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By answering a few questions, we can help to find care near you.
The information you enter through out this form is subject to Data Protection and GDPR and will be protected throughout the process. To find out more information on this, please read our Privacy Policy.
Please note that if you are looking into care for a friend or family member, answer these questions on their behalf.
Welcome to the Ava Choices privacy policy.
adam HTT Limited t/a Ava Choices is a limited liability company registered in England and Wales with registered number 7718565 and its registered office at The Pinnacle, 170 Midsummer Boulevard, Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, MK9 1BP, United Kingdom (herein referred to as “Ava Choices”).
Ava Choices respects your privacy and is committed to protecting your personal data. This privacy policy will inform you as to how we look after your personal data when you use the ‘Ava Choices’ web application as a consumer by visiting www.avachoices.co.uk regardless of where you visit it from (herein referred to as the “web application”) or when you correspond with us by post, telephone, email, live chat or otherwise and also tells you about your privacy rights and how the law protects you.
Please use the Glossary below to understand the meaning of some of the terms used in this privacy policy.
In this privacy policy we use the following definitions, so please read them carefully:
Care Booking means the order, purchase, payment or booking of care and support related products and/or services.
Care Services means the provision of care and support related services and/or products (including but not limited to domiciliary and residential care) to an individual;
Care Provider means the provider of care and support related services and/or products (including but not limited to domiciliary and residential care) available for Care Bookings on the web application (B2C only).
Direct Payment means the payment of Care Services using any funding from your Direct Payment Provider.
1. Important Information and Who We Are
2. The Data We Collect About You
3. How Is Your Personal Data Collected?
4. How We Use Your Personal Data
5. Disclosures of Your Personal Data
6. International Transfers
7. Data Security
8. Data Retention
9. Your Legal Rights
10. Glossary
This privacy policy aims to give you information on how Ava Choices collects and processes your personal data as a consumer through your use of this web application, including any data you may provide through this web application, when you contact our Ava Assistants by telephone, email or live chat and/or when you correspond with us by post or otherwise (collectively referred to as "you" or “your” in this privacy policy).
Please see our separate provider privacy policy which describes how Ava Choices processes personal data about (potential, existing or former) Care Providers through their use of our web application and/or when they contact our Ava Assistants.
Our web application is not intended for children and we do not knowingly collect data relating to children.
Please note where:
• you are paying for Care Services in respect of a Care Booking yourself adam HTT Limited is the controller and responsible for your personal data (collectively referred to as "Ava Choices", "we", "us" or "our" in this privacy policy).
• you are paying for Services using Directs Payments, your local Clinical Commissioning Group or Council (“Direct Payment Provider”) will be acting as the controller and is responsible for your personal data. If you would like more information about how any of our Direct Payment Providers process personal data, you should read the privacy policy for the relevant Direct Payment Provider which will be available on their website.
• personal data is provided to our Care Providers in relation the care related product and/or service you have requested, our Care Providers may also be acting as data controllers. If you would like more information about how any of our Care Providers process personal data, you should read the privacy policy for the relevant Care Provider which will be available on their website.
We have appointed a data protection officer (DPO) who is responsible for overseeing questions in relation to this privacy policy. If you have any questions about this privacy policy, including any requests to exercise your legal rights, please contact the DPO using the details set out below.
If you have any questions about this privacy policy or our privacy practices, please contact our DPO in the following ways:
Full name of legal entity: adam HTT Limited
Email address: data.protection@avachoices.co.uk
Postal address: The Pinnacle, 170 Midsummer Boulevard, Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, MK9 1BP, United Kingdom
If you would like this privacy policy in another format (for example: audio, large print, braille) please contact us using the details above.
You have the right to make a complaint at any time to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the United Kingdom (UK) supervisory authority for data protection issues (www.ico.org.uk). We would, however, appreciate the chance to deal with your concerns before you approach the ICO so please contact us in the first instance.
