Privacy policy

At the Helen Arkell Dyslexia Charity, we want to be completely transparent about why we need the personal information we request when you use our services and support us and how we will use it. Developing a better understanding of our clients and supporters through their personal information allows us to make better decisions, communicate more efficiently and ultimately helps us to meet our charitable aims.

We are totally committed to protecting your information and using it responsibly. Please read our policy carefully to understand how we collect, use and store your information.

The processing of your information is carried out by or on behalf of Helen Arkell Dyslexia Charity.

Helen Arkell Dyslexia Charity is a registered charity in England and Wales (1064646) and a registered company in England and Wales (3432423).

Contacting us:

If you have any questions about this privacy policy and how we use your information you can contact us by writing to us at:

Helen Arkell Dyslexia Charity
24 West Street
Farnham
Surrey GU9 7DR

Or

By emailing us at enquiries@helenarkell.org.uk or by calling us on 01252 792 400.

1. Why we use your information

1.1 We will only use your information where we have a legal basis to do so and will always respect your rights.

1.2 Where we use your information, it may be because you have consented to us doing so or because we consider we have a legitimate interest to do so. Where we do rely on a legitimate interest to use your information, we will always ensure that this is done in a way so as not to be intrusive or cause distress, and that respects your rights. Other reasons may include using information because we have a legal obligation to do so or because we have to fulfil contractual obligations.

Some examples can be found below:

You have given us your consent to use the information for a specified purpose, such as sending you our e-newsletter.

We have a legal obligation to use your information, for example to claim Gift Aid.

We need to use your information to fulfil a contract with you, such as providing you with dyslexia support, but this is unlikely to apply to you if you support us through donations or volunteering.

We are using your information in pursuit of a legitimate interest, for example:

• To pursue our charitable purpose to deliver our mission and vision [link to vision page

• To raise vital funds for our work

• To ensure we meet our regulatory requirements as a charity

• To manage our ongoing relationship with our supporters and anyone we work with

• To manage our financial transactions and prevent fraud

2. How we use your information to fulfil your requests and support you

2.1 To respond to or fulfil any requests for service or information, complaints or queries you make to us. If you contact us directly, we will use the information you give to us to handle your enquiry or request for service or information. This may include responding to your query or feedback, or sending you relevant information, such as dyslexia/SpLD information or service specific documentation or fundraising materials. We may also keep a record of conversations we have with you, feedback you provide and any marketing materials we send out to you. This can help us to handle queries more efficiently.

2.2 To process any donations you make, claim any relevant Gift Aid and maintain a record of your past or potential future financial contributions. This includes keeping a record of any pledges, gift agreements or any other indications that you are planning to donate to Helen Arkell Dyslexia Charity. We keep a record of any donations we receive for audit purposes, and as we are legally required to keep information related to Gift Aid. We may need to use your information to prevent fraud.

2.3 To provide you with information and support for any events, fundraising and campaigning activities or volunteering opportunities you sign up to. If you have completed a form to register or enquire about an event or activity, or to sign up to one of our campaigns, we will consider this as a request to send you details about the event, activity or campaign. When you take part in one of our projects, we will use your details to contact you in relation to your role or activity and to provide you with information on the progress of that project.

Where you provide contact details, we will provide information and support by email, post or phone depending on the contact preferences you provided. When you have asked for details of an event, we will send you information including, where relevant, ideas for fundraising and reminders on key information about the activity.

Where appropriate, we will use the information you provide to identify any help we can offer, specific to the activity you have signed up for and to provide necessary information to event organisers. Where this includes information about your dyslexia, special learning difficulty (SpLD) or other sensitive information, we will only use this information if you have consented to us doing so.

We may also receive information through event organisers or through third party websites such as JustGiving so we know you are fundraising for us.

2.4 To manage our recruitment

When applying for a role with Helen Arkell; directly to us, via our website or through a recruitment agency the personal data you provide as part of the recruitment process will only be held and processed for the purpose of the selection processes of Helen Arkell Dyslexia Charity and in connection with any subsequent employment unless otherwise indicated. By submitting your personal information, you are consenting to Helen Arkell Dyslexia Charity holding and using it. You will be asked to provide certain information including your name, contact details, employment history and qualifications. This information is mandatory in order for Helen Arkell Dyslexia Charity to consider your application, communicate with you about your application and where successful, follow up with references or meet our statutory and internal monitoring and reporting responsibilities. We may also view social media profiles of applicants, such as LinkedIn, to the extent that it is relevant to your application. Unsuccessful applicant data will be held confidentially within the recruitment system for a period of two years before it is deleted in order that we can respond to statutory reporting requests.

