Privacy and cookies

Website Privacy Notice

1. What is this Notice for?

We, the Asylum Support Appeals Project or ASAP for short, want you to know that we take the privacy and protection of your personal data seriously.

This Notice describes the rights you have in relation to the personal data you give us and how we collect, store, use and disclose personal data relating to you, when you visit our website or use our services.

ASAP is the controller for the personal data we process unless we tell you otherwise. You can contact us, if there is anything about the way we handle your personal data that you would like to discuss at:

Email: office@asaproject.org.uk

Post: ASAP, Studio 11/12, Container City Building, 48 Trinity Buoy Wharf, London, E14 OFN

Phone: 0203 716 0284

2. What information do we collect and how?

When we say “personal data” we mean any information that enables us to identify you, directly or indirectly. This could be something simple such as your name or an ID number, or more complex such as one or more factors specific to your physical or cultural identity.

We collect most of the personal data we process directly from you e.g. if you call our Advice Line, book onto a training course, give us funding or provide a service to us. Sometimes we receive your personal data indirectly e.g. if your case is sent to us by a tribunal or referred to us by another organisation.

If you call our Advice Line

We will ask you the reason for your call and take basic contact details from you so that we can get in touch with you if necessary e.g. name, organisation, address, telephone number and email. If you need to speak to us on an anonymous basis you can let us know.

We make notes of the call but do not collect identifiable personal data about clients until they are officially referred to us.

Our second-tier Advice Line enables other advisers to access our expertise directly and receive advice on asylum support law and policies for their clients.

The processing is necessary for our legitimate interest of providing the Advice Line and assisting advisers.

If you ask us to represent you at the Asylum Support Tribunal

We take a detailed history of your circumstances, background and the facts of your case.

This may include contact details, date of birth and information about your family such as whether you are married and/or have children.

This may also include what is known as special category personal data such as information about your health, religion or ethnic origin and it can also include whether you have any criminal convictions.

We need to know as much as possible about your case so that we can provide the best and most appropriate support for you.

We may also use your personal data to support our policy work and funding applications. We will only use identifiable data from the information we store about you if you have given us permission.

However, there is a public document automatically created when you have an appeal at the Asylum Support Tribunal, called a ‘Statement of Reasons’. The Tribunal produces this, and sends you and the Home Office a copy. They take out your name and other identifying information before it becomes a public document. However, they leave in your appeal reference number, which means that the Home Office can identify you. Occasionally we will use this public document in policy work to try to improve the situation for other destitute asylum seekers, but only if we think there is very little risk that it will cause you any problems.

When you give us authority to represent you we will need to process your personal data for our legitimate interest to support our aims of providing high quality legal advice and access to justice.

Any special category personal data will be processed either because it is necessary to (i) establish, exercise or defend a legal claim or; (ii) protect someone’s vital interests where they cannot give their consent; or (iii) because the person gives us consent.

If you have any queries in relation to how we store your data when representing you at the Asylum Support Tribunal please email: referrals@asaproject.org.uk

If your case is referred to us by another organisation or tribunal (we receive your personal data indirectly)

Your case file will be provided to us which will contain a detailed history of your circumstances, background and the facts of your case.

This may include contact details, date of birth and information about your family such as whether you are married and/or have children.

Prior to obtaining your authority to represent you we will only read the information which is essential for us to be able to offer you our services e.g. your hearing date, location and time.

If you chose to give us your authority to represent you we will need to know as much as possible about your case so that we can provide the best and most appropriate support for you.

We process this personal data for our legitimate interest of providing access to justice.

We may also use your personal data to support our policy work and funding applications. We will only use identifiable data from the information we store about you if you have given us permission.

We only use your personal data for our policy work with your consent, with the exception of public documents created by the Asylum Support Tribunal about your asylum support hearing, called ‘Statement of Reasons’ as explained in the section above.

If you book or attend training

You provide your name and work contact details e.g. email address and phone number at the point of booking.

We use this information so we can manage the organisation of the training and contact you.

The processing is necessary for our legitimate interest of providing training to frontline organisations and sometimes it is necessary to carry out a contract which you have entered into.

