Support Service Privacy Policy

Terms and privacy policy for our Helpline, webchat and email support services.

The British Stammering Association, trading as STAMMA, provides an information and support service for members of the public and STAMMA members. 

In this document 'BSA', 'STAMMA', 'we', 'us' or 'our' means: British Stammering Association trading as STAMMA (registered charity in England & Wales, 1089967 and Scotland, SC038866).

Terms of service

What are the STAMMA Support Services?

Our telephone helpline (the 'Helpline'), our webchat service ('Webchat') and our email help@stamma.org form STAMMA's support services. Members of the public and STAMMA members can contact us using any of these services to ask questions, express concerns, request information or support, discuss options, practise communication scenarios and chat about issues related to stammering.

The support services are staffed by trained volunteers and STAMMA staff members. We endeavour to provide information and signposting to available resources, as well as emotional support to those who stammer and those close to them such as family, friends, educators, employers and colleagues.

Who can access the STAMMA Support Services?

The Helpline and Webchat are only open to those in the UK, but we do respond to emails from people outside of the UK.

Opening hours and response times

The Helpline and Webchat are open Monday to Thursday, 10am-2pm and 4pm-8pm. Our aim is to respond to emails within a week or less, although this is subject to volunteer availability and the volume of emails received. 

The Helpline and Webchat may occasionally be closed during holiday periods, such as Christmas. 

Questions, feedback and complaints

If you have any questions or concerns related to STAMMA's Support Services, you can contact us on the Helpline, Webchat or at help@stamma.org  

If you wish to make a formal complaint or give formal feedback about any of the support services, please complete the form on our Feedback & Complaints page or write to us at: STAMMA, Box 140, 43 Bedford Street, London, WC2E 9HA. We will acknowledge complaints within three working days of receipt. 

The CEO will investigate any complaint confidentially, working with the relevant member of staff, and respond within 28 days. The Chair will also receive a copy of your complaint. In instances where it is not appropriate for the CEO to review your complaint, it will be reviewed by the Chair and Vice Chair. 

Privacy policy

The British Stammering Association, trading as STAMMA, is committed to safeguarding your privacy rights and ensuring that your personal data is protected. This Privacy Policy explains our use of your personal data when you use our telephone helpline (the 'Helpline'), our webchat service ('Webchat') and our email support service. It also explains your rights and options around how we use your personal data. 

Who we are

STAMMA is the controller of your personal data and our contact details are set out at the end of this Privacy Policy.

Please ensure that you provide a copy of this Privacy Policy to any third parties whose personal data you provide to us.

Information we collect about you

Calls to our Helpline, Webchat and email services are confidential. 

The Helpline and Webchat services are designed so that we cannot see your phone number or IP address when you contact us. However, this information will be available to our vendor, Call Handling, who hosts the Helpline and Webchat. In addition, your phone number is visible to us if you leave us answerphone messages. Our volunteers may also take notes during the call or chat to assist the conversation but will destroy the notes once it has ended. 

Transcripts of Webchat conversations may be monitored for training and support purposes. Webchat transcripts are also stored securely with Call Handling, so that new and previous chats can be linked if the caller requests this.

Where provided by you or collected during the course of a conversation, we record certain statistical information on each Helpline and Webchat call and email correspondence in order to report on and improve our service. This includes demographical information such as your age, gender and UK region or county, as well as information regarding the nature of your query or reason for contacting us.

How information is used

We use the personal information you provide to us via the Helpline, Webchat and email support service as described below. As a charity offering a Helpline, STAMMA has a legitimate interest to provide a confidential service where you can ask, talk about and explore any issues of concern about stammering. Your personal information is processed (managed and cared for) in line with the lawful basis of legitimate interest. Where sensitive data is processed (eg information around a person stammering), this is necessary to protect the vital interests of you or a third party or, for reasons of substantial public interest, in each case in accordance with the UK Data Protection Act 2018.

Further information about how we look after your personal information is provided below.

Purpose 1: To administer the support service, eg to deal with questions you may have appropriately and effectively

Helpline
Helpline conversations are usually a private conversation between you and the helpline team member. With the exception of when you leave an answerphone message with the helpline service, we cannot see the phone number you have used to call us. Helpline conversations are occasionally monitored by our Helpline Support Manager as part of our safeguarding practices and to identify potential training needs.