2.5 To administer our research funding

Where professionals interact with Helen Arkell’s research department, we maintain a database of contact details, and where appropriate areas of scientific interest and qualifications as well as a record of opinions and peer-reviews provided by independent reviewers. This may include recording information such as contact details, job details and professional qualifications. We may find these details through industry guides, institution websites and publicly available databases such as ResearchGate and PubMed Central. We use the personal details supplied for the purposes of administering those relationships, including keeping such professionals informed about our research work, funding opportunities and events, and for the purposes of analysing the demographic characteristics of these professionals.

3. How we use your information to tell you about our work

3.1 To send you marketing communications by email, where you have agreed to receive this. Where you have provided an email and consented to being contacted in this way, we will send you information by email covering ways to give or raise money for us, to campaign for us, to volunteer for us, updates on dyslexia information, on our research and on our wider work. This may include promoting the work of a partner organisation that we believe will benefit us and our charitable cause.

3.2 To contact you by phone and post

Where it is appropriate and relevant, and you have provided us with a telephone number or a postal address, we may occasionally call or write to you to tell you about ways to give or raise money for us, to campaign for us, to volunteer for us, updates on health information, on our research and on our wider work. We do this as we consider it is a legitimate interest to promote our charitable cause and communicate with you about ways you can support us. We will not contact you by phone for marketing purposes if your number is registered with the Telephone Preference Service, unless you have agreed to receive calls from us. Likewise, we will not contact you if you register with the Fundraising Preference Service.

3.3 To manage your contact preferences

You can tell us to stop contacting you, or change the way in which we do so, by getting in touch with us using the details in the Contact us section [link]. We will keep a record of any requests to stop receiving marketing from us to ensure that we do not communicate with you in the future, unless you tell us you want to hear from us again.

3.4 To make sure we speak to you in way that is relevant to you, and to understand our supporters more broadly.

We try to ensure that our communications are as effective as possible so that we make the best use of the money we spend on them. This means communicating with people in different ways, appropriate to them.

On occasion, we will use information you have given us directly, for example the record of your previous donations to us and the type of activity you have been involved with, to tailor our communications with you about future activities. We will also use information about how you use our website or interact with our emails so we can make them more effective.

3.5 Use any images, videos of, or other information if you tell us about something you have done for Helen Arkell Dyslexia Charity.

If you share information about the fundraising or campaigning activities you have done for us, or your personal experiences, by post, email or over social media, we may want to use this to help us promote our events and activities in the future. We will obtain the necessary permission to use this information.

3.6 To undertake our campaigning activity

We maintain a record of information related to MPs and other holders of public office, to enable us to undertake our campaigning activity to improve our clients experience and to help reach our charitable goal. This will include keeping a record of contact details such as address, telephone number and email address as well as publicly available voting records and committee and group memberships.

4. Keeping your details up to date

4.1 We will use publicly available sources to ensure that the information we hold is accurate and up to date. For example, where you have signed up for a redirection service, we will use the Post Office’s National Change of Address database to keep in touch. We may use other services to cross-check the accuracy of the contact details we hold for you.

4.2 You can let us know if you move house or your details change by contacting us.

5. What we do if you choose to tell us about your experience of dyslexia or other SpLD

5.1 Where you have provided information about your experience of dyslexia or other SpLD, including through a survey, focus group, questionnaire, or when we are talking to you by phone or email, we will explain what the information will be used for and whether it will be held anonymously or not. If the information will be held in a way that could be connected to you personally, we will ask your permission to store and use what you tell us.

5.2 We will use this information for the purposes explained to you at the time of collection. For example, to better understand the issues that are important to our supporters which helps shape our communications and activities. We may compare statistics related to our supporters to information about the general population, to help our understanding.

