Privacy Policy
This Policy describes how and why Cocoon Harrogate uses your personal information, how we protect your privacy when doing so and your rights and choices regarding this information. We promise to respect any of your personal information which is under our control and to keep it safe. We aim to be clear when we collect your information about what we will do with it.
We use personal information on a day-to-day basis in order to operate. Our use of personal information allows us to provide you with a product or service you may have requested, make better decisions, communicate more efficiently and ultimately helps us in achieving our goal – support families through their pregnancy journeys.
We run a private and confidential service. This means that whatever you say stays between you and us.
We would only need to say or do something, if:
You ask us to
If a child is at risk of harm or being harmed
We believe your life or someone else’s is in immediate danger
You are being hurt by someone in a position of trust
You tell us that you are seriously harming another person
We are here to listen and support you and will only tell someone (such as social services or police) if we feel it’s an emergency or safeguarding issue. We will usually talk to you about this first, giving you as much control as possible, however this may not always be possible if someone is in immediate danger.
We will keep a short record on our system, so that we can get a clearer picture of all the calls that we receive. We keep a record of your name, contact details and brief notes on your call and the outcome. We hold this information securely in a database, and keep any paper records for 25 years.
This Policy explains:
Who we are
How we collect information about you
Why we use your information
How we use your information to fulfil your requests and support you
How we use your information to tell you about our work
What we do if you choose to tell us about your experiences of pregnancy, pregnancy loss, or birth trauma
Sharing your information with other organisations
How long we keep your information
How we keep your information safe
Your rights
Audit and updates to this Policy
If you have any questions about our Privacy Policy, please email hello@cocoon-hgt.com or write to Cocoon Harrogate LTD
1. Who we are
The processing of your personal data is carried out by Cocoon Harrogate LTD.
Cocoon Harrogate LTD are a private limited company based in North Yorkshire, registered company number 14344041.
We refer to the organisation throughout this Policy collectively as “Cocoon”, “we”, “our” or “us”.
2. How we collect information about you
We collect information in the below ways:
2.1 Information you provide to us directly
You may give us your information in order to sign up for one of our events, purchase our services, use our information service or otherwise communicate with us.
When you use our website, we collect your personal information using “cookies” and other tracking methods. There are more details on the cookies and tracking methods we use in our Cookies Policy outlined below.
In addition, in accordance with common website practice, we will receive information about the type of device you’re using to access our website or apps and the settings on that device may provide us with information about your device, including what type of device it is, what specific device you have, what operating system you’re using, what your device settings are, and why a crash has happened. Your device manufacturer or operating system provider will have more details about what information your device makes available to us.
2.2 Information you provide to us indirectly
Your information may be shared with us by third parties, for example search engines. These independent third parties will only do so when you have indicated that you wish to support us with your consent. You should check any privacy policy provided to you where you give your data to a third party.
2.3 Information from other sources
We also use information from the following sources:
Social Media – Depending on your settings or the privacy policies for social media and messaging services like Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, WhatsApp or Twitter, you might give us permission to access information from those services, for example when you publicly tag us in an event photo.
Information available publicly – We may supplement our services with information from publicly available sources such as charity websites and annual reviews, corporate websites, public social media accounts, the electoral register and Companies House in order to create a fuller understanding of someone’s interests in Cocoon Harrogate.
3. Why we use your information
We will only use your information where we have a legal basis to do so and will always respect your rights.
Where we use your information, it may be because you have consented to us doing so or because we consider we have a legitimate interest to do so. Where we do rely on a legitimate interest to use your information, we will always ensure that this is done in a fair way that respects your rights. Other reasons may include using information because we have a legal obligation to do so or because we have to fulfil contractual obligations.
We only use your information:
If you have given us your consent to use the information for a specified purpose, such as sending marketing communications to you by email
If you have given us your consent to provide a service to you.
Where it is necessary for us to comply with a legal obligation.
Where it is necessary to enter into, or perform, a contract with you, such as when you apply for a job with us
For our own (or a third party’s) legitimate interests, provided your rights don’t override these interests, for example fundraising, internal record keeping, research and reporting.
4. How we use your information to fulfill your requests and support you
4.1 To respond to or fulfill any requests, complaints or queries you make to us
If you contact us directly, we will use the information you give to us to handle your enquiry or request. This may include sharing your details with other Cocoon personnel in order to process your enquiry, responding to your query or feedback, or sending you relevant information. We may also keep a record of conversations we have with you, feedback you provide and any marketing materials we send out to you.
We use this information to compile internal reports to help us improve our services and to handle queries more efficiently.
