This privacy policy sets out how Jewish Woman’s Aid uses and protects any information that you provide to us.

Who we are

Jewish Women’s Aid is the only specialist organisation in the UK supporting Jewish women and children affected by domestic abuse and sexual violence. Jewish Women’s Aid is a company limited by guarantee, registered in England and Wales under No. 3024499 and registered as a charity No. 1047045.

The privacy and security of your personal information is important to us and we are committed to ensuring that your privacy and welfare are protected. Any personal data collected by us will only be processed in accordance with this privacy policy.

1. About this Policy
2. Why do we process your data?
3. What data do we collect and process?
4. How do we use your data?
5. Your rights in relation to your personal data
6. Security
7. Web browsing and Cookies
8. Links to other websites

A. About this Policy

This privacy policy sets out how Jewish Women’s Aid processes personal data (that is, information by which an individual can be identified) collected by us in the course of our lawful activities, in accordance with the Data Protection Act 2018, the General Data Protection Regulation, The Privacy & Electronic Communications Regulations and any associated or subsequent legislation or regulations in force from time to time (the ‘Data Protections laws’). This policy has been put in place to protect your rights under the Data Protection laws, and it is important that you understand what we will do with your data and are happy with this.

If you want to discuss any matter relating to how your data is used, please call us on 020 8445 8060, write to the Data Protection Officer by email at info@jwa.org.uk or to Jewish Women’s Aid, PO Box 65550, London. We may be required in certain instances to ask that your request for information be submitted in writing.

References to the processing of personal data includes its collection, use, storage, sharing and disposal. Jewish Women’s Aid is the ‘data controller’ for the purposes of this policy, except where otherwise stated, and the policy extends to those working for and on behalf of Jewish Women’s Aid and, to the extent set out below, anyone else processing data on our behalf from time to time.

Children of any age have the same rights over the data processed about them as adults, although their ability to understand and to exercise these rights may vary depending on their age and capacity, and a legally responsible adult may be required to make certain decisions about data processing on a child’s behalf. References in this policy to ‘you’ or ‘your data’ includes reference to children’s data, as the context allows.

We may change this policy from time to time and any such changes will be published on our website. Notwithstanding any changes to this policy, we will continue to process your personal data in accordance with your rights and our obligations in law.

This policy was reviewed in January 2025.

B. Why do we process your data?

Organisations are permitted to process data if they have a legal basis for doing so. Jewish Women’s Aid processes data on the basis that:

• Express and informed consent has been given by the person whose data is being processed; and/or
• Jewish Women’s Aid has a legitimate interest in processing the data; and/or
• It is necessary in relation to or in anticipation of a contract, agreement or ongoing arrangement for the provision of goods or services which someone has entered into with Jewish Women’s Aid, or because someone has asked for something to be done, so they can enter into a contract, agreement or arrangement with us; and/or
• It is necessary in order to protect your vital interests; and/or
• Jewish Women’s Aid has a legal obligation to process data

Where Jewish Women’s Aid is relying on solely consent as the basis for processing data, we are required to obtain your explicit consent and, whatever our legal basis for processing your data, you can modify or withdraw your consent at any time by notifying us in writing, although this may affect the extent to which we are able to provide services to or interact with you in future. In certain instances, we may still be entitled to process at least some of your data due to an overriding legal obligation.

Where we (in the capacity of a data processor) receive such data from another data controller, we do so in reliance on the express or implied assurance that it is being shared with us lawfully and with all due authority.

C. What personal data do we collect and process?

Jewish Women’s Aid processes the data necessary for us to fulfil our purposes; supporting Jewish women and children affected by domestic abuse and sexual violence. Data will be processed to provide services to clients using our services, to keep supporters and stakeholders informed of our activities, and to run Jewish Women’s Aid’s services and activities effectively through the work of those employed by or working with us. Data collected and processed may include, but not be limited to:

• Names and contact information, such as telephone numbers, email and postal addresses of clients, staff, therapists and counsellors, health professionals, stakeholders, contacts at partner organisations, supporters or others with whom we have contact;
• Information necessary for the employment of staff or the engagement of other service providers, including that necessary to pay salaries, fees or expenses;
• Information relating to our obligations for the safeguarding, welfare and protection of children or adults at risk, such as references and Disclosure and Barring Service checks;
• Details relating to clients including, to the extent necessary, case histories and testimonies and information of a sensitive financial, personal or medical nature;
• Clients’ religious affiliation, to ensure that we can support you in the most appropriate way and in line with our charitable purposes;
• Photographs or video footage which we may use, with appropriate permissions, for marketing and promotional purposes including, for examples online, social media and printed materials;
• Such other information as is relevant and necessary for Jewish Women’s Aid to carry out its activities, purposes and meet its legal obligations.

Such data may be collected, for example, when you contact us through our helpline, website or otherwise, seek and receive advice or assistance, submit an enquiry, complete surveys or provide feedback, apply to work for or with Jewish Women’s Aid as an employee, volunteer or service provider, or when you otherwise provide us with personal data in some other way. Where we receive data from other people or agencies, we do so on the basis that they are entitled to share that data with us, and that you do not object. We use such data to provide services to you.

