We take your privacy seriously, and it’s important that you know how we handle your personal information in line with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). This notice explains who we are, why we collect, store, use, and share your data, your rights, and how to contact us if you have any concerns. You will receive more information when you are asked to participate in the research.    

The Peer Action Collective (PAC) is a project taking place across England and Wales. PAC is here to find out more about young people’s views on youth violence, and then use what we find to create social action projects. 

In this privacy notice, you can find information about: 

• The information we are collecting  
• Why are doing this – what we will use your information for 
• The rights you have while taking part in this research 
• How we keep your information secure 
• How to get in touch or complain. 

What kind of information will we collect?

We’ll collect personal information during interviews or other research activities. When you answer questions from a Peer Researcher, you’ll directly provide this information. You are in control of what you decide to share, or not share. 

We will also collect sensitive information known as Special Category Data. This could include details about your race, political opinions, religious beliefs, health, or sexual orientation. We’ll always make it clear when we’re collecting this information because you’ll have shared it with us. 

 Additionally, if you choose to tell us about anything related to a crime, this will count as collecting Criminal Offence Data. Again, it will be clear when we’re collecting this information because we’ll ask you for it or you’ll voluntarily share it with a Peer Researcher. 

This data will be anonymised as soon as possible after it is collected, a maximum of three months. We will remove your name and any other information that could identify you, so that the data we keep is all anonymous. 

How we use your personal information 

We collect your personal information to learn more about youth violence and related topics. Our goal is to understand how systems of support can protect young people from, or expose them to, serious youth violence. When you and other research participants provide data, we analyse it and write reports. These reports can be used by our organization, our partners, and other groups working with young people affected by violence. The reports might be written documents or something more creative, like a video. 

Who we share your personal information with 

The Peer Action Collective is a group of organisations that are working together to find out more about youth violence and ways to reduce it. Some of these organisations will have access to your data, as well as the organisation you are doing the research with. These organisations are The Young Foundation and The Youth Endowment Fund. These organisations are the Joint Controllers of the data which means they are each responsible for keeping it safe. All organisations are required to keep your information confidential and will only use the information you give to carry out analysis and write reports. Reports by these partners will never include your personal data and will always be anonymised which means it will not identify you. For example, if we use a quote, we will take out personal references such as your name or any other names mentioned. 

How long your personal data will be kept

We will keep your data until March 2028, when the programme ends. The Youth Endowment Fund will keep your data for up to 4 years after this date, but this will be anonymous. This is because they would like to do more analysis, which will take longer than the length of this programme. As mentioned above, they will not share your information and any reports they write will use anonymised data.   

Reasons we can collect and use your personal information 

We rely on something called Legitimate Interests to use your personal information, where these interests do not cause you undue harm. This is our lawful basis for “processing” (using) your personal information and it is something we need to be compliant with Data Protection Law. Our legitimate interests are:  

• To add to what we know about young people affected by violence.  
• To make sure that social action projects are designed using the research findings from this programme.  

We can use these legitimate interests as a legal basis to use your personal information unless your own interests override ours. This could happen if your interests, fundamental rights or freedoms are in need of protection. It is our responsibility to make sure we protect your interests and fundamental rights and freedoms when you participate in a Peer Action Collective research activity.   

 When we use your Special Category Data or Criminal Offence Data, we need to have an additional legal basis. For this study, our additional legal basis is that it is necessary for us to use your personal information for scientific or historical research purposes. In summary this means we are relying on the fact that this is a research study.  

Your rights 

Remember, you have rights regarding your personal data. If you have questions or concerns, feel free to reach out to us. Under Data Protection Law, you have rights that you can action free of charge. These rights are:  

• Right to be informed: this privacy notice gives you information about the way we use your data, and you will be given additional information when you are asked to participate in the research.  
• Right of access: you have the right to ask us for copies of your personal information. We will look at each request on a case-by-case basis. Some exemptions may apply which means this request might not be granted.  
• Right to rectification:  you have the right to ask us to change information that you do not think is accurate or complete. We will grant these requests where it is possible to do so.  
• Right to erasure: you have the right to ask for your data to be erased. This right will always be granted if the request was made within 1 month of your participation in the research. After this two-week period, we will review requests on a case-by-case basis. Some exemptions may apply which means this request might not be granted.  
• Right to restrict processing: we will look at requests to restrict processing on a case-by—case basis. Some exemptions may apply which means this request might not be granted.  
• Right to object: you have the right to object throughout this programme, including the right to object to take part in this research. You can say no to being interviewed, for example. Other objections will be considered on a case-by-case basis if they are more complicated. 

For further information on each of those rights, including the circumstances in which they apply, see the Guidance from the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) on individuals’ rights under Data Protection Law. If you would like to exercise any of those rights, please:  

• email, call or write to us at youthvoice@outhendowmentfund.org.uk 
• let us have enough information to identify you (e.g. your name and email address),  

• let us know the information to which your request relates, for example the research that you were involved in and the name of the person you were in contact with.  

Keeping your personal information secure

We have put security measures in place to prevent personal information from being accidentally lost or used or accessed in an unauthorised way. We limit access to your personal information to those who have a genuine need to know it. Those using your information will do so only if they have permission and are required to keep your information confidential.  

We may transfer your personal information outside the UK when we use services like Google Forms, which are based in America. We always make sure we have contracts in place with these services, which ensure that your personal information continues to be protected once it leaves the UK.    

We also have procedures in place to deal with any suspected data security breach. We will notify you and any applicable regulator (such as the Information Commissioner’s Office mentioned above) of a suspected data security breach where we are legally required to do so.  

How to complain 

We hope that we can resolve any query or concern you raise about our use of your information, and you can get in touch with us about anything we have described in this notice.

Data Protection Law gives you right to lodge a complaint with the ICO (or with your local supervisory authority if you normally live in the European Economic Area). The ICO may be contacted at ico.org.uk/concerns or telephone: 0303 123 1113.  

How to contact us 

Please contact us if you have any questions about this privacy notice or the information that we hold about you.  

If you wish to contact us, please send an email to youthvoice@youthenowmentfund.org.uk