1. Who We Are
Care Comes First is a specialist residential care provider registered in England and Wales. We are the data controller responsible for your personal data.
Registered Address: Care Comes First, England, United Kingdom
Email: hello@carecomesfirst.co.uk
If you have any questions about how we handle your data, please contact us at the address above.
2. Data We Collect
We may collect and process the following categories of personal data:
Identity data including name, date of birth, gender, and National Insurance number (where applicable).
Contact data including address, email address, and telephone numbers.
Referral data including information provided by local authorities, social workers, and placing authorities relating to a young person in our care.
Sensitive data including health and medical information, educational records, and details of any special educational needs, where relevant to the provision of care.
Employment data for job applicants and members of staff, including right to work documents, references, and DBS check outcomes.
Website data including IP addresses, browser type, and pages visited, collected via cookies and analytics tools.
3. How We Use Your Data
We use personal data for the following purposes:
To provide and manage residential care services for young people placed with us.
To process referrals and communicate with placing authorities, social workers, and families.
To fulfil our statutory obligations under the Children Act 1989 and related legislation.
To recruit, vet, and manage our staff and volunteers.
To improve and maintain our website and digital services.
To send communications you have consented to receive.
4. Lawful Basis for Processing
Under UK GDPR, we rely on the following lawful bases for processing personal data:
Legal obligation where we are required to process data to comply with our statutory duties as aregistered care provider.
Legitimate interests where processing is necessary for the management and operation of ourservice.
Consent where you have given us explicit consent to process your data for a specific purpose.
Vital interests where processing is necessary to protect the life of a young person in our care.
For special category data (such as health information), we rely on the processing being necessary for the provision of social care under Article 9(2)(h) of UK GDPR.
5. Sharing Your Data
We will not sell your personal data. We may share it with:
Local authorities and social care professionals involved in the care of a young person.
Health professionals, educational establishments, and therapeutic services supporting a young person.
Regulatory bodies including Ofsted, where we are legally required to do so.
Our IT and data hosting providers, subject to appropriate data processing agreements.
Law enforcement or safeguarding authorities where there is a legal requirement or safeguarding concern.
All third parties are required to handle your data securely and in compliance with UK GDPR.
6. Data Retention
We retain personal data only for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes for which it was collected, or as required by law.
Care records relating to young people are retained for a minimum of 75 years from the date of birth, in line with guidance from the Department for Education.
Staff and employment records are retained for 6 years following the end of employment.
Website enquiry data is retained for 12 months unless you have entered into a formal relationship with us.
At the end of the retention period, data is securely deleted or anonymised.
7. Your Rights
Under UK GDPR, you have the following rights in relation to your personal data:
Right of access to request a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
Right to rectification to request that inaccurate data is corrected.
Right to erasure to request that your data is deleted, subject to our legal obligations.
Right to restrict processing to ask us to limit how we use your data.
Right to data portability to receive your data in a structured, machine-readable format.
Right to object to object to processing based on legitimate interests.
To exercise any of these rights, please contact us at hello@carecomesfirst.co.uk. We will respond within 30 days. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) at ico.org.uk.
8. Cookies
Our website uses cookies to improve your browsing experience and to analyse website traffic. Cookies are small text files stored on your device. We use the following types:
Essential cookies required for the website to function correctly.
Analytics cookies used to understand how visitors use our site, helping us improve our content.
You can control and manage cookies through your browser settings. Disabling certain cookies may affect the functionality of the website.
9. Contact Us
If you have any questions, concerns, or requests relating to your personal data or this privacy policy, please contact us:
Email: hello@carecomesfirst.co.uk
We aim to respond to all data related enquiries within 30 calendar days.
This policy was last reviewed in January 2026. We reserve the right to update it at any time. Anychanges will be published on this page.