Privacy Policy

Our contact details                                   

Unite Professionals Ltd
17a High Park Place
Southport
PR9 7QP
Tel: 01704 508777
Email: DataProtection@uniteprofessionals.co.uk

The type of personal information we collect

We currently collect and process the following information:

• Personal information. This is any information that can be used to identify a living person. This includes your name, address and contact details, health data, customer financial information, and employee data.
• We also collect website data in the form of cookies.

According to data protection law, personal data refers to information relating to living, natural persons who:

• can be identified or who are identifiable, directly from the information in question; or
• can be indirectly identified from that information in combination with other information.

The information must also ‘relate to’ the identifiable individual for it be personal data. Data can reference an identifiable individual and not be personal data about that individual, as the information does not relate to them.

What we do with the information we gather

We require this information to understand your needs and provide you with a better service, and for the following reasons:

• internal record keeping
• to improve our products and services
• to customise the website according to your interests

According to data protection law, organisations do not always require your consent to process your personal data. Processing can include, amongst other things, disclosing or disseminating personal data to third parties, who may be providing a specific service to the organisation. These third parties are known as ‘processors’ under data protection law.

Cookies

You can choose to accept or decline cookies from our website.

A cookie is a small file which is placed on your device when you visit a website. The file is added, and the cookie helps analyse web traffic or lets you know when you visit a particular page. Cookies help us provide you with a better website by tailoring the website operations to your needs and to respond to you as an individual user such as identifying which pages you find useful and which you do not. Such a cookie in no way gives us access to your computer or any information about you, other than the data you choose to share with us.

• We use traffic log cookies to identify which pages are being used. This helps us analyse data about web page traffic and improve our website to tailor it to customer needs. We only use this information for statistical analysis purposes and does not identify you individually.
• Note also that third party cookies might be downloaded onto your device because of your use of this website, for example if you were to send information from this website to your social media account your account may require the use of such cookies to enable this transfer to take place. These cookies are not under our control, and we refuse any responsibility for the acts of third-party cookies. 

How we get your personal information and why we collect it

Most of the personal information we process is provided to us by you for one of the following reasons:

• you (or your insurer or legal representative, with consent) have asked us to provide you with health care and treatment, and client management services.
• you have made an information request to us directly.
• you are representing your organisation.
• an employee of ours gives your contact details as an emergency contact or a referee.

We also receive personal information indirectly, from the following sources in the following scenarios:

• referrals from insurers
• referrals from solicitors
• referrals from Deputies

We use the information that you have given us to enable us to provide you with health care treatments and services, for case managers to contact you, and to enable those organisations who are providing you with care and treatments to contact you.

We may share this information with third party health care providers but will always ask you (or your representatives) for your consent to do this. Where you are unable to grant consent, we will need demonstrable evidence of an authority to act (such as but not limited to a Power of Attorney, Deputy, Litigation Friend, or Letter of Authority).

Lawful Bases

Unite Professionals can use your personal information, including sharing it with processors, without consent if we have a valid reason. These reasons are known in law as a ‘lawful basis’, and there are six lawful bases organisations can use. Under the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UKGDPR), the lawful bases we rely on for processing this information are:

• Your consent.
• Contractual obligation.
• Legal/statutory obligation.
• Vital interest.
• Legitimate interest.

How we store your personal information

Your personal information is securely stored electronically, and in some instances paper copies will be kept in a secure, locked location but only for as long as we need them, in accordance with our Data Retention Policy. We will then dispose of this information by secure waste disposal, and electronically, at the end of the data retention period.

Unite Professionals will not sell, distribute, or lease your personal information to third parties unless we have your explicit permission or are required to do so by law. We may use your personal information to send you promotional information about third parties which we think you may find interesting if you tell us that you wish this to happen.

Your data protection rights

You are not required to pay any charge for exercising your data protection rights, including making a subject access request (SAR).

Under data protection law, you have rights including:

Your right of access – You have the right to ask us for copies of your personal information.

Your right of rectification – You have the right to ask us to rectify personal information you think is inaccurate. You also have the right to ask us to complete information you think is incomplete.

