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Privacy Policy

This privacy notice explains how Handcrafted collects, stores and processes your personal data.

For further information please contact us by:

  • Writing to Handcrafted Projects, Unit 7, Skillion Business Park, Littleburn Road, DH7 8HG
  • Calling us on 0191 378 1562
  • Emailing to info@handcrafted.org.uk

1. What is your personal data?

When you come into contact with us as a supporter, volunteer, trainee, or for any other reason, you will be giving us data about yourself.

Personal data is any information that identifies you. It might not be just obvious things like your name and address, but it can be any piece of information that can be identified as referring to you rather than anyone else. How we treat this information is governed by the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

2. Who are we?

The charity, Handcrafted Projects, is committed to protecting your privacy and letting you know why we have it and what we are doing with it. Under the GDPR, we are known as a ‘Data Controller’ because we decide what personal data to collect and what we do with it.

3. How do we collect your personal data?

Whenever you make contact with us:

If you ask us about our activities, make a donation to us, buy a product, apply for a vacancy, access training or get suppport from us, you are likely to be giving us your personal information.

When others tell us about you:

If you are referred to us for support by another organisation, or if a third party passes your details to us for any reason, we will get some personal data.

If we are giving you support

If you are referred to us for support, we will collect and store the referral form, which includes information such as your name and date of birth and the reasons for the referral. We will then keep an ongoing record of our contact with you, the activites you do with us, our assessments and reviews of your needs and how we are meeting them.

4. How do we use your personal data?

We use your personal data so that we can

  • provide the services that we have been set up to provide as specified in our stated aims and activities
  • keep up-to-date records of trainees, residents, staff and volunteers;
  • maintain the documentation we are required to keep by law (for example, to comply with the Charities (Protection and Social Investment) Act 2016, which requires us to identify supporters who make any major gifts)
  • fundraise and promote the interests of the charity (for example your email address so that we can send you updates about opportunities to support our work)
  • communicate between members of the staff, volunteer teams and referring organisations (for example, to let a referrer know that you have been coming along to our training)
  • manage risk and ensure safety (for example, contact and next-of-kin details in case of an emergency)

We are careful to only collect and keep the information that we need to do our job. We keep the information we have about you up-to-date and correct it as soon as we find out if there are any errors in it. We are also committed to making sure your personal data is secure and does not fall into the wrong hands.

Where your data is stored electronically, we ensure that it can only be accessed by members of the staff team, protected according to our strict passwords and devices policy and stored in systems that are compliant with GDPR.

5. What about sensitive personal information?

From time to time, you might tell us about a personal experience or give us information about your health, race, ethnic origin, political opinions, sex life, sexual orientation or religious beliefs. This is Sensitive Personal Information that is recognised under Data Protection Law as needing particular care.

We will only use this information:

  • to tailor our support for you personally
  • to internally monitor or evaluate the services we provide

We will not pass these details to anyone else without your permission except in exceptional circumstances where, for example, there is a risk of serious self-harm or a threat to others.

If you give us details of your personal life for inclusion in a blog post or other media, we will makes sure that you are happy for us to share this before we publish it. You can change your mind about this at any time and let us know by contacting us.

6. What is the legal basis for using your personal data?

We are legally allowed to use your personal data if you have given us consent to do so for a specific purpose.

Additionally, we are permitted to keep and process your personal data so that we can fulfil a contract you have with us. This can happen when you ask us to do something for you; it doesn’t require a signed piece of paper but you may be applying for a job, buying a product or getting help from us.

Unusually, we may also have to disclose some of your personal data to protect your “vital interests”. This only applies in cases of life or death, such as where your medical history is disclosed to a hospital’s A&E department after a serious accident.

7. Do we ever share your personal data with others?

Your personal data will be treated as strictly confidential and will only be shared with other members of the staff team and volunteers in order to provide our services, or if we are legally required to disclose information.

We will never pass your personal data to others so that they can contact you for marketing purposes.

We will only share personally identifiable data with third parties outside of the charity with your consent, as part of a contract, or if it is of vital interest. If we need to do this we will also make sure that any third parties have similar measures in place to protect your privacy according to the Law.

8. For how long do we keep your personal data?

In accordance with the guidance set out by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) we do not keep data for longer than we need to. In some cases, this will be limited because the contact is brief and we are unlikely to need information to process a complaint or claim in the future. We audit and delete or archive information annually. However, because we work with vulnerable adults, our policy is that we will keep most data forever.

9. Do I have any rights over my personal data?

You have the right to request a copy of the personal data which Handcrafted Projects holds about you. You can do this by writing to us. We will respond to all requests within 30 days of receiving a written request.

You have the right to request that Handcrafted Projects corrects any details in your data if they are inaccurate or out of date.

Where you have given consent for us to use your personal data for a specific purpose, you have the right to withdraw this consent at any time by telling us.

You can lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioners Office (ICO).

10. Updates to this notice

We will regularly review this notice as any of our activities, processes or national regulations change. If there is any significant change to the way we intend to handle your personal information then we will inform you of this.

This notice was last updated and published on 10 February 2025.

11. Contact details

Contact us

Handcrafted
Unit 7
Skillion Business Park
Littleburn Road
DH7 7RP
Call 0191 378 1562 or email info@handcrafted.org.uk

Contact the Information Commissioners Office

Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Call 0303 123 1113 or email via https://ico.org.uk/global/contact-us/email/

Image depicting someone helping another person up a mountain

Testimonials

There are countless challenges and barriers between our Fairchance service users and a healthy, productive and satisfying life.

We often use the term ‘chaotic lifestyle’ to describe the multitude of issues they face, and we contrast this lifestyle with an ideal that is secure, positive, stable and fulfilling. Often people looking in on the lifestyles of our service users find them intimidating, disorientating and full of risk – it should be no surprise that the same is true the other way around. For our service users who are looking into employment, education and stable accommodation, what they often see is a very unfamiliar culture and environment that they are unable to navigate.

Handcrafted helps to bridge this gap. It’s a middle ground between work and leisure where our service users are building confidence, self-esteem, working relationships, responsibilities, a sense of achievement. As a natural consequence of this and armed with the skills necessary to make this transition our service users are developing goals and ambitions and making plans for the futures that they are beginning to see as a reality for themselves.

Joe K, Fair Chance Project, Oasis Aquila Housing