Privacy
We collect, store and make use of any personal information that you submit to us in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998.
Why do we need your information?
If you are an existing customer (e.g. resident, landlord, etc) we want to make sure the information we hold about you is correct and up-to-date.
If you have requested that we contact you, we need to know how to and also why, so that the appropriate team can respond to you with the information you need. In addition, if you provide an email address when submitting certain contact forms online, we may email you confirmation that your information has been submitted.
If you make an online payment, you will be asked to provide details in order for your payment to be processed.
We aim to ensure that the information and services we send or email to you are relevant or of interest to you. (You may have requested similar information previously, told us that you are interested in certain types of information, or need to receive this information as part of the service we provide to you as a customer.) Similarly, on some areas of the website, we use the information you provide to offer you personalised web content.
We may ask you for other personal information relating, for example, to ethnicity, language, gender and disability. This can help us provide you with a service that is appropriate and accessible. It also enables us to assess the representation of different groups accessing our website. We are committed to a policy of equal opportunities.
We monitor and measure use of our website in order to review its effectiveness, to identify improvements to our website and services, and to report to our funders. This may include demographic information but would only very rarely include information that would identify an individual.
Wherever we request your information on the website, we aim to explain why we need it.
How do we collect information?
As with any other website, we receive standard information from your web browser about how you use our website, including which pages you visit. While this includes your ‘IP address’, it does not identify you personally. We use this information to review and improve our website.
We may ask you to fill in questionnaires, surveys and feedback forms. You may also submit your details through online contact forms, and we may occasionally run competitions that can be entered online.
We may ask you to register on or log into certain areas of the website in order to offer you a personalised experience of the website or access to other information.
We do not store your friends’ and contacts’ email addresses when you use the ‘email a friend’ tool.
Users aged 16 and under must get consent from parents or guardians before providing personal information.
In some areas of the website, a ‘cookie’ may be downloaded to your computer in order for the website to remember you. This enables us to offer you a personalised, convenient experience of our website. For example, it can save you from having to re-enter the same details more than once, and we can highlight content you may be interested in based on content you’ve previously looked at on our website.
A cookie is a small text file sent by a web server to your computer. It is then used by your web browser when you visit the relevant website(s). You can change your web browser settings to notify you before a cookie is downloaded or can disable cookies altogether. However, disabling cookies may mean that certain content or functionality will not work properly for you.
We do not track your usage of any websites other than our own.
Information held by third parties
Your personal details may be processed, used or stored by third parties on our behalf, in accordance with the Data Protection Act. These third parties would only have access to the information required to provide the service.
We will not pass your details onto a third party for marketing purposes without your consent.
We may be required to pass on your details to our funders or auditors for monitoring purposes.
In some cases, your details may need to be passed onto another housing association to deal with if we are unable to provide the service you require. For example, if your housing needs are outside our geographical remit.
We may access or disclose your personal details in order to comply with applicable laws and lawful government requests, to protect our rights, property (including our website and systems) and services, or to protect our users, customers or others.
Please note, we are not responsible for the content or privacy practices of the external websites which are linked to from our website.
Security
Information submitted via the website is either emailed to the relevant person/team (e.g. contact forms) or stored in a database on a secure server (e.g. registrations) or, in some cases, both.
We only use secure web pages when collecting banking and payment details. On a secure page, ‘https://’ will appear before the web address and a yellow padlock will be displayed in the frame of your web browser. In other cases, your information is not encrypted (and therefore not secure) while being submitted, unless specifically stated.
Once collected, we use security systems and procedures to help protect your personal information.
Controlling your information
When we ask you for your information, we will tell you why and you will often be given options to select other uses for your information at the same time.
Where you have registered on the website, you can log in to manage your information.
If you have registered or subscribed to e-mailing lists on the website, please refer to those particular web pages or the emails you have received and follow details for how to edit your information or unsubscribe. Please also contact the relevant customer service or sales team.
If you are a customer with an ongoing contract with us, please note that we may not be able to remove your details or cease contact with you altogether.
If you wish to access or ask us to amend the personal information we hold about you, you can also make a ‘Subject Access Request’ to: Head of Governance, A2Dominion Group, 15th Floor, Capital House, 25 Chapel Street, London NW1 5WX. Subject Access Requests are subject to a charge of £10 and proof of identity is required.
It would help us if you can include details of when, how and to whom/which department details were submitted and how these details are being used, to your knowledge. If we require further details from you in order to fulfil your request, we will inform you as soon as possible. If we are unable to meet your request we will explain why.
Changes to our privacy policy
We reserve the right to update our privacy policy in accordance with changes in the law and our organisation’s policies, and to reflect changes to and developments of the website.
Useful links
Data Protection Act - Information Commissioner’s Office
Secure web pages - Get Safe Online
Data protection registration numbers
A2Dominion Housing Group Limited: Z4843307
A2Dominion Homes Limited: Z9799978
A2Dominion South Limited: Z7835340
A2Dominion Enterprises Limited: Z5412090
A2Dominion Housing Options Limited: Z5412073
This privacy policy was last updated in April 2010