Domestic abuse one stop shop privacy notice

London Borough of Waltham Forest Violence against Women and Girls (VAWG) team is committed to protecting your privacy.  This Privacy Notice explains what personal data we may collect, how we use it and how we ensure it is kept secure.

The domestic abuse one stop shop operates as a drop in surgery for anyone to seek advice and support around their safety, wellbeing and practical needs. No referrals or appointments are required and advice is free, confidential and offered at the four Family Hubs in the borough.

Information relating to people who are referred to our services for support is collected to enable us to make safe contact with them. This will include:

• Names
• Addresses
• Contact details
• Demographic/health information if this is available, in order to make contact to offer support.

Clients who accept support through the one stop shop may be asked for further information in order for us to provide the best possible support to them. This may include;

• Your date of Birth
• Details of your children including name, gender, date of birth, relationship to victim, relationship to perpetrator and address
• Your emergency contact details
• Your health information
• Perpetrators name, address, date of birth, gender

Consent will always be asked when collecting this information.

Personal data of high risk MARAC cases will be recorded on our system. Processing of this data is required in order for us to fulfil our official function as a MARAC partner.

We need to collect personal data to enable us to provide and facilitate support to victims of domestic abuse, to meet our obligations as members of various statutory review panels, and to raise awareness of domestic abuse in the wider community.

Processing is necessary to ensure anyone that who approaches the one stop shop is able to access support that meets their needs. It also enables workers to record any discussions held with service users and make referrals and signposts to other agencies where relevant.

In line with the data protection act 2018, we need a "lawful basis" for collecting and using information about you. There are a variety of different lawful bases for processing personal data which are set out in the data protection act.

The lawful bases on which we rely in order to use the information which we collect about you for the purposes set out in this notice will be:

Public Task: This means that the processing of your information is necessary for us to perform tasks set out in law.

Vital Interests: This means the processing is necessary to protect someone’s life.

The laws that allow us to collect and process your information are as follows;

• The Children’s Act 1989  part 3 places a statutory duty on health services, education services, and other services to help Local Authorities to carry out their social functions.
• The Children’s Act 1989 section 47 whereby all agencies have a duty to provide information in support of child enquiries.
• The Care Act 2014 section 42 applies where local authorities suspect an adult is experiencing or is at risk of, abuse or neglect.

When you ask to be referred to any services for help or support, we will rely on the following lawful basis:

Consent: You can give or withdraw consent for the London Borough of Waltham Forest to share your personal data at any time.  This will also be explained to you at the start of support.  There may be circumstances in which we cancel your consent, but the reasons for this will be always explained to you.

London Borough of Waltham Forest uses various other organisations and internal teams to help deliver support. These include:

• Early Help
• Children’s Social Care and MASH
• Adult Social Care
• Housing
• Youth Justice
• IDVA Service (current provider is Solace Women's Aid)
• Perpetrator Service (current provider is RISE)
• Metropolitan Police Service
• North East London NHS Foundation Trust (NELFT)
• Barts Health NHS Trust
• Community Health Service (Universal Services)
• Peabody Housing Association
• L&Q and East Thames Housing Association
• Friday Hill TMO Housing Association
• Refuge
• Ashiana Network
• Kiran Project
• Haven Survivors' Network
• Stay Safe East
• Victim Support
• National Probation Service (NPS)
• Community Rehabilitation Company (CRC)
• Change, Grow, Live (CGL)
• MARAC Coordinators

When we share personal information with another organisation will always have an agreement in place to ensure that they comply with all data protection laws.

We will not keep your information for any longer than is necessary. In line with our record retention schedule, we will retain your personal information for 6 years.

Our Data Protection Officer

Our Data Protection Officer is Mark Hynes, you contact him by email at data.protectionofficer@walthamforest.gov.uk

Protecting your information

Please see the relevant section of the Corporate Privacy Notice.

Your information choice and rights

Please see the relevant section of the Corporate Privacy Notice.

Complaints and contact details

These are included in the relevant section of the Corporate Privacy Notice.

Information Commissioner’s Office

If we’re unable to resolve your complaint to your satisfaction, you can complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO)