Privacy Policy
How we will use your information
We will use your information to support your application to become a foster carer with us. We will ask you to provide information directly and will obtain information about you from other sources, such as, but not limited to, local authorities, Disclosure Scotland, and your employers. We will combine this information to form a detailed picture about you, your past and your suitability to be a foster carer.
It may also be necessary for us to gather information about you if you are, or have been related to someone who wishes to become a foster carer with us. This allows us to contact you to help establish the full character of our carers.
We will also gather and use information about the children and young people placed in our care. This information will be used to ensure we provide the safe and supportive homes we believe all young people deserve, as well as to ensure the safety of our foster carers, our staff, and the people we work with.
Sharing your information with others
We will share your information with others where we are required to do so by law, or to help safeguard the people in our care. The organisations we will share your information with include local authorities, the police, education and health authorities, as well as people who work with us to help assess your suitability to become or remain a foster carer.
We will also share information about the young people in our care where required by law, to support the education and health of our looked after children, and to ensure personal safety.
Where required, we will pass information we hold about you between us (i.e. Swiis Foster Care, and Swiis Foster Care Scotland). For example, should you move from England to Scotland as either a registered foster carer, or someone who has made an application in the past, we will freely share your information between our two companies. We will also pass limited information about you, such as your name, contact details and bank details, to other companies in the Swiis group to allow us to pay you and provide other employment related services.
Information Security
We take our responsibilities to protect your privacy very seriously. Technical safeguards, such as firewalls, antivirus software, and data encryption are used to help ensure that your information is kept safe and only disclosed to people who are authorised to view it. Where we are required to share your information with third parties, we will take reasonable technical and organisational precautions to prevent the loss, misuse or alteration of your personal information and we will try to ensure that we only share it in ways that are secure, such as by encrypted email, or by using recorded post.
Unfortunately, information you submit online via our website, or share with us by email, can never be 100% secure. Any information you share in this way is communicated at your own risk. Where we provide you with a secure area of our websites protected by username and password you are required to keep those details confidential. Please do not share your password with anyone, including members of our staff. We will never ask you to share your password with us.
Visiting our websites and the use of Cookies
You can visit and browse our websites without disclosing any personal information about yourself. Our websites use cookies. Cookies are small files of letters and numbers that are stored on your computer if you agree. They help us distinguish you from other visitors to our website to help us provide you with a good experience when you browse our website, and help us to improve it.
Some of the cookies we use are analytical cookies that allow us to count the number of people who visit our website and see where they are visiting from. We use Google Analytics to help us do this.
Third Party Websites
Our website may contain links to other sites. We are not responsible for the privacy policies or practices of third party sites. If you follow a link to any other sites, please note that such sites have their own privacy policies and that we do not accept any responsibility or liability for their policies. Please check their policies before you submit any information to such sites.
The Data Protection Act 1998
Any information you share with us, including your email address and other contact details, is deemed as ‘personal data’ under the Data Protection Act. We must therefore, follow the principles set out in the Act when processing your personal information. For more information about the Act, including your rights as a Data Subject, please visit the Information Commissioner’s website at www.ico.org.uk
Your right to a copy of the information we hold about you
You have the right at any time to request a copy of the information we hold about you. If you would like to do so, please write to us at the address below and we will respond to you within 40 days of receiving your request.
Data Subject Access Request
Swiis International Ltd
4th Floor, Prince House,
43 – 51 Prince Street,
Bristol,
BS1 4PS
About Us
Swiis Foster Care Ltd is a private limited company, registered in England and Wales under company number 03985713. Our registered offices are at 4th Floor, Prince House, 43 – 51 Prince Street, Bristol, BS1 4PS.
Swiis Foster Care Scotland Ltd is a private limited company registered in Scotland under company number SC273400. Our registered offices are at Glenelvan House, Carnegie Campus South, Enterprise Way, Dunfermline, Scotland, KY11 9PY.
Both companies are wholly owned by Swiis International Ltd, a private limited company registered in England and Wales under company number 04499819. Our registered offices are also at 4th Floor, Prince House, 43 – 51 Prince Street, Bristol, BS1 4PS.
Contact
If you have any questions about this policy, or if you wish to make a complaint about how we have used your personal information, please contact us by email at data.protection@swiis.co.uk. If you are not satisfied with how we handle your complaint, you are able to make a complaint to the Information Commissioner at:
Head Office Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Tel: 0303 123 1113 or 01625 545 745
Fax: 01625 524 510