Contents

Skip to:

Conditions and Guidelines

Policy Owner
Chief Executive Officer

Policy Lead
Head of Operations

Audience
Members of SEA’s Survivors’ Forum

Formally endorsed by
Chief Executive Officer

Endorsement Date
June 2021

Next Review
June 2022

Purpose

These conditions and guidelines serve as a handbook on the type of acceptable content and language of the forum, as well as the criteria and responsibility in using the forum.

Background

SEA works alongside a group of women who all have lived experience of economic abuse – the ‘Experts by Experience Group’ (EEG). Their insight informs everything the charity does, from identifying what information and resources women need, through to where change is required in policy and practice. The group also offers a space for peer support, and it is that aspect that lead to the development of the Survivor Forum.

SEA, in consultation with EEG members, identified the need to develop a more structured space where women across the UK can safely and easily access peer-to-peer emotional and practical support and information about economic abuse, with guidance and moderation from experienced SEA team members in domestic abuse and advocacy support. This Policy is intended for those that wish to register with SEA’s Online Survivor Forum and in registering agree to the terms within this Policy and other associated documents.

PART ONE: POLICY

1.Registering

This forum is for survivors of economic abuse only. If you are a professional seeking advice or guidance, please refer to our information and resources page via I’m supporting someone and/or visit our homepage Surviving Economic Abuse, where you will find a variety of other useful information, guidance and resources.

This forum is:

  • For women over the age of 18 who have been affected by economic abuse and wish to offer support to one another in a safe space.
  • A place for forum members to share their lived experiences and to connect with other women who have been affected by economic abuse.
  • A space to support one another by providing useful resources, relevant information and advice and promoting female empowerment.

What this forum is not:

  • It is not a space for those that need immediate assistance, are not safe or are in danger. If a forum member is in immediate danger, they should the Police on 999. If, as a forum member, they are not in immediate danger but have concerns about their safety, they can also call the National Domestic Abuse Helpline on 0808 2000 247, which is a confidential, 24-hour service run by Refuge. If a forum member is needing support and advice they can also visit the Domestic Abuse Directory - Womens Aid where they can find their local domestic abuse service for practical and emotional advice and support.

  • This is not a space to seek advice for a third party. If you are a friend or relative supporting someone where you suspect there is economic abuse please visit our resources page via our webpage I’m supporting someone for further guidance.

  • This is not a space to post specific or identifiable details regarding an individual or organisation. Forum members should be mindful about the information they share on the forum. Any information shared that could damage the reputation of an individual or organisation a forum member names is called libel and is against the law.

2.Safety outside of the forum

Whilst the moderator’s role is to ensure that what is posted on the forum is appropriate and with forum members and others’ safety and well-being in mind, we cannot ensure this through other websites and forums. We therefore hold no responsibility for the safety and wellbeing of forum members outside of the public forum spaces.

3.Information edited in the forum

In registering for and posting, forum members are agreeing to the forum moderators having the right to read, edit, censor or delete any post or comment that may breach forum guidelines in relation to identifiable/personal or harmful information.

Where a message has been posted on the forum that a forum member feels is objectionable, they must inform the moderator to request that this is investigated and then removed if the moderator determines the removal is necessary. This will not take immediate effect as the moderator will address emails as soon as they are able to; this is why it is vital that all those registered are mindful about the content they are posting.

4.Inappropriate content

Information posted in the forum should be for the purpose to support and offer guidance to each other as survivors of economic abuse. Forum members may not agree with a post or comment that someone has made, we are all entitled to our own opinions but this is a safe space that should be free of:

  • criticism
  • name-calling
  • harassment or threats of any nature including; homophobia, transphobia & racism.
  • discriminatory behaviour of any kind
  • expression of extreme beliefs or views that could be harmful or discriminatory to other people

Forum members must not share any personal or identifiable information regarding themselves or any other party.

Any such information shared will be moderated accordingly and removed. If a forum member identifies something in which they think counts as inappropriate content, they can flag this with the moderator. If multiple flags accrue or the moderator determines that it is inappropriate content, the content will either be edited (where personal information has been included) or removed if wholly inappropriate.

5.Complaints

Forum members can send all complaints to the moderators via the email address, moderator@survivingeconomicabuse.org. Any forum member that posts a complaint onto the forum, including regarding another member, as opposed to directly contacting the moderator will be deemed to have breached this member agreement and could risk having their account removed.

