Privacy Notice

Last updated: 17th June 2026

This privacy notice tells you what to expect us to do with your personal information.

Contact details

Email: admin@aurumautismsupport.org.uk

What information we collect, use, and why

We collect or use the following information to provide services and goods, including delivery and third party referrals:

Names and contact details
Addresses
Date of birth
Emergency contact details
Next of kin details
Photographs or video recordings (with additional consent)
Information about care needs (including disabilities and general care provisions)
Information relating to compliments or complaints

We collect or use the following information to receive donations or funding and organise fundraising activities:

Names and contact details
Addresses
Payment or banking details
Tax payer information (for Gift Aid purposes)

We collect or use the following personal information for the prevention, detection, investigation or prosecution of crimes:

Names and contact information
Criminal offence data (including Disclosure Barring Service (DBS), Access NI or Disclosure Scotland checks)
Information relating to health and safety

We collect or use the following personal information to comply with legal requirements:

Name
Contact information
Criminal offence data

We collect or use the following personal information for dealing with queries, complaints or claims:

Names and contact details
Correspondence

We also collect or use the following information for dealing with queries, complaints or claims:

Lawful bases and data protection rights

Under UK data protection law, we must have a “lawful basis” for collecting and using your personal information. There is a list of possible lawful bases in the UK GDPR. You can find out more about lawful bases on the ICO’s website.

Which lawful basis we rely on may affect your data protection rights which are in brief set out below. You can find out more about your data protection rights and the exemptions which may apply on the ICO’s website:

Your right of access - You have the right to ask us for copies of your personal information. You can request other information such as details about where we get personal information from and who we share personal information with. There are some exemptions which means you may not receive all the information you ask for. You can read more about this right here.
Your right to rectification - You have the right to ask us to correct or delete personal information you think is inaccurate or incomplete. You can read more about this right here.
Your right to erasure - You have the right to ask us to delete your personal information. You can read more about this right here.
Your right to restriction of processing - You have the right to ask us to limit how we can use your personal information. You can read more about this right here.
Your right to object to processing - You have the right to object to the processing of your personal data. You can read more about this right here.
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. You can read more about this right here.
Your right to withdraw consent – When we use consent as our lawful basis you have the right to withdraw your consent at any time. You can read more about this right here.

If you make a request, we must respond to you without undue delay and in any event within one month.

To make a data protection rights request, please contact us using the contact details at the top of this privacy notice.

Our lawful bases for collecting or using personal information to provide services and goods, including delivery and third party referrals are:

Consent - we have permission from you after we gave you all the relevant information. All of your data protection rights may apply, except the right to object. To be clear, you do have the right to withdraw your consent at any time.
Legal obligation – we have to collect or use your information so we can comply with the law. All of your data protection rights may apply, except the right to erasure, the right to object and the right to data portability.
Vital interests – collecting or using the information is needed when someone’s physical or mental health or wellbeing is at urgent or serious risk. This includes an urgent need for life sustaining food, water, clothing or shelter. All of your data protection rights may apply, except the right to object and the right to portability.

Our lawful bases for collecting or using personal information to receive donations or funding and organise fundraising activities are:

Consent - we have permission from you after we gave you all the relevant information. All of your data protection rights may apply, except the right to object. To be clear, you do have the right to withdraw your consent at any time.
Contract – we have to collect or use the information so we can enter into or carry out a contract with you. All of your data protection rights may apply except the right to object.

Our lawful bases for collecting or using personal information for the prevention, detection, investigation or prosecution of crimes are:

Legal obligation – we have to collect or use your information so we can comply with the law. All of your data protection rights may apply, except the right to erasure, the right to object and the right to data portability.

Our lawful bases for collecting or using personal information to comply with legal requirements are:

Legal obligation – we have to collect or use your information so we can comply with the law. All of your data protection rights may apply, except the right to erasure, the right to object and the right to data portability.

Our lawful bases for collecting or using personal information for dealing with queries, complaints or claims are:

Consent - we have permission from you after we gave you all the relevant information. All of your data protection rights may apply, except the right to object. To be clear, you do have the right to withdraw your consent at any time.

Where we get personal information from

Directly from you
Family members or carers

How long we keep information

Personal data is held in paper copy by session leaders. During sessions, files containing personal data must not be left unattended at any time. In between sessions, the files must be kept in a locked cabinet.
Digital information is also kept by session leaders. In this case the information must be on a device that is encrypted and password protected. Data is stored on Aurum’s secure shared drive and is only accessible to workers that require access. Removable devices (e.g. USB sticks) must not be used for storage or transmission of personal data.
Data will be destroyed once it is no longer needed. For practical purposes, this will be when the person has not contacted or received support from Aurum in over six months. Some anonymised data may be retained to fulfil funding reporting requirements.

Who we share information with

Others we share personal information with

Organisations we need to share information with for safeguarding reasons
Local authorities or councils
Organisations we’re legally obliged to share personal information with

How to Make a Data Protection Complaint

Your right to complain

From 19 June 2026, under the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025, you have a statutory right to raise a data protection complaint directly with us. We take all such complaints seriously and are committed to resolving them promptly and fairly.

A data protection complaint is any concern you have about how we have collected, used, stored, shared, or otherwise handled your personal data. Examples include concerns about how we responded to a data subject access request, the security measures applied to your data, or how we have been processing your personal data.

How to submit your complaint

You can submit a data protection complaint by email, or phone. Please use whichever method is most convenient for you:

Email: admin@aurumautismsupport.org.uk

We will also accept complaints submitted via social media, though please note that for security reasons we will not share substantive information about your complaint via social media channels.

If you are making a complaint on behalf of someone else, we may need to verify that you are authorised to act on their behalf before we can investigate.

What happens after you complain

Once we receive your complaint, we will acknowledge it within 30 days. Our acknowledgement will confirm receipt and that we are looking into the matter.

The 30-day acknowledgement period begins the day after we receive your complaint, including weekends and public holidays. If the 30th day falls on a weekend or public holiday, we will send our acknowledgement the following working day.

Following acknowledgement, we will:

Investigate your complaint without undue delay
Keep you informed of progress where relevant
Provide you with a clear written outcome, explaining the steps we took, our conclusions, and our reasoning

A copy of our Data Protection Complaints Policy can be requested by emailing admin@aurumautismsupport.org.uk

Escalating your complaint to the ICO

Under the new Act, we ask that you raise your complaint with us first before escalating it to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO). This gives us the opportunity to resolve the matter directly with you.

If you remain dissatisfied with our response, or if we have not resolved your complaint within a reasonable time, you have the right to escalate your complaint to the ICO:

Website: www.ico.org.uk
Helpline: 0303 123 1113
Post: Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF

Things to include in your complaint

To help us investigate as quickly as possible, please include:

Your full name and contact details
A clear description of your concern
The relevant dates (if known)
Any reference numbers relating to previous correspondence with us

Changes to this privacy notice

We may update this privacy notice from time to time to reflect changes in our organisation, legal requirements, professional guidance, or the systems we use.

The latest version will be available on our website.