D. How do we use your data?

We process your personal data for the purposes stated above, and in particular for the following operational reasons:

• For service provision, internal record keeping, communications and administration;
• To run activities and maintain contact with partners organisations, services providers, supporters and stakeholders and, where appropriate, to keep you informed of activities, events and other matters which we believe may be of interest to you;
• Ensuring the safeguarding and welfare of those to whom we owe a duty of care, including sharing data, where necessary, with appropriate agencies if there are immediate concerns about the safety and welfare of an individual;
• To facilitate, where required, analysis and reporting about our activities;
• To comply with any legal obligations and to protect parties’ interests in cases of dispute;

If you or someone acting on your behalf provides information about another person, such as a service user, you warrant that you have the legal authority to share such data with us and have informed such person(s) (or in the case of someone under the age of 16, a person legally responsible for them) that their data is being shared with us and about our Privacy Policy.

Data processed will be retained only for as long as the purpose for which it was collected continues and/or, if there is another lawful overriding purpose, for as long as is reasonable and permissible in law. Accordingly, the periods for which we retain data will vary depending on the purposes for which it was collected and relevant statutory or other requirements.

In addition to those circumstances mentioned above, we will only share data with trusted third parties (including those outside the European Economic Area) to the extent and where necessary for us to provide services to service users and to support Jewish Women’s Aid ’s activities, as described above. This might include using appropriate secure databases, data storage facilities and software, web-services, email platforms and online payments platforms (Stripe and Go Cardless) or service providers, and only once we are satisfied that any such data processing will accord with our privacy policy and the law. Our fundraising and volunteer database, eTapestry, is operated by Blackbaud and is held on secure servers in the USA. Our client database, Oasis, is operated by IT Works and is held on secure servers in the UK.

No third-party provider has permission to use or share your information for their own purposes.

We will never sell your personal information and will not share it without your explicit consent, except as stated above.

E. Your rights in relation to your personal data

You, as the data subject, may request deletion of your data at any time in writing, subject to any overriding legal requirement for its retention, such as the need, where appropriate, to comply with legal or safeguarding obligations or the requirements of regulatory authorities such as His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs, or to prevent the commission of or to assist in the investigation of an actual or suspected criminal offence. We may keep certain data on a ‘suppression list’ so we know, if requested, not to contact you or process your data in future until further notice.

You may request details of personal information which we hold about you. Those legally responsible for a child may request such details about the child. Any such request must be submitted in writing, and we reserve the right to seek verification of the identity of persons making such requests before we respond. A small fee may be payable if an information request is particularly onerous.

You may choose to restrict the collection or use of your personal information, but this may impact or limit the way in which we are able to interact with you. You may, at any time, change your mind about what information we hold about you, or if we continue to hold it at all, subject to any legal obligation on us to retain data, and as stated above.

You are responsible for the accuracy of data you have provided to Jewish Women’s Aid. If you believe that any information, we hold about you is incorrect or incomplete, please write to us as soon as possible. We will promptly correct any information found to be incorrect.

Where your data has been supplied to us by another party, meaning that Jewish Women’s Aid is processing it on behalf of that other party and is acting as a data processor, please note that in order to exercise your rights over your data you should submit any request relating to it to the party that supplied the data to us.

In the unlikely event that there is any kind of a breach of our duties and obligations under this policy or the Data Protections laws, we will take immediate steps to isolate and rectify the problem. Should the breach be serious one (where there is a risk of, for example, discrimination, damage to reputation, financial loss or loss of confidential information) we have a duty to report that matter to the individuals affected and to the Office of the Information Commissioner. 

You can obtain further information about Data Protection and privacy laws and your rights by visiting the Information Commissioner’s website at: https://ico.org.uk/your-data-matters/.

F. Security

We are committed to ensuring that your information is secure. To prevent unauthorised access or disclosure, we have put in place suitable physical, electronic, and managerial procedures to safeguard and secure the data we process. Persons processing data on behalf of Jewish Women’s Aid do so in accordance with this policy and on the basis that Jewish Women’s Aid is satisfied that they can and will adhere to our high standards for data protection and security.

The transmission of information over the internet is inherently insecure, and we cannot guarantee the security of data sent over the internet. Please note that, unless encrypted, email messages sent via the internet may not be secure and could be intercepted and read by someone else. Please bear this in mind when deciding whether to include personal or sensitive information in any email messages you send to us.

G. Web browsing and Cookies

As is the case with other websites, we collect usage information via cookies. For more information regarding cookies, please see our cookie policy – https://www.jwa.org.uk/cookies-policy/.

A cookie is a small file which asks permission to be placed on your computer’s hard drive. Once you agree, the file is added, and the cookie helps analyse web traffic or lets you know when you visit a particular site. Cookies allow web applications to respond to you as an individual. The web application can tailor its operations to your needs, likes and dislikes by gathering and remembering information about your preferences.

We may use traffic log cookies to identify which pages are being used. This helps us analyse data about web page traffic and improve our website to tailor it to customer needs. We only use this information for statistical analysis purposes and then the data is removed from the system.

Overall, cookies help us provide you with a better website, by enabling us to monitor which pages you find useful and which you do not. A cookie in no way gives us access to your computer or any information about you, other than the data you choose to share with us.

You can choose to accept or decline cookies. Most web browsers automatically accept cookies, but you can usually modify your browser setting to decline cookies if you prefer. This may prevent you from taking full advantage of the website.

We may also collect and store information about your browsing device, including, where available, your IP address, operating system, and browser type, together with certain anonymous statistical data about your browsing activities and patterns which does not contain any personal data.

H. Links to other websites

Our website may contain links to other websites of interest. However, once you have used these links to leave our site, you should note that we do not have any control over that other website. Therefore, we cannot be responsible for the protection and privacy of any information which you provide whilst visiting such sites and such sites are not governed by this privacy policy. You should exercise caution and look at the privacy policy applicable to the website in question.