Privacy Notice

1. Services we offer

MECC Trust is an independent charity supporting communities across Birmingham for nearly 50 years. We offer a range of free, practical services, including:

• Benefits Advice — free one-to-one budgeting support to help residents manage expenses and use financial tools;
• Household Advice, including our Household Support Fund, which helps eligible households — mainly pensioners and benefit recipients — with essential food and energy costs;
• Bills Support — free guidance on reducing energy and utility bills, saving money and accessing grants;
• Energy Café — expert energy advice helping households reduce bills and manage daily energy use;
• Retrofit Support — support for energy-efficient home upgrades and sustainable living;
• Mobile Van Service — on-site advice delivered directly to local neighbourhoods;
• Carbon Zero at MECC — initiatives encouraging eco-friendly practices; and
• MECC Digital Café — a friendly digital support drop-in for help with phones, laptops, NHS and DWP apps, and online banking.

You may also sign up to our newsletter, register as a volunteer, or submit a free advice request through our website. If you do not agree with the terms of this Privacy Notice, you must not use these services or otherwise provide us with your personal data.

2. Information we collect from you or about you

We may collect and process the following personal data about you:

• Advice request forms. When you submit a Free Advice Request through our website, we collect your first name, last name, email address, phone number, postcode, a description of your situation, and your preferred contact method (email, phone call, or either).
• Household and financial information. Where relevant to an application, such as for the Household Support Fund, we may ask for proof of eligibility, benefit status and other financial details.
• Special Category Personal Data. Where relevant to your request for support, we may ask about matters such as health, disability or vulnerability, for example when assessing eligibility for certain support. By providing this information, you consent to us processing it for the purpose of arranging the relevant assistance.
• Newsletter and volunteering details. If you subscribe to our newsletter or apply to volunteer, we collect the contact details and any other information you provide through the relevant form.
• Feedback and reviews. If you leave us feedback or a review, we may collect the content you share along with any name you provide.

It is important that the personal data we hold about you is accurate and current — please let us know if your details change. If you do not provide the information we request, we may not be able to process your request for advice or support. Your details are kept confidential and are never shared with third parties other than as described in this notice.

3. Cookies

Our website may use cookies to distinguish you from other visitors. This helps us provide a good browsing experience and allows us to improve our site, including remembering your preferred language. By continuing to use our website, you consent to the use of cookies in accordance with our cookie policy.

4. Why do we collect this information?

We process your personal data for the following reasons:

• To provide our services — to respond to your advice request, normally within one working day, assess your eligibility for support such as the Household Support Fund, and arrange or monitor any assistance provided;
• On the basis of your consent — for example, when you tick the box agreeing to be contacted about your enquiry, or when you subscribe to our newsletter. Where we rely on consent, this will be brought to your attention when the information is collected;
• In our legitimate interests — to improve our services, understand the needs of the people we support, keep our systems safe and secure, recruit and manage volunteers, and, where anonymised, use aggregated information in publicity material to show our impact in Birmingham; and
• To comply with legal requirements relating to the provision of our services, Charities Act and Companies Act obligations, data protection, health and safety, anti-money laundering, fraud prevention and any other legal duty placed on us.

You have the right to object to processing carried out on the basis of our legitimate interests — see Your rights below.

5. How long do we keep hold of your information?

Where we hold records relating to advice, benefits, or Household Support Fund applications, we keep this personal information for as long as necessary to support you and to meet our funding, audit and reporting obligations, and in any case for no longer than six years from the end of the financial year in which our involvement with you ends.

Newsletter and volunteering details are kept for as long as you remain subscribed or an active volunteer, and are removed on request. For any other information, we will only keep it as long as is reasonable and necessary for the relevant activity.

6. Who might we share your information with?

For the purposes described in Why do we collect this information? above, we may share your personal data with:

• Funders and partner organisations, such as those supporting the Household Support Fund, Energy Café or Retrofit Support schemes, where necessary to process your application;
• Other organisations referring you to us, or that you have asked us to liaise with on your behalf; and
• Our trustees and staff, for the purpose of managing our services and making decisions about the support we provide.

As stated on our advice request forms, your details are kept confidential and are not shared with third parties beyond what is described in this notice. We may disclose your personal information where we are under a duty to do so to comply with a legal obligation, or to protect the rights, property or safety of MECC Trust, our beneficiaries, our trustees or others.

7. How is your data stored and kept secure?

Where you provide personal data in hard copy, this is stored in a locked, secure filing system at our offices at 93 Court Road, Balsall Heath. Where you provide personal data online — for example through our advice request form, newsletter sign-up or volunteering form — this is stored on our secure website systems or a secure case management system.

8. Your rights

Where processing is based on your consent, you can withdraw that consent at any time — for example, by unsubscribing from our newsletter. You also have the right to:

• ask us not to process your personal data where it is based on legitimate interests, provided there are no compelling reasons for that processing;
• request access to the personal information we hold about you;
• ask for information to be rectified if it is inaccurate or incomplete;
• ask for your data to be erased, where the conditions for erasure are met;
• ask for processing to be restricted in certain circumstances; and
• ask for data portability, where processing is automated and based on consent or contract.

You can exercise these rights at any time by contacting us using the details below. If you are not satisfied with how we have handled your personal data, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) at ico.org.uk/concerns.

9. Changes to our Privacy Notice

Any changes we make to this Privacy Notice in the future will be posted on this page. Please check back from time to time to see any updates.