Leeds Asylum Seekers Support Network
CONFIDENTIALITY AND DATA PROTECTION POLICY
Contents
1. Introduction………………………………………………………………………………………………….2
2. Confidentiality……………….………………………………………………………………………………2
3. Data protection………………………………..……………………………………………………………4
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1) Introduction
LASSN provides services to asylum seekers and refugees, and to “refugee community
organisations” (RCOs) and other community groups. In the course of this work, staff and
volunteers frequently receive personal (and often sensitive) information about clients. Some
of this information is recorded.
It is a fundamental principle for LASSN that all personal information received from clients
will be treated by volunteers, staff and trustees as confidential, and will not be disclosed to
third parties without consent, other than in specific, exceptional circumstances.
LASSN will ensure that all volunteers, staff and trustees are aware of and comply with its
policy on confidentiality.
LASSN also holds personal information about staff, volunteers, trustees and supporters, and
recognises that it has a duty of confidentiality in relation to such information.
LASSN’s work is also affected by Data Protection legislation. LASSN will ensure that its legal
duties relating to Data Protection are complied with.
LASSN will ensure that confidentiality (and its limits) are clearly explained to all clients, as
part of our agreement to work with them.
2) Confidentiality
a) LASSN Clients
LASSN offers a confidential service to its clients, and will seek to ensure that all personal
information received from clients will be treated as “confidential within LASSN”, and
will not be disclosed to third parties without the client’s consent (subject to the
exceptions mentioned below).
“Confidential within LASSN” means that confidential information may be disclosed to
LASSN staff and, in appropriate circumstances, to LASSN trustees and volunteers.
It would be appropriate for confidential information to be disclosed to trustees when,
for example, the information affects a policy decision to be made by trustees.
It would be appropriate for volunteers to share confidential information with other
volunteers where this would benefit LASSN’s work for its clients, for example by
enabling volunteers to share experiences, seek advice or provide mutual support.
b) LASSN Volunteers
In relation to volunteers, LASSN will:
 Ensure that the principle of confidentiality is explained and emphasised in initial
volunteer training.
 Encourage volunteers to share with LASSN staff any concerns they have about
anything which a client has disclosed.
 Try to ensure that volunteers maintain a safe system for recording confidential
information about clients.
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Photographs of clients and their personal accounts of their experiences will not be
published or distributed by LASSN without the client’s written consent.
In the case of RCOs and community groups, information about their affairs will be
treated as confidential and not disclosed without their consent to third parties (including
other groups).
c) Exceptions
In certain exceptional circumstances, the principle of confidentiality does not apply,
and information may (or in some cases must) be disclosed to third parties.
The exceptions include:
1. Child Protection – see LASSN’s Child Protection Policy.
2. Vulnerable Adults – see LASSN’s Vulnerable Adults Policy.
3. Terrorism, “Money Laundering” (proceeds of crime) and drug trafficking. In
certain circumstances, the relevant legislation requires information to be
disclosed to the authorities, although for LASSN these circumstances are unlikely
to arise in practice. For example: if a person believes or has reason to believe or
suspect that someone has committed a terrorist offence, this may have to be
disclosed; the money-laundering legislation could possibly affect a donation
which was believed to be the proceeds of crime. Any such cases should be
reported to the Director before any action is taken.
It is LASSN’s policy not to disclose confidential information about clients, except in
relation to children and vulnerable adults, if there are safeguarding issues unless
required by law to do so.
In any case where it is thought that one of these exceptions might apply:
 Volunteers will be encouraged to refer the matter to a member of staff
whenever possible, and to leave it to LASSN staff to make the final decision as to
whether or not the information should be disclosed.
 Staff should not disclose confidential information without the approval of the
Director/ line manager), except in a very urgent case – and then a record should
be kept and forwarded to the Director/ line manager as soon as is practicable.
LASSN staff and volunteers will not collude with or ignore criminal/illegal activity
Where LASSN staff or volunteers know or suspect illegal activity is taking place, this
must be discussed with the Director/Line Manager.
A failure to acknowledge or report illegal activity may have serious consequences for
the volunteers, staff members and Trustees of the charity and so all concerns must
be acknowledged and discussed, even if it is decided that no further action should be
taken.
The Director/Line Manager will then decide the appropriate way of responding to
these suspicions or concerns.
