Last updated June 2022
This privacy policy (“policy”) will help you understand how Free To Speak (“F2S”, “us”, “we”, “our”) uses and protects the data you provide to us when you visit and use freetospeak.co.uk (“website”, “service”), or engage with us in other ways, including completing surveys and forms or via email.
We reserve the right to change this policy at any time, at which point this page will be updated.
If you have any questions or concerns about your privacy rights and choices please contact us at hello@freetospeak.co.uk.
The type of personal information we collect
When you visit our website, we may collect the following data:
Information provided by you with explicit consent, which is personal or in a special category (your email, school location, your occupation, your religious or political beliefs)
Information indirectly received by us (your data profile regarding your online activity on our website
How we collect the personal information, and why we have it
Most of the information we process is provided to us directly by you when you complete our submission form, respond to our survey or request us to contact a school on your behalf.
We ask for explicit consent to publish your submission and to use it for other purposes.
The indirect sources of data we collect are for website analytic purposes only, and we do not connect this to the personal information you provide to us with consent.
We use the information you provide to us in order to:
- Improve our website
- Provide insights into the status of schools RSE and general policies
- Demonstrate to politicians and policy makers the depth and breadth of concern across the UK to press for change within schools and their regulatory bodies
- Remove your submission more easily should you withdraw your consent at any time
- To contact you by reason of a safeguarding or legal issue
The basis on which we process your data
Under the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR), the lawful bases we rely on for processing this information are:
- Your consent. You are able to remove this consent at any time. You can do this by contacting hello@freetospeak.co.uk
- We have a legitimate interest
We will only pass your personal information to relevant authorities if we assess there to be a significant safeguarding risk or there is a legal basis to do so. We will not sell, lease or otherwise distribute your data for financial gain to third parties.
How we store your personal information
We are committed to securing your data and keeping it confidential. We have made every effort to prevent data theft, unauthorised access and disclosure by implementing the latest technologies and software, which help us to safeguard the information we hold about you online.
Your data is only accessed by those who need to see it and is kept under password protection.
We intend to keep your data for a period of 4 years, unless regulatory, legal or business requirements state otherwise. After this time, your data will be securely destroyed or removed from our website and servers.
Our cookie policy
Once you agree to allow our website to use cookies, you also agree to our use of the data it collects regarding your online behaviour (analysing web traffic, our web pages you spend the most time on and website you visit).
The data we collect via cookies is used to customise our website to your needs. After we use your data for statistical analysis, it is completely removed from our systems.
Cookies do not allow us to gain control of your computer in any way. They are strictly used to monitor which pages you find useful and which you do not, so that we may provide a better experience for you.
Data privacy for children
Recital 38 of the UK GDPR states that “Children require specific protection with regard to their personal data as they may be less aware of the risks, consequences and safeguards concerned and their rights in relation to the processing of personal data. Such specific protection should, in particular apply to the use of personal data of children for the purposes of marketing or creating personality or user profiles and the collection of personal data with regard to children when using services offered directly to a child.”
With this in mind we will only accept submissions from children over the age of 16, to ensure that they are fully competent to provide their consent to us collecting and processing their data.
However, if a child below this age wishes to submit their story to our website, we require them to ask an adult, preferably with parental responsibility, to make the submission on their behalf.
Links to external websites
Our website may contain links to other websites. By following these links, you will be responsible for your ongoing data and privacy protection. Visiting those websites is not covered by this privacy policy – please refer to the policy documentation of the particular websites you visit.
Your data protection rights
Under data protection law, you have rights including:
- Your right of access – You have the right to ask us for copies of your personal information.
- Your right to rectification – You have the right to ask us to rectify personal information you think is inaccurate. You also have the right to ask us to complete information you think is incomplete.
- Your right to erasure – You have the right to ask us to erase your personal information in certain circumstances.
- Your right to restriction of processing – You have the right to ask us to restrict the processing of your personal information in certain circumstances.
- Your right to object to processing – You have the right to object to the processing of your personal information in certain circumstances.
- Your right to data portability – You have the right to ask that we transfer the personal information you gave us to another organisation, or to you, in certain circumstances.
You are not required to pay any charge for exercising your rights. If you make a request, we have one month to respond to you.
Please contact us at hello@freetospeak.co.uk if you wish to make a request.
How to complain
If you have any concerns about our use of your personal information, you can make a complaint to us at hello@freetospeak.co.uk.
You can also complain to the ICO if you are unhappy with how we have used your data.
The ICO’s address:
Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Helpline number: 0303 123 1113
ICO website: https://www.ico.org.uk