4.2 To process any donations you make, claim any relevant Gift Aid and maintain a record of your past or potential future financial contributions
This includes keeping a record of any pledges, gift agreements or any other indications that you are planning to donate to Cocoon. We keep a record of any donations we receive for audit or legal purposes, for example we are legally required to keep information related to Gift Aid for six years. We may need to use your information to prevent fraud.
4.3 To provide you with information and support for any services, events, fundraising and campaigning activities or volunteering opportunities you sign up to
If you have completed a form to register or enquire about an event or activity, we will send you details about the activity and provide you with support throughout. You can contact us at any time if you want to update your communication preferences or if you choose not to receive this information.
We will send information and support to you by post, phone, mobile messaging, email, social media, or any other channels for which you have provided your details. When you have asked for details of an event, we will send you information including, where relevant, ideas for fundraising and reminders on key information about the activity.
Where appropriate, we will use the information you provide to identify any help we can offer, specific to the activity you have signed up for and to provide necessary information to event organisers. Where this includes information about your health or other sensitive information, we will only use this information if you have consented to us doing so.
4.4 To manage our recruitment
When applying for a role with Cocoon Harrogate, the personal data you provide as part of the recruitment process will only be held and processed for the purpose of the selection processes and in connection with any subsequent employment unless otherwise indicated. You will be asked to provide certain information including your name, contact details, employment history and qualifications. This information is mandatory in order to consider your application, communicate with you about your application and where successful, follow up with references or meet our statutory and internal monitoring and reporting responsibilities. We may also view social media profiles of applicants, such as LinkedIn, to the extent that it is relevant to your application. Unsuccessful applicant data will be held confidentially within the recruitment system for a period of 6 months before it is deleted in order that you can access and re-use data in future applications and we can respond to statutory reporting requests.
5. How we use your information to tell you about our work
5.1 To send you marketing communications by email, mobile messaging, or direct message on social media, where you have agreed to receive this
Where you have provided an email, mobile phone number, or details of your social media profiles and consented to being contacted in this way, we will send you information by those channels – including by direct message through social media.
5.2 To contact you by phone and post
Where it is appropriate and relevant, and you have provided us with a telephone number or a postal address, we may occasionally call or write to you to tell you about future services. We will not contact you by phone for marketing purposes if your number is registered with the Telephone Preference Service, unless you have agreed to receive calls from us.
5.3 To manage your contact preferences
You can tell us to stop contacting you, or change the way in which we do so, by getting in touch with us – by email or post as above. We will keep a record of any requests to stop receiving marketing from us to ensure that we do not communicate with you in the future, unless you tell us you want to hear from us again.
5.4 To make sure we speak to you in way that is relevant to you, and to understand our supporters more broadly
We try to ensure that our communications are as effective as possible so that we make the best use of the money we spend on them. This means communicating with people in different ways, appropriate to them.
On occasion, we will use information about how you have interacted with us previously, for example the record of your previous donations to us and the type of activity you have been involved with, to tailor our communications with you about future activities. We will also use information about how you use our website or interact with our emails so we can make them more effective. For example, we use the third party provider Google Analytics to gather this information.
In certain circumstances we will use information about you from publicly available sources such as online registries, websites, media or social media, or personal introductions in order to understand more about your interests and preferences so that we can better tailor our communications – telling you about the things you are likely to be interested in or letting you know of ways you can support us. We may do this by looking up such information as your career information, peer networks, listed directorships, demographic information, ability to donate, interests or other information.
External data sources include publicly available information such as Companies House, Charity Commission and other charity registers, Electoral Roll, reputable newspaper articles, publications, company websites and biographies on professional networking sites as well as geographic and demographic information based on your postcode. This allows us to segment our database and gives us a better understanding of our customers and supporters.
We will analyse data from our database so that we can understand our supporters. We may also use broad demographic information such as statistics and analysis from third parties to better understand how our own supporter base compares to the general population. This helps us to decide who to send our communications to and is useful to ensure the communications you receive are relevant to you.
If you would prefer we didn’t use your information in the ways listed above, then you have the right to tell us to stop by getting in touch with us on email or post as above.
5.5 To target our digital and social media marketing
On occasion, we will use the information you provide us to target our digital and social media advertising effectively. This could include securely providing contact details such as your name and email address to digital advertising networks or social media companies such as LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, Google, SnapChat and Twitter. For example, we may use your information to enable us to display adverts to you, or to potential supporters who have similar characteristics to you.
Any information we share with social media companies will be shared in an encrypted format and will not be used for their own purposes. You can stop your information being used for this by contacting us.
Where you have asked us not to use your information for targeted digital advertising, you may still see adverts related to Cocoon Harrogate. This is because the social media site or advertising network may select you based on information they hold, such as your age and location, or websites you have visited, without using information that has been provided by us.
