Privacy Policy

What data we collect

We only collect personal data when you actively provide it to us, or through standard website tools described below.

Contact form

When you use the contact form on our Get Involved page, we collect your name, email address, and message. The lawful basis for processing this data is legitimate interests — we have a legitimate interest in responding to enquiries about our work.

Service referrals

When you make a referral through this website, we collect the information you provide so our referrals team can assess the request and contact the young person, referrer, or relevant worker. This may include contact details, date of birth, care status, services requested, consent information, support needs, health information, and risks, concerns or triggers submitted by you or the referrer. The lawful basis is consent and legitimate interests; where special category data is provided, we process it only for safeguarding, support, and service delivery purposes.

Volunteer applications

When you apply for a volunteer role through our Careers page, we collect your name, email address, phone number, preferred role, region or office availability, typical availability, motivation, relevant skills or experience, support or access needs you choose to share, and consent to contact you about references, DBS checks, induction, safeguarding, and next steps. The lawful basis is consent and legitimate interests — we have a legitimate interest in recruiting and onboarding volunteers safely.

Pledge form

When you sign the pledge on our Get Involved page, we collect your name, email address, and role. The lawful basis is consent — you choose to add your name to the pledge.

Website analytics

We use Plausible Analytics to understand how visitors use this website. Plausible is a privacy-first analytics tool that does not use cookies, does not collect personal data, and does not track individuals across sessions or sites. The data we see is aggregated and anonymous — page views, referrers, and device types. No personal data is involved.

Saved preferences

If you toggle dark mode, switch manifesto language, or use the audience selector, your browser stores those preferences in localStorage so the site can remember them on your device. The keys currently used are theme, preferred-lang, vfcc-audience, and vfcc-audience-dismissed. This data stays on your device and is not transmitted to us or any third party.

How we use your data

• To respond to general enquiries sent via the contact form
• To process service referrals and contact the young person, referrer, or relevant worker
• To process volunteer applications and communicate with applicants
• To record pledge signatories and share aggregate pledge numbers publicly
• To understand how our website is being used so we can improve it

We will never sell your personal data to third parties, and we will not use it for any purpose other than those listed above without your explicit consent.

Third-party services

Netlify

This website is hosted by Netlify, Inc. Netlify processes form submissions on our behalf — when you submit any form on this site, the data is transmitted to and stored by Netlify before we access it. Netlify is based in the United States; data transfers are covered by standard contractual clauses. You can read Netlify's privacy policy on their website.

Plausible Analytics

Plausible Analytics is a cookieless, privacy-respecting analytics service based in the European Union. It does not collect personally identifiable information and is fully compliant with GDPR, CCPA, and PECR. No personal data is shared with Plausible. You can read Plausible's privacy policy on their website.

Cookies and localStorage

This website does not set any cookies.

We use localStorage to remember on-device preferences you choose on the site. This currently includes dark mode (theme), manifesto language (preferred-lang), and audience selector state (vfcc-audience and vfcc-audience-dismissed). These values stay in your browser, are not transmitted anywhere, and can be cleared at any time by clearing your browser's site data.

Plausible Analytics is cookieless and does not store anything in your browser.

Data retention

We keep your data only for as long as necessary:

• Contact form submissions — retained for 2 years from the date of submission, then securely deleted.
• Service referrals — retained only for as long as needed to assess the referral, provide support, and meet safeguarding or service-record requirements.
• Volunteer applications — retained for 6 months after the role closes, then securely deleted. Successful applicants' data is transferred to volunteer onboarding records.
• Donation records — retained for 6 years in accordance with HMRC requirements.

Your rights

Under UK GDPR, you have the following rights in relation to your personal data:

• Access — you can request a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
• Rectification — you can ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete data.
• Erasure — you can ask us to delete your personal data where there is no compelling reason for us to keep it.
• Restriction — you can ask us to restrict the processing of your data in certain circumstances.
• Portability — you can request that we transfer your data to you or another organisation in a structured, machine-readable format.
• Objection — you can object to processing based on legitimate interests.
• Withdraw consent — where processing is based on consent, you can withdraw it at any time.

To exercise any of these rights, contact us at info@vfcc.org.uk. We will respond within one calendar month.

Right to complain

If you are unhappy with how we have handled your data, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), the UK's independent data protection authority:

Information Commissioner's Office

Wycliffe House, Water Lane

Wilmslow SK9 5AF

Website: ico.org.uk

Telephone: 0303 123 1113