Refugees At Home (“us”, “we”, or “our”) operates the Refugees at Home website (the “Service”). We take privacy and our use of your data seriously and acknowledge the importance of protecting any personal information – that is, any information from which a person can be identified, such as names, contact details and ID information (in this policy we call this “Personal Information”) that we hold. This policy informs you of our policies regarding the collection, use and disclosure of Personal Information when you use our Service. We have developed this policy because we want you to feel confident about the privacy and security of your personal information.

We are the data controller for the purposes of the Data Protection Act 2018, the UK GDPR (as defined in the Data Protection Act 2018), and any other applicable data protection legislation (together, the “Data Protection Legislation”).

1.  Personal Information Collection and Use

We collect Personal Information for the following purposes:

• Facilitating connections between refugees and people seeking asylum and hosts;
• Providing updates and newsletters; and
• Improving our Service by analysing trends and monitoring the Service’s usage.

The types of Personal Information we collect may include, but are not limited to, information which you provide to us, such as your name and contact details (being your email address, telephone number and address). We also collect log data that includes your computer’s Internet Protocol (“IP”) address, browser type, browser version, pages of our Service that you visit, time and date of your visit, time spent on those pages, and other statistics.

We primarily process your Personal Information on the basis that it is necessary for the purpose of pursuing our legitimate interests in fulfilling the above purposes. In some instances, we will process your Personal Information on the basis that it is necessary for our compliance with legal obligations. From time to time, we may rely on your express consent to use your Personal Information, but we will let you know (and give you the chance to withdraw consent) if we do.

In particular, where you have consented at the time we collected your Personal Information or where we otherwise have a right to do so, we may use your Personal Information to provide you with updates and newsletters. You may opt out of receiving our newsletter and marketing emails from us by following the instructions outlined in any newsletter or marketing email.

2.  Sharing your personal information

In order to provide the Service, we may share your personal information with our employees, officers and agents. We may also engage third-party service providers to technically support our Service, including hosting, maintenance, backups, data analysis, and customer support. These service providers may have access to your Personal Information only for the purposes of performing these tasks on our behalf and are obligated not to disclose or use it for any other purpose.

We will disclose your Personal Information when required to do so by law or subpoena.

3. Security and Retention of your Personal Information

The security of your Personal Information is important to us. We take reasonable technical and organisational precautions to protect your Personal Information from unauthorised access and against unlawful processing, accidental loss, destruction and damage. However, no method of transmission over the Internet or electronic storage is 100% secure, and we cannot guarantee its absolute security.

We retain your Personal Information for only as long as is necessary to fulfil the purposes for which it was collected and, in any event, only for as long as Data Protection Legislation allows, and we dispose of it securely by deleting it from our systems.

4.  Third-party links

Our Service may contain links to third-party sites or services that are not operated by us. We do not endorse or guarantee the content, privacy policies, or practices of these third-party sites or services. We encourage you to review the privacy policies and terms and conditions of these third-party sites or services before using them.

5.  International data transfers

We may transfer Personal Information outside the UK and European Economic Area (EEA) to service providers who assist us in the operation of our Service. We will only transfer your personal information (a) to recipients in countries that are the subject of an adequacy decision under the Data Protection Legislation; or (b) to recipients in other countries if we have provided adequate safeguards for your personal information in accordance with the Data Protection Legislation (such as the contractual safeguards specified in the Data Protection Legislation).

6.  Children’s privacy

Our Service is not intended for individuals under the age of 18 (“children”). We do not knowingly collect or process Personal Information from children, unless for the purposes of providing hosting to families.

7. Your Rights and Data Accuracy

In certain circumstances and subject to certain exemptions, you have the following rights in relation to the Personal Information that we hold about you:

• the right to be informed about how we are using your Personal Information;
• the right to access the Personal Information that we hold about you;
• the right to request the correction of inaccurate Personal Information that we hold about you;
• the right to ask us to erase or stop processing any Personal Information we hold about you where there is otherwise no longer a legal ground for us to hold it;
• the right to ask us to restrict the processing of your Personal Information;
• the right to request that we transfer certain Personal Information;
• the right to withdraw consent to any consent-based processing at any time; and
• rights in relation to automated decision-making and profiling.

If you wish to exercise any of these rights, please contact us using the contact details set out below. The supply of appropriate evidence of your identity may be required when exercising your rights.

Should you have any queries or complaints in relation to how we use your Personal Information, please contact us via the details set out below. Should you wish to take any complaints or queries further, you have the right to contact the Information Commissioner’s Office (which is the supervisory body in the UK) regarding such issues.

8.  Cookies

We use cookies, which are small text files that are placed on the hard drive on your computer, when you use our Service. We use cookies in order to collect information and improve the Service. You may instruct your browser to refuse all cookies or indicate when a cookie is being sent. However, if you do not accept cookies, you may not be able to use some portions of our Service.

We use essential cookies that are necessary for the Service to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. We would like to use analytics cookies which monitor website performance and usage, personalise content and provide social media features. They may be set by us or third party providers.

The tables in the word document, linked to on this page, explain the cookies we use and the purposes for which these are used.

Other than in respect of essential cookies which are strictly necessary for this website to function and which are always active, all cookies are switched off by default. You can manage your cookie consent preferences at any time by clicking on the blue cookie on the bottom left on all of our website pages:

9. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We reserve the right to modify this Privacy Policy at any time. We will notify you of any changes by posting the new Privacy Policy on this page. It is your responsibility to review this Privacy Policy periodically for any changes. Changes to this Privacy Policy are effective when they are posted on this page.

10. Privacy Support

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, please contact us vis info@refugeesathome.org. Alternatively, you have the right to make a complaint to the Information Commissioner’s Office (which is the supervisory body in the UK).

Reviewed and accepted by the board of trustees on 9 September 2025