Introduction

Merseyside Asbestos Victims Support Group (“MAVS”) collects and uses certain personal information about you. This privacy notice tells you what to expect when MAVS collects personal information.

We ask that you read this privacy notice carefully as it contains important information on:

  • who we are;
  • how and why we collect, store, use and share your personal information;
  • how and why we may collect, store, use and share your photograph;
  • your rights in relation to the personal information we hold about you; and
  • how to contact us and supervisory authorities in the event you have a complaint.

Our data protection registration number is ZA331971.

When we collect and use personal information about you, we are regulated under UK Data Protection legislation and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) which applies across the European Union. The GDPR will continue to apply to how we collect and use your personal information after the UK leaves the European Union in 2019. We are responsible as ‘controller’ of that personal information for the purposes of those laws.

The personal information we collect and use

When you make an enquiry to us via our website, on social media, in person, by email, letter or telephone we collect the following personal information when you provide it to us:

  • contact information including email address and telephone numbers;
  • other information relevant to your enquiry including:
    • personal details;
    • family details (including, where provided, details of your next of kin);
    • lifestyle and social circumstances;
    • membership details;
    • goods and services;
    • financial details;
    • education and employment details;
    • details of any legal claims relating to your asbestos related condition.

Some of the personal information you provide us is likely to be of a sensitive personal nature, including information relating to your physical and mental health, racial/ethnic origin and/or religious or other beliefs. This is known as “special category data”. When we collect this, we take precautions to ensure it is used and stored securely, as set out further below.

We have the appropriate security in place to prevent personal data we hold being accidentally or deliberately compromised.

The technical measures we implement include :- Ensuring doors, locks and protection of both premises and information are of high quality and regularly maintained. Controlled access to premises and recorded supervision of visitors. Disposal of paper and electronic waste is securely managed and monitored. Ongoing review and updating of cyber security.

We carefully consider and can justify how long we keep personal data. We regularly review our information and erase or anonymise personal data when it is no longer needed to advance your interests.

We have appropriate processes in place to comply with individuals requests for erasure. By providing your details to us, you are requesting us to provide voluntary services and/or advice to you in accordance with our charitable objectives.

How we use your personal information Whilst carrying out our work for you

In providing our voluntary services to you, we will use your personal information:

  • to assess whether we can provide services to you;
  • to provide voluntary advisory services to you; and
  • for the purposes of internal record keeping.

We may also use your personal information:

  • to respond to claims, exercise and defend our legal rights; and
  • help us improve our services.

We will use and store your information for the purposes of providing our voluntary services to you for the duration of our work for you. We will take your specific consent to the use of your personal information for these purposes when we first meet with you or as soon as reasonably practicable thereafter. It is only your consent which enables us to use your personal data lawfully for this purpose. Subject to your consent to use your personal information for the further purposes set out below, your consent will come to an end once we complete our work for you.

You are free to refuse your consent to our processing your data for this purpose. However, should you do so, we will not be able to offer our services to you as we will be unable to process your personal information to enable us to do our work for you. You may withdraw your consent at any time.

After we have completed our work for you

Our work involves assisting those with asbestos related diseases in claims for welfare benefits, evidence gathering for legal claims and related matters. Asbestos related diseases have a long latency period and it can be very difficult for victims to demonstrate where and when they have been exposed to the asbestos which may have caused their ill-health. Over many years, we have accumulated a unique and valuable archive of client files and data about asbestos victims and asbestos related activities in the local area.

In many cases, the information we have retained in respect of previous clients has been of considerable assistance in our work for subsequent clients. In some circumstances, the information we have retained about former clients has meant we have been able to contact them later down the line to seek their assistance in the cases of other victims/their families in similar situations by, for example, providing evidence in support of claims.

In carrying out our work for you, it is possible that you may benefit in a similar way from the personal information we hold about our previous clients who have also been victims of asbestos related diseases.

How we use your photograph whilst carrying out our work for you

In providing our voluntary services to you, we will use your photograph:

  • For the purpose of publicity and promotional materials, including advertising material and printed publications. 
  • Presentation and exhibition materials.
  • Websites, social media channels and digital communications materials, including advertising material and printed publications.
  • News media and their associated websites, social media channels, print publications, television, and radio. 

We may also use your photograph:

  • To share with family members in the future, if permission is given prior. 
  • To serve as a graphic image to the written details we hold on you.
  • To put a face to the victims of Asbestos Related Diseases. 

 

Consent to retain your personal information for the purposes of assisting our other clients

In order to be able to continue to develop this valuable evidential resource to assist other asbestos victims / their families, we would like to retain any relevant personal information you give us about these issues after we have completed our work for you. If you give your consent to this, on completion of our work for you, we will review your file and destroy any personal information we do not need so that we retain as little personal information as possible about you whilst making the evidential resource as useful as possible to others. We will also contact you directly if the personal information we hold about you is likely to be of use in support of our work for another client and seek your specific consent to its use for that purpose.