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d) Personal information relating to Staff, Volunteers, Supporters and Trustees
LASSN holds personal information about staff, volunteers, supporters (members and
individual donors) and trustees. Such information will be treated as confidential. It
may be shared among staff only where this is appropriate and relevant to the work
and/or management of LASSN.
It may be disclosed to individual trustees or the trustees collectively only when this is
necessary in connection with the trustees’ decision-making and/or management of
the organisation.
It will not be disclosed to anyone else without the consent of the person concerned,
subject to the exceptions mentioned above (in section 2A). A request for an
employment reference may be seen as consent for such information to be disclosed
In the case of personal information about members of staff, it would not generally
be appropriate for “sensitive personal data” (as defined by the Data Protection Act see below) to be disclosed to a member of staff who was not already aware of it.
e) LASSN Business
All internal discussions and papers (including those of the Board of Trustees and its
subgroups) will be considered as confidential. Staff who wish to share information
contained in these papers and discussions should seek guidance from the Director/
line manager or the Chair before sharing the information with either volunteers,
supporters or third parties.
3) Data Protection
[Words and phrases in bold type below are technical expressions under the Data Protection
Act 1998 which are defined in the Appendix]
LASSN recognises that it is subject to the Data Protection Act 1998 (as amended) (“the Act”)
in that it holds personal data relating to clients, volunteers, staff, trustees, supporters and
contacts. The data ranges from basic information such as names, addresses, e-mail
addresses and telephone numbers to sensitive personal data, particularly about clients and
volunteers. Sensitive personal data may include details such as physical and mental health,
religious beliefs, sexual orientation and criminal convictions, which are required to enable
LASSN to meet its charitable objectives – for example, the appropriate matching of
volunteers with clients, and the provision of confidential support, counselling, advice and
other services.
LASSN will comply with the provisions of the Act, and in particular will observe the Data
Protection Principles set out in it:
1. LASSN will process personal data fairly and lawfully, and in accordance with
provisions of the Act.
2. LASSN will obtain personal data only for one or more specified and lawful purposes,
and the data will not be further processed in any manner incompatible with those
purposes.
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3. LASSN will ensure that personal data will be adequate, relevant and not excessive in
relation the purpose or purposes for which they are processed.
4. LASSN will ensure that personal data will be accurate and, where necessary, kept up
to date.
5. LASSN will ensure that personal data processed for any purpose or purposes will not
be kept for longer than is necessary for that purpose or those purposes.
6. LASSN will ensure that personal data will be processed in accordance with the rights
of data subjects under the Act.
7. LASSN will ensure that appropriate technical and organisational measures will be
taken against unauthorised or unlawful processing of personal data and against
accidental loss or destruction of, or damage to, personal data.
8. LASSN will ensure that personal data will not be transferred to a country or territory
outside the European Economic Area unless that country or territory ensures an
adequate level of protection for the rights and freedoms of data subjects in relation
to the processing of personal data.
In order to implement these principles and comply with the Act, LASSN will take the
following practical steps:
1. LASSN will nominate a Data Protection Officer (generally the Director) with the
responsibility of ensuring that LASSN complies with the relevant legislation.
2. The Data Protection Officer will provide written guidance to LASSN staff on
compliance with this policy, and will seek to ensure that others involved in the
organisation (in particular volunteers) are aware of and comply with the provisions
of the Act.
3. LASSN will notify the Information Commissioner about LASSN’s Data Processing
activities and keep the notification up to date.
4. LASSN will, when appropriate, obtain the consent of data subjects to the processing
of their personal data. The nature of LASSN’s work, in particular the Befriending and
Grace Hosting projects, requires the processing of Sensitive Personal Data about
clients. In some cases it may be inappropriate to seek the client’s explicit consent to
this but LASSN will ensure that its staff are sensitive to the rights of clients when
processing such information.
5. LASSN will recognise the right of any of its clients, volunteers, supporters or staff to
make a subject access request, and/or to prevent certain types of processing, for
example by opting out of marketing communications.
6. This policy will be reviewed by the LASSN trustees at least every 3 years with a view
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to ensuring that the policy is up to date and appropriate for the needs of the
organisation, and that the organisation is complying with it.
Date approved:
November 2014
Next review date:
Due for review in 2017
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