We keep our privacy policy under regular review. This version was last updated on 11 November 2020.
It is important that the personal data we hold about you is accurate and current. Please keep us informed if your personal data changes during your relationship with us.
Our web application may include links to third-party websites, plug-ins and applications. Clicking on those links or enabling those connections may allow third parties to collect or share data about you. We do not control these third-party websites and are not responsible for their privacy statements. When you leave our web application, we encourage you to read the privacy policy of every website you visit.
Personal data, or personal information, means any information about an individual from which that person can be identified. It does not include data where the identity has been removed (anonymous data).
We may collect, use, store and transfer different kinds of personal data about you which we have grouped together as follows:
• Identity Data includes first name, last name, username or similar identifier, date of birth and languages.
• Contact Data includes home address, billing address, email address and telephone number.
• Financial Data includes credit and debit card details, including name on card, card reference, card number, start date, expiry date, CVV (the last three digits of the number on the back of the card) and your financial budget for your care goals.
• Transaction Data includes details about payments to and from you relating to products and services you have purchased.
• Technical Data includes internet protocol (IP) address, your login data, browser type and version, time zone setting and location, browser plug-in types and versions, operating system and platform, and other technology on the devices you use to access our web application.
• Profile Data includes your profile photo, username and password, memorable question & answer, purchases or orders made by you, your interests, biography, preferences, care viewings & assessment booking details, contents of both your live chats with us and emails sent to us, records of our discussions on the telephone (written only), contents of messages & questions sent to Care Providers, reviews, feedback, comments and survey responses.
• Health Data includes care goals & preferences, disabilities/conditions, allergies, medicines, complex care needs.
• Usage Data includes information about how you use our web application and services.
• Marketing and Communications Data includes your preferences in receiving marketing from us and your communication preferences.
Where we need to collect personal data by law, or under the terms of a contract we have with you, and you fail to provide that data when requested, we may not be able to perform the contract we have or are trying to enter into with you (for example, to provide you with our services). In this case, we may have to cancel a service you have with us but we will notify you if this is the case at the time.
We use different methods to collect data from and about you including through:
• Direct interactions. You may give us your Identity, Contact, Financial, Profile and Health Data by filling in forms on the web application or by corresponding with us by post, telephone, email, live chat or otherwise. This includes personal data you provide when you:
o ask questions or message Care Providers;
o book viewings with Care Providers;
o create and/or login to a user account on our web application;
o create a user profile on our web application;
o create, manage and purchase Care Bookings.
o contact us by live chat, email, telephone or on our web application;
o enter a survey;
o find services near you;
o give us comments or feedback; or
o leave a review on a Care Provider.
• Automated technologies or interactions. As you interact with our web application, we will automatically collect Technical Data about your equipment, browsing actions and patterns. We collect this personal data by using cookies, server logs and other similar technologies. Please see our cookie policy for further details.
• Third parties. We may receive personal data about you from third parties as set out below:
o Technical Data from analytics and functionality providers such as Google Analytics and Google Translate based outside the UK; and
o Identity, Contact & Health Data from our Local Authority partners based in the UK.
We will only use your personal data when the law allows us to. Most commonly, we will use your personal data in the following circumstances:
• Where we need to perform the contract we are about to enter into or have entered into with you.
• Where it is necessary for our legitimate interests (or those of a third party) and your interests and fundamental rights do not override those interests.
• Where we need to comply with a legal obligation.
Please see the section below entitled ‘Lawful Basis’ to find out more about the types of lawful basis that we usually rely on to process your personal data.
We have set out below, in a table format, a description of all the ways we plan to use your personal data, and which of the legal bases we rely on to do so. We have also identified what our legitimate interests are where appropriate.
Note that we may process your personal data for more than one lawful ground depending on the specific purpose for which we are using your data. Please contact us if you need details about the specific legal ground we are relying on to process your personal data where more than one ground has been set out in the table below.