If the complaint made is in relation to a moderator, forum members can email the moderator email above addressed “FAO Safeguarding Lead.”

PART TWO: PROCEDURE

6.Privacy, data collection & safeguarding procedures

SEA will treat forum members’ data as confidential and will not share this with any other third party. Forum members can see our Privacy Notice for a full overview of their data protection rights.

SEA would like to offer survivors of economic abuse a safe space to discuss their lived experiences which at times may involve discussing the lived experiences of their children. We wish for each survivor to be able to make safe choices for herself and her children.

However, if SEA are concerned for a child who may be at risk following information forum members have shared, we have a duty of care to report safeguarding concerns and therefore we may be forced to share their information with statutory services such as Police and/or Children’s Safeguarding Services;

There may also be times where we are forced to share forum members’ information to Police, regulatory bodies or legal advisors without their permission (sometimes referred to as ‘breaching confidentiality’). This could be for one of the following reasons:

  • In the interests of safeguarding national security;
  • Where a court orders SEA to disclose information;
  • Where there is reasonable cause to suspect that an adult’s life may be in immediate danger; under the Human Rights Act 1998.

SEA acknowledge that it is important to take appropriate action in reporting safeguarding concerns before harm occurs to any adult or child. However we also know that working alongside forum members to support and encourage them to make their own decisions in relation to their safety and wellbeing is important. We believe that when it comes to sharing Safeguarding concerns, we will always aim to work alongside forum members in relation to our duty of care in reporting.

We will always share with a forum member what we are doing and who we are reporting to if information is shared with us that warrants a safeguarding response. The only time we would not share this information with them is if we felt that to do so would put a child or adult at further risk of harm.

Any of the information posted in the forum by those registered is not representative of the opinions or work of SEA and SEA do not take responsibility of representations for the accuracy, reliability or truthfulness of any information posted within the forum.

7.FAQs

As the forum develops, SEA will be creating a Frequently Asked Questions page. For any unanswered queries or questions regarding the forum, forum members can contact the moderators on moderator@survivingeconomicabuse.org. When contacting the moderator, they should make sure to use an email address that is safe for us to reply to and inform us of their member name and registration email if this is to different to the one they are contacting us from. Their question and our response may be posted on the FAQ page but their personal information will not be shared.

END OF POLICY

Privacy Notice

Policy Owner
Chief Executive Officer

Policy Lead
Head of Operations

Audience
Members of SEA’s Survivors’ Forum

Formally endorsed by
Chief Executive Officer

Endorsement Date
June 2021

Next Review
June 2022

Purpose

The purpose of this policy is to outline the measures Surviving Economic Abuse and its employees take to manage personal data obtained in its operational activities.

Definitions

Organisation
Surviving Economic Abuse; “SEA”, “we,” “our,” “us”

GDPR
General Data Protection Regulation Act 2018

Data Controller
Surviving Economic Abuse

Who are we

We are Surviving Economic Abuse (“SEA”, “we,” “our,” “us”). We understand that it is important to give informed consent when it comes to collecting data so this document will outline our practices in relation to the collection, use and sharing of forum members’ personal information.

The information in this Policy is in reference to the sole use of our Survivor Forum platform and the data collected from it.

If forum members have any questions in relation to your personal information, please don’t hesitate to contact our Head of Operations/Data Protection Lead via helen.liles@survivingeconomicabuse.org

Using the Survivor Forum means forum members also agree to our platform host’s policies which can be found via Digital Ocean.

PART ONE: POLICY

1.Data protection principles

The organisation is committed to processing data in accordance with its responsibilities under the GDPR.

Article 5 of the GDPR requires that personal data shall be:

  • processed lawfully, fairly and in a transparent manner in relation to individuals;
  • collected for specified, explicit and legitimate purposes and not further processed in a manner that is incompatible with those purposes; further processing for archiving purposes in the public interest, scientific or historical research purposes or statistical purposes shall not be considered to be incompatible with the initial purposes;
  • adequate, relevant and limited to what is necessary in relation to the purposes for which they are processed;
  • accurate and, where necessary, kept up to date; every reasonable step must be taken to ensure that personal data that are inaccurate, having regard to the purposes for which they are processed, are erased or rectified without delay;
  • processed in a manner that ensures appropriate security of the personal data, including protection against unauthorised or unlawful processing and against accidental loss, destruction or damage, using appropriate technical or organisational measures.

2.Data controller

SEA are using a secure forum platform called Discourse, which is hosted on a GDPR-compliant server with Digital Ocean. Please see Digital Ocean Privacy Policy for further details.

