CCLC staff will do everything we can to respect your privacy.
CCLC will respect your privacy by not holding any personal information that is not strictly necessary for the provision of our services. We will hold any personal data we do need to collect securely, and for no longer than necessary.
For more information on what information we hold, how long we keep it, and how we use it, please choose one of the options below.
I have called or emailed the Child Law Advice Service
To read the Child Law Advice Service privacy policy, click here.
I have called or emailed the Migrant Children’s Project advice line
Storing your information
Information you share with the Migrant Children’s Project advice line relating to your case, including copies of any emails or documents you send to us, will be stored securely on our computer system. We will use the information you give to provide you with one-off legal advice. Unless you are explicitly told otherwise, CCLC will not be representing you in your legal case.
We are regulated by the Office of the Immigration Services Commissioner (OISC), which requires us to keep this information safely and securely for six years, after which it will be destroyed. You have the right to ask for a copy of any of your personal information that we hold, and can ask us to destroy this information at any time by emailing mcp@coramclc.org.uk.
Sharing your information
We will not share your personal information with anyone outside Coram Children’s Legal Centre for reasons unrelated to assisting you with your case. We will always seek your permission to share information with any third party for any purpose.
The only exception to this is if we believe that a child is at serious risk of significant harm. If we believe a child is at serious risk of significant harm, we will consider sharing any necessary information with a third party such as the police or social services if doing so would prevent that harm.
In exceptional circumstances, we may agree to provide short-term further support following a call or email to the Migrant Children’s Project advice line. In the rare circumstances when this might happen, it could be help to find support or legal representation. In order to do this, we must share the personal information you have given us. However, we will always explain what we are going to do with your information and get permission from you before we share your information. This will normally be written permission but may, where this is not possible, be verbal.
Our files are sometimes audited by OISC. This means staff from this organisation may have to look at the information about you that we have, but they too are required to keep your information confidential.
We share information about the work that we do, including anonymised, collated information about the advice we have given, with our funders. However, we never share any information which could be personally identifiable.
I have seen a CCLC solicitor for a one-off advice session
Storing your information
Information you share with us relating to your case, including copies of any emails or documents you send to us, will be stored securely on our computer system. We will use the information you give us to provide you with one-off legal advice, or short-term support to further your legal case. Unless you are explicitly told otherwise, CCLC will not be representing you in your legal case.
We are regulated by the Office of the Immigration Services Commissioner (OISC), which requires us to keep this information safely and securely for six years, after which it will be destroyed. You have the right to ask for a copy of any of your personal information that we hold, and can ask us to destroy this information at any time by emailing mcp@coramclc.org.uk.
Sharing your information
To deliver our outreach advice, we work in partnership with other organisations. If you see a CCLC solicitor at or through another organisation, we may share information that you give us relating to your case with staff from that organisation in order for them to assist you with your case.
Apart from these partnerships, we will not share your personal information with anyone outside Coram Children’s Legal Centre for reasons unrelated to assisting you with your case. We will always seek your permission to share information with any other third party for any purpose.
The only exception to this is if we believe that a child is at serious risk of significant harm. If we believe a child is at serious risk of significant harm, we will consider sharing any necessary information with a third party such as the police or social services if doing so would prevent that harm.
Sometimes, after we give you advice at an outreach session, we will agree to help you to find representation or other support for your case. This could mean, for example, that we work with you to submit an application to the Legal Aid Agency for exceptional legal aid, or we make a referral to another legal professional or support organisation. In order to do this, we must share the personal information you have given us. However, we will always explain what we are going to do with your information and get permission from you before we share your information. This will normally be written permission but may, where this is not possible, be verbal.
Our files are sometimes audited by OISC. This means staff from this organisation may have to look at the information about you that we have, but they too are required to keep your information confidential.
We share information about the work that we do, including anonymised, collated information about the advice we have given, with our funders. However, we never share any information which could be personally identifiable.
I am a client of CCLC’s Legal Practice Unit
If you are a client of our Legal Practice Unit (LPU) then your caseworker will have given you a copy of our Terms of Business which sets out lots of important information. In that document there is information about how we handle your information and data. The same information is summarised below.
We will keep confidential anything you tell us. That is the general duty which solicitors have to clients. This means we will not tell anyone else what you have told us unless you agree to us sharing information. There are some exceptions to this general rule, for example, where we are required to disclose information by law, by rules of a professional or regulatory body, or by a organisation or agency that is funding your case e.g. the Legal Aid Agency (LAA).
How we use your information
We use the information you provide primarily for the provision of legal services to you and for related purposes including:
- updating and enhancing client records
- analysis to help us manage our practice
- statutory returns
- legal and regulatory compliance
Sharing your information
Our use of that information is subject to your instructions, the Data Protection Act 1998, the General Data Protection Regulation and our duty of confidentiality. Please note that our work for you may require us to give information to third parties such as expert witnesses, other professional advisers or services we use and barristers. Sometimes we also have to share your information with bodies which we are accredited with such as Lexcel or whose services we need e.g. our insurers.
If you tell us something which we think means that serious harm is going to be caused to a person then we are allowed to disclose information to the police or another relevant agency (like children’s or adults’ services in a local authority), even if you do not agree.
