Privacy Policy
Our Privacy Policy explains:
What information we collect and how we collect it
Why and how we use your information
How long we keep your information
How we may share your information
Your rights on the information we hold about you
Security - How we keep your information safe
Changes to this Privacy Policy
How to Contact Us
Southern Family Mediation may change this policy from time to time by updating this page. You should check this page from time to time to ensure that you are happy with any changes. This policy is effective from 11 May 2022.
Information We Collect
In order to provide mediation services and for the other purposes set out in Use of Information below, we collect and process Personal Data from clients and potential clients. We may collect the following information:
- Personal information, for example, title, first and middle names, surname, gender, contact details i.e postal and email address and phone numbers, date of birth, ethnic origin and disability. We also collect names and dates of birth of client’s children if provided to us
- Any additional information provided by the client at a MIAM (Mediation Information Assessment Meeting) and during the Mediation process
- Sensitive Personal Data relating to criminal and child protection matters
We collect your information from:
Direct communication from users via telephone, email, website or letter
Self-Referral forms on our website
Referrals from organisations, for example Solicitors
We may also collect information from telephone conversations, emails and written and verbal communications and from records of any meetings attended by clients.
How We Use of Information
Your Personal Data may be used in the following ways:
To provide our mediation services to you
To respond to your requests and enquiries
To improve our mediation services
To request your participation in surveys, or other initiatives which help us to gather information used to develop and enhance our services
To comply with applicable law(s) for example, to comply with our Legal Aid contract requirements or to carry out professional ethics/conduct investigations
To enable us to provide and maintain our own accounts and records and to support and manage our employees
Consent and Lawful Processing of Data.
Our legitimate interests, which include processing such Personal Data for the purposes of:
- Conducting the mediation process as requested by the user
- Providing access to the mediation information assessment process introduced by the Children and Families Act 2014, s10
- Providing and enhancing the provision of our mediation services
- Administration of our mediation services
How Long Will We Keep Your Information?
Upon file closure, personal data is currently securely stored for 5 years.
Sharing and Disclosure to Third Parties
We may disclose your Personal Data to third parties from time-to-time under the following circumstances:
- You request or authorise the disclosure of your personal details to a third party, for example to your legal adviser and/or professional consultants such as Financial Advisors, Pensions Specialists
- To provide information to the Legal Aid Agency under the terms of our contract with them. A legal aid file is defined as one or both clients receiving legal aid funding for mediation
- Hosting providers for the secure storage and transmission of your data
- Legal and compliance consultants, such as external auditors
- Technology providers who assist in the development and management of our web properties
- Information held by the mediator to be shared with the FMSB in the event that a formal complaint is made to the FMSB, to which that information pertains
Parents and Children
If the person about whom we are holding information is below 13 and participates in child inclusive mediation, we will need to seek consent from the parent or legal guardian if consent is required.
If a child over the age of 13 years participates in child inclusive mediation, we will seek consent from them.
Subject Access/User Rights
As a user, you are subject to the following rights:
- The right to be informed of the use of your Personal Data
- The right to access and/or to require the correction or erasure of your Personal Data
- The right to block and/or object to the processing of your Personal Data
- The right to not be subject to any decision based solely on automated processing of your Personal Data
- In limited circumstances, you may have the right to receive Personal Data in a format which may be transmitted to another entity
If you have a complaint in relation to the processing of your data carried out under this Privacy Policy, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner Office.
You may seek to exercise any of these rights by sending a written request to Louisa Dickson, Southern Family Mediation Ltd, Threefield House, Threefield Lane, Southampton, SO14 3LP.
Information Security
We endeavour to protect your personal information that we hold, its confidentially, integrity and availability:
- We review our information collection, storage and processing practices, including physical security measures, to guard against unauthorised access to systems
- We restrict access to personal information to Staff subject to strict contractual confidentiality obligations and they may be disciplined or terminated if they fail to meet these obligations
- We have a Security Information Policy in place which defines the measures we take to protect your personal information. We use a combination of technology and procedures to ensure that our paper and computer systems are protected, monitored and are recoverable
- We only use third party service providers where we are satisfied that they provide adequate security for your personal data
Compliance and Cooperation With Regulatory Authorities
We regularly review our compliance with our Privacy Policy. If we receive formal written complaints, we will contact the person who made the complaint to follow up. We will work with the ICO to resolve any complaints regarding the transfer of personal data that we cannot resolve with our users directly.
Cookies
A cookie is a small file which asks permission to be placed on your computer’s hard drive. Once you agree, the file is added and the cookie helps analyse web traffic or lets you know when you visit a particular site. Cookies allow web applications to respond to you as an individual. The web application can tailor its operations to your needs, likes and dislikes by gathering and remembering information about your preferences.
We use traffic log cookies to identify which pages are being used. This helps us analyse data about web page traffic and improve our website in order to tailor it to customer needs. We only use this information for statistical analysis purposes and then the data is removed from the system.
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 in no way gives us access to your computer or any information about you, other than the data you choose to share with us.
You can choose to accept or decline cookies. Most web browsers automatically accept cookies, but you can usually modify your browser setting to decline cookies if you prefer. This may prevent you from taking full advantage of the website.
Links to Other Websites
Our website may contain links to other websites of interest. However, once you have used these links to leave our site, you should note that we do not have any control over that other website. Therefore, we cannot be responsible for the protection and privacy of any information which you provide whilst visiting such sites and such sites are not governed by this privacy statement. You should exercise caution and look at the privacy statement applicable to the website in question.
Controlling Your Personal Information
You may choose to restrict the collection or use of your personal information in the following ways:
- whenever you are asked to fill in a form on the website, look for the box that you can click to indicate that you do not want the information to be used by anybody for direct marketing purposes
- if you have previously agreed to us using your personal information for direct marketing purposes, you may change your mind at any time by writing to or emailing us at webmaster@svswebdesign.com
We will not sell, distribute or lease your personal information to third parties unless we have your permission or are required by law to do so. We may use your personal information to send you promotional information about third parties which we think you may find interesting if you tell us that you wish this to happen.
You may request details of personal information which we hold about you under the Data Protection Act 1998.
How to Contact Us
The Data Controller is Southern Family Mediation Ltd. Our contact details are as follows:
Southern Family Mediation Ltd, Threefield House, Threefield Lane, Southampton, SO14 3LP.
02382 021300