● Job applicants and current and former employees

Our privacy policy also details:

● The third-party systems and providers we use

● Complaints or queries about our privacy policy

● Access to personal information

● Disclosure of personal information

● Links to other websites

● Changes to this policy

● Company details

Visitors to our websites

When someone visits www.melodycare.co.uk, we use a third-party service, Google Analytics, to collect standard internet log information and details of visitor behaviour patterns. We do this to find out things such as the number of visitors we receive to various parts of the site. This information is only processed in a way which does not identify anyone. We do not make, and do not allow Google to make, any attempt to find out the identities of those visiting our website. If we do want to collect personally identifiable information through our website, we will do this in an honest, transparent way.

We will make it clear when we collect personal information and will explain what we intend to do with it.

Use of cookies by Melody Care

A ‘cookie’ is a small text file which attaches to your hard drive and from which it can store and sometimes track information on how you make use of a particular website.

We may use cookies for administrative purposes such as cataloguing traffic patterns throughout the website and to assign a ‘user ID’ for this purpose. Cookies, by themselves, cannot be used to find out the identity of any user. If you have a user ID, this will automatically identify your computer to our server when you visit our website, but it will not identify you. Unless you specifically tell us, we will never know who you are, even if we do assign a cookie to your computer.

You may set your browser to automatically reject all cookies. It is also possible to set your browser to notify you if a cookie has been sent to you so that you can, at your discretion, accept or reject that particular cookie. However, please note that you may not be able to use the full service on our website or other websites without cookies.

Further detailed information on cookies can be found at: http://www.allaboutcookies.org/ and http://www.google.co.uk/intl/en/analytics/privacyoverview.html

Website search engine

Our website search queries and results are logged anonymously to help us improve our website and search functionality. No user-specific data is collected by either Melody Care or any third party.

Social sharing

On our website, we use social sharing buttons for services including, but not limited to, Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook. These allow you to share website pages with your friends via those networks. Whilst you will be asked to login to use these services, this process is handled directly with the social network providers and their databases and servers; Melody Care accepts no responsibility for any use of your personally identifiable information and/or any further use of cookies by those social network providers.

Security and performance

Melody Care uses a third-party service to help maintain the security and performance of the Melody Care website. To deliver this service it processes the IP addresses of visitors to the Melody Care website.

Visitors to our social media channels

Melody Care has an active presence on several external social channels including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube (“our social media channels”) from which we post company news and content which may be of interest to our connections. We may use a social media management tool, to post messages.

While Melody Care has official profiles on external social media channels this does not mean that we endorse those channels or the companies that own them, or that we are responsible for their products or services.

If you access external social media channels, you do so at your own risk and Melody Care is not responsible for any losses or other damages which you may suffer as a result of its use.

The social media channels we use have their own terms and conditions and you need to comply with those terms as well as ours.

When you use any of our social media channels we may record and retain information (anonymous or otherwise) about you. This may include your use of our sites and the frequency of your visits. The individual social media channels may also be permitted to share certain information with us in accordance with your personalised privacy settings on those channels.

By using our social media channels and providing us with, or posting personal information to our social media channels, you are agreeing that you accept these terms. If you disagree with any of these terms you should not access our social media channels.

People who submit their information to us via online contact forms, emails, social media or face-to-face and telephone conversations. 

Your personal data will enable Melody Care to keep you updated with relevant information about our services. Our communications with you may be via post, telephone or e-mail, and may originate from Melody Care or our regional offices.

We will not pass on your details to third-parties for marketing.

You will be entitled to opt-out of receiving a chosen communication at any time, by following the unsubscribe directions provided (if appropriate) or by contacting [email protected]

People who contact us via online forms

When a visitor submits an enquiry form on our website, the form will only require you to enter information which is vital for the purpose of the form, to ensure we can give you the intended response.
When a contact form is submitted, the site takes the information and outputs an email to the designated email address for that enquiry. Please see ‘People who contact us via email’ for details on how this data will be handled.

People who contact us via email

Our emails are through Google Gmail and our CRM (client relationship manager) system.

People who contact us via social media

Please be aware that:

(a) our social media channels are public and any contribution you make will be available for anyone to see; and

(b) messages sent over the Internet or via mobile applications may not be completely secure as they are subject to possible interception or loss or possible alteration. This is not within our control and so we are not responsible for them and will not be liable to you or anyone else for any damages or otherwise in connection with any message sent by you to us or any message sent by us to you over the Internet or through a mobile application.

We are always striving to understand our clients better, so we may also record comments and opinions that you make publicly on our social media channels.

If you send us a private or direct message via social media the message will be stored by the social media channel. It will not be shared with any other organisations.

Any personal data which you do provide us with is covered under our privacy policy.

People who make a complaint to us

When we receive a complaint from a person we will create a file containing the details of the complaint. This normally contains the identity of the complainant and any other individuals involved in the complaint.

We will only use the personal information we collect to process the complaint and to check on the level of service we provide. We do compile and publish statistics showing information like the number of complaints we receive, but not in a form which identifies anyone.

