NOW Group Privacy Notice

NOW Group is committed to maintaining high standards in data protection and ensuring the privacy and security of your data. This privacy notice aims to provide you with information on how we gather, process and store your data in a concise and accessible format and therefore does not give full details of how we process your data. If you require any further detail on any aspect of this notice please contact our designated Data Protection Officer on dpo@nowgroup.org

Who are we?

Now Group provides a range of services that support people with learning difficulties and autism to realise their full potential and change their lives for the better. Our services focus on supporting people into employment, training, transition and volunteering and includes a family service to support new parents with a learning difficulty or autism. Our JAM Card initiative provides people with a range of communication barriers with the opportunity to tell others that they need ‘Just a Minute’ when accessing public transport, banks, shops and public services We also offer a range of solutions to businesses including corporate catering, recruitment and supported employment, social impact measurement and disability awareness customer service training.

NOW Group is registered in Northern Ireland. Charity number: XR23504 / Company number: NI043774 and in ROI Charity Number:20204791 / Company number: 658992

What is this notice?

In order to provide our services, we may need to process personal data from time to time (that is information about someone who can be identified from the data). This personal data may be about you or other people. This notice explains how we will use the personal data we hold.

A separate notice specifically aimed at our participants is also available if you would like a copy please visit our website or contact our Data Protection Officer at dpo@nowgroup.org

What type of personal data is collected from you?

As an organisation with a diverse range of services and contacts we collect a wide range of information which could include payment details for contractors, employment history or identity information for job applicants, contact details for participants and in some cases sensitive information like medical information where this is necessary. This list is not exhaustive as it depends on how you engage with us.

Examples include:

Contacting us with an enquiry
Joining one of our services
Completing a training course
Signing up for a JAM Card
Visiting our website or downloading an app
A referral organisation providing us with your details
Giving us feedback on our services
Providing us with goods or services
Applying for a job
Attending an event
Buying corporate catering or Pottery
Signing up to become a JAM Card Friendly Business
Providing you with updates on our products and services

How do we use your personal data?

We use your personal data to

Provide you with goods or services
Contact you for feedback or provide updates on our services
Support our recruitment processes
Connect you with our participants or connect our participants with you as relevant
Analyse the feedback you give us to improve our services.
To provide you with information on the range of services we offer across NOW Group including participant services, Loaf Catering services, JAM Card and Loaf Pottery.

Who has access to your information?

NOW Group

Now Group staff who provide direct services will have access to your information to provide you with relevant services. NOW Group support staff may require access to relevant data as part of processes around finance, administration, marketing and ICT.

Third party access

We use an external company to provide us with IT support.
We may use external survey and newsletter services to contact you for quality monitoring and marketing.

Where we use external services and cloud services to store personal data we have assurance that these providers are fully compliant with relevant data protection legislation through data sharing agreements.

CCTV

CCTV is in operation at Loaf Catering sites for the purpose of preventing crime, protecting buildings and for the personal safety of staff, visitors and other members of the public. Further information is contained in the CCTV Data Protection Policy.

The lawful basis for processing your personal data

To comply with data protection legislation all companies need to show the lawful basis for processing the personal data they hold. We keep a register of the various categories of personal data held by NOW Group and the lawful basis we use for processing each category depending on reason for holding the data e.g

For delivery of our participant services or where we carry out transactions or communicate with you in relation to the sale and procurement of goods and services we will use legitimate interest as the lawful basis.
Where you have subscribed to our newsletters or agreed to be contacted for quality monitoring purposes we will use the consent that you give us as the lawful basis.
For some financial transactions particularly relating to taxation, accounting legislation and equal opportunities monitoring we will use legal obligation as the lawful basis.

Where we use legitimate interest we aim to ensure that we are safeguarding the rights of the data subjects to ensure that their interests are protected.

Security and retention of your data

It is our policy to ensure that all personal data held by us is handled correctly and appropriately according to the nature of the information, the risk associated with mishandling the data, including the damage that could be caused to an individual as a result of loss, corruption and/or accidental disclosure of any such data, and in accordance with any applicable legal requirements.

We aim to hold the minimum amount of data needed to provide services to organisations and individuals. We have a data retention policy to ensure that we do not retain your data longer than necessary and that we dispose of it safely. In some cases e.g. accounting records, human resources information, and information required by our funders we are legally obliged to abide by statutory retention periods.

What rights do you have in relation to the personal data we hold?

You have the following rights in relation to the personal data we hold -

You can ask us what information we hold on you and how we use it.
You can ask us not to use your personal data to send you updates on our services.
In some circumstances you have can ask us for access to the data we hold about you. This is known as a Subject Access Request. To request access please contact the DPO.
You can ask us to amend or update any information we hold on you and we would encourage you to do so to ensure that the data we hold is accurate and up to date.
In some circumstances you have the right to ask us to erase your personal data from our records.

If you wish to avail of any of these rights, please contact dpo@nowgroup.org

Cookies and Analytics

A cookie is a small text file that contains information a website transfers to your computer’s hard disk for record keeping purposes and allows us to monitor our site traffic patterns. Cookies tell us what website pages people visit and give us insight to help us improve our communications. We do not store any personal data.

Changes to this Privacy Notice

We may change this privacy notice to comply with changes in the law or changes in how we operate. We will alert stakeholders through our website and other channels if we make any significant changes.

Who do I complain to if I am not happy with how you process personal data about me?

If you have any questions or concerns about how we are using Personal Data about you, please contact our Data Protection Officer immediately at our registered address (see paragraph 1.1 above) or by email to dpo@nowgroup.org.

If you wish to make a complaint about how we have handled Personal Data about you, you may lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office by following this link: https://ico.org.uk/concerns/.