PRIVACY POLICY

This Privacy Policy was last updated on 21st July 2026.

Please revisit this policy each time you consider giving your personal information to Music Support.

Music Support Privacy Notice

Music Support recognises the importance of protecting the personal data of everyone who supports us, or who comes to us for support, to feel confident and comfortable with how any personal information you share with us will be looked after or used. This Privacy Policy sets out how we collect, use and store your personal information (this means any information that identifies or could identify you). By accessing and using Music Supports’ services or providing Music Support with any personal information, you are agreeing to terms set out within our policy.

Who we are

The primary purpose of all Music Support’s offerings is to provide safe, non-judgmental and confidential services, education and awareness for anyone in the music industry experiencing mental health and/or addiction issues to call on and receive support. We are also committed to protecting your personal information and making every effort to ensure that your personal data is processed in a fair, open and transparent manner.

We are a “data controller” for the purposes of the Data Protection Act 2018. This means that we are responsible for, and control the processing of, your personal information.

Our Data Protection Officer is Joe Hastings.

For further information about our privacy practices, please contact our Data Protection Officer by:

Writing to Music Support, Toynbee Studios, Commercial Street, London, E1 6AB, or by
Emailing info@musicsupport.org

Please refer to our Data Protection Policy to see how we use and look after your information.

What data we collect

We take looking after your information very seriously. We’ve implemented appropriate physical, technical and organisational measures to protect the personal information we have under our control, both on and offline, from improper access, use, alteration, destruction, and loss.

How we use your personal data will depend on which services you have requested to use. We will use your personal information in a number of ways depending on the purposes for which it has been collected, in line with the Data Protection Act 2018, including for the following purposes:

To provide you with the services or any information you have requested.
To update you about any changes to our services.
To communicate with you as set out in this policy (including administrative communications as well as communications about our work, services, fundraising and events).
To administer payments such as donations, including Gift Aid processing.
To display your profile or content on the website (if you have agreed for us to do so).
To administer our website and for internal operations, including troubleshooting, data analysis, testing, research, statistical and survey purposes.
To maintain our organisational records and ensure we have your most up-to-date details, including marketing preferences.
To help us improve our services, education, campaigns or information-offering, and improve your interactions with our website (including via cookies).
To enable you to participate in interactive features on our website.
To enable you to participate in voluntary surveys or research.
To analyse your website behaviour.
To administer your volunteering or employment application.
To assist in your voluntary or fundraising work.
To deal with enquiries and/or complaints made by or about you.
To audit and/or administer our accounts.
To help us work with third parties to ensure that we send you targeted communications.
To contact you where you have been identified as a contact person for an organisation, such as a school.
To identify relevant networks and other suitable partners for Music Support.

We always want you to get the most out of our website, so if you do experience any issues with our online forms, we may follow up with you to find out how our team can best support you with any problems experienced.

How we collect personal information

We want to make sure you receive the communications that are most relevant to you, whether through visiting our website or receiving emails, post or phone calls. We collect personal information as volunteered by you in any registration forms and subscriptions.

We collect information from you in the following ways:

When you interact with us directly – this could be via phone (including our helpline), email, post or in person.
When you interact with us through partners or suppliers working on our behalf – this could be if you access a service via events/shows/a referral.

When you interact with us through affiliated third parties – for example, if you make a donation through fundraising platforms such as JustGiving or other similar services, they may share your personal information with us where you have asked them to do so or where they are otherwise permitted to share it in accordance with applicable data protection and privacy laws. These organisations have their own privacy policies, so we encourage you to read them before providing your personal information.

When you visit our website: we gather general information which might include which pages have been visited most often and which services or information is of most interest to visitors to the site.

We collect non-identifying information to help us to understand how supporters use our site, and to make improvements. This information consists of your IP address, your browser (e.g. Internet Explorer), when you visited, and which pages you viewed during your visit. We cannot use this information to find out anything at all about you and will not share any individual information unless required to do so by law.

What categories of personal information we collect

The types of personal information we collect depends on how we intend to use it.

