Website Privacy Notice
This notice covers our website only. It explains what happens to information you give us through this site, or that we collect while you use it.
If you receive care from us, a separate privacy notice covers your care records. Ask us for a copy and we will send it.
1. Who we are
Skillcare Limited is the data controller for information collected through this website.
- Registered in England & Wales, company number 08103865
- Building 3, North London Business Park, Oakleigh Road South, London N11 1GN
- Registered with the Information Commissioner's Office, registration ZB562848
Our Privacy Officer is Denver Forbes. Any question about this notice, or about information we hold, should go to denver@skillcare.org.uk.
2. What we collect
Information you give us
If you complete the enquiry form or the professional referral form, we collect what you type into it. That normally includes a name, email address, phone number and the area you live in, along with whatever you tell us about the care that is needed.
People often include health information in an enquiry — a diagnosis, a recent hospital stay, what someone is struggling with. That is entirely reasonable, and we treat it as the sensitive information it is. Please do not send us more detail than you need to. A phone call is a better place for the full picture than a web form.
Professional referrals contain information about the person being referred as well as about the referrer.
Information collected automatically
Our web host keeps standard server logs — IP address, browser type, pages requested, dates and times. These are generated by the hosting infrastructure, are used only to keep the site running and secure, and are not used to build any profile of you.
We use no analytics and no advertising or tracking technology of any kind. Two pages display our CQC rating using the Care Quality Commission's official widget, and two embed a Google map — both are served by those organisations rather than by us. Our cookie notice explains what that means and what the site stores on your device, which is almost nothing.
3. Why we use it, and our lawful basis
| What for | Lawful basis (UK GDPR) |
|---|---|
| Responding to your enquiry and arranging an assessment | Article 6(1)(b) — steps taken at your request before entering a contract |
| Handling a professional referral | Article 6(1)(f) — our legitimate interest, and the referrer's, in arranging care safely |
| Health information included in an enquiry or referral | Article 9(2)(h) — the provision of health and social care |
| Keeping the website secure and working | Article 6(1)(f) — our legitimate interest in operating the site |
We do not use your information for marketing, and we do not send marketing emails.
4. Who we share it with
Enquiries are read by the Skillcare team and no one else. Specifically:
- We never sell your information, and we never pass it to other companies to market to you.
- Our email and IT providers process it on our behalf, under contract, and cannot use it for their own purposes.
- If you go on to receive care, information may be shared with your local authority, the NHS or other professionals involved in your care — that is covered by the care records privacy notice, not this one.
- We would disclose information if the law required it, or where there is a safeguarding concern about someone at risk of harm.
5. Where it is kept
Your information is stored in the United Kingdom. We do not transfer it outside the UK.
6. How long we keep it
- Enquiries that do not lead to care: 12 months, then deleted. People often come back to us months later, and it is better for you if we still have the context.
- Enquiries that lead to care: the information becomes part of your care record and is kept under the retention periods in the Records Management Code of Practice for Health and Social Care.
- Server logs: retained briefly by our host for security purposes.
7. Keeping it safe
Access to enquiries is limited to the people who need it. Accounts are protected by multi-factor authentication, and devices are kept up to date. We should be straight with you, though: no transmission over the internet is completely secure, and anything you send us travels at your own risk.
8. Your rights
Under UK data protection law you can ask us to:
- Give you a copy of the information we hold about you
- Correct anything that is wrong or incomplete
- Delete it, where we have no continuing reason to keep it
- Restrict what we do with it while a concern is resolved
- Object to us using it where we rely on legitimate interests
- Transfer it to another organisation, where that right applies
Email denver@skillcare.org.uk. We will respond within one month, and there is no charge. We may ask you to confirm who you are first — not to be obstructive, but because handing someone else's information to the wrong person is exactly what these rights exist to prevent.
We do not make any automated decisions about you, and we do not profile you.
9. If you are unhappy
Tell us first, and we will look into it. Email denver@skillcare.org.uk — we acknowledge complaints within three working days and will tell you what we are doing about it.
If we cannot put it right, you can complain to the Information Commissioner's Office, the UK regulator for data protection. You do not need our permission and it costs nothing.
10. Changes to this notice
We review this notice annually and whenever the site changes in a way that affects it. The date at the top tells you when it was last updated.
