Privacy Notice 

First Steps ED is committed to protecting your privacy and handling your information responsibly. 

When you contact us, complete a referral form, access our services, or use our website, we may collect personal information such as your name, address, contact details, date of birth, GP information, emergency contact details, equality monitoring information, and information relating to your mental health and/or eating difficulties. 

We use this information to provide support, manage referrals, communicate with you, meet safeguarding responsibilities, improve our services, and fulfil our obligations to NHS commissioners, funders, regulators, and other legal requirements. 

We may share information with healthcare professionals, NHS organisations, safeguarding agencies, commissioners, and trusted service providers where necessary to provide our services or meet our legal and contractual responsibilities. 

We never sell personal information. Where information is used for reporting, research, or service evaluation, it will be anonymised wherever possible. 

We keep information only for as long as necessary to provide our services and meet our legal, safeguarding, and regulatory obligations. 

Under data protection law, you have rights regarding your personal information, including the right to access the information we hold about you and request corrections to inaccurate information. 

 

Website Usage and Analytics 

When you visit our website, we may automatically collect certain technical information, including: 

  • IP address  
  • Browser type and version  
  • Device type  
  • Pages visited  
  • Referral source (the website you came from)  
  • Date and time of access  
  • General geographical location (based on IP)  

We use this information to understand how people use our website, improve performance, enhance user experience, and maintain security. 

We process this information based on legitimate interests, ensuring that our website is effective, accessible, and relevant to users.

 

Cookies 

Our website uses cookies to improve functionality, understand user behaviour, and support analytics and marketing.

Some cookies are essential for the website to function, while others are used only where you have provided consent.

For more information about the types of cookies we use and how to manage them, please see our Cookie Policy.

We process cookie data based on consent (where required) and/or legitimate interests for essential functionality.

 

Google Analytics 

We use Google Analytics, a third-party service, to collect aggregated information about how visitors use our website. 

This helps us understand: 

  • How users find our website  
  • Which pages are most visited  
  • How users navigate the site  
  • What devices and technologies are used  

This information is aggregated and does not directly identify individuals. 

For further information, please see the Google Analytics privacy policy. 

We use this information under legitimate interests to improve our services and website performance.

 

Marketing Communications and Email Tracking 

If you choose to subscribe to our newsletter or updates, we will use your contact details to send you information about First Steps ED services, campaigns, events, and other relevant updates. 

We use a trusted third-party provider (such as Mailchimp) to manage our email communications. Your email address may be stored and processed by this provider, but it will not be used for their own marketing purposes. 

You can unsubscribe at any time using the link in our emails or by contacting us directly. 

Some of our emails may include tracking technologies (often called “beacons”), which allow us to understand whether emails have been opened and how they are being used. This helps us improve the relevance and effectiveness of our communications. 

You can disable email tracking by adjusting your email settings to block external images or HTML content.

We process your data for marketing communications based on consent, and email engagement data on the basis of legitimate interests.

 

Contact Us 

If you have any questions about how we collect, use, store or share your information, please contact our Senior Data Services Officer, Rachel Dawes, at rachel.dawes@firststepsed.co.uk.

If you are unhappy with how we have handled your personal information, you have the right to make a complaint to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) at www.ico.org.uk.