Confidentiality Statement for Staff & Volunteers 

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Oxford Dictionary definition of confidentiality:   

noun. “…a situation in which you expect someone to keep information secret…”  

Legislation & principles  

In making this confidentiality statement, Growing Links CIC relies the on the following legislation:  

• The Human Rights Act 1988  

• The Care Act 2014  

• The Health & Social Care (Safety & Quality) Act 2015  

• The Data Protection Act 2018 & GDPR principles  

The Care Act 2014  

This adopts a person-centred approach when safeguarding vulnerable adults. The 6 guiding principles of the Care Act are:  

 

Empowerment 

You should ask the service user what outcome they hope to see at the end of processes. The answers they provide should underpin every action you subsequently take. At the end of the process, consider using questionnaires to assess if service users felt involved and heard.  

To effectively empower vulnerable adults, you should assess what provisions, if any, they need to reach decisions confidently. Provide information in a straightforward and jargon free form, ask questions relating to changes in their safeguarding or care plan (no matter how small), and work together with an advocate where necessary.  

Keep in mind that, to report a suspected safeguarding issue to the local authority or police, you need consent from the vulnerable adult. Empowerment creates confidence in you and helps the situation move forward.  

 

Protection 

To fulfil the principle of protection, you should support and represent those in greatest need.  

Aim to provide service users with clear, simple information about how to recognise signs  of abuse and when to come to you for help. Respond immediately to concerns and take action to liberate a vulnerable person from a dangerous situation.  

You should know how to contact the appropriate authorities and follow suitable safeguarding procedures so the situation is handled quickly and you don’t exacerbate existing risks. 

   

 

 

Prevention 

To follow the prevention principle, you must be proactive to stop safeguarding  concerns from developing in the first place.  

Prevention is one of the most critical principles of care. Even after being freed from neglect and abuse, a vulnerable person may still suffer lasting physical or psychological damage.  You must, therefore, pre-emptively protect vulnerable adults to reduce long-term harm.  

Safeguarding training is the best way to promote prevention. It teaches caregivers what the signs of abuse are and gives them the confidence to report suspected issues without putting the vulnerable adult at further risk.  

 

Proportionality 

Proportionality refers to ensuring you utilise preventative measures or  respond to a safeguarding issue in the most unobtrusive way possible. Take into account the level of the vulnerable person’s needs; don’t apply a one-size-fits-all response when making decisions. They can give you input on what actions, in their mind, have the least impact on their quality of life and dignity.  

Reacting proportionately could require you to take small, yet significant steps to handle an issue. Trying to tackle a large issue all at once can overwhelm the person.  

 

Partnership 

You should partner with local services and communities to help prevent,  detect, and report suspected cases of neglect and abuse. When multiple authorities recognise a safeguarding issue and submit a report, authorities can react quickly and confidently.  

Local groups should collaborate and share information to reduce duplicate or contradictory responses that may hinder progress.  

Also remember to protect personal and sensitive information about people to comply with the Data Protection Act. Only share data if you have permission from the person whom it’s about and only when necessary.  

 

Accountability 

Be wholly transparent about, and take responsibility for, all the safeguarding practices you use to support vulnerable people.  

Keep the vulnerable person, as well as their nominated individuals, updated about any decisions you make or changes you consider in the interest of safeguarding. At any given time, the vulnerable or nominated person should understand the role of everyone involved in the care plan and should be able to contact them if need be.  

Also communicate clearly with your team, support channels (including local services that work together with you), and local authorities. Update them with new findings and progress where relevant.  

 

 

Remember, if you believe a vulnerable person is at risk and they give you consent to  disclose, you have a civic duty to report the matter to the appropriate authority, securely  hold any evidence, and keep the vulnerable adult safe. 

   

The Common Law Duty of Confidentiality  

Growing Links is also guided by the guiding principles of the “common law duty of confidentiality”.   

Extract from the Caldicott Guardian Council website (www.ukcgc.uk):   

“…The legal obligation for confidentiality is one of common law, which means it will change as case law evolves. The “common law duty of confidentiality” is complex, essentially it means that when somebody shares personal information in confidence, it must not be disclosed without some form of legal authority or justification. In practice, this will often mean that the information cannot be disclosed without the person’s explicit consent, unless there is another valid legal basis. It is irrelevant whether the individual is old or has mental health issues or indeed lacks capacity: the duty still applies… Common law requires there  to be a lawful basis for the use and disclosure of personal information that is held in  confidence, for example:   

• where the individual has capacity and has given valid informed consent, 

• where disclosure is in the overriding public interest, 

• where there is a statutory basis or legal duty to disclose, e.g., by court order…”.  