If you visit our website

We collect details about how you use our website and data such as internet protocol (IP) address, browser type and version, time zone setting and location, browser plug-in types and versions, operating system and platform.

We use this information for system administration and to provide anonymised statistics to help us improve our website, including improving our training and information giving services on the website.

Our site uses Google Analytics, a web analytics service provided by Google, Inc. Google Analytics sets cookies in order to evaluate your use of our site and to compile reports for us on visitor activity.

Google stores the information they collect on servers in the United States. They may also transfer this information to third parties where required to do so by law, or where such third parties process the information on their behalf. By accepting cookies, you consent to the processing of data about you by Google in the manner and for the purposes set out above.

Google’s privacy policy, and information on rejecting or deleting their cookies can be found at www.google.com/intl/en/policies/privacy/.

We also use Hotjar website tracking software in order to better understand our users’ needs and to optimize this service and experience. Hotjar is a technology service that helps us better understand our users’ experience (e.g. how much time they spend on which pages, which links they choose to click, what users do and don’t like, etc.) and this enables us to build and maintain our service with user feedback. Hotjar uses cookies and other technologies to collect data on our users’ behavior and their devices. This includes a device's IP address (processed during your session and stored in a de-identified form), device screen size, device type (unique device identifiers), browser information, geographic location (country only), and the preferred language used to display our website. Hotjar stores this information on our behalf in a pseudonymized user profile. Hotjar is contractually forbidden to sell any of the data collected on our behalf. For further details, please see the ‘about Hotjar’ section of Hotjar’s support site.

The processing of this information is necessary for our legitimate interest of administering and improving our website.

If you join the Asylum Support Appeals Network (ASAN) googlegroup

You provide your name and contact details e.g. email address and phone number at the time you join.

We use your contact details to update you on policy or legal changes, to invite you to trainings or events and to respond to google group messages. Other members of the network may also send you updates and invitations, or ask questions and may be able to see your contact details if you post or reply to a message.

You provide us with your consent.

You can withdraw your consent at any time if you no longer wish to be a member of ASAN. Please forward the googlegroup unsubscribe instructions at the footer of ASAN emails.

Please also contact ASAP directly to let us know:. office@asaproject.org.uk; or

ASAP, Studio 11/12, Container City Building, 48 Trinity Buoy Wharf, London, E14 OFN.

If you give us funding

We ask you for your name and work contact details.

We use your contact details to keep a record of who has provided us funding, and so that we can contact you in relation the funding, future funding opportunities and keeping you updated on how your funding has been spent.

The processing is necessary for our legitimate interests as a charity supported by fundraising.

If you do not wish to be contacted in relation to future fundraising opportunities you can let us know at office@asaproject.org.uk, or

ASAP, Studio 11/12, Container City Building, 48 Trinity Buoy Wharf, London, E14 OFN.

3. Your rights

You have various rights regarding the processing of your personal data, including rights in certain circumstances to:

Request access: You can ask us for copies of any personal data we hold about you. There are some exemptions so you may not receive all the information you ask for;

Request a transfer: You can ask that the personal data you have given us (in certain circumstances) be transferred to another controller or provided in a format that will permit this transfer;

Ask for details to be amended: You can ask us to amend inaccurate personal data, and to have incomplete personal data completed;

Ask for details to be deleted: You can ask us to delete your personal data in certain circumstances;

Object: object to or restrict the processing of your personal data in relation some types of processing we do; and

Complain: lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) (www.ico.org.uk).

You will not normally have to pay a fee to access your personal data. However, if we think that your request is unfounded or excessive, we may charge a reasonable fee or refuse to comply with the request.

Please direct your requests to:

Email: office@asaproject.org.uk; or

Post: ASAP, Studio 11/12, Container City Building, 48 Trinity Buoy Wharf, London, E14 OFN.

We may need to confirm your identity or ensure your right to exercise your legal rights. This is an appropriate security measure to ensure that personal data is not disclosed to any person who has no right to receive it.

4. Change of purpose

We will only use your personal data for the purposes for which we collected it, unless we reasonably consider that we need to use it for another reason and that reason is compatible with the original purpose. If we need to use your personal data for an unrelated purpose, we will notify you and we will explain the legal basis which allows us to do so.

