Privacy notice

When someone visits www.londonvws.org.uk we use a third party service, Google Analytics, to collect standard internet log information and details of visitor behaviour patterns. We do this to find out things such as the number of visitors to the various parts of the site. This information is processed in a way which does not identify anyone. We do not make, and do not allow Google to make, any attempt to find out the identities of those visiting our websites. If we do want to collect personally identifiable information through our websites, we will tell you about this. We will make it clear when we collect personal information and will explain what we intend to do with it.

If you require our support you can request this by contacting us directly by phone, via our live chat facility, or by completing the form on this website.

When you report a crime (in the capacity of a victim or a witness of that crime) you will be asked if you would like them to refer you to us for further support.  Where you agree to being referred, your data will be passed to Victim Support who will assess your case and either process your data themselves to provide support (for adult and domestic violence cases) or pass your details on to the relevant organisation where appropriate.  These are Catch22 for support for children and young victims of crime, and Calm Mediation for Restorative Justice.

The data shared to us from the police will include your name, your age and DOB (where available), your contact details, your gender, crime number, date, time and type of crime the referral relates to.  We may also receive details about any disability you may have or your ethnicity or religion which we will only process to ensure our service is meeting a diverse section of the community.  We may also be informed if you are vulnerable in order to ensure we take appropriate measures when contacting you. We will not normally process any additional information regarding the crime reported to the police, unless you provide this to us directly when we work with you.

We process personal information about victims and witnesses of crime to:

• Enable us to provide emotional and practical help, Restorative Justice services, and counselling services, to people affected by crime and/or witness of crime
• Campaign for change in the Criminal Justice Sector on areas affecting people impacted by crime
• Conduct research into matters affecting people affected by crime, including evaluations of the services we provide.
• LVWS services may seek your consent to share your data with the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC) for evaluation purposes. You are entitled to refuse if you wish. Giving consent to this will help MOPAC and LVWS analyse where improvements should be made to the service offer.

The providers of the LVWS will always ensure that there is a lawful basis for any processing of personal information and special category information we undertake. We may process the personal information of individuals on a variety of different lawful grounds such as

• performing a public task in relation to delivering our services, or
• for reasons of substantial public interest, or
• under a legal obligation, or
• it is in the vital interests of an individual
• where you have given us your consent
• Where we have a contract with you (i.e. an employment contract)
• Where processing is necessary for the purposes of carrying out our obligations in the field of employment law

The LVWS provides our services to victims and witnesses of crime under the lawful bases of public task and substantial public interests with a basis in nation law set out in the Victims’ Code of Practice issued under the Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Act 2004.  Where we process your ethnicity, religious or data about your disabilities for the purposes of ensuring our services reach a diverse population and are inclusive, we do so under the basis of substantial public interests to ensure the equality of opportunity or treatment.

You have a right to object to the processing of information about you. See the section on ‘Your rights in relation to your personal information’ below.

Your information may also be used for statistical purposes (statistical information is anonymous).  This anonymous information may be passed back to MOPAC for reporting purposes.

The types of personal information that the LVWS receives, collects and processes in relation to provision of services to people affected by crime include:

• Personal details, such as your name, contact details, date of birth, gender, and other personal information for identifying an individual
• Brief details of any alleged or actual crime committed against an individual or that an individual has witnessed.  This may include the crime number and date and time of the incident.
• Details of individuals’ needs and the support provided to them, including case notes and whether the individual is vulnerable
• Other details, including equality, diversity and inclusion data so that the London Victim and Witness Service can look to ensure its services are open to all
• We will not normally process any additional information regarding the crime reported to the police, unless you provide this to us directly when we work with you.

If you contact us in any way, i.e. by phone, email or webform, we may process the following information in order to deal with your enquiry.

