Privacy Policy

Last updated: September 2026

Who we are

Home Sweet Home Care (“we”, “us”, “our”) provides one-to-one home care, supported living and dementia care across Essex and the North West. For the purposes of UK data protection law we are the “data controller” for the personal information described in this policy.

• Registered name: Home Sweet Home Care Limited, company number 09305195
• Registered address: 2 Great Cullings, Rush Green, Romford, Essex, RM7 0YL
• ICO registration number: ZB299807
• Data protection contact: Vicky Newley, Registered Manager — vicky.newely@homesweethomecare.co.uk or 0208 593 8333

What this policy covers

This policy covers information collected through this website. If your enquiry leads to us providing you with care, the information you give us becomes part of your care plan. That plan is agreed with you (or your advocate) before care begins, and you can access your own care records and plan at any time through our care management system, OpenPass.

Information we collect through this website

If you complete our enquiry form we collect the information you provide, which is:

• Your first and last name
• Your email address and phone number
• Your nearest office and the service you are interested in
• Anything you choose to write in the message box
• Your confirmation, by ticking a box, that you consent to us using any health information you include in that message

The message box is free text, so it may include details about the health or care needs of you or a relative. Information about someone's health is “special category” data under UK GDPR and is given additional protection. Please only include what you are comfortable sharing at this stage — you do not need to give us detailed medical information to make an enquiry.

This website does not have user accounts, and we do not collect payment details through it.

Why we use it, and our lawful basis

• To respond to your enquiry and arrange a care assessment. Our lawful basis is legitimate interests — namely responding to someone who has contacted us asking about our services.
• Where your enquiry includes health information, our condition for processing it is your explicit consent (Article 9(2)(a) of the UK GDPR), given by ticking the consent box next to the message field before you can submit the form. You can withdraw this consent at any time — see "Your rights" below.
• Once you become a client, the care plan you (or your advocate) agree with us before care begins sets out how your health information is used and recorded on an ongoing basis.
• To keep records of enquiries for the period set out below.

We do not use your information for marketing unless you have asked us to, and we do not sell or rent it to anyone.

Who we share it with

• No third-party form service. The enquiry form is handled entirely on our own website hosting and emailed straight to us. Your enquiry is not passed to an external form provider, and it is not transferred outside the UK.
• Microsoft (Microsoft 365), who host the email account your enquiry is delivered to.
• 123 Reg, who host our website and whose servers handle the message in transit so that it reaches our inbox.
• Other parties where we are required to by law, for example safeguarding authorities or regulators such as the Care Quality Commission.

How long we keep it

If your enquiry does not proceed, we keep it for 12 months from the date we mark it as not proceeding, and then delete it. Where an enquiry leads to care being provided, the information becomes part of your care record, which we keep for 7 years.

Cookies and tracking

This website does not set any cookies, and we do not use analytics, advertising or tracking tools. Because nothing non-essential is stored on your device, you will not see a cookie consent banner.

The site does load its typeface from Google Fonts, which means your browser makes a request to Google's servers and Google will receive your IP address as part of that request. No cookie is set by this. [OPTIONAL: hosting the font files on our own server would remove this third-party request entirely — ask your developer if you would prefer that.]

If we add analytics or any other non-essential tracking in future, we will add a consent banner and update this policy first.

How we protect your information

• This website is served over an encrypted HTTPS connection.
• We have completed the NHS Digital Data Security and Protection Toolkit self-assessment and were recorded as having met its standards, valid to 30 June 2027.
• Access to enquiry emails is limited to staff who need it in order to respond.

Your rights

Under UK data protection law you have the right to:

• Ask for a copy of the personal information we hold about you
• Ask us to correct information that is wrong or incomplete
• Ask us to delete your information, in certain circumstances
• Ask us to restrict how we use it, or object to our using it
• Ask us to transfer it to another organisation, in certain circumstances
• Withdraw consent at any time, where we are relying on consent

To exercise any of these rights, contact us at newcare@hshcare.co.uk or call +44 (0)208 593 8333. We will respond within one month.

Complaints

If you are unhappy with how we have handled your information, please contact us first so we can try to put it right. You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office, the UK regulator for data protection, at ico.org.uk or on 0303 123 1113.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. The date at the top of the page shows when it was last changed.