Your right of erasure – You have the right to ask us to erase your personal information in certain circumstances.

Your right to restriction of processing – You have the right to ask us to restrict the processing of your personal information in certain circumstances.

Your right to object to processing – You have the the right to object to the processing of your personal information in certain circumstances.

Your right to data portability – You have the right to ask that we transfer the personal information you gave us to another organisation, or to you, in certain circumstances.

Subject Access Requests (SAR)

If you make a SAR to Unite Professionals or exercise another data protection right, we will respond to you within one calendar month. If we need an extension to this one calendar month timeframe (for example, if there is a significant amount of data to filter or redact), we will contact you within that first calendar month to inform you of this.

Whilst data protection law requires that organisations respond to a SAR and provide individuals with the information they are entitled to, this does not mean that they will always receive all the information they expected. Unite Professionals may refuse to give you some or all the information you requested, particularly if the SAR also includes the personal information of others. A SAR is only intended to provide access to personal data about an applicant and not to the entire document or documents in which your data may be contained. Therefore, it may be the case that you receive only a redacted or summary version of a particular document, or for it to be declined altogether by us if this cannot be done.

The UKGDPR does not require Unite Professionals to create new information in relation to a SAR, such as to provide explanations for our action or inaction, or to create new information to answer a request.

If you wish to make a SAR to Unite Professionals to aid a legal claim, the courts have specified that the UKGDPR and/or Data Protection Act 2018 is not a suitable mechanism for people to try to obtain information they need for legal proceedings. The courts refer people needing information for legal proceedings to the Court Procedure Rules of Disclosure under which the parties to legal proceedings (including employment tribunals) can demand from the other party information that they intend to rely on in the proceedings. This process is normally administered by the Clerk to the court/tribunal and is separate from the Data Protection framework.

Subject Access Request for a Child

If you have made a SAR to us for information about your son/daughter, although you are allowed to make a request on his/her behalf the information is still theirs and so Unite Professionals must consider several factors to help us decide if we can give it to you. These include:

• Age (i.e., are they 13 years old or over)?
• Do any court orders about parental access or responsibility apply?
• What duty of confidence is owed to the child or young person?
• What are the consequences of allowing those with parental responsibility access to the child’s or young person’s information?
• Is there any detriment to the child or young person if individuals with parental responsibility cannot access this information?
• Does the child or young person have any views on whether their parents should have access to information about them?

Special rules also apply where providing access to information about social services and related activities would be likely to prejudice the carrying out of social work by causing serious harm to the physical or mental health or condition of the requester or any other person. If disclosing this information would be likely to cause such harm, the information does not have to be provided.

Data Breaches

The UKGDPR introduces a duty on all organisations to report personal data breaches to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) unless it is unlikely to result in a risk to the rights and freedoms of individuals. Unite Professionals must do this within 72 hours of becoming aware of the breach, where feasible, and we must also keep a record of any personal data breaches, regardless of whether we are required to notify the ICO.

How to contact us

Please contact Unite Professionals at DataProtection@uniteprofessionals.co.uk if you wish to make a SAR or exercise your data protection rights. Whilst no cost is involved, Unite Professionals will require you to provide us with proof of identification and consent. Whilst we are happy to receive requests from individuals on behalf of someone else, we will need to have proof that:

• the individual is specifically authorised by an individual to request information from Unite Professionals (such as a letter giving them express authority to do so), or
• the individual has legal authority to make that request on behalf of an individual (such as power of attorney).

Unite Professionals may not respond to data protection enquiries where we have already responded and have no new information or advice to offer, or where the request is manifestly unfounded or excessive.

If you have any concerns about our use of your personal information, or if you wish to exercise your data protection rights, please contact us at DataProtection@uniteprofessionals.co.uk.

Once you have initially given us a chance to put things right, if you remain dissatisfied you can then contact the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) to seek their view on the matter.

The ICO’s address is:

Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF

Helpline number: 0303 123 1113
ICO website: https://www.ico.org.uk