Purpose/Activity | Type of data | Lawful basis for processing including basis of legitimate interest |
---|---|---|
To register and/or login your new user account on our web application |
(a) Identity (b) Contact (c) Profile |
(a) Performance of a contract with you |
To create your user profile on our web application |
(a) Identity (b) Contact (c) Financial (d) Profile (e) Health |
(a) Performance of a contract with you (b) See Special Category Data section above in relation to Health data |
To find care related products or services near you including: (a) Mapping of Care Providers (b) Generating quotes from Care Providers to help you meet your care goals |
(c) Identity (d) Contact (e) Financial (f) Profile (g) Health |
(a) Performance of a contract with you (b) See Special Category Data section above in relation to Health data |
To process payments on behalf of Care Providers in relation to Care Bookings including: (a) Manage invoices, payments, fees and charges |
(a) Identity (b) Contact (c) Financial (d) Transaction (e) Profile (f) Marketing and Communications |
(a) Performance of a contract with you |
To manage your relationship with Care Providers on the web application which will include: (a) Giving you the ability to ask questions or message Care Providers (b) Booking viewings and/or assessments with Care Providers (c) Managing Care Bookings (d) Asking you to leave a review or take a survey |
(a) Profile |
(a) Performance of a contract with you (b) Necessary for our legitimate interests (to study how consumers use our services) |
To manage our relationship with you which will include: (a) Provide you with updates on our service (b) Notifying you about changes to our Terms and Conditions or Privacy Policy (c) Asking you to make a comment, give us feedback or take a survey |
(a) Identity (b) Contact (c) Profile (d) Marketing and Communications |
(a) Performance of a contract with you (d) Necessary to comply with a legal obligation (c) Necessary for our legitimate interests (to keep our records updated and to study how consumers use our services) |
To administer and protect our business and this web application (including troubleshooting, data analysis, testing, system maintenance, support, reporting and hosting of data) |
(a) Identity (b) Contact (c) Profile (d) Technical (e) Usage |
(a) Necessary for our legitimate interests (for running our business, provision of administration and IT services, network security, to prevent fraud and in the context of a business reorganisation or group restructuring exercise) (b) Necessary to comply with a legal obligation |
To administer your incoming queries via live chat, email, telephone or web application (which may include screen sharing) |
(a) Identity (b) Contact (c) Profile (d) Technical (e) Marketing and Communications Data |
(a) Necessary for our legitimate interests (for running our Ava Assistants contact centre to support users of our web application and services) (b) Consent where you have given us clear consent for you to share your screen with us to assist you with the use of the web application |
To use data analytics to improve our web application, services, marketing, consumer relationships and experiences |
(a) Technical (b) Usage |
(a) Necessary for our legitimate interests (to define types of consumers for our web application and services, to keep our web application updated and relevant, to develop our business and to inform our marketing strategy) |
To make suggestions and recommendations to you about services that may be of interest to you |
(a) Identity (b) Contact (c) Technical (d) Usage (e) Profile (f) Marketing and Communications |
(a) Consent where you have given us clear consent for us to process your personal data for direct marketing purposes. |
We strive to provide you with choices regarding certain personal data uses, particularly around marketing and advertising. We have established the following personal data control mechanisms:
Marketing From Us
We may use your Identity, Contact, Technical, Usage and Profile Data to form a view on what we think you may want or need, or what may be of interest to you. This is how we decide which services may be relevant for you (we call this marketing).
You will receive marketing communications from us if you have either contacted us, requested information from us or created a user account on our web application AND opted in to receive marketing information about our products and services.
Third-Party Marketing
We do not share or sell your personal data with any third parties for marketing purposes.
Opting Out
You can ask us to stop sending you marketing messages at any time by following the opt-out links on any marketing message sent to you or by contacting us at any time.
Where you opt out of receiving these marketing messages, this will not apply to personal data provided to us as a result of a product/service experience or other transactions.