5.3 Where you provide more detailed information, we may want to use this in our communications including PR and media activity, digital and social media, campaigning, fundraising materials and internal communications, to help us raise awareness of dyslexia and other SpLDs and the issues effecting individuals. We would never use your story without obtaining your consent first. If a suitable opportunity arises for us to use the information you have given us, we will contact you to discuss the use of your story in further detail. We will fully explain how we would like to use your information, and get in touch with you each time we would like to use it outside of the organisation, so that we may obtain your fully informed consent.

5.4 Where you have given appropriate consent, we will use information about your dyslexia/SpLD experience to send you communications which are relevant to your current situation; to better support you in an activity you are doing for us; or to ensure that we do not send you any communications or ask you to take part in any activity that would not be appropriate.

6. Sharing your information with other organisations

6.1 We will never share your information with third parties for their own purposes, unless this is explained to you at the time we collect your information, you give us your permission to, or we are legally required to do so. For example, we are legally required to provide your data to HMRC if you have agreed to us claiming Gift Aid on your behalf.

6.2 We may also use suppliers known as ‘data processors’ to process data on our behalf, for example, to send out mailings. When enlisting the services of such suppliers we ensure that they are under a contractual obligation to only use your information in accordance with our instructions and for no other purposes.

7. Transferring your information outside the EEA

7.1 Sometimes organisations who work on our behalf may manage information outside the EEA. In those circumstances, we will make sure that we have a valid reason for doing so under current Data Protection Legislation.

8. How long we keep your information

8.1 As a general rule, if you have received a service from us, we will hold your information for a period of up to six years from the end of your relationship with the charity in accordance with our data retention policy. In some circumstances, this will be longer, for example, assessment test results and reports for individuals under age 16 are held until their 24^th birthday. If you would like to know how long we will hold any specific information, then please contact us and we can provide further details.

9. Your rights

9.1 Under the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) you have the following rights:

Information Right – the right to receive the information contained in this policy and our data collection forms about the way we process your personal data.

Personal Data Access Right – the right to know that we are processing your personal data and, in most circumstances, to have a copy of the personal data of yours that we hold. You can also ask for certain other details such as what purpose we process your data for and how long we hold it.

Personal Data Correction Right – You have the right to request that we correct inaccurate data or complete incomplete data that we hold on you.

Personal Data Erasure Right – Known as the Right to be forgotten. In certain circumstances you may request that we erase your personal data held by us.

Personal Data Restriction Right – You have the right to restrict the way we process your personal data in certain circumstances, for example: if you contest the accuracy of the data, if our processing is unlawful, to pursue legal claims, where we are relying on legitimate interests to process data.

Data Processing Objection Right – You have the right to object to us processing your data for (i) direct marketing purposes (ii) scientific or historical research or statistical purposes and (iii) purposes of profiling related to direct marketing or based on our legitimate interests or on the performance of a task in the public interest

Data Portability Right – you have the right to receive a copy of certain personal data or to have it transferred to another organisation in some circumstances.

9.2 Right to Withdraw Consent at any time
Where we use your personal information based on your prior consent, such information about your health, or where you have given us permission to send you marketing communications by email, mobile messaging and by direct message on social media, you can withdraw your consent at any time by contacting us.

10. Complaints

10.1 If you have any complaints about how we handle your personal data, please contact us so we can resolve the issue, where possible. Read more about how to make a complaint . You also have the right to lodge a complaint about any use of your information with the Information Commissioners Office, the UK data protection regulator. Where you have a complaint about the way in which we have used your personal information in our fundraising, you can also complain to the Fundraising Regulator.

11. How we keep your information secure

11.1 We take such measures as are appropriate to ensure the confidentiality, integrity and availability of systems, which are regularly independently tested and reviewed.

12. Changes to the privacy policy

12.1 We may update this policy to reflect changes in how we use your information. You may wish to check this policy each time you provide Helen Arkell Dyslexia Charity with your information. Where appropriate, we will provide you with notice of any significant changes to how we use your information.

13. Cookies

13.1 A ‘cookie’ is a small element of data that a web site like helenarkell.org.uk can store on your system. Helen Arkell uses cookies throughout the site to improve the user experience. The data stored within this cookie contains no personal information about you.

Last updated 28 May 2020