We usually have to disclose the complainant’s identity to whoever the complaint is about. This is inevitable where, for example, the accuracy of a person’s record is in dispute. If a complainant doesn’t want information identifying him or her to be disclosed, we will try to respect that. However, it may not be possible to handle a complaint on an anonymous basis.

We will keep personal information contained in complaint files in line with our retention policy. This means that information relating to a complaint will be retained for two years from closure. It will be retained in a secure environment and access to it will be restricted according to the ‘need to know’ principle.

Similarly, where enquiries are submitted to us we will only use the information supplied to us to deal with the enquiry and any subsequent issues and to check on the level of service we provide.

Usually we do not identify any complainants unless the details have already been made public.

People who use Melody Care services

Melody Care is a Home Care Social Provider.

We must hold the details of the people who enquire about our services in order to provide our services or the relevant information. However, we only use these details to provide the service the person has requested and for other closely related purposes. For example, we might use information about people who have requested to become a Melody Care Client/Employee, to carry out a survey to find out if they are happy with the level of service they received.

We will respect your privacy and confidentiality at all times and will always act in accordance with this Privacy Policy when handling all Personal Data. In accordance with the Data Protection Law, we may use your Personal Data as necessary for the provision of our services to you. We may use your Personal Data with your consent, to get in touch with you and offer you other services that we think may be of interest to you. We also may use your Personal Data when it is in our legitimate interests for internal purposes associated with maintaining our business, to ultimately support in providing an effective service to you, and for the purpose of marketing. We may also use your Personal Data as required by law, such as for tax purposes and to satisfy the legislative requirements of the Care Regulator.

We may disclose Personal Data (including Sensitive Personal Data) to third parties in certain limited circumstances, if we believe such disclosure is in your best interest; appropriate for the performance of the Services; or is required as a matter of law. Details of your name, address and payment record may be submitted to a credit reference agency.

Job applicants, current and former Melody Care employees

Melody Care is the data controller for the information you provide during the process unless otherwise stated. If you have any queries about the process or how we handle your information, please contact us at [email protected]

What will we do with the information you provide to us?

All of the information you provide during the process will only be used for the purpose of progressing your job application, or to fulfil legal or regulatory requirements if necessary.

We will not share any of the information you provide during the recruitment process with any third parties for marketing purposes and will not share any of your information outside of the European Economic Area. The information you provide will be held securely by us and/or our data processors, whether the information is in electronic or physical format.

We will use the contact details you provide to us to contact you to progress your application. We will use the other information you provide to assess your suitability for the role you have applied for.

What information do we ask for, and why?

We do not collect more information than we need to fulfil our stated purposes and will not retain it for longer than is necessary.

The information we ask for is used to assess your suitability for employment. You don’t have to provide what we ask for, but it might affect your application if you don’t.

Application stage

We ask you for your personal details including name and contact details. We will also ask you about your previous experience, education, referees and for answers to questions relevant to the role you have applied for. Our recruitment team will have access to all of this information.

Assessments

We will ask you to complete a questionnaire and attend an interview (if successful). Information will be generated by you and by us. For example, you might complete a written test, or we might take interview notes. This information is held at Melody Care.

If you are unsuccessful following assessment for the position you have applied for, we may ask if you would like your details to be retained in our talent pool for a period of six months. If you say yes, we would proactively contact you should any further suitable vacancies arise.

Conditional offer

If we make a conditional offer of employment we will ask you for information so that we can carry out pre-employment checks. You must successfully complete pre-employment checks to progress to a final offer. We are required to confirm the identity of our staff, their right to work in the United Kingdom and seek assurance as to their trustworthiness, integrity and reliability.

You will therefore be required to provide:

● Proof of your identity – you will be asked to attend our office with original documents. We will take copies.

● Proof of your qualifications – you will be asked to attend our office with original documents. We will take copies.

● You will be asked to complete a criminal records declaration to declare any previous convictions.

● Relevant personal details to complete an application for an enhanced Criminal Record check via the Disclosure and Barring Service, which will verify your declaration of previous convictions, cautions, reprimands, final warnings, information held by the police. This check will also identify if you are on any barred lists.

● Referee details – We will contact your referees, using the details you provide in your application, directly to obtain references.

If we make a final offer, we will also ask you for the following:

● Bank details – to process salary payments

● Emergency contact details – so we know who to contact in case you have an emergency at work

● Health related information – We will also ask you to complete a questionnaire about your health. This is to establish your fitness to work.

Pension

Your details will be provided to Smart Pension, who provide a workplace pension scheme to employees. You will be auto-enrolled into the pension scheme and details provided to Smart
Pension will be your name, date of birth, National Insurance number and salary.

Payroll

We currently use a third party, “People Planner” (part of the Access Group) to process payroll and as such, the details which will be provided to our payroll provider will be your name, address, date of birth, National Insurance number, P45 and salary information.

How long is the information retained for?

If you are successful, the information you provide during the application process will be retained by us as part of your employee file for the duration of your employment plus six years following the end of your employment. This includes your criminal records declaration, fitness to work, records of any security checks and references.