3.Information gathering

In signing up for the Survivor Forum, forum members are agreeing that we can gather data about them through their participation in registering, reading, contributing to the forum and through contact directly with forum moderators and SEA team members. For evaluation, monitoring and training purposes the content in which they post may be captured and used anonymously to inform research and evaluation work within SEA.

When forum members register they will have to put in their name and email address; their email address will only be viewable to them, us and the server host. Their name will be viewable to all and so we must instruct that this should not be their real name or contain any numbers identifiable to them.

The information that forum members will provide us will include:

  • A username (this cannot be their real name)
  • An email address
  • A password
  • IP address (this is automatically tracked when they register with and use the forum)

Most of the personal information that we process will be provided to us by forum members for one of the following reasons:

  • In registering with the Survivor Forum
  • In posting and/or responding to messages and threads in the forum
  • In contacting the moderator for technical issues
  • In the interest of sharing Safeguarding concerns

In order to provide a safe, consistent and appropriate service we use your information to:

  • Improve our site functions – we may ask for feedback or information to evaluate whether the forum is user friendly.
  • Contact forum members – we may send an email or direct message in relation to site improvements, notifications about changes, in response to their use of username or in relation to moderating the forum and keeping it safe.

PART TWO: PROCEDURE

4.Information processing

All data processed by SEA must be done on one of the following lawful bases: consent, contract, legal obligation, vital interests, public task or legitimate interests (see ICO guidance for more information).

Where consent is relied upon as a lawful basis for processing data, evidence of opt-in consent shall be kept with the personal data.

The lawful basis in which we will process your data includes:

  • Where we need to comply with a legal or regulatory obligation.
  • Where we have forum members’ explicit consent before using their personal information in that specific situation.

5.Information sharing

There may be certain circumstances where we disclose forum members’ personal information to third parties. Such instances include sharing data with our service providers who process your data on our behalf and upon our instruction to do so (for example our Customer Relationship Management providers).

In doing so we require all third parties to respect the privacy of your personal information and we require that they treat it in accordance with the law.

We only permit third parties to process forum members’ personal information for specified purposes and in accordance with our instructions, we do not permit our third-party service providers to use forum members’ personal information for their own interests or purposes.

Disclosure of forum members’ personal data is permitted by the GDPR without the consent of the data subject under certain circumstances, namely:

  • In the interests of safeguarding national security;
  • In the interests of crime prevention and detection which includes the apprehension and prosecution of offenders;
  • In the interests of discharging various regulatory functions, including health and safety;
  • In the interests of preventing serious harm occurring to a third party; and
  • In the interests of protecting the vital interests of the data subject, i.e., only in a life and death situation.

6.How long is your personal data retained for

Forum members’ personal data is collected and stored on Digital Ocean while they are registered. If they are inactive for twelve months, we will delete their profile.

7.Responding to data requests

SEA aim to respond to the request with a copy of the information we hold about the individual within one calendar month of receiving a valid request.

In rare circumstances where we cannot meet that deadline, we will contact the individual within that calendar month to tell you the reasons why and give the individual a realistic date of when we will provide the information. This should be no longer than 3 months from the original date of a valid application.

We will send the individual a copy of all the information we hold on the individual, and only the individual. Any information about identifiable other people mentioned in the same documents will be removed or blacked-out unless we have consent from the other person to provide it.

We reserve the right to charge an administrative fee in certain circumstances. We will let the individual know if and why this applies within one calendar month of receiving their application.

Where possible, we will provide the individual information in either:

  • posted in paper format
  • sent by secure electronic means

We will require a valid form of ID in order to process the request, if the request contains sensitive and/or confidential information or if we are unsure as to the identity of the person making the request.

If the individual is dissatisfied with the way their data subject access request has been processed or if they believe that data contained in your subject access information is incorrect or incomplete a concern should be raised with the Data Protection Officer.
Where the individual data was provided to SEA by another party (for example, via a referral from another organisation), this request will be forwarded to the relevant originating party for correction.

9.Your Data Protection Rights:
Under data protection law, forum members have rights including:

  • Your right of access - You have the right to ask us for copies of your personal information.
  • Your right to rectification - You have the right to ask us to rectify personal information you think is inaccurate. You also have the right to ask us to complete information you think is incomplete.
  • Your right to erasure - You have the right to ask us to erase your personal information in certain circumstances.
  • Your right to restriction of processing - You have the right to ask us to restrict the processing of your personal information in certain circumstances.
  • Your right to object to processing - You have the the right to object to the processing of your personal information in certain circumstances.
  • Your right to data portability - You have the right to ask that we transfer the personal information you gave us to another organisation, or to you, in certain circumstances.

