Privacy Notice

Who are we:

SATEDA is a registered charity working with women and children affected by domestic abuse.  We also campaign for change and provide educational support.

Our aims are to:

• Support you and your family in whatever choices you make
• Explain choices that are available to you
• Create a safe environment for you to disclose sensitive and personal information
• Respect your decisions

The following information explains how we treat any personal information we collect about you, yourself and others and your circumstances when you access our services.

What we ask of you:

Please help us to stay safe. We ask that you respect the safety and confidentiality of our staff and other clients that you meet, by not sharing information with others outside the organisation; this includes names, telephone numbers and locations of SATEDA’s services.

What information do we collect about you?

We collect information about you and your family as you work with SATEDA, this includes:

• personal details about you, for example your age, your health, and safe ways to contact you
• personal details about your children and your alleged perpetrator
• details about what is happening or has happened
• any risks that you or your family are experiencing
• information about anyone else supporting you

We also collect information when you voluntarily complete surveys and provide feedback on our services.

Why do we collect this information and how will we use it?  

We collect information about you in order to support you and your family to stay safe.

• We may need to share information with other agencies. We have a shared case management system with domestic and sexual violence support services. There may be times when it is useful for someone from SATEDA to share information about you with other agencies.  When this happens a SATEDA team member will contact you to ask permission for the information to be shared – you have a right to say yes or no to this request.
• If we have concerns for the safety or well-being of a child or vulnerable person, we may have to share information with relevant agencies without your consent.
• When a SATEDA team member considers you or your family to be at high risk of serious harm, they may share your information to try and keep you safe.  We will always try to discuss this with you as soon as we can, if it is safe to do so. The agencies that we usually share information within these cases are the Police, Social Services, or a multi-agency risk assessment conference (MARAC).
• If you disclose a relevant incident to us which you have not disclosed to the police, we may have to share this at the MARAC meeting.
• The police now must record this incident on their systems. If you do not want them to investigate this incident any further, we can request this on your behalf.
• Depending on the circumstances, they may make the decision to investigate without your consent. If you disclose to us any information about any illegal or offensive weapons which are accessible or terrorism, we are obligated to let the police know.  We will endeavour to ensure that any risk to you or anyone else will be taken into consideration in this process.

We will also use this information to improve the service we offer you and others.

We will make your data anonymous before sharing with other agencies and researchers outside the organisation.  This helps us to:

• Understand who is accessing our services
• Understand how the service is supporting clients
• Understand more about domestic violence and abuse
• Find the best ways to improve the lives of people who are affected by domestic violence and abuse.

We share information in a way to ensure that your or your family’s identities will never be released.

We share your anonymised data with Women’s Aid and funders in order to support monitoring and research. You cannot be identified from this data. If you do not wish for your data to be shared, please let us know.

As part of our relationship we will record information about other people.  Under the Data Protection Act they have the right to request to see information about themselves, but not about you.  In assessing these requests, we seek to ensure the safety and security for you and your family.

How is your information stored?  

Most information will be stored in a secure web-based database which is held in a secure location separate from our offices. Any paperwork will be held in a case file held in secure filing cabinets in the organisation. We will keep your information for 7 years after you stop working with us, in case there are any problems. Any financial information will be held for seven years as per legal regulations.

How can you see the information we have collected?  

You have a right to request to view or receive a copy of information that we hold about you.  If you would like make a request, please write to SATEDA, Swale House, East street, ME10 3HT. A £25 fee may be charged for this service.

We want to make sure that information we hold is accurate and up to date.  You may ask us to correct or remove information you think is inaccurate.

What do you do if you have any problems with our service?  

Sometimes things do not go to plan. If you have a problem or feel unhappy with any part of our service we ask that you contact us immediately.

Our contact details and details of how to complain are below.