Rape Crisis England & Wales (RCEW) is committed to protecting all personal information that we hold and making every effort to ensure that it is processed in a fair, open and transparent manner.
This policy will help you understand what information we collect, why we collect it, how we store and use it, and if we disclose the information to anyone else. It will also explain what rights and choices you have regarding your personal information.
Information we collect and how we use it
When you give us a donation, interact with our consultations, or request information on our training for example, we will ask for your personal information. We use this information to manage your engagement with us, such as processing your donation and telling you what we do with the support we receive, sending you information about our campaigns so that you can take part in supporting our work, and to provide you with information on training.
Personal information we collect may include details such as your 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 communications between us.
This personal information will only be used for the purpose you provided it for, and we do not sell, trade or share a user’s personally identifiable information with anyone else.
Some categories of personal information are more sensitive, such as information about a person’s health, race, ethnicity or sexual orientation for example. These categories of information are known as special category data. If you provide any special category data to us, we will only use this information for the purposes of dealing with your enquiry or application.
Keeping your information safe
We take looking after your information very seriously. We've implemented appropriate physical, technical and organisational measures to protect the personal information we have under our control, both on and off-line, from improper access, use, alteration, destruction and loss.
Unfortunately, the transmission of information using the internet is not completely secure. Although we do our best to protect your personal information sent to us this way, we cannot guarantee the security of data transmitted to our site.
Our websites 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. This privacy statement does not cover the information practices of those websites.
Who has access to your information
All information we hold is used exclusively by RCEW. We make sure that your data is only seen by people who need to view it for their work and that our staff are trained in protecting your information.
We will only ever share your information with third parties in the process of managing your engagement with us, such as payment processors for donations or partners who manage sponsored events. We will never sell or share your personal information with organisations so that they can contact you for marketing activities.
However, we may be required to disclose information to third parties if we fear that you, a child or vulnerable adult are at immediate risk of serious harm. In addition, we may also be required to disclose information to the police or other government officials in connection with the investigation of a crime, mandatory reporting laws, fraud, intellectual property infringement, or other activity that is illegal, or may expose us, or you, to liability.
How long we hold your information for
We only keep your information as long as is reasonable and necessary for the relevant activity, which may be to fulfil statutory obligations (for example, the collection of Gift Aid).
If you have asked us to contact you in connection with training opportunities or consultations for example, we will always provide the opportunity for you to opt out of these communications. We will also contact you annually to check whether you are still interested in such information.
24/7 Rape and Sexual Abuse Supportline
If you access the 24/7 Rape and Sexual Abuse Supportline, we try to capture as little personally identifiable information about you as possible.
Phone calls
During a phone call, the call handler does not have access to your phone number.
If you do not withhold your phone number (by dialling “141” before the rest of the number), your phone number will be processed and recorded by our call handling system. We may be able to retrieve this number if required to in certain circumstances – for example, if a named child is at risk of serious harm or abuse.
Web chats
During a chat, we do not have access to the IP address of the device you are using.
What you discuss during your session is captured as a written record (a ‘chat transcript’). We occasionally need to review these chat transcripts. This will only happen if we need to check the quality of the service being delivered, if you make a complaint, or if we are concerned about the wellbeing of a child or vulnerable adult during the chat.
All chat transcripts are automatically deleted after 28 days.
Our operators handlers record some information about what happened during your call or chat. This can include brief notes about what was discussed, the type of support provided and how long the call or chat lasted for.
We process and store this data so that we can provide an effective service, monitor service delivery, and provide anonymised and aggregated reports to our funders. Records do not contain the service user’s full name, phone number or contact details. We do not keep detailed case notes.
At the end of each session, you will be asked to voluntarily provide basic demographic information, such as your age, gender and ethnicity. Any information that you provide will not be seen by the operators and no personal information will be requested. This information is requested purely for monitoring and reporting purposes.
Please note that we may be required to report information should we believe a child or vulnerable adult be at risk of serious or immediate harm. If you disclose such circumstances, and provide information that could lead us to identify your name and location, we may have to record such information and provide it to the appropriate authorities.
Your rights
You have a right to ask for a copy of the information we hold about you, and to request that we correct, delete, or restrict your personal data. You can also object to, or withdraw your permission for us to process your information, which we will do unless it is necessary for the purpose you have provided it, such as processing your donation.
If you want to exercise any of these rights, send a description of your request (including the information you want to access, if applicable) and proof of your identity for the attention of the Data Controller, Rape Crisis England & Wales, Suite E4 Joseph’s Well, Hanover Walk, Leeds, LS3 1AB.
Alternatively, you can make a request by emailing rcewinfo@rapecrisis.org.uk – please note we may request further information if contacting via email to ensure we only provide information to the correct person.
Right to complain
If you are not happy about the way in which we are processing your personal data, please contact us at rcewinfo@rapecrisis.org.uk with your name, contact details and details of your complaint.
You also have the right to make a complaint to the UK Information Commissioner’s Office. Rape Crisis England & Wales (RCEW) is registered with the ICO under registration reference ZA331575.
Changes to this policy
This privacy policy was last updated on 27 October 2022. Any changes we may make to our privacy policy in the future will be posted on this page. Please check back frequently to see any updates or changes to our privacy statement.