Forum members are not required to pay any charge for exercising their rights. If they make a request, we have one month to respond.

Forum members can contact us at helen.liles@survivingeconomicabuse.org if they wish to make a request.

10.Breach

In the event of a breach of security leading to the accidental or unlawful destruction, loss, alteration, unauthorised disclosure of, or access to, personal data, the organisation shall promptly assess the risk to people’s rights and freedoms and if appropriate report this breach to the ICO (more information on the ICO website).

END OF POLICY

Safeguarding Policy

Policy Owner
Chief Executive Officer

Policy Lead
Head of Operations

Audience
Members of SEA’s Survivors’ Forum

Formally endorsed by
Chief Executive Officer

Endorsement Date
June 2021

Next Review
June 2022

This safeguarding document is intended to outline the safeguarding duties and processes within SEA in relation to the Survivor Forum. If forum members are in immediate danger or in need of medical attention in an emergency they should always dial 999.

Background

Surviving Economic Abuse (SEA) is a second-tier service working with professionals and advocating for change through amplifying victim-survivor’s voices and experiences. Whilst SEA does not offer frontline support to vulnerable adults, young people or children we recognise our duty to safeguard appropriately and well in order to prevent abuse and ensure adequate protection for those who are living with the effects of an abuser’s choices.

Purpose

SEA acknowledges that discussions held within consultations, project work, in the Survivor Forum and any involvement where Experts are invited to share their experiences may invoke strong emotions and responses to their own lived experiences. SEA also acknowledges the responsibilities when working with adults who may be considered vulnerable or at risk of harm, young people and children.

This Policy will serve to inform those victim-survivors of current and historic abuse, that we are in contact with.

This Policy has been informed by SEA’s overarching Safeguarding Policy and is specific to the Survivor Forum.

PART ONE: POLICY

Principles

SEA believes that everyone has the right to be treated with dignity and respect. The charity strives to provide a safe environment for anyone who is accessing it whether through work, support or learning initiatives.

This policy and its procedures are based on the following principles:

  • The welfare, quality of life and human rights of adults who may be considered vulnerable or at risk of harm, young people and children is our primary concern.
  • All individuals, whatever their age, culture, disability, gender, language, racial origin, socio-economic status, religious belief and/or sexual identify have the right to be safeguarded from abuse.
  • All incidents of alleged poor practice, misconduct and abuse will be taken seriously and responded to swiftly and appropriately.
  • All personal data will be processed in accordance with the requirements of the Data Protection Act 2018.

Definitions of abuse

Abuse is any behaviour towards a person that deliberately or unknowingly causes them harm, endangers life or violates their rights. Abuse may be/include:

  • Cyber-bullying and harassment
  • Discriminatory abuse motivated by discriminatory attitudes towards race, religion, gender, disability or cultural background
  • Domestic abuse and coercive control
  • Economic – controlling access to money, possessions or resources
  • Modern slavery
  • Neglect
  • Physical abuse
  • Psychological abuse – repeatedly being made to feel unhappy, humiliated, afraid or devalued by others
  • Sexual abuse and exploitation

PART TWO: PROCEDURES

Your safety and wellbeing

SEA understands that individual victim-survivors all have different lived experiences. We recognise our duty to safeguard appropriately and well in order to prevent abuse and ensure adequate protection for those who are living with the effects of an abuser’s choices. If a SEA moderator is concerned that a forum member may be vulnerable or at risk of harm, their safety and well-being is our primary concern, we may speak with them separately through the Private Message function to discuss any concerns and ensure that there are appropriate support measures in place for them.

Child safeguarding procedures

Members of the Survivor Forum are women over the age of 18. However, SEA acknowledges that children may be discussed. Where under-18s are concerned, there are statutory responsibilities for any organisation to follow regarding the safety of young people. If SEA is concerned for a child who may be at risk following information you have shared, we have a duty of care to report safeguarding concerns and therefore we may be forced to share your information with statutory services such as Police and/or Children’s Safeguarding Services;

Adults safeguarding procedures

All members of staff working closely with vulnerable adults must be alert to possibilities of abuse. Any concerns about the behaviour of any adult with respect to individuals are reported to the Safeguarding Officer who will decide what further action to take.

