Privacy Policy

Privacy policy 

Victim Support (Isle of Man) (“VSIOM”) is an Isle of Man based charity, supporting people affected by crime or traumatic events. Our team provide individual, independent, emotional and practical help to enable people to cope and recover from the effects of crime. Our services are free and available to everyone, whether or not the crime has been reported and regardless of when it happened. 

This privacy policy explains how we use any personal information we collect about you when you use our services.  

We are committed to protecting your personal information and being transparent about what we do with it. We will only use your personal information in accordance with all applicable laws concerning the protection of personal information and not to do anything with your information you wouldn’t reasonably expect. We will always explain what information we collect; how we will use that information; who we share your information with; it is your choice what information we hold. VSIOM is committed to respecting and keeping safe any personal information you share with us or that we get from other agencies. VSIOM will not share your information for marketing purposes. 

How we obtain your personal information 

We collect information in the following ways: 

• You may give us your information when you access one of our services, make an enquiry, complete a client survey, apply for a job or express an interest in becoming a volunteer, in order to sign up for one of our events, when you contact us to ask about our activities, to tell us your story, seek assistance or make a donation to us, fundraise on our behalf, or otherwise give us personal information. 

• When you give permission to other parties to share it with us. 

• Depending on your settings or the privacy policies for social media and messaging services like Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, LinkedIn or Twitter, you might give us permission to access information from those accounts. 

Information we collect about you 

Personal information is any information that can be used to identify you. For example, it can include information such as your name, date of birth, email address, postal address, telephone number and credit/debit card details. 

Data protection law recognises that certain categories of personal information are more sensitive. This is known as Special Category Data and covers health information, racial or ethnic origin, religious beliefs or other beliefs of a similar nature, political opinion and trade union membership. We would only collect such sensitive personal information where there is a clear need to do so. Before collecting any sensitive personal information about you, we will make it clear to you what information we are collecting and the purposes for collecting such. 

The types of personal information that we collect and process include: 

• Personal details, such as contact details, date of birth, and other personal information for identifying the individual. 

• Brief details of any crime committed or alleged to have been committed against the individual or that the individual has witnessed. 

• Details of the individuals’ needs and the support provided to them. 

• Other details that the individual chooses to provide, including where applicable equality, diversity and inclusion data. 

• Other personal information of employees for employee administration and general management purposes. 

• Other personal information of volunteers for general management purposes. 

• CCTV Footage of anyone entering or exiting the building. 

How will we use the information about you? 

How we use your information would largely depend on why you are providing it. We may use your information in the ways set out below.  

• We use your personal information to give you the information, support, services you request, and to manage related appointments. 

• We use your information to gain a full understanding of your situation so we can develop and offer you the best possible personalised services. 

• We use your information to keep a record of your relationship with us and for internal administrative purposes (such as our accounting and records), and to let you know about changes to our services or policies. 

• We use your personal information to review and respond to, complaints, legal claims or other issues.  

• We use personal data to carry out statistical analysis and research in order to help us to understand how we are performing and how we can improve our services and meet the needs of people that require our help. We may also use your personal information for other purposes (signposting) which we specifically notify you about and, where appropriate, obtain your consent. 

• We use your information to fundraise in relation to the services we offer. 

• We may use your information to support and manage our employees and volunteers. 

• With your consent, we may use your information to send you communications about our work and how you can help us to help you, for example, information about our campaigns, volunteering and fundraising activities and how you can donate to us. 

• CCTV Footage. When an incident takes place that involved criminal damage to the property, or an incident involving a visitor or member of staff.  This footage may be passed to the Police to aid in any investigation. 

There are exceptional circumstances where we may have to disclose personal information: 

• If we believe that either you or someone else is at risk of significant harm; Victim Support individuals have a duty to report any issues relating to child protection or adult safeguarding. 

• Where there is another legal reason or requirement to disclose your personal information. 

Agencies/organisations we may share your personal information in relation to services to victims and witnesses include: 

• Criminal Justice agencies that can also help support you in relation to being a victim or witness of crime, such as the police. 

• Other statutory agencies that can also help support you in relation to being a victim or witness of crime. 

• Voluntary sector partner agencies that can also help support you in relation to being a victim or witness of crime, such as Women’s Aid or Housing Matters. 

• Other agencies/organisations that can also help support you in relation to being a victim or witness of crime. 

Where will we store your information? 

VSIOM has appropriate technical and organisational measures in place to protect the personal information of individuals. 

How long do we retain your personal information? 

At VSIOM, we ensure that personal information is not kept for longer than necessary. 

The normal retention period for personal information is 6 years after the last contact with you. There may be circumstances where it is appropriate, within legal and best practice requirements, to retain information for longer. 

Access to your information and correction 

Data protection requirements mean that you have specific rights in relation to information held by VSIOM about you. You have a right to: 

• Be informed of how information about you will be used (Right to be informed) 

• Access information held about you (Right of access) 

• Request that information about you that is inaccurate or incomplete be rectified (Right to rectification) 

• Request deletion or removal of information about you in specific circumstances (Right to erasure) 

• ‘Block’ or suppress processing of information about you (Right to restrict processing) 

• Obtain and re-use information held about you for your own purposes across different services (Right to data portability) 

• Object to processing of information about you (Right to object) 

• Withdraw consent at any time where your information is being processed based on that consent, for example where VSIOM is sharing your information based on consent 

• Lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office in relation to processing of information about you. The Information Commissioner’s Office can be contacted at:  

Information Commissioner’s Office
PO Box 69
Douglas
Isle of Man
IM99 1EQ 

You have the right to request a copy of the information that we hold about you.  

VSIOM’s Data Protection Officer is Lorna Trevethan. She can be contacted via lorna@victimsupport.im and marked Data Protection enquiry.