5. Do we share your personal data with anyone?

We use processors who are third parties who provide certain services for us (for example auditors of our annual accounts and IT providers). We have contracts in place with our processors. This means that they cannot do anything with your personal data unless we have instructed them to do it. They will not share your personal data with any organisation apart from us. They will hold it securely and retain it for the period we instruct.

In some circumstances we are legally obliged to share information. For example under a court order or where we represent you at the Tribunal. We might also share information with other similar organisations in order to further their, or our, objectives. In any scenario, we’ll satisfy ourselves that we have a lawful basis on which to share the information, document our decision making and satisfy ourselves we have a legal basis on which to share the information.

If you give us your consent we may share your information with the Home Office for the purpose of developing policy. If you have appealed to the Asylum Support Tribunal we may share your statement of reasons (the public document produced by the Asylum Support Tribunal explaining the decision on your appeal). Although this document is anonymous, the Home Office can identify you from the reference number. However we will only do this where we assess that it is unlikely that it will cause you any difficulties.

6. International transfers

All personal data is held on servers in the United Kingdom. We do not transfer your personal data outside the United Kingdom.

7. How do we keep your personal data safe?

We have put in place appropriate security measures to prevent your personal data from being accidentally lost, used or accessed in an unauthorised way, altered or disclosed. In addition, we limit access to your personal data to those employees, volunteers, agents, contractors and other third parties who have a business need to know and are subject to a duty of confidentiality.

We have put in place procedures to deal with any suspected personal data breach and will notify you and any applicable regulator of a breach where we are legally required to do so.

8. How long do we keep your personal data for?

We will only keep your personal data for as long as reasonably necessary to fulfil the purposes we collected it for, including for the purposes of satisfying any legal, regulatory, tax, accounting, funding or reporting requirements. We may retain your personal data for a longer period in the event of a complaint or if we reasonably believe there is a prospect of litigation in respect to our relationship with you. As a general guideline we destroy client files seven years after our last contact with you and keep only statistical data in which living persons are not identifiable.

To determine the appropriate retention period for personal data, we consider the amount, nature and sensitivity of the personal data, the potential risk of harm from unauthorised use or disclosure of your personal data, the purposes for which we process your personal data and whether we can achieve those purposes through other means, and the applicable legal, regulatory, tax, accounting or other requirements.

9. Links to third party websites

When you click on links, plug-ins or applications on our website, you may leave our website or may allow third parties to collect or share data about you. We are not responsible for the privacy practices of other sites, and we encourage you to read their privacy statements. We do not guarantee that they will follow our rules.

10. Cookies

We use “cookies” (a small text file containing a string of alphanumeric characters we store for an extended period of time on your computer, mobile phone, or other device) to make the website easier to use. A “cookie” is a small information file that a web browser places on the hard drive of a computer when users visit a website. Cookies cannot damage user files, nor can they read information from a user’s hard drive.

When you visit the website for the first time, your computer will download a persistent cookie. These remain in your browser’s cookie store between browsing sessions. Persistent cookies allow us to recognise repeat visitors to the site.

Each time you visit the website your computer will download a session cookie. This cookie only remains on your computer till you close your browser. This cookie is not used to identify you personally in any way. We use session cookies to compile anonymous, aggregated statistics that allow us to understand how visitors use the website. This information helps us improve the website’s structure and functionality.

You can disable cookies on your computer by indicating this in the preferences or options menus of your browser. The “help” portion of the toolbar on most browsers will tell you how to prevent your browser from accepting new cookies, how to have the browser notify you when you receive a new cookie, or how to disable cookies altogether. While you can remove or block cookies using the settings in your browser, in some cases doing so will impact your ability to use the website and some functions of the site may no longer work correctly.

If you would like to know more about cookies you can visit www.allaboutcookies.org

11. Changes to the Notice and your duty to inform us of changes

We keep this Notice under regular review. We reserve the right to change this Notice at any time. It is important that the personal data we hold about you is accurate and current. Please keep us informed if your personal data changes.