If staff, in the course of their work at SEA, have a safeguarding issue brought to their notice, they will treat this as a priority over all other work. All members of staff working with the EEG that receive a disclosure or report of abuse will follow the appropriate safeguarding procedures.

Once staff have followed the necessary safeguarding procedures, they will consider any following steps that may need to be taken such as reporting to the Police or Local Authority Adult’s Services;

There may also be times where we are forced to share your information to Police, regulatory bodies or legal advisors without your permission (sometimes referred to as ‘breaching confidentiality’). This could be for one of the following reasons:

  • In the interests of safeguarding national security;
  • Where a court orders SEA to disclose information;
  • Where there is reasonable cause to suspect that an adult’s life may be in immediate danger; under the Human Rights Act 1998.

SEA acknowledge that it is important to take appropriate action in reporting safeguarding concerns before harm occurs to any adult or child. However, we also know that working alongside forum members to support and encourage them to make their own decisions in relation to their safety and wellbeing is important. We believe that when it comes to sharing safeguarding concerns, we will always aim to work alongside them in relation to our duty of care in reporting.

We will always share with them what we are doing and who we are reporting to if information is shared with us that warrants a safeguarding response. The only time we would not share this information with them is if we felt that to do so would put a child or adult at further risk of harm.

Review

This policy and its procedures will be regularly monitored and reviewed:

  • In accordance with changes in legislation and guidance on the safeguarding of children and adults in vulnerable circumstances or any changes within SEA.
  • Following any issues or concerns raised about the safeguarding of children or adults in vulnerable circumstances within SEA.
  • In all other circumstances, at least annually.

END OF POLICY

Trigger Warning Policy

Policy Owner
Chief Executive Officer

Policy Lead
Head of Operations

Audience
Members of SEA’s Survivors’ Forum

Formally endorsed by
Chief Executive Officer

Endorsement Date
June 2021

Next Review
June 2022

Purpose

The idea of a Survivor Forum was to create a safe space for survivors of economic abuse to offer peer to peer support, share resources and knowledge and build an online community. The purpose of this document is to outline the expectations of users when posting content in relation to potentially challenging emotional or psychological triggers.

Scope

SEA acknowledge that discussions online may require trigger warnings depending on their content to promote well-being and to try to protect forum members, as the reader, from further trauma and avoid contributing towards a hypervigilant or strong emotional response.

It is not always possible to anticipate all potential triggers but we feel it is important to acknowledge that in identifying trigger warnings forum members can then make an informed decision about whether they wish to read or partake in a discussion on the forum.

In asking each forum member to take responsibility for the content they are posting, this is not only to encourage stimulating, supportive and resourceful discussions but it also provides choice and autonomy to one another on whether forum members can and wish to engage with a potentially traumatic topic.

At SEA, we understand that each individual’s experiences are different and impact us all differently. This is why we are asking forum members that wish to post, comment or respond to topics on the forum, to be mindful of:

  • The topics they are talking about and the language they are using
  • Identifying what may be considered as triggering and label relevant topics appropriately
  • Making it clear when posting what the discussion is about

In adapting a mindful approach when submitting topics for discussion we would encourage forum members to use any of the following phrases to illustrate this:

  • Content warning
  • Trigger warning
  • Emotional trigger warning
  • Trauma trigger warning

Safeguarding and support

Surviving Economic Abuse (SEA) is a second-tier service working with professionals and advocating for change through utilising victim-survivor’s voices and experiences. Victim-survivor’s stories and participation supports us to help raise awareness of economic abuse, develop our projects and resources as well as contributing towards transforming responses to economic abuse.

Whilst SEA does not offer frontline support to vulnerable adults, young people or children, we understand that some of the content on the forum may be emotionally or psychologically challenging. If forum members feel that they require further support they can see the list below of organisations that can support them:

If they need to speak with someone they can also look to the following for support:

  • National Domestic Abuse Helpline – 0808 2000 247 – (run by Refuge)
  • The Mix, free information and support for under 25s in the UK – 0808 808 4994
  • National LGBT+ Domestic Abuse Helpline – 0800 999 5428 (run by Galop)
  • Samaritans (24/7 service) – 116 123
  • Rights of Women advice lines - there are a range of services available

A more extensive list of services can be found via our website Organisations that can help - Surviving Economic Abuse.

SEA’s Survivor Forum is a space for women. Men can access the following services for support and advice:

END OF POLICY