Introduction

Select Home needs to gather and use certain information about our customers, to enable us to provide a high level of quality customer service.

These can include customers, suppliers, business contacts, employees and other people the organisation has a relationship with or may need to contact.

This policy describes how this personal data must be collected, handled and stored to meet the company’s data protection standards – and to comply with the law.

Why this policy exists

This data protection policy ensures Select Home:

  • Complies with data protection law and follow good practise
  • Protects the rights of staff, customers and partners
  • Is open about how it stores and processes individuals’ data
  • Protects itself from the risks of data breach

Data Protection Law

The Data Protection Act 1998 describes how organisation – including Select Home – must collect, handle and store personal information.

These rules apply regardless of whether data is stored electronically, on paper or on other material.

To comply with the law, personal information must be collected and used fairly, stored safely and not disclosed unlawfully.

The Data Protection Act is underpinned by eight important principles. These say that personal data must:

  1. Be processed fairly and lawfully
  2. Be obtained only for specific, lawful purposes
  3. Be adequate, relevant and not excessive
  4. Be Accurate and kept up to date
  5. Not be held for any longer than necessary
  6. Processed in accordance with the rights of data subjects
  7. Be protected in appropriate ways
  8. Not to be transferred outside the European Economic Area (EEA) unless that country or territory also ensures an adequate level of protection

People, Risk and Responsibilities

This policy applies to:

  • The Head Office of Select Home
  • All staff and volunteers of Select Home
  • All contractors, suppliers and other people working on behalf of Select Home

It applies to all data that the company holds relating to identifiable individuals, even if that information technically falls outside of the Data Protection Act 1998 include:

  • Names of individuals
  • Postal addresses
  • Email addresses
  • Telephone/mobile numbers
  • …..plus any other information relating to individuals

Data Protection Risks

This policy helps to protect Select Home from some very real data security risks, including:

  • Breaches of confidentiality – For example, information being given out inappropriately
  • Failing to offer choice – For example, all individuals should be free to choose how the company uses data
  • Reputational damage – For example, the company could suffer if hackers successfully gained access to sensitive data

Responsibilities

Everyone who works for or with Select Home has some responsibility for ensuring data is collected, stored and handled appropriately.

Each team that handles personal data must ensure that it is handled and processed in line with this policy and data protection principles.

However, these people have key areas of responsibility:

  • The board of directors is ultimately responsible for ensuring that Select Home meets its legal obligation

The Directors are responsible for:

  • Keeping the board updated about data protection responsibilities, risks and is
  • Reviewing all data protection procedures and related policies, in line with an agreed s
  • Arranging data protection training and advice for the people covered by this policy.
  • Handling data protection questions from staff and anyone covered by this policy.
  • Dealing with requests from individuals to see the data Select Home holds about them (also ‘subject access requests’.
  • Checking and approving any contracts or agreements with third parties that may handle the company’s sensitive data.

The Directors are responsible for:

  • Ensuring all systems, services and equipment used for storing data meet acceptable security standards
  • Performing regular checks and scans to ensure security hardware and software is functioning properly.
  • Evaluating any third-party services the company is considering using to store or process data, For instance, cloud computing serv

The Directors are responsible for:

  • Approving any data protection statements attached to communications such as emails and letters
  • Addressing any data protection queries from journalists or media outlets like newspapers
  • Where necessary working with other staff to ensure marketing initiatives abide by data protection principles

General Staff Guidelines

  • The only people able to access data covered by this policy should be those who need it for their work
  • Data should not be shared informally. When access to confidential information is required, employees can request it from their line manager
  • Select Home will provide training to all employees to help them understand their responsibilities when handling data.
  • Employees should keep all data secure, by talking sensible precautions and following the guidelines below
  • In Particular, strong passwords must be used and they should never be shared
  • Personal data should not be disclosed to unauthorised people, either within the company or externally.
  • Data should be regularly reviewed and updated if it is found to be out of date, if no longer required, it should be disposed of.
  • Employees should request help from their line managers or the data protection officer if they are unsure about any aspect of data protection

Data Storage

These rules describe how and where data should be safely stored. Questions about storing data safely can be directed to the IT Manager or data controller.

When data is stored on paper, it should be kept in a secure place where unauthorised people cannot see it.

These guidelines also apply to data that is usually stored electronically but has been printed out for some reason:

  • When not required, the paper or files should be kept in a locked drawer or filing cabinet
  • Employees should make sure paper and printouts are not left where unauthorised people could see them, like on a printer
  • Data printouts should be shredded and disposed of securely when no longer required

When data is stored electronically, it must be protected from unauthorised access, accidental deletion and malicious hacking attempts:

Data should be protected by strong passwords that are changed regularly and never shared between employees.

If data is stored on removable media (like CD or DVD), these should be kept locked away securely when not being used.

Data should only be stored on designated drives or servers, and should only be uploaded to an approved cloud computing services.

