Merton Connected privacy policy

We are responsible for the protection of information about the people we deal with and their privacy.  This document explains explains how we do that and your rights.

Personal information

We need information about you to provide you with services.  Any information that can be used to identify you is known as ‘personal information’.

Always when dealing with personal information, we:

  1. Collect it from you in a transparent manner
  2. Use it fairly
  3. Store it securely
  4. Delete it when it is no longer required
  5. Handle any complaints thoroughly.  

What kind of information

Information we ask you for may include your name, address, email address and phone number.  If you approach us as a member of an organisation, we may ask you for information including the organisation’s name, address, telephone number and website.  If we need to make a payment to you, we will need your bank account details.

We process this kind of personal information on the basis of what the law calls ‘legitimate interests’.  This means it helps us achieve our mission and objectives, including: ‘A thriving Merton community where people’s lives are enriched by voluntary and community action’ by ‘inspiring and developing an excellent voluntary and community sector’.

If you do not wish to provide this information, please let us know.  In some cases, we may not be able to provide you with the service you seek we will tell you this at the time.

What we do with your information

Some examples of why how we process information about you are to:

  1. Help us deliver the right service to you
  2. Help us improve our services and better fulfil our mission and objectives
  3. Ensure efficient and accurate administration of any requests you have
  4. Process any payments you are entitled to from us
  5. Take any payments that we are entitled from you
  6. Manage any complaint you may have
  7. Prevent and tackle fraud and ensure all our volunteers and partner organisations are legitimate
  8. Conduct market research, either ourselves or through reputable agencies
  9. Send you communications you wish to receive and invite you to meetings
  10. Fulfil legal duties: for example, complying with Charity Commission regulations
  11. Carry out anonymous statistical analysis which enables us to provide better services to the wider community, and support funding applications.

Protected characteristics

We are bound by law not to discriminate against people for reasons such as age, ethnic origin, religion and disability.  We may ask you additional questions about yourself to monitor our services, and ensure they tackle discrimination and inequality.  This is called ‘protected characteristics’ information.

You do not have to give us this type of information.  We need your consent.  This consent must be in writing (except in defined circumstances in which you have asked us to speak about your health urgently on the phone).

How long do we keep information

We will keep your personal information only as long as is required in law, by our funders or to serve you.  We will destroy it securely after a pre-determined period.

How we ensure your information is safe

We take security measures to protect your information including:

  1. Limiting access to our building to those entitled to be there (by use of receptionist and locks on all doors)
  2. Implementing access controls to our information technology, such as firewalls, individual IDs and passwords, and logical segmentation and/or physical separation of our systems and information
  3. Sending personal information only in password-protected formats
  4. Not permitting sharing of passwords
  5. Transferring paper-based records to secure IT systems as soon as possible and then destroying the paper record
  6. Limiting access to paper-based information to only those who need to see it.

Who do we share information with?

We do not share information about protected characteristics with anyone except in statistical form in which no individual can be identified.  This is only for the purposes of accounting for the performance of our services and improving the patterns of services delivered.

We may share information such as your name and address with organisations that are likely to deliver a service to you referred by us.  This is carried out under our instruction.  When we enter into contracts with service providers, we require them to comply with data protection laws and ensure that they have appropriate controls in place to secure personal information.

What does this policy cover?
This policy covers all websites operated by Merton Connected.

Your acceptance of this policy
By using our websites, social media pages, and services, or by providing your information, you consent to our collection and use of the information you provide in the way(s) set out in this policy. If you do not agree with this policy, please refrain from using our sites, social media pages, or services.

We may make changes to this policy from time to time. If so, we will post the changes on this page and they will apply from the time we post them. This policy was last updated on 8th October 2024.

Personal Data
Personal data is information that can be used to help identify an individual, such as a name, address, phone number, or email address.

This policy applies to all the websites Merton Connected operates, our use of emails for marketing purposes, and any other methods we use for collecting information. It covers what we collect and why, what we do with the information, what we will not do with the information, and what rights you have.

Digital information we collect and why we collect it
We will only ever collect the information we need, including data that will be useful to help improve our services. We collect two types of information:

  • Non-personal information, such as IP addresses (the location of the computer on the internet), pages accessed, and files downloaded. This helps us determine how many people use our sites, how many visit regularly, and how popular our pages are. This information does not tell us anything about who you are or where you live. It simply allows us to monitor and improve our service.
  • Personal information, such as your name, postal address, phone number, email address, information about your interests, etc.

We collect this information in connection with specific activities, such as newsletter subscriptions, unsubscribes, website traffic, feedback forms, social media interaction etc. The information is either needed to fulfil your request for information or to enable us to provide you with a more personalised service. You do not have to disclose any of this information to browse the sites. However, if you choose to withhold requested information (e.g. on a feedback or sign up form), we may not be able to provide you with certain services.

Subscriptions to Our Newsletter
When you subscribe to our newsletter, you agree to receive occasional communications from us. You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the 'unsubscribe' link found at the bottom of every email. We respect your choice and will promptly remove you from our mailing list if you no longer wish to receive our communications.

Cookies that we use
Cookies are small files that are stored on a user's computer. They are designed to hold a modest amount of data specific to a particular client and/or website.

The cookies that we use include:

PHPSESSID: A general-purpose identifier used to maintain user session variables.
_gid: Associated with Google Universal Analytics, it stores and updates a unique value for each page visited.
_ga: Also associated with Google Universal Analytics, it is used to distinguish unique users by assigning a randomly generated number as a client identifier. This cookie expires after two years by default, though it can be customised.
What if you do not want to accept cookies?
If you wish to restrict or block the cookies set by any website, including those run by Merton Connected, you should do this through the browser settings for each browser you use, on each computer or device you use to access the internet. Please note that some of our services may not function properly if your browser does not accept cookies. However, you can allow cookies from specific websites by making them "trusted websites" in your internet browser. For more information on managing cookies, you may visit www.allaboutcookies.org.

What do we do with the information?
We will use the information you provide to:

  • Fulfil your requests, such as applications for membership, free trials, or provision of information.
  • Process sales transactions or other payments and verify financial transactions.
  • Identify visitors and contributors.
  • Provide a personalised service to you when you visit our websites.
  • Record any contact we have with you.
  • Prevent or detect fraud or abuses of our websites and enable third parties to carry out technical, logistical, or other functions on our behalf.
  • Communicate with our subscribers and interested parties.
  • Provide you with information that we think may be of interest to you, if you have agreed to it.
  • Using your information to contact you

Merton Connected may occasionally contact you with information we believe may be relevant to you. We will only contact you if you have subscribed to our newsletter, volunteer platform or one of our networks/forums.

By requesting a subscription or joining one of our networks/forums, you have indicated your interest in our services, and we have a legitimate interest in keeping you informed. The information we provide may include marketing information relating to our events, funding or volunteering opportunities.

If you do not wish to be contacted, you can opt out by emailing us at info@mertonconnected.org.uk.