We collect, store and use the following kinds of personal information:

Identity data, including your name, date of birth (for example, if you make a donation or would like to volunteer).
Contact data, including your email address, postal address, and phone number (for example, if you sign up to receive updates from us).
Financial data, including bank or payment card details (for example, if you make a donation).
Transaction data, including details of your giving.
Technical data such as your IP address, when you browse our website.
Marketing data such as your preferences for receiving communications from us.
Any other information you provide us as above (see “How we collect personal information”).
Where you are part of our ‘Care Delivery’ team, to have the required information needed to safely care for our clients.

We also collect and store data of those who contact us for support with mental health/addiction issues and the support we have offered.

For people we identify as having the potential to support Music Support in a greater capacity, we may collect job title(s), affiliated organisation(s), previous charity affiliations, education, career history and relevant interests.

Under UK General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), we are required to ensure that any data is used only for the purpose for which it was requested and to make sure that the data is held securely. We only keep data as long as is reasonable and necessary for the relevant activity, which may be to fulfil statutory obligations (for example, the collection of Gift Aid).

Sensitive personal information

If you share your personal experience or the experiences of a friend or relative, we may also collect this as health information. If you provide us with any sensitive personal information by telephone, email or by other means, we will treat that information with extra care and confidentiality and always in accordance with this Privacy Policy.

You can of course decide if you want to remain anonymous, if you are happy to share your personal details with staff members/volunteers or if you would like us to share your story with the media or other parties as part of our work telling people’s personal stories about mental health and/or addiction issues.

Please note:

Data Protection law recognises that some categories of personal information are more sensitive. Sensitive personal information can include information about a person’s health, race, ethnic origin, political opinions, sex life, sexual orientation or religious beliefs.

If you contact us at Music Support through our Helpline, via email or in other more general communications, you may choose to provide details of a sensitive nature.

We will only use this information:

For the purposes of dealing with your enquiry, training, and quality monitoring or evaluating the services we provide.
We will not pass on your details to anyone else without your express permission except in exceptional circumstances. Examples of this might include anyone reporting serious self-harm or posing a threat to others.
Where you have given us your express consent or otherwise clearly indicated to us that you are happy for us to share your story, then we may publish it.

How we keep your data safe and who has access to it

We place great importance on the security of your personal information and always take appropriate precautions to protect it.

We ensure that there are security measures in place to protect your personal data. For example, we use encryption technology across our communication networks.

We only allow authorised personnel to have access to your information i.e., Music Support staff, volunteers or contractors, and ensure that they are appropriately trained and, in most cases, have each signed a Confidentiality Agreement.

Payment details (such as credit or debit cards) we receive through our website are passed securely to our payment processing providers who meet the required Payment Card Industry (PCI) Security Standards. We do not store your card details, when donations are made in this way.

Despite all of our precautions no data transmission over the internet can be guaranteed to be 100% secure.

Administrative communications

We will communicate with you using the contact details you have provided for essential administrative purposes, such as to administer a donation or provide you with information regarding a fundraising event you have asked to take part in. You may change your communication preferences at any time. To do this please email marketing@musicsupport.org

Marketing communications

We love to keep our supporters up to date with our fundraising, marketing and campaign activity.

If you have given us your consent to do so, we will contact you for marketing purposes by email and telephone calls. We may also send you communications by post, on the basis it is in our legitimate interests to do so, unless you ask us not to.

You can update your choices or stop us sending you these communications at any time by contacting marketing@musicsupport.org or by clicking the unsubscribe link at the bottom of the relevant email communication.

Developing services and research

We use data, including public feedback, to conduct research and for the further development of our services in order to provide you and others with a better experience, to spread awareness and to engage with the charity’s current campaigns. In some cases, we work with trusted third parties to perform this research, such as Survey Monkey, under controls that are designed to protect your privacy. We publish these insights, presented as aggregated data rather than personal data. You are not obligated to respond to polls or surveys, and you have choices about the information you provide. You may opt-out of survey invitations.

Service providers

We use others to help us provide our services (e.g., therapists, IT support and maintenance). They will have access to your information as reasonably necessary to perform these tasks on our behalf and are obligated not to disclose or use it for other purposes.

External organisations

Any information that could identify a particular user of our services is treated in the strictest confidence and will not be shared outside of Music Support without the prior consent of that individual. Music Support, however, has certain legal, professional and ethical obligations to report crime and protect the health and safety of the individual and/or others. Therefore, there may be certain situations where Music Support may need to break confidentiality and communicate concerns with external organisations due to our legal, professional and ethical obligations.