If you tell us something which we think means that a person is suffering harm or is at risk of suffering harm, we will have to think carefully about the situation and we will have to decide if we should disclose information to the police or another relevant agency. Usually in this situation, we would encourage you to disclose the information yourself if possible so that we do not have to breach our duty of confidentiality to you.
We cannot mislead the court or other people involved in your matter, so where we know something is not true, we cannot lie about it.
From time to time we may use external people to help us with operating the LPU. For example, we may use an external company to type letters for us, to give us business advice about improving the LPU, we may give our closed files to an external company for safe storage. In these situations, those external people may have access to your information however, we will only use external people who we judge to hold the highest standard of confidentiality. Usually, we would only use people who are recommended by the Law Society.
Our files are sometimes audited by the Solicitors’ Regulation Authority (SRA), the Law Society, the LAA or other statutory or regulatory bodies. This means those people may have to look at your file but they too are required to keep your information confidential.
If we wanted to use your matter as a case study in a way which would identify you or use your case for research purposes, we would first ask you for your permission. If we did ask for your permission and you said ‘no’, that is fine and we would respect your decision.
Your data rights and making a complaint
You have a right of access under data protection legislation to the personal data that we hold about you. You also have a right to ask that we erase data that we hold about you. If you want to make either of these requests, please contact your caseworker in the first instance.
If you are unhappy about how we have used your information, you can make a complaint. See paragraphs 30-33 above about this. You can also get assistance from or complain to the Information Commissioner. You can contact their office by calling 0303 123 1113 (local rate) or 01625 545745 (national rate), or go online to www.ico.org.uk, or write to them at Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF.
I have booked or attended CCLC training
If you book training with CCLC you agree to share your name and email address with us. We will store information about your booking for up to six months following the training session, and may use this information to contact you to request feedback – we will always inform you of this before the booking is finalised, and give you the option to opt out of this contact. If we do contact you for feedback it will be via ‘surveymonkey’, but we will never use this site to collect any personal information. You can also read surveymonkey’s privacy policy by clicking here.
You can request that your personal information is deleted at any time by emailing mcp@coramclc.org.uk.
CCLC does not see or process your financial information. Instead, our training bookings take place using Eventbrite – an American company which has signed up to the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield Framework. This means that, although your data is processed outside of the EU, the company is still compliant with EU data protection regulations. For more information, see Eventbrite’s privacy policy by clicking here.
I am part of an organisation that has commissioned training or other services from CCLC
If you commission training from CCLC you agree to share your name and contact details with us. We may contact you after the service commissioned to request feedback or a reference; this will be made clear at the point of booking.
If you commission other services from CCLC which grant us access to personal information, our access to that information will be controlled and limited by a contract or confidentiality policy to be agreed by both parties prior to the beginning of any commissioned work.
I am subscribed to the Migrant Children’s Project newsletter
If you have given us permission to do so by signing up online, opting in while giving training feedback or otherwise asking us, we will send you a monthly email newsletter on subjects relating to the law and migrant children in the UK, and news relating to Coram Children’s Legal Centre. We may sometimes include links requesting feedback via the website www.surveymonkey.co.uk, but we will never use this site to collect any personal information. You can read surveymonkey’s privacy policy by clicking here.
You have the right to unsubscribe at any time by clicking on the link at the bottom of the newsletter.
We will keep your contact information safe and will never share your email address, or our distribution lists, with any third parties for any reason.
The Migrant Children’s Project newsletter is administered by MailChimp, an American company which has signed up to the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield Framework. This means that, although your data is processed outside of the EU, the company is still compliant with EU data protection regulations. For more information, see Mailchimp’s privacy policy by clicking here.
If you forward our newsletter to another person using the ‘forward to a friend’ link, we do not see the email address to which the newsletter has been sent and that person does not become a subscriber.
I use CCLC's website or social media
Visiting the CCLC website
When you visit our website, we gather general information which might include which pages you visit most often and which services, events or information is of most interest to you. We may also track which pages you visit when you click on links in emails from us. We also use “cookies” to help our site run effectively. For more information, please see the ‘Cookie Policy’ for Coram group websites.
We use this information to personalise the way our websites are presented when you visit, to make improvements, and to ensure we provide the best service and experience for you. Whenever possible we use anonymous information which does not identify individual visitors to our website.
The CCLC website is not a substitute for independent professional advice and users should obtain any appropriate professional advice relevant to their particular circumstances.
CCLC’s social media
We might obtain your personal data through your use of social media such as Facebook or Twitter, depending on your settings or the privacy notices of these social media and messaging services. To change your settings on these services, please refer to their individual privacy notices, which will tell you how to do this:
Accessing your information
You have a right of access under data protection legislation to the personal data that we hold about you. You also have a right to ask that we erase data that we hold about you. If you want to make either of these requests, please get in touch with your normal point of contact at CCLC (for example your caseworker) in the first instance.
If you are unhappy about how we have used your information, you can make a complaint by requesting a copy of CCLC’s complaints policy. You can also get assistance from or complain to the Information Commissioner. You can contact their office by calling 0303 123 1113 (local rate) or 01625 545745 (national rate), or go online to www.ico.org.uk, or write to them at Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF.
To read the terms of use for the CCLC website, please click here.