If you are unsuccessful at any stage of the process, the information you have provided until that point will be retained for six months from the closure of the campaign.

Information generated throughout the assessment process, for example interview notes, is retained by us for six months following the closure of the campaign.

How we make decisions about recruitment?

Final recruitment decisions are made by our Care/Branch teams and our recruitment team. All of the information gathered during the application process is considered.

You can ask about decisions made about your application by speaking to your contact within our recruitment team or by emailing [email protected]

The third-party systems and providers we use

The third-party systems we use are:
Xero – we use Xero to manage our accountancy and payroll requirements.
Google Gmail and/or CRM – we use as our email system
People Planner (part of the Access Group) for planning and rostering
PASS (EveryLife) for Care Plans and Medication etc

Complaints or queries about our privacy policy

Melody Care tries to meet the highest standards when collecting and using personal information. For this reason, we take any complaints we receive about this very seriously. We encourage people to bring it to our attention if they think that our collection or use of information is unfair, misleading or inappropriate. We would also welcome any suggestions for improving our procedures.

This privacy notice was drafted with brevity and clarity in mind. It does not provide exhaustive detail of all aspects of Melody Care’s collection and use of personal information. However, we are happy to provide any additional information or explanation needed. Any requests for this should be sent to the address below.

Access to personal information

Melody Care tries to be as open as it can be in terms of giving people access to their personal information. Individuals can find out if we hold any personal information by making a ‘subject access request’ (SAR). If we do hold information about you, we will:

● provide you with a description of the information we hold;

● tell you why we are holding it;

● tell you who it could be disclosed to; and

● let you have a copy of the information in an intelligible form.

Anyone wishing to make a SAR to Melody Care for any personal information, should do so by putting the request in writing to the address provided below.

If you agree, we will try to deal with your request informally, for example, by providing you with the specific information you need over the telephone.

If we do hold information about you, you can ask us to correct any mistakes by, once again, contacting our data controller at the address below.

Disclosure of personal information

In many circumstances we will not disclose personal data without consent. However, when we investigate a complaint, for example, we will need to share personal information with the organisation concerned and with other relevant bodies.

You can also request further information on the following, by writing to us at the address provided below:

● agreements we have with other organisations for sharing information;

● circumstances where we can pass on personal data without consent for example, to prevent and detect crime and to produce anonymised statistics;

● our instructions to staff on how to collect, use and delete personal data; and

● how we check that the information we hold is accurate and up to date.

Links to other websites

This privacy notice does not cover the links within this site linking to other websites. We encourage you to read the privacy statements on the other websites which you visit.

Changes to this privacy notice

We keep our privacy notice under regular review. This privacy notice was last updated on 22/06/2022.

Company Information

Melody Care
Head Office
65 Cove Road
Farnborough
Hampshire
GU14 0EX

Melody Care is committed to protecting and respecting your privacy. Although you may not be an employee or client of Melody Care, we may hold your personal information because of your relationship with either a client of Melody Care or an employee, who has nominated you as either next of kin or their emergency contact.

Who are we and why do we need to process your personal information?

Melody Care is a data controller of your personal information. Personal information means information that is about you or contains enough data in which we can identify you.

For emergency contact details and next of kin details, Melody Care has a legitimate interest in processing this personal data throughout the employment of an individual, and for the duration of a care package being in place for a client. Processing this information allows Melody Care to maintain accurate and up-to-date employment records, care records and contact details (specifically details of who to contact in the event of an emergency).

Legitimate interest is our legal basis for storing your information. For more information on what legitimate interest is, visit the ICO website.

What kind of information is being collected?

Melody Care will only collect and process information in relation to you as a nominated emergency contact or next of kin by either an employee of Melody Care, or a client of Melody Care.

Melody Care will only collect this information from employees or clients who have nominated you as their emergency contact and/or next of kin. This information will include your name, relationship to the individual and your contact number.

Who has access and how do we protect your information?

This information is securely stored either in a paperless filing system that is password protected and kept on a secure server, or where we use paper records, in a locked filing cabinet, in a lockable room. Access is restricted to only those who need it and will only be accessed at times deemed to be an emergency. We will decide on a case by case basis what constitutes an emergency.

We have internal policies that strictly control how we manage your personal information. Melody Care will not under any circumstances transfer your information to countries outside the European Economic Area.

How long will we keep your information?

Melody Care will hold your personal information for as long as either the individual is employed, or a care package is in place, or we are informed otherwise, either by the data subject themselves (you) or the employee or client. As a data subject, you have several rights under data protection regulation. These include:

● You are able to access all the personal information we hold about you,

● You are able to request we change information where it is either incorrect or incomplete,

● You are able to request we delete or stop processing your data, including the right to be forgotten,

● You are able to object to the grounds of us processing your information, which we do so under ‘legitimate interest’.

Your right

If you believe that Melody Care has not been compliant with your data protection rights, you can contact the Information Commissioner:

● Information Commissioner – https://ico.org.uk

● Telephone helpline – 0303 123 1113

For further information, you can contact Melody Care on [email protected]