Living Places Privacy Notice

Introduction  

As the ‘controller’ of the information (‘personal data’) that we collect and hold about you – our ‘data subjects’ – we are responsible for how that data is processed. The word ‘process’ covers the things that can be done with personal data, including collection, storage, use and destruction of data.  

This privacy notice explains why and how we process your personal data, and explains the rights you have, including amongst others, the right to request access to your data, and to object to the way it is processed.  

We process your data so we can manage and support our relationships with you, comply with legal obligations, improve our services, and achieve our legitimate business aims. 

Although we are not required by law to appoint a data protection officer, one of our partners takes the lead on data protection matters. If you have any queries about this notice or anything related to data protection, you can contact them at privacy@livingplaces.earth. 

As a not-for-profit organisation we are exempt from paying a registration fee to the ICO but we will update this notice if that changes. 

Personal data  

‘Personal data’ is any information that relates to a living, identifiable person. This will usually include your name, address, contact details, and other information we collect as part of our relationship with you, if we come into contact with you through our work. 

Some especially sensitive information is legally defined as ‘special categories’ of data, and includes information about a person’s race or ethnic origin, religious, political or other beliefs, physical or mental health, trade union membership, genetic or biometric data, sex life or sexual orientation. The use of this type of data, and of information about criminal convictions and offences, is subject to strict legal controls.

We only process personal data if we need to for a specific purpose, as explained below. If we believe there is another related use, we will tell you and explain why the law lets us do this. We will only process personal information without informing you, when the law directs or permits us to. This includes when it is in the substantial public interest to do so, such as when crime or other misconduct is being investigated. 

Most often, we collect your personal data directly from you, through our contact with you.  

Your data and how and why we process it 

Business contacts: 

We work with organisations, such as limited companies, partnerships, commercial organisations, and not-for-profits. While information about an organisation is not personal data, we collect names, contact details and other data about organisations’ employees (and other contacts) and this is personal data, subject to data protection regulations. 

We have several types of business contacts; some are individuals, and some are acting on behalf of an organisation.  This includes visitors to our website, suppliers of goods and services, people we collaborate with, those who attend events, and job applicants. The information we obtain about people from these interactions, such as names, contact details, and work-related information, is personal data. 

We'll handle and use your personal details responsibly and only when it’s necessary for our lawful purposes, including the following. 

• Managing an employment contract that you have entered into with us, as an individual, or to take steps before you enter into an employment contract with us.  
• As part of working with organisations, we use personal data to carry out our work together effectively and look after our ongoing relationships, based on our and your legitimate interests. 
• Meeting our legal duties, such as adhering to anti-money laundering rules, and responding to court orders, and meeting regulator demands. 
• Promoting our aims and offering our services. 

News and updates: 

Individual subscribers: We send electronic messages (emails, etc.) containing news and updates about our work to individual contacts if you’ve agreed to, or requested to, receive these updates and haven’t opted out since, based on your freely given consent.    

Corporate subscribers: We send electronic messages (emails, etc.) containing news and updates about our work addressed to organisations, or individuals at those organisations, without consent, based on our legitimate interests to send updates about our business and services to ‘corporate subscribers’. This means email addresses owned and managed by an organisation (whether commercial or not for profit) rather than by an individual. You can choose to opt-out whenever you wish. 

To unsubscribe from our messages, email us at contact@livingplaces.earth or click the ‘unsubscribe’ link in any news and update message. 

Employees and Partners: 

We process your name, contact details, work experience, performance related information, financial information and other information from our interactions. Most of this data is processed on the basis that it is necessary for us to manage our employment relationship, or to fulfil our obligations and allow you and us to exercise rights under employment law. 

If we ask you for feedback on working with us, we will process that data on the basis that it is necessary for the legitimate interest of improving our employee experiences. 

Why we share your data  

We share the data we process with other organisations, only when we have a lawful basis to do so, including when we are engaging a supplier who will act as a ‘Data Processor’ on our behalf. ‘Processors’ are businesses who handle, or could potentially handle, personal data as part of providing a service to us, and include our IT system providers, our email providers, our website hosts, and consultants/advisors. 

Other organisations we share data with include the HMRC and banks for processing tax and payments, and we will co-operate with police and other authorities where it is in the substantial public interest, for example in order to investigate or prevent crime, including fraud, and other unwanted behaviours such as incompetence in public roles. 

How and where we store your data  

Your personal data is held in electronic format. Where we store or transfer your data outside of the UK we do so only where we have assessed the risk, and judged there to be appropriate safeguards in place to control the protection of your data, including the data being in a country that has been assessed as ‘adequate’ or we have entered into an appropriate IDTA (International Data Transfer Agreement). 

How long we keep your data  

Your data is only kept for as long as there is a lawful reason to retain it. Some of our retention periods are based on legal requirements, and others are based on the practical reasons we need to keep the data for a certain period of time.  

Once we reach the retention period, we will securely delete the relevant data, unless we are legally required to keep it longer, or there are legal reasons why we should keep it longer. 

Your rights as a data subject  

As a data subject, you have the following rights in relation to your personal data:  

• To be informed about how and why your data is handled, which we do in a large part through this Privacy Notice; 
• To gain access to copies of your personal data (sometimes known as making a Subject Access Request or SAR);  
• To have errors or inaccuracies in your data changed;  
• To have your personal data erased, in limited circumstances (sometimes known as the ‘right to be forgotten’);  
• To object to the processing of your personal data for ‘marketing’ purposes or when the processing is based on the public interest or other legitimate interests;  
• To restrict the processing of your personal data, in limited circumstances;  
• To obtain a copy of some of your data in a commonly used electronic form, in limited circumstances (known as the right to data portability); 
• Rights that ensure you are not unfairly affected by any profiling or automated decisions; 
• To withdraw your consent if we are relying on your consent for our lawful processing of your data; and 
• To raise a complaint if you are not satisfied with the way we are processing your data. 

To make a Subject Access Request or exercise any of the other rights, please contact us. We will respond to you as soon as possible, and within one month for a request to access, rectify, erase, restrict or object to processing of, your data, or a request for data portability. 

For more information about these rights, please see the ICO’s website https://ico.org.uk/ or contact us. 

Withdrawing consent  

If we are relying on your consent to process your data, you may withdraw your consent at any time by contacting us in your preferred way. 

Complaints to the Information Commissioner  

You have a right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) about the way in which we process your personal data, although please allow us the opportunity to sort out the issue first. You can make a complaint on the ICO’s website https://ico.org.uk/.  

Website Cookies & Similar Technology  

Our website uses essential cookies which are necessary for the proper operation of the website, as well as non-essential cookies, which can identify your IP address, but not any other personal details.  

Our Cookies settings area on the website allows you to choose whether to accept the non-essential cookies.  

If you prefer to turn off essential cookies as well as non-essential cookies, you can turn them off in your browser, but please be aware that the website will not operate as intended. 

This Privacy Notice was last updated on 26/02/2024.