If you are a family member whose loved one is in an abusive relationship would like support from FAMADA for yourself, please fill in the contact form below.

Please note we are unable to work with family members who are living in the same household as the alleged perpetrator. If this is your situation, please contact your local domestic abuse service or safeguarding team for support.

In addition, we cannot respond to requests for direct support from survivors in abusive relationships, please contact your local domestic abuse service for support.

Data Privacy Notice

Who are we? 

Family members affected by domestic abuse (FAMADA) is a service that provides information, emotional support and psychosocial education to family members whose loved ones are in abusive relationships.

How we use your information 

When you contact us, we may ask you to provide some personal information so that we can understand who you are, your reason for contacting us and how we can best support you.

When we enter into a service agreement with you, we will ask for personal information that is relevant to the services that we provide. We will use this information to:

• Provide services to you, or to contact you and respond to your queries.
• Keep in touch with you, let you know about changes, and to make sure the services we are offering are fit for purpose. 
• Safeguarding/emergency situations when we have a duty to use our safeguarding procedures to safeguard children or adults at risk of serious harm.

We will only use your personal information for the purposes for which we collect it. In limited circumstances we may use your information for a purpose other than those set out in this policy. If we intend to do so, we will provide you with information relating to that other purpose before using it. 

If you do not provide your personal information 

If you do not provide certain information when requested, we may not be able to enter into an agreement or contract to provide you with our services; or be unable to perform the agreement or contract we have entered into with you.

Types of personal information we collect 

We collect information about you which is relevant to the services that we provide. This includes: 

• your name and date of birth and contact details such as your address, telephone number and email 

• information about your family, other dependants, next of kin, GP and emergency contacts
• information about your circumstances
• information about the circumstances of your family
• information about your income and other financial circumstances
• your views on our services and/or why you need to access our services

Special categories of personal data 

We also sometimes collect special categories of personal data. Special categories of personal data require a higher level of protection. 

We will occasionally collect: 

• information about your race, ethnicity, sexual identity and orientation or religious beliefs to understand if our services are reaching all members of society and to demonstrate our impact with donors
• information about your health, including any medical condition, health and sickness records, access requirements or assistance you may need, in case of emergency and your need for support from a physical or a mental health professional 

Sources of your personal information 

We gather this information from: 

• our online contact form that you would fill in requesting support from us
• talking to you in a phone assessment before you start working with us

How we use your information 

We use your information for: 

• making a decision about your eligibility and suitability for the services we provide, or identifying other support needs
• providing you with services, managing your relationship with us, and determining any specific service requirements or additional support you may need e.g. providing one to one support
• keeping you up to date about services we provide or signposting  or referring you to other specialist services with your consent
• informing you about activities or events that are directly relevant to you
• taking feedback to review and improve the services we provide

We may use this information on occasion, in an anonymous form, to report on general information about the services we provide and the users of our services; or to evaluate and improve the services we provide. All data will be anonymised, and it will not be possible to identify individuals from these reports.  

How we use your special category data 

We will use information about your physical or mental health, or disability status, to help support you in case of emergency.

We will use information about your religious, philosophical or moral beliefs and any of the protected characteristics or other sensitive information about you to adapt our services to meet your service requirements.

We will use information about your ethnicity, religion, disability, and sexual orientation for statistical purposes, to help us understand who is utilising our services. We use this data internally to analyse the services we are providing and who we are providing them to; and also to meet the regulatory obligations to which we are subject. 

Our lawful basis for using your information 

In accordance with Data Protection Laws, we need a lawful basis for collecting and using information about you. There are 6 different lawful bases for collecting and using of personal information and we use the following: 

• using your information is necessary for us to provide you with our support services 
• using your information is necessary for us to comply with legal and regulatory obligations to which we are subject
• using your information in accordance with our legitimate interests
• you have given us your consent to use your information for a particular purpose, such as contacting you about updates to our service by email
• we need to use your personal information to protect your interests (or someone else’s interests) in a life or death situation

Our lawful basis for using your special category data 

Special categories of personal data (those which are particularly sensitive) require higher levels of protection. We need to have further justification for collecting, storing and using this type of personal data.  

The lawful basis on which we rely in order to use your special categories of personal data which we collect about you are:  

• it is necessary in order for us to comply with our legal obligations in our role as a service provider
• you have provided your explicit consent to our use of your information
• using your information is necessary in relation to the provision of particular services 
• we may process this type of information where it is needed in relation to legal claims or where it is needed to protect your interests (or someone else’s interests) and you are not capable of giving your consent, or where you have already made the information public. 

Legal framework and your rights 

We use your information in line with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018 and the Data Use and Access Act 2025. We refer to these as “the Data Protection Laws”. The Data Protection Laws require us to have a lawful basis for using your information. 

The Data Protection Laws give you rights which you can use to manage your information to: 

• request access to the personal information we hold about you 
• request correction of your information if you believe it is incomplete or inaccurate 
• request erasure of your information where there is no good reason for us continuing to process it 
• object to processing your information where we are relying on a legitimate interest (or those of a third- party) and you want to object to processing on this ground 
• request the restriction of your information if you want us to check its accuracy 
• request the transfer of your personal information to another party in a useful format 
• withdraw consent if we are processing your personal data based on your consent at any time. 

Some of these rights only apply in specific circumstances or to a limited extent. If you would like to exercise any of your rights or talk to us about how your data is processed, please contact us. If you are not happy with the way we have handled your information you can complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). 

Do we use automated decision making? 

We do not currently and do not anticipate using any automated decision making (computer only decisions with no human interaction) on your personal information. We will update this notice if this changes. 

Security of your information 

We have put in place appropriate security measures to prevent your personal information from being accidentally lost, altered, disclosed, used or accessed in an unauthorised way. We limit access to your personal information to employees, directors and other third parties who have a need to know. Third-party processors will only process your personal information on our instructions and where they have agreed to treat the information securely and confidentially. 

Sharing your information 

We will only share your information with a third party either in a safeguarding situation or on occasions when sharing information with other professionals would lead to a higher standard of services provided to you. We would always ask for your consent before sharing information in circumstances outside of our safeguarding duties.

How long we keep your information 

We retain your personal information for the duration of your relationship with us and then for either:

• five years; or
• a period defined by legal, accounting, or statutory reporting requirements.

In some circumstances, we anonymise your personal information so that it can no longer be associated with you. In such cases, we may use anonymised information without further notice to you.

Complaints

If you wish to make a general complaint or data protection complaint, please use the contact us form on the website.