Privacy Policy

The MNWB, established in 1948, coordinates welfare work as an ‘umbrella’ charity, among the merchant seafarers and fishing charities in the United Kingdom and Gibraltar. We are dedicated to supporting the provision of quality welfare services for merchant seafarers and their dependants. The MNWB is a registered charity (no. 212799) and company limited by guarantee (no. 453053). The registered address is 8, Cumberland Place, Southampton, Hampshire. SO15 2BH. We have over 40 Constituent members which include maritime charities and organisations providing financial support to individuals and families, accommodation, advocacy and port-based welfare.

Personal data is information that can be used to help identify an individual, such as name, address, phone number, IP or email address.

A cookie is a small file that is stored on your computer’s hard drive by your web browser. It enables our website to remember you when you return to visit us. Cookies help us to provide you with a better experience by allowing us to understand what areas of the website are of interest to our visitors. The information is sent by a web server to a web browser and stored by the browser. The information is then sent back to the server each time the browser requests a page from the server. This enables the web server to identify and track the web browser. The cookies collect information in an anonymous form, including the number of visitors to the site, where visitors have come to the site from and the pages they visited.

We use Google Analytics to analyse the use of this website. Google Analytics generates statistical and other information about website use by means of cookies, which are stored on users’ computers. The information generated relating to our website is used to create reports about the use of the website. Google will store this information. Google’s privacy policy

Using your browser settings in, for example, Internet Explorer, Safari, Firefox or Chrome, you can set which cookies to accept and which to reject. Where you find these settings depends on which browser you use. Use the “Help” function in your browser to locate the settings you need.

Most browsers allow you to reject all cookies, whilst some browsers allow you to reject just third-party cookies. For example, in Internet Explorer you can refuse all cookies by clicking “Tools”, “Internet Options”, “Privacy”, and selecting “Block all cookies” using the sliding selector. Blocking all cookies will, however, have a negative impact upon the usability of many websites.

If you choose not to accept certain cookies, you may not be able to use some functions on our website. And opting out of an online advertising network does not mean that you will no longer receive or be subject to online advertising or marketing analysis. It means that the network from which you opted out will no longer deliver ads tailored to your web preferences and browsing patterns.

We will take reasonable technical and organisational precautions to prevent the loss, misuse or alteration of your personal information. Of course, data transmission over the internet is inherently insecure, and we cannot guarantee the security of data sent over the internet. We will keep your information only for as long as we need it to provide you with the services or information you have required, to administer your relationship with us, to inform our research, to comply with the law. When we no longer need information, we will always dispose of it securely, using specialist companies if necessary to do this work for us.

Only MNWB employees are granted access to personal data. This is ensured using strict operational processes and procedures.

Staff are trained on security systems and relevant processes and procedures which are reviewed regularly for ongoing effectiveness and suitability for purpose. All employees are kept up-to-date on the MNWB security and privacy practices. Employees are notified and/or reminded about the importance we place on privacy, and what they can do to ensure that personal data is protected.

Personal information provided via the MNWB’s portals is secured using Secure Socket Layer (SSL) server and is encrypted before being transmitted. Secure pages have a lock icon or key on the bottom of web browsers such as Microsoft Internet Explorer, information supplied by you on these webpages is securely stored and can only be accessed for the purposes for which it was provided.

All IT systems are kept in a secure environment with appropriate access control. We are audited on a regular basis by various independent security companies, plus internal audits.

The Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA 2018) controls how your personal information is used. To indicate the UK’s status outside the European Union (EU), it was amended on 01 January 2021 by regulations under the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018. The DPA 2018 sits alongside and supplements the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and gives you certain rights over your data and how we use it. These include:

• the right in certain circumstances to have inaccurate personal data rectified, blocked, erased or destroyed
• the right to prevent your data being used for direct marketing
• the right of access to a copy of the information we hold about you (known as a subject access request)

This legislation has been put in place to give you a clearer understanding of how and why your data is collected, how it is stored, for how long and how it is disposed of. It also includes information as to when and how your information might be shared with others.

If you wish to exercise any of these rights, please contact the MNWB Data Protection Officer in writing at MNWB, 8, Cumberland Place, Southampton, Hampshire, SO15 2BH or by emailing DPO@mnwb.org.uk. For more information about your rights under the UK GDPR go to the website of the Information Commissioner’s Office at www.ico.org.uk

MNWB websites may contain links to other websites run by other organisations. MNWB Privacy Policy only applies to MNWB websites and you are encouraged to read the Privacy Statements on the third-party websites that you visit such as Google. MNWB is not responsible for the Privacy Policies and practices of other websites even if they were accessed via a MNWB website. Equally, if you link to a MNWB website from a third-party site, MNWB is not responsible for the Privacy Policies and practices of that third-party site.

We operate several social media pages (including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn). Although this policy covers how we will use any data collected from those pages it does not cover how the providers of social media websites will use your information. Please ensure you read the privacy policy of the social media website before sharing data and make use of the privacy settings and reporting mechanisms to control how your data is used.

This version is dated 12/10/21. Please check this policy periodically to ensure you are happy with any changes made to our policy.