Castle Point community
Legal

Privacy Notice

Download the full CAVS Privacy Notice (PDF, updated October 2025)

Contact

Name: Castle Point Association of Voluntary Services (CAVS)
Address: CAVS, Castle Point Borough Council, Kiln Road, Benfleet, Essex, SS7 1BU
Phone number: 01268 214000
Email: office@cavsorg.uk
Website: https://www.cavsorg.uk/
Registered Charity No: 1103968
Company No: 4856677

About Us

CAVS, Castle Point Association of Voluntary Services is a not-for-profit charity and Council for Voluntary Service with a strong, respected community presence in Essex. Formed in 1994 the organisation became incorporated in 2003 and we are limited by guarantee. We provide a range of frontline community services across Castle Point, Rayleigh and Rochford that supports the elderly through our Befriending Service, assistance to families with children and young people through our Family Mentoring Service and health and wellbeing advice and guidance through Social Prescribing and Ways to Wellness. Our schemes are underpinned by a valued and dedicated volunteer network.

What is Personal Data?

Personal Data is information that can be used to help identify an individual, directly or indirectly, such as a name, an identification number, location data, an online identifier or one or more factors specific to the physical, physiological, genetic, mental, economic, cultural or social identity of that person. We process people's personal data ensuring we are complying with the law and safeguarding individuals' rights and privacy. This makes us a Data Controller, with accountability for the lawful and ethical handling of personal data throughout its lifecycle. The information provided to us enables individuals to register for our services or to sign up as a volunteer.

What information we collect and why

We collect a variety of personal and non-personal information which generally may include:

  • Personal identifiers, contacts, characteristics (for example, name and contact details). This is information to help us identify who you are.
  • Some 'Special Category Data' (for example, date of birth, gender, marital status, ethnicity, languages spoken, health, and social circumstances). We need to collect this to enable us to provide services to you or to facilitate your work as an employee, volunteer, contractor, CAVS member, service user or job applicant.
  • CAVS will only collect criminal conviction data where it is appropriate, given the nature of the role, and where the law permits us.
  • Photos, videos, audio files. With your consent, we make use of these to help promote our services. We collect only the information we require to complete our work and only with your permission.

How we collect personal information from you and why we need it

The information you provide to us comes through a variety of channels, such as face-to-face meetings, verbally over the telephone, online video, emails, through application forms, social media, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, general website enquiry forms, or when you use any of our services.

Legal Bases

The legal bases for legitimately collecting and processing personal data are outlined in Article 6 of the UK GDPR and to which we adhere: Consent, Contractual Necessity, Legal Obligation, Vital Interests, Public Task and Legitimate Interests. This ensures that our data processing activities are lawful, transparent and respectful of individuals' rights under UK GDPR because:

  • CAVS is a service provider
  • You have given CAVS permission to collect your personal data. This consent may be explicit (you have signed a form) or implicit (you have used a service we provide such as our website)
  • Processing your personal information is compliant with UK GDPR

We only share personal information with third parties necessary to deliver our services and we have contracts in place that require third parties to keep your personal information secure and not to use it for any other purpose.

How we store and use your personal information

We are committed to safeguarding your personal data under the provisions of the UK GDPR. Any personal information held by CAVS will exclusively be used by employees for the following purposes: to keep you informed about available services, provide services to you, or facilitate volunteer work with us. To ensure the utmost security of your personal information, we implement rigorous internal policies and stringent controls to prevent data loss, accidental destruction, misuse, unauthorised access or improper disclosure. Your data is securely retained on our CRM database. Your personal data will be retained only for the legal duration and we are committed to maintaining the highest standards of data protection.

Retention

Retention in the context of the UK GDPR requires us to carefully and systematically manage your data to ensure that it is retained only for as long as necessary to fulfil its intended purpose. If you require information about our data retention please contact us. You have the right to request the deletion of your data (the 'right to be forgotten') if the data is no longer necessary for the purpose for which it was collected.

Sharing of Information

We do not share your personal information with companies, organisations, or individuals except in the following cases:

  • We have your consent to do so. We will only share personal information outside of CAVS when we have your express permission and we would make you aware of the information we are sharing. This equally applies in the sharing of any sensitive personal information.
  • For legal reasons - we will share personal information if required to by law enforcement authorities, for example, if a situation arises that requires national security forces needing access or another legal obligation that compels us to release details.
  • Data is shared with trusted third parties for the following reasons: IT business support, safeguarding purposes, or employment law advice and support.
  • We do not share your data with organisations outside of the European Economic Area (EEA).

We may share non-personal identifiable information publicly and with our partners. For example, to show trends about the general use of our services.

What are your data protection rights?

  • Right to Access: the right to be informed about the individual data CAVS holds on you and how it is processed
  • Right to Rectification: the right to request the correction of inaccurate or incomplete personal data
  • Right to Erasure: the right to have data deleted in certain circumstances, including any event where you withdraw consent for data to be held
  • Right to Restrict Processing: the right to restrict the processing of data
  • Right to Data Portability: the right to transfer the data CAVS holds on you to another data controller
  • Right to Object: you can object to the processing of your personal data
  • Rights related to Automated Decision Making and Profiling: the right not to be subjected to decisions based solely on automated processing, including profiling, which produce legal effects concerning you or significantly affect you
  • Right to Withdraw Consent: if processing is based on consent, you can withdraw your consent at any time without affecting the lawfulness of processing based on consent before withdrawal
  • Right to be Informed: the right to be informed about how your data is processed, through Privacy Notices and transparent communication from data controllers
  • Right to Lodge a Complaint: complaints can be lodged with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) if it is believed data protection rights have been violated

You are not required to pay any charge for exercising your rights. If you make a request (known as a Data Subject Access Request or DSAR) we have one month to respond to you. Please contact us if you wish to make a DSAR.