Privacy Policy

Access Mediation Direct Privacy Policy

Our contact details..

Name: Pippa Bassett 

Address: Access Mediation Direct, Bickington Rd, Sticklepath, Barnstaple EX31 2DB

Phone Number: 07909 440 853

E-mail:admin@access-mediation.co.uk

The type of personal information we collect 

We currently collect and process the following information:

· Your name, your contact details including your address, phone number and email. We also collect your date of birth and if any aspect of your costs are paid for by the Legal Aid Agency either directly or indirectly, then we will ask you about your ethnic origin and if you are registered disabled. You are NOT obliged to answer these questions. 

We also ask for your National Insurance number to identify your if you apply for Legal Aid.

· If you have asked us to conduct a financial mediation then we may request supporting financial documentation from you to enable us to have a clear understanding of your current financial circumstances. Hard copies and any electronic copies of this financial documentation will be securely destroyed six months after your mediation has ceased. The only exception to this is if you have received legal aid funding either directly or indirectly. If this is the case then whilst we can securely destroy any supporting documentation – there will be a record detailing your financial circumstances such as an Open Financial Statement. This will be for audit purposes which the Legal Aid Agency conduct on an annual basis. We are contractually bound to securely retain this information electronically for up to six years. Once this period of time has passed all information relating to your case will be securely destroyed.  

If you have asked us to apply for legal aid on your behalf, we will also request financial evidence of your current circumstances so we are able to ascertain whether you qualify for public funding. We will need to keep this information for up to six years. If you are a fee paying client we are obliged by our insurers to retain our paperwork relating to your case for three years. After this period of time this paperwork will be securely destroyed.

·If you are entitled to public funding Access Mediation Direct will share information listed above with The Legal Aid Agency. The purpose of sharing this information with the legal aid agency is for the purposes of providing publicly funded mediation. Details of how they store your information can be found on their website 

Personal information charter - Legal Aid Agency - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

· How we get the personal information and why we have it

Most of the personal information we process is provided to us directly by you for one of the following reasons: 

· To enable us to conduct our business as family mediators 

· To identify you for the purposes of Legal Aid funding

We use the information that you have given us in order to conduct our business as family mediators. 

Under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the lawful bases we rely on for processing this information are: 

(a) Your consent. You are able to remove your consent at any time. You can do this by contacting Pippa Bassett

(b) We have a legitimate interest.

If you raise a complaint about our service, then with your permission, we will share your file with an independent professional practice consultant  (IPPC). If we are unable to resolve your complaint using our own internal procedure, you will then need to contact the FMSB - Family Mediation Standards Board via The Family Mediation Council (details are contained within our complaints procedure) They will need to have sight of your file in order to manage your complaint effectively

How we store your personal information 

Your information is securely stored on our computer systems and/or on Progress Mediation Case Management Systems. 

All mediators are required to sign a data risk assessment to ensure your information remains safe and secure at all times.

Your data protection rights

Under data protection law, you have rights including:

Your right of access - You have the right to ask us for copies of your personal information. 

Your right to rectification - You have the right to ask us to rectify personal information you think is inaccurate. You also have the right to ask us to complete information you think is incomplete. 

Your right to erasure - You have the right to ask us to erase your personal information in certain circumstances. 

Your right to restriction of processing - You have the right to ask us to restrict the processing of your personal information in certain circumstances. 

Your right to object to processing - You have the the right to object to the processing of your personal information in certain circumstances.

Your right to data portability - You have the right to ask that we transfer the personal information you gave us to another organisation, or to you, in certain circumstances.

You are not required to pay any charge for exercising your rights. If you make a request, we have one month to respond to you.

Please contact us at admin@access-mediation.co.uk 07909 440 853 or Access Mediation Direct, Bickington Rd, Sticklepath, Barnstaple EX31 2DB if you wish to make a request.

How to complain

If you have any concerns about our use of your personal information, you can make a complaint to us  admin@access-mediation.co.ukor at Access Mediation Direct, Bickington Rd, Sticklepath, Barnstaple EX31 2DB

You can also complain to the ICO if you are unhappy with how we have used your data.

The ICO’s address: 

Information Commissioner’s Office

Wycliffe House

Water Lane

Wilmslow

Cheshire

SK9 5AF

Helpline number: 0303 123 1113

ICO website: https://www.ico.org.uk