Gift of Christmas Appeal Fife

Confidentiality Policy

Gift of Christmas Appeal Fife: Confidentiality Policy

Version: 1

Date: 24 September 2024

Document Description

The Confidentiality Policy sets out the Charity’s practices and procedures on the disclosure of information. The policy must be observed by all who volunteer with Gift of Christmas Appeal Fife and have access to person-identifiable information or other confidential information. This policy applies during the period an individual volunteers with Gift of Christmas Appeal Fife, and indefinitely after the period of volunteering has ended.

Implementation & Quality Assurance

Implementation is immediate and this Policy shall stay in force until any alterations are formally agreed by the Trustees. The Policy will be reviewed annually by the Board of Trustees, sooner if legislation, best practice or other circumstances indicate this is necessary.

Introduction

This policy applies to all staff, trustees and volunteers of Gift of Christmas Appeal Fife. The data covered by the confidentiality policy includes:

Information about the Charity, e.g. its plans or finances
Information about individuals, e.g. beneficiaries or volunteers, whether recorded electronically or in paper format
Information about other organisations

2. Reasons for this Policy Statement

To protect the interests of our beneficiaries, volunteers and other stakeholders
To ensure all beneficiaries have trust and confidence in the Charity and that their dignity is respected.
To protect the Charity, its trustees and volunteers.
To comply with data protection law.

3. Meaning of this Policy Statement

All personal information about staff, volunteers, clients, their carers and families should be treated as confidential.
All information about the activities and business of the Charity and other stakeholders should be treated as confidential
Under no circumstances should staff and volunteers share personal or other confidential information with their own partners, family or friends.

4. Information about individuals

Gift of Christmas Appeal Fife is committed to ensuring confidential services to all clients and will seek to ensure that:

All personal information will be treated as confidential. Information will only be collected that is necessary and relevant to the work in hand. It will be stored securely, accessible only on a need-to-know basis to those members of staff duly authorised, and only where required to undertake their role. The retention periods of personal information are covered in the retention section of the Privacy Policy, which should be read in conjunction with this policy.
Beneficiaries requesting support via a professional, will be asked by that professional to agree to an application being made on their behalf and to agree to their personal data being shared with Gift of Christmas Appeal Fife. This will authorise the Charity to keep written and/or computerised records of the beneficiaries personal details and the donations allocated to them.
Where consent is not given for the Charity to record and store basic information about the beneficiary, it is unlikely that a service will be able to be provided.
The Charity does not share information externally with anyone else.
All information stored will be kept secure and treated as confidential.
Every effort will be made to ensure the physical environment in which face to face discussions and telephone conversations take place does not compromise confidentiality.
At times a beneficiary gift bag, where a ‘special request’ has been made, will require the name and age of the beneficiary, along with the name of the referrer and brief information about the particular gift requirements, to be attached to the gift bag while it is in the Charity warehouse. This information is not visible to all, it is folded inside a poly pocket and is used only by the staff member organising the contents of the gift bag. All information, apart from the name and the referrers name, is removed before the gift bags is collected.

5. Other Information

In the course of their work with Gift of Christmas Appeal Fife, trustees and volunteers may be privy to information about the business and other activities of the Charity or of other organisations or stakeholders which should remain confidential and should not be shared with others, including colleagues.

Situations in which confidentiality will need to be broken:

Risk of harm presented to a child or young person, Volunteer or member of the public;
Compliance with a legal requirement.
It is the responsibility of all volunteers to ensure that any concerns arising from situations they observe, allegations (reports about third parties) or disclosures (reports from someone about themselves) relating to potential abuse or where a criminal offence may have been committed, are reported to the Charity Trustees even if they are unsure whether the concern is justified. It is not a breach of confidentiality to pass this concern on to an appropriate member of staff. Any concerns raised will be dealt with sensitively.

6. Breach of Confidentiality

Breaches of confidentiality will be dealt by the Charity’s Trustees as appropriate. It may be necessary to report a data breach to the Information Commissioners Office (ICO).
Volunteers should notify any potential breach, or risk of breach, to a Trustee without delay; so that steps can be taken to remedy the situation.

7. Glossary

Personal Information: By personal information we mean both:

The data protection definition which is any information which enables a living person to be identified (e.g. name, address, phone number, email address);
Information, written or verbal, about a beneficiary or volunteer that relates to their health, circumstances, family or experiences that is either provided to you for context so that you can provide a personalised service and/or information you glean directly as a result of your contact with the beneficiary or volunteer.

Version / Revision History

Version 1

Approval / Revision Date 24/09/24

Approved by Board of Trustees

Next routine annual review due 24/09/25