Privacy Statement
This website (
www.muir.org.co.uk) is maintained by Muir Group Housing Association Ltd. By using the site you accept the following terms and conditions.
We take care compiling information for this website, however the content is not guaranteed. We disclaim liability for injury, loss or damage arising from inaccuracies, omissions or interpretation of its content.
If you believe any content to be inaccurate, or to inform us of any broken links, please contact us by emailing your comments to:
info@muir.org.uk
We are continually improving our methods of communication and adding new functionality and features to this site, which may require changes to data practice. Therefore, we may change these terms at any time, without notice, so you should revisit these pages regularly.
This website links to other websites managed by Muir Group. When you navigate to these websites it may be very clear you have gone to a different website or it may be seamless (i.e. you are not aware that you have been anywhere else). These websites include (but are not exclusive to):
- Homes for sale
- Repairs online
- Payments online
- Careers
Some of these websites may have slightly different accessibility standards and may be maintained in a different way to the rest of the website. However, each of these sites is subject to this disclaimer about the quality of the content available on them.
Copyright (+/-)
Unless otherwise stated, the design and layout of this website, and all the material published including text, graphics, logos, sounds, images and attached documents are copyright of Muir Group. Some logos from other organisations are used on our website. Where this happens we use the logo according to the guidelines laid down by the organisation that has copyright of the logo.
Links to other websites (+/-)
This website links to external websites (i.e. ones not managed by Muir Group). We have no control over their reliability or the content included on them. Inclusion of an external link is not an endorsement. We urge you to review any privacy statement posted on any site you visit before using the site or providing any personal data about yourself.
Transfer of data abroad (+/-)
The internet is made up of a large number of international connections. If you are visiting this site from another country outside the UK, the various communications will necessarily result in the transfer of information across international borders. By visiting this site and communicating with us electronically, you consent to these transfers.
Personal information you supply to us using this website
Emails (+/-)
When you send us personal information via an email address listed on this website we will only use the information supplied in the email for the purpose that you gave it to us for. This usually means that we only forward your information within the Association and we will not sell them on to a commercial third party.
Each department that deals with enquiries from the website will also be subject to the Association’s data protection policy. Where we do need to contact a third party, there will be a contract ensuring that your personal information is protected. No personal information will be passed on to third parties for commercial purposes.
Please note that this website may list some email addresses for external organisations. If you send personal information using one of these emails, we can't guarantee what will happen to your personal information.
Eforms (electronic forms) (+/-)
When you give us personal information using an electronic form (an eform) available on this website the information you supply will only be used for the purposes stated on the form.
When we ask you for personal information, we will:
- ensure you know why we need it
- protect it and make sure nobody has access to it who shouldn't
- ensure you know if you have a choice about giving us information
- make sure we don't keep it longer than necessary
We ask that you:
- give us accurate information
- tell us as soon as possible of any changes
- tell us as soon as possible if you notice mistakes in the information we hold about you.
This website includes the facility to make some payments online.
Our secure online payments service employs Secure Socket Layer (SSL) technology. This is software that encrypts all your personal information so that it travels across the internet in an unrecognisable form.
To ensure that SSL is functioning look for 'https' in the address bar - s for 'security' - and/or the closed padlock icon at the bottom right of the browser status bar.
Management information (+/-)
Information that you provide to the Association via this website may be used for statistical analysis but it will not be used in a way that enables you to be identified. For example, we may keep emails sent to for a period of time so we are able to monitor the number of emails we receive. None of the personal information in these emails will be used once the initial enquiry has been dealt with.
Cookies (+/-)
Cookies are small pieces of text that contain a unique number sent by a web server when you visit a web page and stored in the cookie directory on your computer.
This website may use cookies to gather information about site usage, such as number of visitors and repeat visits. We analyse site usage statistics to help us improve the website.
Cookies on this site may safely be turned off by users without affecting how pages are displayed.
Website feedback (+/-)
If you have any feedback about these terms and conditions or about the website in general, contact
info@muir.org.uk
The Data Protection Act 1998 is designed to protect your personal data and sets rules for processing this information.
What information do you hold on me and why? (+/-)
We need to collect and hold personal information about you e.g. name, age, salary details, race or ethnic origin, etc, in order to operate as a provider of housing.
We use your personal information for the following purposes:
- Housing management
- Repair and maintenance of your home
- Collection of rent, service charges and housing benefit
- To meet your care and support requirements
- Prevention and detection of crime
- Research e.g. surveys to help us improve our services to you
- Equality & Diversity monitoring
- Performance monitoring
- To comply with our legal and regulatory obligations.
We will process your personal information fairly and lawfully and will use it only for the purposes we have specified to the Information Commissioner, who is responsible for overseeing the Data Protection Act.
In addition, we will ensure your personal information is:
- Up-to-date, accurate, relevant and not excessive
- Not kept longer than is necessary
- Kept secure.
You can view a list of the types of information held by the Association, known as the ‘register of notifications’, which is held by the Information Commissioner. You can search this by visiting their website:
http://www.ico.gov.uk/ESDWebPages/DoSearch.asp
The Association’s Registration number is: PZ4829506 or you can enter Muir Group Housing Association in the ‘name’ box.
Normally, only Muir Group staff will get to see your personal information and we will only disclose personal data to third parties where we have your express consent. However there may be times when we disclose your details to others without your express consent for the purposes listed above. These may include:
- Contractors e.g. to carry out repairs to your house
- Agents
- Local Authorities and Government Departments
- The Police
- Our regulator, the Tenant Services Authority.
Along with the Data Protection Act it is our policy to ensure:
- information is only given to our staff and others on a need to know basis
- agencies with whom we share information observe our confidentiality policy
- all records are kept secure – electronic records are stored and protected by industry standard security technology, such as network address translation and password protection.
- Interviews will be carried out in private
- If you telephone our offices to enquire about your rent account or personal matters related to your tenancy, you may be asked security questions to confirm your identity.
You have a right under the Data Protection Act 1998 to request to see the information we hold about you. Muir Group charges a £10 fee to respond to your request and this must be paid together with enough information to permit us to identify your personal data before the information can be provided.
To request to see the information we may hold about you, please call Customer Services or write to: The Data Controller: Muir Group Housing Association Ltd, Old Government House, Dee Hills Park, Chester, CH3 5AR, or
download a Subject Access Request Form.
We will respond to your request within 40 calendar days from the day we receive your request in writing.
In most cases we will be able to comply with your request. However, we may not be able to if your personal information contains details about another person. You may be invited to view the data at one of our offices if we are unable to send it.
We will correct, amend or delete any personal data that is inaccurate and notify any third party recipients of the necessary changes.
By disclosing your personal information to us manually or in electronic form and/or via this website or over the telephone, you consent to the collection, storage and processing of your personal information for the purposes as described above.
It’s your choice (+/-)
We will not pass on your details to third parties for marketing purposes. However, we may wish to contact you from time to time to tell you about our services or for research purposes. If you do not wish to receive such information from us and want to be removed from our standard mailing list, please email
info@muir.org.uk or contact Customer Services.
Muir Group tries to meet the highest standards when collecting and using personal information. For this reason we take any complaints we receive about this very seriously. We encourage people to bring it to our attention if they think that our collection and use of information is unfair, misleading or inaccurate through our standard complaints procedure. We would also welcome any suggestions for improving our procedures.
This privacy statement does not provide exhaustive details of all aspects of the way we collect and use personal information. However, we are happy to provide any additional information or explanation needed. Please contact Customer Services.
For more information about Data Protection log onto the Information Commissioner’s website
www.ico.gov.uk