It is only your consent which enables us to use your personal data lawfully for this purpose. We are happy to discuss this matter with you further before you give your consent should you wish. To process your personal information in this way, we will need your express consent in writing. If you are willing to consent, we can take your consent in writing at any time. Should you give your consent to our retaining your personal data for this purpose, you may withdraw your consent at any time.

You are also free to refuse to consent to our retaining your data for this purpose. Consent to retain your personal information for the purposes of educating the local community about the impact of asbestos related diseases and as a historical record in the public interest

As well as providing a valuable resource of direct help to our clients, the data we have collected over many years and continue to collect through our work is an important and, often, unique historical and educational resource about the impact of asbestos related disease in the local area. we have worked for some of those victims of asbestos who have brought some of the most significant legal cases relating to asbestos related disease. We also have an archive of information relating to some of the most unusual groups of sufferers of asbestos diseases, such as the “Bag Women” cases. We believe we have developed a unique archive and record of the impact of asbestos on our community and the local area. After we have finished our work for you, we would like to retain any personal information relevant to these issues to add them to our archive. If you give your consent to this, on completion of our work for you, we will review your file and destroy any personal information we do not need to retain for the purposes of the archive so that we retain as little personal information as possible.

It is only your consent which enables us to use your personal data lawfully for this purpose. We are happy to discuss this matter with you further before you give your consent should you wish. To process your personal information in this way, we will need your express consent in writing. If you are willing to consent, we can take your consent in writing at any time. Should you give your consent to our retaining your personal data for this purpose, you may withdraw your consent at any time.

You are also free to refuse to consent to our retaining your data for this purpose. Destroying your personal information once your consent has expired Once we have completed our work for you or if you later withdraw your consent for us to retain your personal information for the two further purposes set out above, we will retain your personal information for a period of six years before it is destroyed. We consider this a legitimate retention period taking into consideration applicable UK law.

Who we share your personal information with

If you become a client we may pass your personal data onto third parties in order to assist us to provide you with services, carry out research, investigate complaints or comply with legal obligations. For instance: the Department of Work and Pensions for purposes of welfare benefit applications; other asbestos victim support groups; law firms in pursuance of evidence gathering for legal claims and related matters; HMRC for application for work history records; NHS in relation to your asbestos related disease(s).

Third party organisations are obliged to keep your details securely and use them only to fulfil the service they provide you on our behalf. This data sharing enables us to provide an efficient and effective service to you. Like us, they are obliged to hold and dispose of your personal information in line with data protection legislation.

As set out above under “How we use your personal information”, MAVS may also share your personal information with other clients if it considers it to be in the interests of those clients. However, we will only ever do so with your express consent.

MAVS may disclose personal information if required to do so by law or if we believe such an action is necessary to protect and defend the rights, property and personal safety of our staff/volunteers/trustees, the charity’s name and its website.

Further information about how your personal information is processed

To understand further how your own personal information is processed, in addition to this privacy notice, you may need to refer to any personal communications you have received from us. You can also contact us to ask about your personal circumstances.

Your rights

You have a number of rights. If you want to exercise these rights the process is provided free of charge. In summary, those include the following:

  • the right to be informed about the collection and use of your personal information;
  • the right to access your personal information;
  • the right to require us to correct any mistakes in the information which we hold;
  • the right to erasure of personal information;
  • the right to restrict processing of your personal information;
  • the right to move, copy or transfer your personal information;
  • the right to object to direct marketing and to our processing your personal data (in certain circumstances only);

rights in relation to automated decision making and profiling.

For further information on each of those rights, including the circumstances in which they apply, see the Guidance from the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) on individual’s rights under the General Data Protection Regulation.

If you would like to exercise any of those rights, please:

  • email, call or write to our data office; Mrs. Georgina Mage see How to contact us;
  • let us have enough information to identify you (e.g. matter reference, full name, address); and
  • let us know the information to which your request relates, including any membership, client or reference numbers, if you have them.

Keeping your personal information secure

MAVS is committed to ensuring that your personal information (including any special category data you provide us) is secure. We have appropriate security measures in place to prevent personal information from being accidentally lost, or used or accessed in an unauthorised way. We limit access to your personal information to those who have a genuine need to know it to further our charitable work.

We also have procedures in place to deal with any suspected data security breach. We will notify you and any applicable regulator of a suspected data security breach where we are legally required to do so.

Changes to this privacy notice

This privacy notice was published in May 2018 and last updated on 18th June 2018. We may change this privacy notice from time to time. You should check this policy occasionally to ensure you are aware of the most recent version.

How to contact us

Please contact Georgina Magee, if you have any questions about this privacy notice or the information we hold about you.

You can contact us by email; info@mavsg.org write to Merseyside Asbestos Victim Support Group, Suite 50 Oriel Chambers, 14 Water Street, Liverpool L2 8TH, or call 0151 236 1895. The GDPR also gives you right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority, in particular in the European Union (or European Economic Area) state where you work, normally live or where any alleged infringement of data protection laws occurred. The supervisory authority in the UK is the Information Commissioner who may be contacted at https://ico.org.uk/concerns/ or telephone: 0303 123 1113.

Do you need extra help?

If you would like this notice in another format (for example large print) please contact us (see ‘How to contact us’ above).