Servers containing personal data should be sited in a secure location, away from general office space.

Data should be backed up frequently. Those backups should be tested regularly, in line with the company’s standard backup procedures.

Data should never be saved directly to laptops or other mobile devices like tablets or smart phones.

All servers and computers containing data should be protected by approved security software and a firewall.

Data Use

Personal data is of no value to Select Home unless the business can make use of it. However, it is when personal data is accessed and used that can be at the greatest risk of loss, corruption or theft:

  • When working with personal data, employees should ensure the screens of their computers are always locked when left unattened
  • Personal data should never be shared informally. In particular, it should never be sent by email, as this form of communication is not secure
  • Data must be encrypted before transferred electronically. The IT manager can explain how to send data to authorised external contact
  • Personal data should never be transferred outside of the European Economic Area.
  • Employees should not save copies of personal data to their own computers.

Always access and update the central copy of any data.

Data Accuracy

The law requires Select Home to take reasonable steps to ensure data is kept accurate and up to date.

The more important it is that the personal data is accurate, the greater the effort Select Home should put into ensuring accuracy.

It is the responsibility of ALL employees who work with data to take reasonable steps to ensure it is kept as accurate and up to date as possible.

Data will be held in as few places as necessary. Staff should not create any unnecessary additional data set

Staff should take every opportunity to ensure data is updated. For instance, by confirming a customer’s details when they ca

Select Home will make it easy for data subjects to update the information

Select Home holds about them. For instance, via the company website.

  • Data should be updated as inaccuracies are discovered. For instance, if a customer can no longer be reached on their stored telephone number, it should be removed from the databa
  • It is the marketing manager’s responsibility to ensure marketing databases are checked against industry suppression files every six-months.

Subject Access Requests

All individuals who are the subject of personal data held by Select Home are entitled to:

  • Ask what information the company holds about them and why.
  • Ask how to gain access to it.
  • Be informed how to keep it up to date
  • Be informed how the company is meeting its data protection obligations.

If an individual contacts the company requesting this information, this is called a subject access request.

Subject access requests from individuals should be made by email, addressed to the directors at info@secureahome.co.uk The directors can supply a standard request form, although individuals do not have use of this.

Individuals will be charged £10 per subject access request. The data controller will aim to provide the relevant data with 14 days.

The data controller will always verify the identity of anyone making a subject access request before handing over any information.

Disclosing Data For Other Reasons

In certain circumstances, the Data Protection Act allows data to be disclosed to law enforcement agencies without the consent of the data subject.

Under these circumstances Select Home will disclose requested data. However, the data controller will ensure the request is legitimate, seeking assistance from the board and from the company’s legal advisers where necessary.

Providing Information

Select Home aims to ensure that individuals are aware that their data is being processed, and that they understand:

  • How the data is being used
  • How to exercise their rights

To these ends, the company has a privacy statement, setting out how data relating to individuals is used by the company.

Privacy and Cookies

Select Home recognises the importance of protecting the personal information and the privacy of data provided by you (and that which may personally identify you) which we collect in connection with your use of the Secure A Home website (‘Website’) and the services offered on the Website (‘Services’) referred to in this policy as ‘Personal Data’.
This Privacy Policy Statement sets out the data processing practices carried out through the use of the Internet and the World Wide Web by Select Home. By using the Web site you are agreeing to the collection and use of your personal information as set out below. If you have any requests concerning your personal information or any queries with regard to these practices please contact us.

Why We Ask You For Personal Data

We ask you for Personal Data for the purposes of:
• Dealing with your requests and queries;
• Maintaining information as a reference tool or general source;
• Considering job applications;
• Conducting market research surveys; and
• Providing your with information about products and services we offer.

When do we collect data?

We can collect data on you from a variety of different sources these include:
• When you request a call back from one of our approved installers.
• When you speak to a Select Home representative.
• Via data capture measures such as studying which pages you read the most and the use of cookies.
We ask that you provide us in return with some information about you to enable us to meet the above purposes. We may ask you for more such information from time to time, and we will store this information with information we already keep about you. You may change, update or remove it at any time in accordance with this privacy policy.

Cookies

As part of our high security standards, when you enter this website we will use cookies. Cookies are small pieces of information that are stored by your browser on your computer’s hard drive. These cookies do not store any personal details relating to you. Cookies stored on your hard drive by the Select Home web site are not accessible to other sites. Most browsers allow you to accept or reject cookies. Please refer to the help or documentation for your browser for more information on changing your browser settings.

Consent

By disclosing your personal information to us using this Website or over the telephone, you consent to the collection, storage and processing of your personal information by Select Home in the manner set out in this Privacy Policy.

Security

We endeavour to take all reasonable steps to protect your personal information. However, we cannot guarantee the security of any data you disclose on-line. You accept the inherent security risks of providing information and dealing on-line over the internet and will not hold us responsible for any breach of security unless this is due to our negligence or willful default.