We would consider the need to share information about you with other agencies (such as Social Services or the Police) if you share something with us that makes us think:

You or someone else is being hurt.
Your life or the life of someone else is in danger.
You have harmed someone else or you plan to harm someone else.
If you ask us to tell someone else that you are being hurt, you are in danger or you have hurt someone.

Legal basis for using your information

Data privacy law requires us to have one or more lawful grounds to process your personal information. The following grounds are relevant to our use of your information:

Consent. In many cases we will seek consent to process your personal information, for example to send you marketing and fundraising emails, and text messages. Where we do rely on consent, you are entitled to withdraw it at any time.
To protect your vital interests. For example, to ensure you get urgent medical assistance if needed when attending a Music Support event.
Where we have a contractual relationship with you. Though the majority of our relationships are voluntary, if we enter into a contract with you we will process information to administer that contract.
Legal obligations. We will sometimes pass on personal information to comply with legal obligations such as providing tax and gift aid information to HMRC.
“Legitimate Interests”. Where it is appropriate we rely on the processing being in our legitimate interests, provided we are confident that such processing is not likely to override your own legitimate interests or rights and freedoms. For example, sending you marketing and fundraising posts, provided this is done in an unobtrusive manner.

Music Support’s legitimate interests are ultimately in pursuit of our charitable objectives, including:

Governance and operational management, such as statutory reporting and employee and volunteer administration and management.
Publicity and income generation, such as marketing and fundraising, events, and supporter analysis.
Administration, such as Gift Aid.
Financial management and control, such as processing donations.

Sharing your information

The personal information we collect about you will mainly be used by our staff (and volunteers) at Music Support so that they can support you.

We will never sell or share your personal information with organisations so that they can contact you for any marketing activities. Nor do we sell any information about your web browsing activity.

Music Support may however share your information with our trusted partners and suppliers who work with us on or on our behalf to deliver our services, but processing of this information is always carried out under our instruction and when there is a reason to do so we will only share your personal information with your consent.

We enter into contracts with these service providers that require them to comply with Data Protection laws and ensure that they have appropriate controls in place to secure your information.

Legal disclosure

We may disclose your information if required to do so by law (for example, to comply with applicable laws, regulations and codes of practice or in response to a valid request from a competent authority); or in order to enforce our conditions of sale and other agreements.

Safeguarding

We may disclose your information if:

You are in a current crisis and not in touch with mental health services.
We are concerned that you could seriously hurt yourself or others.
You are having suicidal thoughts and you may act on those thoughts.

Who will we tell if we break confidentiality?

If something you say or write leads us to believe that you, or someone else, may be at risk of harm, we may need to share that information with someone who can help.

Whenever possible, we will try to contact you first to explain why we need to share the information and who we will share it with. In most cases, this will be with Social Services. However, if we believe there is an immediate risk to someone’s safety or that a crime has been committed, we may contact the Police instead.

How long we keep your information

For some types of information, we are legally required to keep records for a specific period of time. For example, HMRC requires us to retain Gift Aid records for at least six years after the end of the tax year in which the last donation was made.

In general, we keep your personal information only for as long as necessary for the purpose for which it was collected. Typically, we will retain your contact information while we are in contact with you and for up to six years after our interactions have ended.

After this period, we anonymise the information held in our database. This means that it can still be used to help us understand trends and patterns in our services and data analysis, but it can no longer be linked back to you personally.

Your rights

We provide many choices about the collection, use and sharing of your data. Under the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR), you have the:

right to be informed.
right of access.
right to rectification.
right to erasure.
right to restrict processing.
right to data portability.
right to object.
right not to be subject to automated decision-making, including profiling.

You have the right to ask for a copy of any information we hold about you, known as a Subject Access Request. You also have the right to have any data removed or inaccuracies corrected. If you wish to make a Subject Access Request, you will need to put your request to us in writing including proof of identity. We will have a month to comply with your request. Please note that we can refuse or charge for requests that are manifestly unfounded or excessive. Some of these rights only apply in certain circumstances and we may not be able to fulfil every request. If this happens then we will clearly explain the reasons why.

If you wish to exercise any of these rights, you can do so by contacting our Data Protection Officer at Music Support UK, Toynbee Studios. Commercial Street, London, E1 6AB, or by email to info@musicsupport.org.

