Data controller: UnityMK of The Ridgeway Centre, Featherstone Road, Wolverton Mill South, Milton Keynes MK12 5TH.
UnityMK collects and processes personal data relating to its clients/guests to manage the relationship. UnityMK is committed to being transparent about how it collects and uses that data and to meeting its data protection obligations.
This Privacy Notice aims to provide you with a clear explanation of the personal data which UnityMK holds and the purpose[s] for which it is held.
What information does UnityMK collect?
UnityMK collects and processes a range of information about you. This includes:
your name, email address and telephone number
date of birth
National Insurance Number
Nationality
Details of benefits you receive.
Employment history
Veteran status
Number of dependents
Details of GP
Any learning, physical or mental health issues
Exposure to domestic violence
Drug and alcohol dependency
Criminal history
Financial issues
Housing situation
Details of your needs and requirements
UnityMK may collect this information in a variety of ways. For example, data might be collected when we meet face to face and we put the information into our form, or we might receive a referral from a partner agency.
Why does UnityMK process personal data?
Your personal data will be processed to enable UnityMK to manage our relationship with you.
UnityMK may need to process personal data to meet its obligations under our contracts with funders and commissioners, which may include providing data of how many clients have physical or mental health needs, have a local connection etc.
UnityMK also needs to process data to ensure that it is complying with its legal obligations. For example, to comply with HMRC rules.
In other cases, UnityMK may have a legitimate interest in processing personal data before, during and after the end of our relationship. For example, seeking feedback on how we have supported you.
Processing guest data allows UnityMK to:
receive funding from government agencies.
enable us to support you into a job or housing
provide assistance to enable you out of debt
Much of what we do is in partnership with other agencies, including other charities.
Personal data required from you by Unity MK
You need to provide your name and housing status so that we can determine whether you can be supported by Unity MK. If you are to be accommodated in one of our night shelters, we need to carry out a number of risk assessments to support you and our volunteers, so will need your health data and criminal history to do this.
Much of the other information you provide to us is so that we can support you in engaging with our partners and help you in the future.
Who has access to your data?
Your data will be shared with colleagues within UnityMK where it is necessary for them to undertake their duties. For example, helping you complete application forms.
UnityMK may be required to share your data with third parties such as the local authority, police, courts, and statutory agencies such as the Home Office, HMRC, Child Support Agency, Student Loans Company, DBS and Department of Work and Pensions to comply with legal obligations.
Save as explained above, UnityMK will not share your data with third parties for any other purpose without your express consent.
With your consent, we will share your data with:
Milton Keynes City Council
NHS and other health services
Police
Probation Service
Job Centre
ARC
Adult Services
Mental health services
Voluntary organisations
Housing providers
Housing First
Red Cross
Your data will not be transferred outside of the UK.
How does UnityMK protect data?
UnityMK takes the security of your data seriously. UnityMK has internal policies and controls in place to try to ensure that your data is not lost, accidentally destroyed, misused or disclosed, and is not accessed except by our employees and volunteers in the performance of their duties. All laptops are password protected and data is saved to UnityMK’s Share Drive. Folders within the Share Drive are only able to be accessed by specific employees as part of their employment duties. Any client database will only be accessed by authorised users with their own sign in details and password.
Where UnityMK engages third parties to process personal data on its behalf, they do so on the basis of written instructions, are under a duty of confidentiality and are obliged to implement appropriate technical and organisational measures to ensure the security of data.
Paper records are stored in a secure filing system and then securely destroyed.
For how long does UnityMK keep data?
In line with data protection principles, we only keep your data for as long as we need it, which will be until the year after you stop being a client or guest with us.
Your rights
You have a number of rights. These are:
the right to be informed. This means that we must tell you how we use your data, and this is the purpose of this privacy notice.
the right of access. You have the right to access the data that we hold on you and to receive a copy of your data and information about where it was sourced. To do so, you should make a subject access request.
the right for any inaccuracies to be corrected. If any data that we hold about you is incomplete or inaccurate, you are able to require us to correct it.
the right to ask Unity MK for your data to be erased, for example, if you believe there is no longer any need for your data to be held for its original purpose, or if you decide to withdraw any consent that you have given for your data to be processed.
the right to restrict the processing of the data. For example, if you believe the data we hold is incorrect, we will stop processing the data (whilst still holding it) until we have ensured that the data is correct
the right to portability. You may transfer the data that we hold on you to another organisation for your own purposes.
you may have the right to object to the way we use your data if you do not agree that we are using it for our legitimate interests.
the right to regulate any automated decision-making and profiling of personal data. You have a right not to be subject to automated decision making in way that adversely affects your legal rights.
Where you have provided consent to our use of your data, you also have the unrestricted right to withdraw that consent at any time. Withdrawing your consent means that we will stop processing the data that you had previously given us consent to use. There will be no consequences for withdrawing your consent. However, in some cases, we may continue to use the data where so permitted by having a legitimate reason for doing so.
If you would like to exercise any of these rights, please email:
If you believe that Unity MK has not complied with your data protection rights, you can complain to the Information Commissioner. Their contact details can be found on their website (www.ico.org.uk).
Updated: January 2024
