In brief
Reading this website
The pages have no forms, accounts or tracking tools. Only the basic technical details needed to deliver a page are involved.
Telephoning us
You choose what to tell us. We use it to respond to you and, if you go ahead, to arrange mediation.
Control over your details
The law lets you see, correct or remove what we hold, and complain to us or to the regulator.
Sections of this policy
Whose information this concerns
This policy explains how Family Mediator (“we”, “us”) handles personal information when you use this website or telephone us. We are responsible for deciding how that information is used. To ask about anything in this policy, call 0330 010 0028.
If you take part in mediation, you should be given further information about how your information is handled during that process, including how confidentiality works and what its limits are.
What the website itself collects
These are plain information pages. There are no forms, accounts, online bookings or payments. At the date of this policy, the website’s own code does not set cookies, does not use analytics, advertising or tracking tools, and does not load content from other websites. For that reason we do not use this website to build a profile of you, and no cookie banner is shown.
Like any website, the server that delivers these pages receives the technical details needed to send them to your browser, such as your internet address, browser type, the page requested and the time. A hosting provider may record these in logs for security and to keep the website running. If the way the website works changes, we will update this policy and ask for your consent where the law requires it.
What you tell us by telephone
When you call, you decide what to tell us. Depending on your situation, that may include:
- your name and telephone number, which may also be visible to our telephone system;
- the names and ages of any children, and the name of the other person involved;
- the matters you want to discuss, such as child arrangements, money or property;
- any concerns about safety or wellbeing, and any access needs you mention.
You can ask general questions without going into detail. You do not need to give the whole history, and it helps us if you share only what is needed at that stage. If you would like to know whether a record of your call is kept, and for how long, please ask.
Information from other people
Sometimes we receive information about you from someone else, such as the other person in a family matter, or a solicitor or other professional who has suggested mediation. We use it only for the purposes in this policy. If you are approached about mediation because someone has contacted us, we will explain how we came to have your details.
If you would rather not share something
You can always decline to give information. We may then be unable to answer a question fully, assess whether mediation is suitable or arrange an appointment.
Why we use information, and our lawful basis
We need a legal reason for each way we use personal details. The table below shows the main purposes and the basis we rely on for each.
| Purpose | Information | Lawful basis |
|---|---|---|
| Delivering the pages and keeping the website secure | Technical details | Legitimate interests |
| Responding to your enquiry and explaining next steps | Contact details and what you tell us | Legitimate interests, or steps you ask for before a contract |
| Arranging and providing mediation if you go ahead | Details needed for assessment and sessions | Performance of a contract |
| Meeting legal and safeguarding duties | Information relevant to the duty | Legal obligation, or vital interests where someone is at risk |
| Handling a concern, complaint or legal claim | Related records and correspondence | Legitimate interests |
Sensitive information
Family conversations can involve details about health, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation or allegations of a criminal nature. This kind of information has extra legal protection. Please share it only where it is relevant.
We use it only where the law allows, for example with your explicit consent, where it is needed to establish or defend a legal claim, or to protect someone at risk of harm. Where we rely on your consent, you can withdraw it at any time, although this will not affect anything already done on that basis.
Children and other people
You may tell us about your children, a former partner or other relatives. Please give only what is needed. Those people have rights over their information too, and for that reason we may not be able to tell you what another person has told us.
This website is written for adults and is not aimed at children.
Who may see your information
We do not sell personal information. It may be seen by:
- the mediator and anyone at Family Mediator who needs it to deal with your enquiry;
- suppliers who provide services such as telephone, hosting or IT, acting on our instructions;
- professional advisers and insurers, where that is necessary;
- courts, police, social services or other authorities, where the law requires it or to protect someone from serious harm.
If any supplier handles information outside the United Kingdom, we expect the safeguards required by UK data protection law to be in place. You can ask us about this.
Keeping it secure
We take reasonable steps to protect personal information from loss, misuse and unauthorised access, but no method of communication or storage can be completely secure. Please do not send us documents until you have been told what is needed and how to provide it securely.
Records on your own devices
Your browser may keep a history of the pages you visit, and your telephone provider, a shared bill or a call log may show that you called this number. We have no control over these records. If you share a device or an account with someone else, you may wish to use a private browsing window or a different telephone.
Automated decisions
We do not use this website to make automated decisions about you or to build a profile of you.
Keeping information only while it is needed
Personal details stay with us only while they serve the purpose they were collected for, plus any further period required by law, by insurers or by professional rules, or needed to deal with a complaint or claim. The period depends on the circumstances, including whether an enquiry led to mediation, so we do not state one fixed period here. You can ask us what applies to you.
The choices the law gives you
Subject to certain exceptions and conditions in the law, you have the right to:
- ask for a copy of the personal information we hold about you;
- have mistakes or gaps in your information put right;
- have your information erased;
- ask us to restrict how we use it, or object to our using it;
- ask for information you provided to be transferred to you or to another organisation;
- withdraw consent, where we rely on it.
To use any of these rights, call 0330 010 0028. We may need to confirm your identity first. Data protection law generally gives an organisation one month to respond, and there is normally no charge. Some rights do not apply in every case, for example where information also concerns another person, and if so we will explain why.
If you are not happy with how we handled it
Tell us first if something has gone wrong with your information, because we may be able to fix it quickly. You also have a legal right to take a complaint directly to the UK’s data protection regulator, whether or not you have raised it with us first.
Revisions to this policy
This policy will change when the website or our practices do. Check the date near the top of this page for the latest revision.