Advice Forums and Online Resources Privacy Policy

Family Rights Group is committed to ensuring that your privacy is protected and we will never release your personal details to any third party without your express consent.

We will use the information that we collect about you in accordance with, the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003, the Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA) and any replacement laws and from May 2018, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

This privacy policy sets out how Family Rights Group (FRG) collects and uses and protects any information that you give us when you use our online advice forums. Family Rights Group has two online advice forums – a Parents Forum and a Kinship Carers Forum.

The legal basis on which we collect and use your personal information is ‘for the performance of a contract’. This means that when registering to use the advice forums you enter into an agreement with Family Rights Group about how the advice forums will be used by you and Family Rights Group including how your personal data will be collected and used.

The information we ask for

In order to post on our advice forums you will need to register as a user. When you register we ask you to provide:

• A username that you will use when posting on the forum
• Your email address.

What we do with the information we gather

• The demographic information (gender, ethnicity etc.) helps us to understand who is using our service. This helps us to provide you with a better service and also informs our promotional activities.
• With your permission (if you have ticked the box), we will occasionally use your email information to contact you for evaluation and/or research purposes. This may be to find out if you find our service(s) useful. Or for example, to ask your opinion on a particular policy proposal. We will never sell our users e-mail addresses.
• With your permission (if you have ticked the box), we will use your email information to send you our newsletter. Family Rights Group’s newsletters are sent 4-5 times a year. They contain information about campaigns we are running, events we are organising as well as relevant changes to law and practice.
• If you have previously agreed to us contacting you by email you may change your mind at any time by emailing: ychoudhury@frg.org.uk.
• Any personal information you provide to Family Rights Group will only be used internally. The only exceptions to this are set out in our Confidentiality and protection of children and vulnerable adults policy.
• As part of the process of moderating the forum, we will anonymise any details in your post which identify you or someone else. The legal basis under which we anonymise your data is legitimate interests.
• We may use the information you post on the advice forums to assist us in research and development, and to provide in report format to our funders. Where we do this, all information will be completely anonymous.

Security

We are committed to ensuring that your information is secure. In order to prevent unauthorised access or disclosure, we have put in place suitable physical, electronic and managerial procedures to safeguard and secure the information we collect online.

Google Analytics, Cookies and links to other sites

Family Rights Group is committed to ensuring that your privacy is protected. We will never release your personal details to any third party without your express consent. We will use the information that we collect about you in accordance with, the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003, the Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA) and any replacement laws and from May 2018, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

Google Analytics:

A significant number of websites across the globe use Google Analytics in order to analyse data relating to the number of unique visitors visiting their websites on a daily basis. Google Analytics gathers information about website use by means of cookies. The information which Google provides enables companies to monitor the success of the website which in turn enhances the users visiting experience.

We use Google analytics as it enables us to monitor how long each user spends on an individual page. This means we can observe carefully, the length of time each visitor spends on each page. We can therefore remove any content which is not viewed. And then replace it with more helpful material. This helps us to enhance both the users visiting experience and the functionality of our website.

Cookies:

To provide the best possible experience on frg.org.uk, we use cookies, which are small text files placed on your device, to enable essential site functions, remember your preferences, and help us understand how visitors interact with our website. Some cookies are necessary for the site to work, while others help us improve content, personalise your experience, or deliver relevant advertising.

You can control your cookie preferences at any time, including opting out of non-essential cookies. For full details on the types of cookies we use, their purposes, and how you can manage your settings, please see our Cookie Policy.

Links to other sites:

Our forum contains hyperlinks to many other websites. We are not responsible for the content or functionality of any of those external websites. If an external website requests personal information from you (e.g. in connection with an order for goods or services), the information you provide will not be covered by Family Rights Group’s Privacy Policy. We suggest you read the privacy policy of any website before providing any personal information.