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Privacy Policy

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Privacy Policy

At South Lincolnshire Blind Society (SLBS), we are committed to protecting your personal information and ensuring you have control over the information we store about you and the type of information you would like to receive from us.

How we collect personal information about you
We may collect personal information directly from you when you interact with SLBS, for example: if you enquire about our services, take part in a SLBS service, make a donation to us, purchase from our Equipment Centre, ask a question about low vision and blindness, apply for a job or volunteering opportunity with us, give feedback to us, or otherwise provide us with personal information. This may take place when you call us, send us a letter, email us, message us through social media, or talk to us in person.

We may also receive personal information about you from your relatives or through partner organisations (e.g. County Council Sensory Services, Eye Clinic Liaison Officers) who would like to refer you to our services. We will always check they have secured your consent before we record and store any of this information.

What information do we collect?
The personal information we collect might include your contact details such as name, date of birth, email address, postal address, telephone number, and credit/debit card details (if you are making a purchase or donation), as well as information you provide in any correspondence with us.

If you are looking to use our services, we may also collect information about your eye condition and your sight loss registration status, as well as general demographic information.

If you are applying for a job or volunteering for us, we may collect further information about your employment history, eligibility for employment in the UK, and your eligibility to work with vulnerable individuals.

We also collect non-personal information about the users of our website. Whenever you access our website or download information, the web server automatically records the following non-personal information: the date and time you accessed our website, how long you were on the site, your internet domain name, and the internet browser you use.

How do we use your personal information?
We may use your personal information to:
• Provide you with the information, advice, and support you have asked us for;
• Provide or administer activities relating to all of our services, for example, to notify you of upcoming activities, to check your details, to arrange transport to the activity;
• Provide you with information about SLBS. This may be to let you know about services we hope to be relevant and useful to you, changes and developments within SLBS, or where we believe you expect to be contacted by us;
• Gather feedback from you about your experience with us so that we may improve our services moving forward;
• If you have given consent, to share fundraising updates and activities for your consideration;
• Process donations and payments you have made, including claiming Gift Aid on your donation from the HMRC if you are a taxpayer;
• We may need to disclose your information if required to do so by law (for example, to comply with applicable laws, regulations, and codes of practice or in response to a valid request from a competent authority); or, in order to enforce our conditions of sale and other agreements.
To do some of this, SLBS may share your information with our trusted partners and suppliers. This may be as they deliver part of our service (e.g. or to refer you on to services that would be beneficial for you (e.g. rehabilitation sessions with Sensory Services). Information shared is never for marketing approaches. We ensure that they store the data securely and delete it when it is no longer needed.

We will not use your personal information to:
• Profile your wealth, which involves collecting external sources of information about you, the area where you live, or people like you, to target you for a specific donation amount;
• Sell to third parties for any marketing activities;
• Transfer your personal information outside of England.

We will work to ensure the personal information we hold is up-to-date and accurate. We will periodically contact you to maintain our records and to provide an opportunity for you to update your preferences on how we contact you and what information you receive from us. If you have given your consent to be contacted about fundraising, we will ask you to re-consent every two years.

Your personal information are stored on a secure database for no longer than is necessary for the purposes of its use. We carry out periodic deletion of data whose retention period has expired and/or when the need to continue holding such data is no longer necessary.

Who sees your personal information?
The personal information we collect about you will be used by our staff and selected volunteers at SLBS so that they can support you. All staff and volunteers accessing your information are trained in data protection and privacy so they follow the correct procedures to keep your information safe.

Legal and regulatory authorities may see your information, only if it is required by law. Where we report to funders about our services, we will only use anonymised information and will look to aggregate information to protect your identity.

How do we secure your information?
We have implemented appropriate physical, technical, and organisational measures to protect the personal information we have collected from improper access, use, alteration, destruction, and loss.

Your personal information is kept securely in our offices and in our encrypted database. Processes are in place which only permit access to personal information by approved staff and volunteers.

Please be aware, our website may contain links to other sites. While we try to link only to sites that share our high standards and respect for privacy, we are not responsible for the content or the privacy practices employed by other sites. Please be aware that advertisers or Web sites that have links on our site may themselves collect personally identifiable information about you. This privacy statement does not cover the information practices of those websites or advertisers.

Your choice
We respect your right to control what personal information we hold about you and you can change your mind at any time. You can remove or add your consent to what personal information we hold, how we can contact you, and what information you would like to receive from us. Please see the section below for details on how to update or access your personal information.

How to update or access your personal information
You may ask us at any time to update, correct, or remove personal information we hold. You also have a right to know what personal information SLBS holds about you. To request any changes or receive a copy of your personal information, contact us by:

Writing to: SLBS, 14Finkin Street, Grantham, Lincolnshire, NG31 6QZ
Calling: 01476 592775
Emailing: slbs@blind-society.org.uk

We will reply to all requests within one month, but will aim to reply much faster depending on the number of requests we are dealing with at that time.

Concerned about our information rights practices?
If you have any concerns about how our information rights practices, please first contact our Data Protection Officer by:

Writing to: SLBS, 11a Finkin Street, Grantham, Lincolnshire, NG31 6QZ
Calling: 01476 592775
Emailing: slbs@blind-society.org.uk

Any complaint will be treated seriously and thoroughly investigated. You will be kept informed at all stages of the process. Having received your complaint, the following will happen:
• We will acknowledge any complaint within five working days of receipt.
• We should normally let you know the outcome within two weeks.
• We will keep you informed of the progress if the matter takes longer than two weeks to resolve.

If the fault lies with us, we will ensure that matters are put right as soon as possible. We will inform you and give a full explanation, both of how the fault occurred and how we aim to change things so that a similar difficulty will not happen in the future.

Should you remain dissatisfied with the way that you have been treated or the way your complaint has been handled, please write to the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of SLBS who are the governing body of the charity. Address correspondence c/o South Lincolnshire Blind Society.

The matter will then be dealt with at the next meeting of the Board of Trustees. You will be fully informed of the outcome within two weeks of the meeting. All complaint information will be handled sensitively, telling only those who need to know.

If you still do not feel the issue has been resolved, you can contact the Information Commissioner’s Office, using the details below:

Address: Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF
Telephone: 0303 123 1113
Website: https://ico.org.uk/concerns/

Changes to our Privacy Policy
Our Privacy Policy is reviewed regularly to ensure that it reflects how we use your information. Any changes will be notified to you by updating this policy so please check this Policy to see if any changes have been made that are important to you. Where appropriate, changes will be notified to you using your preferred method of contact.

This Privacy Policy was last updated on 15th July 2020.

Who we are
The South Lincolnshire Blind Society (SLBS) is a registered charity with the Charity Commission for England and Wales (charity number: 214140)

If you would like any further information about our privacy practices, please contact our Data Protection Officer by:

Writing to: SLBS, 11a Finkin Street, Grantham, Lincolnshire, NG31 6QZ
Calling: 01476 592775
Emailing: slbs@blind-society.org.uk

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