Family Mediator Privacy Policy: Website and Telephone Enquiries

You can read this website without entering a name, creating an account or submitting a case description. There is no enquiry form, document upload, online payment facility or appointment scheduler. Contact is by telephone on 0330 010 0028. Selecting a telephone link opens the calling facility supported by your device; it does not submit the content of your enquiry through this website.

The information involved in a telephone conversation is different from the technical information associated with viewing a page. This policy explains that distinction and the questions you can raise about your details. It does not promise absolute anonymity or establish that every future service would involve the same information as an initial enquiry.

When you open a page, your browser requests its HTML from the server providing the website. Those requests necessarily involve technical details such as an internet address and the resource requested. Server systems may also process the time of a request, browser information and error or security records. The precise handling depends on the hosting arrangements in use.

These pages do not contain analytics scripts, advertising pixels, external font requests or embedded social content. They do not set application cookies or use browser storage to remember a visitor. Browser and network software may operate independently of these pages. Ask about the hosting and log arrangements relevant to your visit if you need information beyond what the page code itself establishes.

You choose what to explain when you first telephone. Information may include your name, a contact preference, the subject of the enquiry and practical circumstances relevant to understanding it. An enquiry can also involve information about another adult or a child. Begin with what is needed for the immediate question rather than giving a full history without knowing its purpose.

Ask why information is needed if that is unclear. Where records are made in connection with an enquiry or service, the intention is to keep them relevant to the purpose and distinguish confirmed facts from an account or allegation. Details supplied in a telephone conversation are not added to this website as public content merely because you have contacted Family Mediator.

Family enquiries can reveal health information, religious beliefs, sexual life, allegations of abuse or other particularly sensitive circumstances. Certain information requires an additional legal condition beyond an ordinary lawful ground. Details about alleged offences can also carry specific requirements. Mentioning mediation does not by itself authorise unrestricted collection or sharing of such information.

You can ask how a sensitive concern can be raised privately and what limits apply before explaining it in detail. A safety issue may still need to be understood for an appropriate assessment. The aim is to gather what is necessary through a suitable process, rather than encouraging extensive disclosure through an initial enquiry or an unconfirmed communication channel.

A child's routine or needs may be relevant to a parenting enquiry, but children should not be asked to supply evidence for an adult disagreement through this website. There is no child account or submission facility. Adults should limit identifying details to those needed for the question and ask how information about a child would be handled in any later service.

Providing information about another adult does not give you authority to obtain their records or decide how their own enquiry is handled. Where a representative seeks information, appropriate authority may need to be established. Information requests must also take account of the rights and privacy of other people whose details appear in a record.

If a call, message or callback could create a privacy or safety problem, explain the restriction and ask whether it can be followed. Do not assume that any contact preference has been recorded until it has been discussed. Shared devices, call logs and network services may expose information outside the website's control, so consider the setting in which you make contact.

This policy does not assert that calls are recorded or that they are never recorded. If you need certainty, ask before disclosing sensitive information. Any recording that takes place requires an appropriate explanation of its purpose, legal basis and handling. A person should not have to infer that information from the fact that a telephone number appears online.

Records should be kept for a reason and no longer than is justified by that reason, subject to relevant obligations and the handling of claims or concerns. Different records can require different periods. This policy does not invent a fixed retention period for every enquiry or service. You can ask about the applicable period or the criteria used to determine it.

Appropriate access controls, careful handling and suitable arrangements with service providers are aims of responsible information management. No system can guarantee complete security. Ask where information relevant to your service is held and whether it involves access or transfer outside the United Kingdom. Where a restricted transfer occurs, the applicable safeguards must be considered; no particular provider location is assumed here.

Depending on the circumstances and legal conditions, you may have rights to access personal information, correct inaccuracies, request deletion, restrict use, object to processing or receive certain information in a portable format. Where consent is the basis, it can be withdrawn for future processing without undoing lawful activity before withdrawal. Not every right applies in the same way to every record.

Telephone Family Mediator to explain the request and establish an appropriate way to handle it. Identity or representative authority may need checking, proportionately, before records are disclosed or changed. Applicable statutory response periods govern the request; this policy does not replace them with an invented service deadline. Information may need to be withheld or limited where a lawful exemption or another person's rights apply.

If you believe information is wrong or has been handled improperly, describe the specific issue and what you want considered. Raising a concern does not require you to agree to unrelated information use. You retain the right to complain to the relevant data protection supervisory authority and to use other remedies available under applicable law.

The website does not make automated eligibility or case decisions, and no marketing subscription is offered through it. A later service or a change in technology may require further privacy information for the relevant activity. The date above identifies this policy version. If an explanation matters to your decision, ask for the details applicable to your enquiry rather than assuming that a general description answers every operational question.