Making a complaint

If you would like to make a complaint about (for example):

the way we’ve responded to your Subject Access Request (SAR), or other rights request;
the security measures we’ve used to store your information (e.g., if you have been impacted by a data breach, regardless of whether it’s reportable to the ICO); or
how we’ve collected or used your personal information (e.g., where we’ve stored it, how long we’ve kept it for, or its accuracy)

you can do so by contacting our Data Protection Officer at Music Support UK, Toynbee Studios. Commercial Street, London, E1 6AB, or by email at info@musicsupport.org, although you are not limited to using these methods to make a Data Protection complaint.

Music Support will:

acknowledge receipt of your complaint within 30 days of receiving it,
take appropriate steps to respond to your complaint,
keep you informed without undue delay, and
tell you the outcome of your complaint without undue delay.

You can also make a complaint to the data protection supervisory authority, the Information Commissioner’s Office, https://ico.org.uk/ although they may ask you to raise your complaint directly with us first

Links to other websites

Our website may, from time to time, provide links to other websites. We have no control over these websites and are not responsible for their content. While we try to link only to sites that share our standards and respect for privacy, we are not responsible for the content or the privacy practices employed by other sites. Please be aware that advertisers or web sites that have links on our site may collect personally identifiable information about you. This privacy policy does not cover the information practices of those websites or advertisers. You are advised to read the Privacy Policy or statement of other websites prior to using them.

Updates to the Music Support Privacy Policy

This policy may change from time to time. If we make any significant changes to this policy, we will publicise these changes clearly on our website or contact you directly with more information.

This Privacy Policy was last updated on 21st July 2026.

Please revisit this policy each time you consider giving your personal information to Music Support.

COOKIE POLICY

What is a cookie?

A cookie is a small file that is sent to your computer or mobile phone that lets us know that you have used our website before. They are automatically placed onto your device by some websites that you visit and are widely used to improve the performance of a website, for saving different options and to provide website owners with information on how the site is being used.

There are two types of cookies; permanent and temporary (session cookies). Permanent cookies are stored as a file on your computer for some time. Session cookies are stored temporarily in your computer’s memory and disappear when you close your browser. You can find out more about how cookies work on the BBC website.

How we use cookies

We use cookies to enhance the experience of the website, to increase the performance, to identify how the website is being used, where we can make improvements and to monitor how our pages perform. Some of our cookies are vital for the website to operate effectively and others are optional. We use these cookies to find out things such as how many people are using the website. We can also see where users have come to the site from and the pages they visited before. We view this information in reports (provided by Google Analytics) so we can see how well the website is working and to understand how the website is being used so we can make it easier and more enjoyable for you to browse.

Cookies collect information in an anonymous form. This means we don’t know who the information has come from and we don’t make any attempt to find out. We collect this information in a way which does not identify anyone. We will not link any data gathered from this site with any information from any source that could be used to identify you.

If we decide to collect personal information about you through our website we will make it clear when we are collecting personal information (such as your name or age) and will explain how we will use it.

If you want to know more about Google Analytics cookies you can view their privacy information here: Learn more

Who uses the information stored in cookies?

The information stored in the cookies from our website is used exclusively by us, except for those identified as “third-party cookies”, which are used and managed by external entities to provide services requested by us to improve our services and the experience of the user when browsing our website. We use Google Analytics to provide us with statistical data on which of our web pages have been visited, at what times and how long for. We also collect anonymous demographic data. We use this information to help improve our services to you. No personally identifying information is stored.

How to control or delete cookies

You may refuse the use of cookies by changing your internet browser settings to disable the use of cookies. You can do this by;

– In Internet Explorer, click on Tools, click on Settings, click on the Privacy tab and then use the slider bar to choose the level of privacy you want.

– In Firefox, click on Tools, click on Options, click on Privacy, click on the Cookies tab and choose your level of privacy.

Please note that if you control or delete these cookies it may mean that some areas of the site will not work well for you; you may experience slower running times and you may not be able to access all website content.

For other browsers and more information about cookies please go to: www.allaboutcookies.org

ACCEPTANCE OF COOKIE USE

By continuing to use our website you will have been deemed to have agreed to our use of cookies subject to any preferences you may have indicated to us or any overriding browser settings you may have.