Webchat
Webchats are usually a private conversation between you and an individual Webchat team member. We cannot see the IP address you are using when you contact us. Webchat conversations are occasionally monitored by our Helpline Support Manager as part of our safeguarding practices and to identify potential training needs.

Email support
Emails to help@stamma.org are managed by a small number of staff and trained volunteers, all of whom potentially have access to see these emails. Email conversations are occasionally monitored by our Helpline Support Manager as part of our safeguarding practices and to identify potential training needs.

Purpose 2: To facilitate ongoing conversations where appropriate

Helpline
N/A

Webchat
Transcripts of Webchats are stored securely with our vendor, Call Handling, so that new and previous chats can be linked if you request this when contacting us by Webchat on subsequent occasions. Transcripts are held for 3 years.

Email service
Email conversations are stored for varying periods of time to facilitate ongoing or repeat conversations where appropriate. General helpline email correspondence will be deleted 6 months after the contact has ended. Email correspondence related to more complex enquiries or follow-up will be deleted 12 months after the last contact.

Purpose 3: To access further support

Helpline
Helpline team members may contact the Helpline Support Manager to request further support for a particular caller where appropriate. In such cases, the Helpline team member will phone or email the Helpline Support Manager to pass on the caller's contact details and a description of the caller's concerns or questions. 

Webchat
Webchat team members may contact the Helpline Support Manager to request further support for a particular caller where appropriate. In such cases, the Helpline team member will phone or email the Helpline Support Manager to pass on the caller's contact details and a description of the caller's concerns or questions. 

Email service
Email team members may contact the Helpline Support Manager to request further support for a particular caller where appropriate, or to request support in responding appropriately. In such cases, the Helpline team member will phone or email the Helpline Support Manager to pass on the caller's contact details and a description of the caller's concerns or questions. 

Purpose 4: For training purposes in order for our staff to be able to respond to your calls appropriately and effectively

Helpline
Helpline conversations are occasionally monitored by our Helpline Support Manager as part of our safeguarding practices and to identify potential training needs. Helpline team members may also request supervision or debriefing following complex calls, or discuss calls in our monthly Helpline team meetings, so that the team can benefit and learn from the experience. In these cases, identifying characteristics of the caller, such as name, etc., are not revealed.

Webchat
Webchat transcripts are occasionally monitored by our Helpline Support Manager as part of our safeguarding practices and to identify potential training needs. Webchat team members may also request supervision or debriefing following complex webchats. Specific webchats may be discussed in our monthly Helpline team meetings, so that the team can benefit and learn from the experience. In these cases, identifying characteristics of the caller will be removed from the transcript.

Email service
Email conversations are occasionally monitored by our Helpline Support Manager as part of our safeguarding practices and to identify potential training needs.

Purpose 5: To improve our service and resources

Helpline
Non-identifying data is collected following helpline calls. This includes demographic information such as your age, gender and UK region or county, as well as information regarding the nature of your query or reason for contacting us. We use this information to find out whether there are groups of people who we are not 'reaching' with our support services or groups who may benefit from the development of new resources or improved signposting by us.

Webchat
Non-identifying data is collected following Webchats. This includes demographic information such as your age, gender and UK region or county, as well as information regarding the nature of your query or reason for contacting us. We use this information to find out whether there are groups of people who we are not 'reaching' with our support services or groups who may benefit from the development of new resources or improved signposting by us.

Email service
Non-identifying data is collected following email correspondence. This includes demographic information such as your age, gender and UK region or county, as well as information regarding the nature of your query or reason for contacting us. We use this information to find out whether there are groups of people who we are not 'reaching' through our support services or groups who may benefit from the development of new resources or improved signposting by us.

Purpose 6: Safeguarding

Helpline
Helpline conversations are occasionally monitored by our Helpline Support Manager as part of our safeguarding practices. In exceptional circumstances, such as where a caller raises concerns regarding suicidal thoughts, self-harm, child protection issues or acts of terrorism, where appropriate we will pass on details to the relevant authorities.