In certain circumstances, you may override your duty of confidentiality to volunteers and service users if it is done to protect their best interests or the interest of the public. This means you may override your duty if:  

• You have information that suggests a service user or volunteer is at risk of harm.  

• You have information to suggest that a service user or volunteer is posing a risk of harm to somebody else.  

In these instances, you should always report your concerns to our Safeguarding Officer, Rosie Don. You should also help and contribute to any further actions that are taken to reduce the risk of harm.   

However, sometimes things are not as simple and it can be easy to misread and misunderstand the signs. If you have any concerns about someone, or confidentiality issue arises, you should always ask our Safeguarding Manager, Ally Katkowski for advice.   

Growing Links CIC Statement  

When working / volunteering for Growing Links CIC, you may need to have access to information which may include, for example:  

 

 

• Personal data about individuals involved in the activities organised at Growing Links CIC locations.  

• Confidential Information about the internal business of Growing Links CIC. 

Growing Links CIC are committed to keeping this information confidential, to protect staff, volunteers, service users and the organisation itself.  

 

“Confidential” means that all access to information must be on a “need to know” and properly authorised basis. You must use only the information you have been authorised to use, and for purposes that have been authorised. You should also be aware that under the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR), unauthorised access/use of personal data about individuals is a criminal offence.  

Staff / Volunteer Responsibilities 

Staff and volunteers must assume that all information is confidential unless they know for sure that it is intended by Growing Links CIC to be made public.  

1. You must be particularly careful not to disclose confidential information to unauthorised people or cause a breach of security. A serious breach would have to be reported to the Information Commissioner’s Office and this could have serious legal and financial repercussions for Growing Links CIC.  

1. Where databases exist that hold personal data for staff, volunteers, and service users, for reasons of transparency and accountability, all these people must be advised of the  following:  

• That their personal data is held in a database,   

• The reason why their information is on file,  

• Reassure them that we only hold the necessary personal data that we need to fulfil our business obligations/duties,  

• We must reassure them that we will treat all personal data in the strictest confidence. We will not share it with anyone or external agencies, without their express consent.  

1. Under the GDPR, volunteers and service users have the right to have their personal data removed from all databases that we manage as soon as they no longer engage with our services. Any such requests should be escalated to the Business Support Administrator to ensure that we comply with all such requests. (HR files for staff must be retained for 6 years from the last date of employment and then destroyed.)  

1. The staff and volunteers also have a duty to remove all redundant personal data from their own electronic devices (smart phones, personal computers, tablets). This also includes any databases/documents downloaded on to your smart phones, as well as saved phone numbers for service users who no longer access our services. (This is for both GDPR and Safeguarding purposes).   

 

1. All electronic devices (including phones, personal computers, tablets etc) that staff and volunteers use to access any form of personal data (including saved phone numbers)  retained for fulfilling their duties for Growing Links CIC should have a screen lock/ be  password protected so that should they be left unattended or lost, no unauthorised third  parties can view the data, and we are all protected from a data breach.  

1. Staff and volunteers must ensure that any hard copy documents containing personal data (including phone numbers) should be managed confidentiality and not left unsecured for any unauthorised third parties to view. This would constitute a data breach.   

1. If you believe and/or witness any staff or volunteers are using personal data we hold on record inappropriately, you have a duty to inform the management team immediately. 

1. If you witness any unauthorised people trying to access the personal data of our staff, volunteers, and service users, you have a duty to inform the management team  immediately.  

1. Staff must not compromise or seek to evade security measures (including computer passwords, phone screen lock passwords, or view documents they are not authorised  to view).  

1. Staff must only share information with other agencies and organisations if given direct permission from the management team and they are totally assured that the person  they are disclosing said information to is authorised to receive the information.  

1. Staff and volunteers must not gossip about confidential information, either with other colleagues, or people outside of Growing Links CIC or post confidential information or photographs of  staff, volunteers and service users on social media platforms such as Facebook, FB messenger,  Instagram, Twitter etc. (The management team requires written permission to use  photographs of individuals for their protection.)  

Your confidentiality obligations continue to apply indefinitely after you have stopped working or volunteering for Growing Links CIC.  

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