You can control the kind of advertising which you see through the relevant social media site:
5.6 Use any images, videos of, or other information you tell us about something you have done with Cocoon Harrogate
If you share information about our services, or your personal experiences, by post, email or over social media, we may want to use this to help us promote our events and activities in the future. We will obtain the necessary consent to use this information.
6. What we do if you choose to tell us about your experience of pregnancy loss or trauma.
Where you have provided information about your experience of loss of trauma, including through a survey, focus group, questionnaire, or when we are talking to you by phone or email, we will, if it is appropriate for you for us to do so, explain what the information will be used for and whether it will be held anonymously or not. If the information will be held in a way that could be connected to you personally, we will ask your consent to store and use what you tell us.
We will use this information for the purposes explained to you at the time of collection. For example, to better understand the issues that are important to our client base, which helps shape our communications and activities. We may compare statistics related to our supporters to information about the general population, to help our understanding.
Where you provide more detailed information we may want to use this in our communications including PR and media activity, digital and social media, campaigning, fundraising materials and internal communications, to help us raise awareness of pregnancy experiences, loss or trauma. We would never use your story without obtaining your consent first.
7. Sharing your information with other organisations
We will never share your information with third parties for their own purposes, unless this is explained to you at the time we collect your information and:
You give us your consent to
We have a legitimate interest to do so, for example sharing information with regulators to protect our rights, property and safety, or the rights, property and safety of you or others; or
We are legally required to do so. For example, we receive a court order requiring us to share information.
We may share your personal information with other entities in our group if we are satisfied that we have a legitimate business interest to do so or if you have given your consent to the sharing.
We also use suppliers known as ‘data processors’ to process your personal information on our behalf, for example, to send out mailings or process payments. When enlisting the services of such suppliers we ensure that they are under a contractual obligation to only use your information in accordance with our instructions and for no other purposes.
The data that we collect from you may be transferred to, stored at and processed at, a destination outside the European Economic Area (“EEA”). It may also be processed by staff, operating outside the EEA who work for us. In those circumstances, we will make sure that adequate levels of privacy protection, in line with UK data protection law, are in place. These safeguards will usually be contractual and/or the result of a European Union decision which allows the transfer (such as a US organization that is certified under the EU-US Privacy Shield Framework).
8. How long we keep your information
We will hold your information for only as long as is necessary from the end of your relationship with us. In the event of provision of healthcare or advice, this is for a minimum of 25 years. In some circumstances, this will be shorter. For example, information related to unsuccessful job applications who we interview are destroyed after 6 months. If you would like to know how long we will hold any specific information, then please contact us and we can provide further details.
9. How we keep your information safe
We ensure that there are appropriate technical and organisational controls (including physical, electronic and managerial measures) in place to protect your personal details. For example our online forms are always encrypted and our network is protected and routinely monitored.
10. Your rights
Under certain circumstances, by law you have the right to:
Request access to your personal information (commonly known as a “data subject access request”). If you want to access your information, send a description of the information you want to see and proof of your identity by post to Cocoon Harrogate Limited.
We do not accept these requests by email so we can ensure that we only provide personal data to the right person. We will endeavour to respond fully to all requests within one month of receipt of your request, however if we are unable to do so we will contact you with reasons for the delay.
Ask us to correct personal information that we hold about you which is incorrect, incomplete or inaccurate.
Ask us to erase your personal information from our files and systems where there is no good reason for us continuing to hold it.
Object to us using your personal information to further our legitimate interests (or those of a third party) or where we are using your personal information for direct marketing purposes.
Ask us to restrict or suspend the use of your personal information, for example, if you want us to establish its accuracy or our reasons for using it.
Ask us to transfer your personal information to another person or organisation.
If you have given your consent to us processing your personal information, you have the right to withdraw your consent at any time. To withdraw your consent, please contact us. Once we have received notification that you have withdrawn your consent, we will no longer process your personal information and will dispose of your data securely.
You also have the right to make a complaint at any time to the information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the UK supervisory authority for data protection issues.
11. Audit and updates to this Policy
We are committed to regular reviews of privacy practice at Cocoon, and may update this Policy to reflect changes in how we use your information. You may wish to check this Policy each time you provide us with your information. Where appropriate, we will provide you with notice of any significant changes to how we use your information. This Policy was first written in April 2023, and will be reviewed annually.
Our Cookies Policy
This Policy explains:
What is a cookie?
Types of cookies
Categories of cookies we use
What information do we collect using cookies?
Cookies set by third parties
How do I manage my cookie settings?
Updates to this Policy
If you have any questions about our Cookies Policy, please email hello@cocoon-hgt.com or write to Cocoon Harrogate LTD.
1. What are cookies?
Cookies are small text files that are automatically placed onto your device via the browser (e.g. Microsoft Internet Explorer, Apple Safari, Google Chrome or Firefox) that you use to access a website that you visit. They are widely used to improve the performance of websites, for saving different options and to provide website owners with information on how their website is being used.