Webchat
Webchat conversations are occasionally monitored by our Helpline Support Manager as part of our safeguarding practices. In exceptional circumstances, such as where a chatter raises concerns regarding suicidal thoughts, self-harm, child protection issues or acts of terrorism, where appropriate we will pass on details to the relevant authorities.

Email service
Email conversations are occasionally monitored by our Helpline Support Manager as part of our safeguarding practices. In exceptional circumstances, such as where email correspondents raises concerns regarding suicidal thoughts, self-harm, child protection issues or acts of terrorism, where appropriate we will pass on details to the relevant authorities.

Purpose 7: To meet our legal and regulatory obligations, and to establish, defend and enforce claims

Helpline
N/A

Webchat
Transcripts of webchats are stored securely with our vendor, Call Handling. We can access these transcripts to facilitate investigation of complaints related to Webchat.

Email service
General Helpline email correspondence will be deleted 6 months after the contact. Email correspondence related to more complex enquiries or follow-up will be deleted 12 months after the last contact. Within these time periods, we can review relevant email correspondence to facilitate investigation of complaints related to email support.

Purpose 8: To investigate and resolve complaints and manage regulatory matters, investigations and litigation

Helpline
N/A

Webchat
Transcripts of Webchats are stored securely with our vendor, Call Handling. We can access these transcripts to facilitate investigation of complaints related to Webchat.

Email service
General helpline email correspondence will be deleted 6 months after the contact. Email correspondence related to more complex enquiries or follow-up will be deleted 12 months after the last contact. Within these time periods, we can review relevant email correspondence to facilitate investigation of complaints related to email support.

Purpose 9: To share data with police, law enforcement, tax authorities or other government agencies for the prevention and detection of crime

Helpline
To comply with our legal or regulatory obligations, STAMMA has a legitimate interest to manage our charity including for legal, personnel, administrative and management purposes and for the prevention and detection of crime provided our interests are not overridden by your interests. Where sensitive data are processed (eg information around a person stammering), this is necessary to protect the vital interests of you or a third party or, for reasons of substantial public interest, in each case in accordance with the UK Data Protection Act 2018.

Webchat
To comply with our legal or regulatory obligations, STAMMA has a legitimate interest to manage our charity including for legal, personnel, administrative and management purposes and for the prevention and detection of crime provided our interests are not overridden by your interests. Where sensitive data are processed (eg information around a person stammering), this is necessary to protect the vital interests of you or a third party or, for reasons of substantial public interest, in each case in accordance with the UK Data Protection Act 2018.

Email service
To comply with our legal or regulatory obligations, STAMMA has a legitimate interest to manage our charity including for legal, personnel, administrative and management purposes and for the prevention and detection of crime provided our interests are not overridden by your interests. Where sensitive data are processed (eg information around a person stammering), this is necessary to protect the vital interests of you or a third party or, for reasons of substantial public interest, in each case in accordance with the UK Data Protection Act 2018.

Your Right to Object

Please note that you have a right to object to the processing of your personal data where that processing is carried out for our legitimate interest.

Information we disclose and international transfers

We may share your personal data with selected third parties in order to achieve the purposes described in 'How information is used', above. This may include sharing your information with trusted partners and suppliers, eg our IT service providers who assist with the management of the Helpline. 

We also reserve the right to disclose your personal data to third parties:

• if we are under any legal or regulatory duty to do so; 
• in exceptional circumstances, eg reporting serious self-harm or where you pose a threat to yourself or others; and/or
• to protect the rights, property or safety of STAMMA, its personnel, users, visitors or others.

For information on international transfers of personal data outside of the UK, please see our Privacy Policy.

Your rights

You have certain rights in relation to your personal data. For more information please see our Privacy Policy.

Changes to the policy

We may change this Privacy Policy from time to time by posting a new version of the policy on our website. We will notify you of any material changes via email or through a notification on our website. Any changes to the Privacy Policy will become effective immediately after being posted. We encourage you to periodically review the Privacy Policy to stay informed of changes and on how we are protecting your personal data. 

Contact us

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, please contact our Database Administrator at data@stamma.org