• Personal details, such as your name and contact details
• Details of your enquiry
• Your data will only be used by the providers of the LVWS to deal with and respond to your enquiries and to keep an accurate record of how your enquiry was handled. We will otherwise only contact you where you have opted to receive further updates from us.
• Details of individuals’ needs and the support provided to them, including case notes and whether the individual is vulnerable
• Other details, including equality, diversity and inclusion data so that the London Victim and Witness Service can look to ensure its services are open to all
• We will not normally process any additional information regarding the crime reported to the police, unless you provide this to us directly when we work with you.

At the LVWS, we ensure that personal information is not kept for longer than necessary. Our normal retention periods are as follows:

• Where you are referred to us but we are unable to contact you, or you do not opt to use our service, we will retain your data for 12 months.
• Where you do use our services we will usually retain your data for 6 years after our last contact with you.
• If you make a complaint about any of the services provided, details will be retained for 6 years after our last contact with you.
• Where you use the Live Chat function on our website your data will be retained for 6 years.
• Where you complete a web-form to contact us regarding our services your data will be retained for 6 weeks.
• For Restorative Justice services, case details are deleted 6 years after the case is closed.
• Full details of the providers of LVWS normal retention periods for personal information are detailed on their respective privacy notices.

Data protection requirements mean that you have specific rights in relation to your personal information held by the LVWS. You have the following rights, but you should note, not all of these rights are applicable in all circumstances.

The right to be informed

You have the right to be informed of how your personal information will be used, for how long it will be kept, how you can opt out of further processing, and that you have the right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority. This privacy notice, and each of our providers’ main privacy notices form part of our commitment to your right to be informed.

The right of access

You have the right to ask any of the organisations processing your data to provide you with any information currently processed about you.

The right to rectification

You have the right to request any of the organisations processing your data corrects any personal information held about you if it is inaccurate or incomplete.

The right to object

You have the right to object to any of the organisations processing your data where they do so under the lawful basis of legitimate interests or the performance of a task in the public interest/exercise of official authority.  This includes where your data is processed for marketing purposes or for our delivery of services to you.  If you object we will consider the reasons for your objection and whether we have a compelling grounds to continue to process the data.

The right to be forgotten

You have the right to request deletion or removal of your personal information in specific circumstances including where:

• The personal information is no longer necessary in relation to the purpose for which it was originally collected
• One of the organisations processing your data is relying on consent to process your personal information and you withdraw this consent
• You object to the processing and there is no overriding legitimate interest for us to continue the processing
• The data was unlawfully processed

The right to restrict processing

You have the right to request any of the organisations processing your data blocks or suppresses processing of your personal information.  In many cases this restriction would be temporary, for example while we investigation and rectify incorrect data we hold about you.

The right to data portability

Where we process data which you have provided to us under the lawful basis of consent or contract and you have the right to obtain and re-use your personal information for your own purposes across different services. In these instances, any of the organisations processing your data would be obliged to provide you with the relevant personal information in a structured, commonly-used, and machine-readable form.

The right to withdraw consent

Where you have provided us with your consent to process your data, you have the right to change your mind and withdraw your consent to us processing your data at any time.

The right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority in relation to the processing of their personal information

If you are unhappy with the way any of the organisations processing your data have carried out their activities, we would ask you to first raise your complaint with the relevant organisation.  However, if you are unhappy with how we handle your complaint, or do not wish to raise this with us directly, you do have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office.

The Information Commissioner’s Office can be contacted at:

Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF

To request to exercise any of your rights as detailed above, please contact the relevant provider for the service you are using.  Full details are at the top of this privacy notice and email addresses provided below:

Adult / Domestic Abuse services:
Please contact: dpo@victimsupport.org.uk

Restorative Justice services:
Please contact: data@calmmediation.org

Children and young people services
Please contact: info@catch-22.org.uk

None of the operations the LVWS performs on personal information constitutes “automated decisions”.

In line with internal procedures, changing providers, best practice, or changing legal requirements, the LVWS reserves the right to make changes to this privacy notice and other aspects of its websites at any time. Please check this page regularly for any changes.