Privacy Policy

Privacy

The Westminster Hub Privacy Policy

The Westminster Hub takes the privacy of its volunteers and supporters  seriously and adheres to all aspects of General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

Our full privacy policy is explained below, but the main points to note are:

• We will only ever ask for what we really need to know.
• We will collect and use the personal data that you share with us transparently, honestly and fairly.
• We will always respect your choices around the data that you share with us and the communication channels that you ask us to use.
• We will put appropriate security measures in place to protect the personal data that you share.
• We never sell, rent, or share your details without your consent
• You can visit our website without revealing identifying details such as your name, email or IP address according to our Cookies policy which you can access via our online contacts page. 

The data that we do hold is relative to your relationship with us.

By visiting our website, using our services or participating in our activities, you agree to your personal information being collected and used in the manner set out in this Privacy Policy as updated from time to time. When updated, should there be any material changes and/or changes that could negatively impact you we will make reasonable efforts to notify you in advance and give a reasonable period of time for you to object to such changes.

If you have any requests concerning your personal information or our practices, please contact our Data Protection Representative via : dataprotection@thewestminsterhub.com or complete our online form.

This Policy explains the privacy and the data protection practices about:

• Who we are
• Why we collect your data
• What personal information is collected
• Cookies
• How we use your information
• What information we disclose to other parties
• How long we store your data
• How you are in control
• Online security
• Links to other websites
• Changes to this Policy

Who we are

The Westminster Hub #WestminsterHub.

The Westminster Hub (#WestminsterHub) established in 2022,  is a not for profit organisation, we provide pro bono written and oral advocacy for residents in City of Westminster, cases that cover administrative, civil and land law pertaining to the United Kingdom. 

We also provide online workshops and educational content. All of our work is registered under IP law. Unless specified otherwise our work cannot be reused without permission.

Our organisation is run by volunteers primarily of the legal profession, comprising barristers, solicitors, academic lawyers and law students. We work on weekly basis, seeking to inform residents on important constitutional issues that will impact their day-to-day lives. The Westminster Hub is a small not for profit, with limited resources. 

We rely very heavily on the help – both practical and financial – from kind members of our community. Without that support we simply could not continue our work. In this policy, the words ‘We’, ‘Us’ or ‘Our’ refer to The Westminster Hub ‘the not for profit organisation.

The Westminster Hub is a not for profit organisation based in Westminster North.

Why we collect your data

Under law, we use a condition called ‘legitimate interest’ to process your data. We process your data in our legitimate interest to pursue the aims and ideals of  The Westminster Hub  through research, providing practical solutions and influencing policy makers for creating a fairer housing system, and fundraising through direct campaigns and events.

We determine that in you providing your personal data to us you do so to support the organisation. We will therefore process your data according to the way in which we have received your information as follows: –

• When you submit your personal information to us either via a donation, webform or printed form we will store that data in our database and record any activities that you undertake. We do this to enable us to maintain any preferences you have for receiving information from us and to ensure we suppress your contact when you have requested us to do so.
• If you join us as member we will use your data to manage your membership subscription and renewals, to keep you updated with our work and events via monthly newsletters and ad hoc emails.
• If you donate to us we will use your data to record and acknowledge your donation and to keep you informed of our work and future fundraising campaigns.

What personal information is collected?

We collect the following types of information:

Personal Information such as: name, postal address, telephone number, email address, card or bank details, etc. This is taken from the information you submit via registration forms, correspondence, phone calls, donations, Gift Aid declarations, etc.

Non-personal information such as: which web pages you visit, social media used, etc. This is captured using Cookies (see below for more information). We also use newsletter analytics which records which monitors the success of our emails and any click through’s. Also within this area are any preferences that you may have informed us of, such as how you want to hear from us and which aspects of the charity are of particular interest, etc.

Cookies

We use ‘cookies’ on our website to help us improve its look and feel. A cookie is a small text file which is placed on your hard drive whenever you visit a website. It collects statistics by tracking your movements and can also be used to identify when you return to a website. 

