Privacy Policy

1. Introduction

Heart of Gold Homecare Ltd ("we", "us", "our") is committed to protecting and respecting your privacy. This policy explains how we collect, use, store and protect your personal information when you visit our website or interact with our services.

We are registered with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) as a data controller. If you have any questions about this policy or our data practices, please contact us at info@heartofgoldhomecare.co.uk.

2. Who We Are

Our official corporate identity parameters and operational baseline are structured as follows:

3. Information We Collect

We may collect and process the following information about you:

• Name, address, email address and phone number.
• Information about who the care is for and the type of support being requested.
• Care needs, medical history and preferences (where shared as part of an enquiry or assessment).
• Funding arrangements and financial information (where relevant to direct payments or assessments).
• Communication you send us by phone, email, post or web form.
• Information collected automatically when you visit our website (see Cookies section).

4. How We Use Your Information

We use your personal information to fulfill our service delivery model:

• Respond to enquiries and arrange home assessments.
• Plan, deliver and manage care services safely.
• Match clients with appropriate, complementary carers.
• Communicate with you clearly about your care or our services.
• Comply with our legal and regulatory obligations (including Care Quality Commission requirements).
• Improve our services, digital performance, and website framework.
• Send occasional updates if you have subscribed to our newsletter (you can unsubscribe at any time).

5. Legal Basis for Processing

We process your personal information under the following lawful bases permitted by UK law:

• Consent — where you have given clear, explicit permission, such as subscribing to our newsletter.
• Contract — where processing is necessary to prepare or execute the care services contract you have requested.
• Legal obligation — where we must process information to comply with our statutory and regulatory duties.
• Legitimate interests — where processing is necessary for the running of our business and does not override your fundamental rights.
• Vital interests — where processing is absolutely necessary to protect someone's life or immediate safety.

6. How We Share Your Information

We will only share your information with third parties where necessary, specifically:

• Our dedicated care staff who actively deliver your care plan elements.
• Healthcare professionals (such as GPs, district nurses, and hospital teams) involved in your clinical circle.
• Local authorities, in instances where care is funded through council or social care arrangements.
• Regulators (such as the Care Quality Commission) where we are legally required to provide documentation.
• Trusted systems suppliers who help us manage our business safely (such as secure IT and email providers), operating under strict written agreements that protect your data.

We will never sell or rent your personal information to anyone.

7. How Long We Keep Your Information

We retain your information only for as long as necessary to provide our services, comply with legal and regulatory obligations, resolve disputes, and protect our legitimate business interests. Care records are typically retained in strict alignment with statutory NHS and CQC data retention guidelines.

8. Keeping Your Information Secure

We take the security of your information seriously. We have appropriate technical and organisational measures in place, including secure isolated systems, access controls, internal staff security training, and industry-standard encryption where appropriate.

Despite our best efforts, no digital system is completely secure — please contact us immediately if you ever suspect any form of unauthorised access to your information.

9. Your Rights

Under UK data protection law, you hold clear operational rights regarding your personal profile:

• Access the personal information we hold about you at any point.
• Ask us to correct any information that you believe is inaccurate or incomplete.
• Ask us to delete your information (subject to specific legal retention restrictions).
• Restrict or object to our processing profiles of your information.
• Receive your information in a structured, portable electronic format.
• Withdraw consent at any time, where consent serves as the lawful processing baseline.
• Lodge a formal complaint with the Information Commissioner's Office (ico.org.uk).

To exercise any of these individual rights, please email us directly at info@heartofgoldhomecare.co.uk.

10. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. The most recent version will always be available directly on this page, and we will update the "last updated" date track positioned at the very top of the text block.

11. Contact Us

If you have any remaining questions about this Privacy Policy or our handling of your information, please use our primary direct access vectors: