Privacy Policy

Depending on how you interact with us, we may collect the following categories of personal data:

We collect only the personal data we need for the purposes described in this Policy. Please do not submit sensitive information through our web forms unless it is necessary; for detailed placement or safeguarding information, we will agree a secure channel with you.

• Directly from you — when you complete a form on our Website (contact, referral, careers or newsletter), email or telephone us, or otherwise correspond with us.
• From third parties — for example, from local authorities, social workers, families or referring professionals who provide information in connection with a placement, or from recruitment platforms such as Indeed or LinkedIn where you apply through them.
• Automatically — when you use our Website, our web server collects basic technical data such as your IP address and browser type (see our Cookie Policy).

• To respond to enquiries submitted through our contact form.
• To assess and manage referrals and potential placements of children in our care.
• To provide and manage children's residential care services.
• To manage recruitment, assess job applications and, where successful, progress employment.
• To send our newsletter and updates to subscribers who have asked to receive them.
• To operate, secure and improve our Website.
• To comply with our legal, regulatory and safeguarding obligations, including those owed to Ofsted and relevant authorities.

We rely on the following lawful bases under Article 6 of the UK GDPR:

Where we process special category data (such as information about a child's health or care needs) or criminal offence data (such as DBS checks for staff), we rely on an appropriate condition under Article 9 or Article 10 of the UK GDPR and Schedule 1 of the Data Protection Act 2018 — typically the provision of health or social care, safeguarding of children and individuals at risk, or substantial public interest.

Where we rely on consent (for example, for the newsletter), you may withdraw it at any time without affecting the lawfulness of processing carried out before withdrawal.

Our Website uses only strictly necessary cookies required for the site to function. We do not use analytics or marketing cookies. Full details are set out in our Cookie Policy.

We use a limited number of third-party services to operate our Website and business. These include:

• WordPress — our content management system.
• Elementor — our website page builder and form handler.
• Indeed and LinkedIn — recruitment platforms where some vacancies are listed and through which you may choose to apply.

Where a third party acts as our processor, they process personal data only as needed to provide their service to us and under a written agreement. We do not use any analytics, advertising or social media tracking services on this Website.

We do not sell your personal data. We may share it with:

• Local authorities, social workers, health professionals and other agencies involved in a child's care, where necessary and lawful.
• Regulators and public bodies, including Ofsted, where we are required or permitted to do so.
• Our service providers (for example, IT and hosting providers) who act on our instructions.
• Professional advisers, and law enforcement or other authorities where required by law or to protect a child.

All personal data we collect through this Website is stored and processed within the United Kingdom. We do not transfer personal data outside the UK.

We keep personal data only for as long as necessary for the purposes for which it was collected, or as required by law. Our standard retention periods are:

When personal data is no longer required, it is securely deleted or anonymised.

We take appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect personal data against unauthorised access, loss, alteration or disclosure. These include access controls, secure hosting within the UK, staff training and safeguarding procedures. While data transmission over the internet cannot be guaranteed as completely secure, we work to protect your information and maintain procedures to manage any suspected data breach in line with our legal obligations.

Under the UK GDPR you have the right to:

• Be informed about how your data is used (this Policy).
• Access the personal data we hold about you.
• Request rectification of inaccurate or incomplete data.
• Request erasure of your data in certain circumstances.
• Restrict processing in certain circumstances.
• Object to processing based on legitimate interests.
• Data portability (to receive your data in a structured, commonly used format).
• Withdraw consent at any time, where consent is our lawful basis.

Our Website is intended for use by adults such as social workers, families, professionals and job applicants and is not directed at children. We do not knowingly collect personal data directly from children through the Website.

We do, however, process personal data about children as an essential part of providing residential care services. Such information is provided to us by referring authorities, professionals or families, and is handled with particular care under our safeguarding policies, the additional protections in the Data Protection Act 2018, and the appropriate special category conditions described in section 4. If you believe a child has provided us with personal data through the Website without appropriate authority, please contact us so we can take appropriate steps.

We may update this Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices or legal requirements. The current version, with its "last updated" date, will always be available on this page. Where we make significant changes, we will take reasonable steps to bring them to your attention.