How we use your information

The Westminster Hub will process your data to administer the following items:

• Help deal with your enquiry, request or application.
• Process your membership or a donation.
• Provide further information about our work, activities or products by email or post.
• Seek your ideas and feedback, via research or surveys.
• Register and administer your conference or event participation.
• Use in-house tools to analyse who supports us or receives services from us and in what ways. Use the insight to improve our work, services, fundraising activities and communications.
• Provide a more personalised service, such as using your details, interests and behaviours to customise communications we may send you or the web pages you see.
• Provide it to a professional body if required by law or to comply with a legal process.
• Notify you about changes to our Service.

What information we disclose to other parties

We never sell, rent or share your details with other charities or companies for marketing purposes.

The only time your information is shared with other organisations is:

• Where you have given your permission for us to do so
• When we are obliged to do so by law such as sending your information to be checked against the Telephone Preference Service, or if contacted by the authorities with a reasonable request for information.
• To our third-party service providers, agents subcontractors and other associated organisations for the purposes of completing tasks and providing services to you on our behalf (for example to process your payments or send you mailings). These third parties have access to your Personal Information only to perform these specific tasks on our behalf and are obligated not to disclose or use it for any other purpose.

How you are in control

We will send you information about The Westminster Hub according to any preferences you submitted: by phone, post or email. You can alter your preferences by contacting us via our email: westminsterhub@gmail.com Wednesday to Friday 9am-5pm.

Please note, if you ask us not to contact you for marketing purposes, we will retain your details on our suppression list to ensure we do not accidentally contact you in the future. We will usually inform you (before collecting your data) if we intend to use your data for such purposes or if we intend to disclose your information to any third party for such purposes.

You are in control of the data we hold about you and at any time you can request:

• to have any inaccuracies in your personal data corrected
• to restrict the data held about you
• to have a copy of the personal data held about you
• to have your data deleted

Whilst we will endeavour to adhere to your wishes we may not be able to delete your data if there is a legal obligation to retain it, this includes where financial data must be retained for six years or where data must be retained to enable us to defend our legal rights. We will inform you of the basis of any such decision not to delete your data as appropriate.

If you are unhappy about how your personal data is managed you can raise a concern or complaint with the Information Commissioner, telephone: 0303 123 1113 website: www.ico.org.uk

We may request proof of identity to be able to fulfil your request.

How long we keep your information for

If you support our organisation by becoming a volunteer, donating, attending an event or signing up to our mailing list, we will keep you details in our database for six years after your last activity. This is so that if you reconnect with us, we will have history of how you have supported us in the past.

In the event that you ask us to stop sending you direct marketing/fundraising/other electronic communications, we will keep your name on our internal suppression list to ensure that you are not contacted again.

We review our retention periods for personal information on a regular basis. We are legally required to hold some types of information to fulfil our statutory obligations (for example the collection of Gift Aid).

Online security

We endeavour to ensure that there are appropriate and proportionate technical and organisational measures to prevent the loss, destruction, misuse, alteration, unauthorised disclosure or of access to your personal information.

Your information is only accessible by appropriately trained staff, volunteers and contractors.

The security of your Personal Information is important to us but remember that no method of transmission over the Internet, or method of electronic storage is 100% secure. While we strive to use commercially acceptable means to protect your Personal Information, we cannot guarantee its absolute security. As such we make no warranties as to the level of security afforded to your data, except that we will always act in accordance with the relevant UK and EU legislation.

Otherwise than as set out in this Privacy Policy, we will only ever share your data with your informed consent.

Links to other websites

Our website may contain information linked to or provided by other companies (such as third party events, etc). They are outside of our control and not covered by this Privacy Policy. Please be aware that, should you access other sites using the links provided, the operators of these sites may have a privacy policy which differs from our own.

We do not accept any responsibility or liability for such privacy policies. Please check the relevant policies before you submit any personal data to these websites.

Changes to this policy

We keep this Policy under regular review. The Westminster Hub reserves the right to modify its website and/or this Privacy Policy at any time.

It was last updated May 2023