regarding Meta and their use of your personal information, please see:

  • Meta’s UK Controller Addendum for Business Tools which include information regarding how our and Meta’s responsibilities to you are allocated as controllers of your personal information; and
  • Meta’s Data Policy at https://www.facebook.com/about/privacy which includes details of the legal reasons (known as ‘lawful bases’) on which the platform relies to process your personal information, together with details regarding your data protection rights.

Managing cookies

You can control which cookies are set by clicking on ‘Cookie Settings’ on our cookies banner. You can amend your settings or withdraw your consent for cookies at any time by revisiting this policy and clicking on the ‘Manage my settings’ button below.

Manage my settings

Changes to this notice

This notice will be reviewed regularly to ensure Mind BLMK continues to comply with the law. Any changes will be communicated via our website and links to the Notice on our website in our recruitment and referral forms.

Mindline Trans+ national helpline

MindLine Trans+ is a confidential mental health support helpline for people who identify as trans, A gender, gender fluid, or non-binary.
 

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Side by side
 

Side by Side is a supportive online community where you can talk about your mental health and connect with others who understand what you are going through.

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Mental health A-Z
 

Information and advice on a huge range of mental health topics from the national Mind website.
 

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