There are broadly four reasons why a cookie might be stored on your device when visiting Cocoon Harrogate’s website:
Cookies that make the website work properly for you and enable you to make use of the secure online services that we provide
Cookies that collect data about your use of the website which are then anonymised and used to help us improve our online services
Cookies that remember your preferences and make the website easier for you to use
Cookies that are placed by third party services we make use of to enhance the information we present online. We have no control over these third party cookies.
2. Types of cookies
There are two broad types of cookies – ‘first party cookies’ and ‘third party cookies’:
First party cookies are cookies that are served directly by the website operator to your computer, and are often used to recognise your computer when it revisits that site and to remember your preferences as you browse the site. Basically, these are our cookies.
Third party cookies are served by a service provider on behalf of the website operator, and can be used by the service provider to recognise your computer when you visit other web sites. Third party cookies are most commonly used for web site analytics or advertising purposes.
In addition, cookies may be either ‘session cookies’ or ‘persistent cookies’. Your computer automatically removes session cookies once you close your browser. Persistent cookies will survive on your computer until an expiry date specified in the cookie itself, is reached.
3. Categories of cookies we use
Strictly Necessary Cookies – These cookies are essential for you to be able to use and move around website or for you to use certain features: e.g. adding items to a shopping basket or remembering items in a shopping basket if you revisit the website.
Performance Cookies – These cookies collect information about how you as the viewer makes use of the website: e.g. which pages you visit most. These cookies do not collect information that personally identify you as a viewer.
Functionality Cookies – These cookies remember choices made by you or aspects of your interaction with our website to enhance your experience during your visit to our website. These cookies are also used to remember a user’s preferences for a font size, or customisable parts of a web page: e.g. language, appeals visited or user’s location.
Targeting cookies i.e. Third Party Cookies and Cookies used for Advertising – These cookies collect information if you decide to share a page from the website or if you use social media sites: e.g. Facebook, etc., These may track how you interact with our website which then shows you relevant content elsewhere on the internet. These may also be used to choose the advertisements that are displayed to you on our website and other websites.
4. What information do we may collect using cookies?
We may collect some, or all, of the information available from cookies when you visit our website, depending on how you use it. We monitor how people use our website so we can improve it. We collect this information anonymously.
However, you can choose to use our website anonymously without giving us any information. Please see ‘Changing your cookie preferences’ below.
If you visit our website, we may use cookies to record information about:
the areas of the website you visit;
the amount of time you spend on the site;
whether you are new to the site, or have visited it before;
the country, region, city and/or borough associated with your IP address or device;
how you came to our website – for example, through an email link or a search engine;
the type of device and browser you use;
how you use the website and the quality of your experience – for example we may track your bandwidth when viewing videos;
how you interact with our donation and sign up forms – for example what you select as your communication preferences; and
any error messages that you receive on the site
We use cookies to track how visitors come to our site. For example, we use marketing or referring tracking codes in internet addresses (URLs) to show us whether a visitor has come to our site via a link on a referring website or in a specific piece of marketing and to give us insight into the effectiveness of our marketing. Some of this information may be used by third party cookies to target you with relevant advertising (see below).
Although not through cookies, we do measure the success of the emails we send – so we know what subject lines and stories people liked the most. We receive this information anonymously; we don’t share this information.
5. Cookies set by third parties
If you go on to a page on our website that contains embedded content, for example YouTube, you may be sent cookies from these websites.
Our website also contains embedded “share” buttons to enable users of the site to easily share articles with their friends through a number of popular networks, for example, Facebook and Twitter. These sites may set a cookie when you are also logged in to their service.
We do not control the setting of these cookies, so we suggest you check the third party website for more information about their cookies and how to manage them.
6. How do I manage my cookie settings?
The “Help” menu in the toolbar of most web browsers will tell you how to change your browser’s cookie settings, including how to have the browser notify you when you receive a new cookie, and how to disable cookies altogether. Below is some helpful guidance about how to make these changes.
Please find below links describing how to do this on some popular browsers.
You can find out more about cookies and how to delete and control them on www.aboutcookies.org or click help in your browser menu.
If you block our use of cookies, you may be unable to access certain areas of our website and certain functions and pages will not work in the usual way. For example, it may affect the use of our online shop.
7. Updates to this Policy
We may update this Policy to reflect changes in how we use cookies. You may wish to check this Policy occasionally when you visit our website. Where appropriate, we will provide you with notice of any significant changes to how we use cookies on our website. This Policy was written in April 2023, and will be reviewed annually.
Version 1 - written by Kate Mortimer, April 2023. Ratified by Sam Naughton