Cookies
You can also set your browser to refuse all or some browser cookies, or to alert you when websites set or access cookies. If you disable or refuse cookies, please note that some parts of our web application may become inaccessible or not function properly.
For more information about the cookies we use, please see www.avachoices.co.uk/cookies which also gives you the ability to opt-out of cookies (except for strictly necessary cookies) by configuring the “cookie settings” toggles.
Change of Purpose
We will only use your personal data for the purposes for which we collected it, unless we reasonably consider that we need to use it for another reason and that reason is compatible with the original purpose. If you wish to get an explanation as to how the processing for the new purpose is compatible with the original purpose, please contact us.
If we need to use your personal data for an unrelated purpose, we will notify you and we will explain the legal basis which allows us to do so.
Please note that we may process your personal data without your knowledge or consent, in compliance with the above rules, where this is required or permitted by law.
We may share your personal data with the parties set out below for the purposes set out in the table Purposes for which we will use your personal data above.
• External third parties as set out below:
o Care Providers acting as data controllers based inside the UK in relation the care related product and/or service you have requested via the web application or by post.
o Infrastructure-as-a-service provider acting as a processor based inside the UK.
o Other service providers acting as processors based inside and outside the UK who provide analytics, address lookup, contact centre, customer relationship management, email marketing, growth marketing, maps, productivity cloud and translation applications/platforms.
o Payment service providers and other financial institutions acting as processors or joint controllers based inside the UK who process payments and retain financial records.
o Professional advisers acting as processors or joint controllers including lawyers, bankers, auditors and insurers based inside the UK who provide consultancy, banking, legal, insurance and accounting services.
o HM Revenue & Customs, regulators and other authorities acting as processors or joint controllers based inside the UK who require reporting of processing activities in certain circumstances.
• Third parties to whom we may choose to sell, transfer or merge parts of our business or our assets. Alternatively, we may seek to acquire other businesses or merge with them. If a change happens to our business, then the new owners may use your personal data in the same way as set out in this privacy policy.
We require all third parties to respect the security of your personal data and to treat it in accordance with the law. We do not allow our third-party service providers to use your personal data for their own purposes and only permit them to process your personal data for specified purposes and in accordance with our instructions.
Our web application, Ava Choices, does not operate outside of the UK. This means that any personal data provided to the Ava Choices web application is hosted and processed at data centres within the UK.
Some of our external third parties are based outside the UK so their processing of your personal data will involve a transfer of data outside the UK.
Whenever we transfer your personal data out of the UK, we ensure a similar degree of protection is afforded to it by ensuring at least one of the following safeguards is implemented:
• We will only transfer your personal data to countries that have been deemed to provide an adequate level of protection for personal data by the UK.
• Where we use certain service providers, we may use specific contracts approved by the UK which give personal data the same protection it has in the UK.
Please contact us if you want further information on the specific mechanism used by us when transferring your personal data out of the UK.
Our Commitment
We have put in place appropriate security measures to prevent your personal data from being accidentally lost, used or accessed in an unauthorised way, altered or disclosed. In addition, we limit access to your personal data to those employees, agents, contractors and other third parties who have a business need to know. They will only process your personal data on our instructions and they are subject to a duty of confidentiality.
Your Responsibility
Sending information over the internet is generally not completely secure, and therefore we can't guarantee the security of your data while it's in transit. Transmission of such data is therefore entirely at your own risk. We have procedures and security features in place to keep your data secure once we receive it. Data that is provided to us is stored on our secure servers. Details relating to any transactions entered into on our web application will be encrypted to ensure its safety.
If you want detailed information from Get Safe Online on how to protect your information and your computers and devices against fraud, identity theft, viruses and many other online problems, please visit www.getsafeonline.org. Get Safe Online is supported by HM Government and leading businesses.
Certifications & Accreditations
We are committed to ensuring that your information is secure. We have stringent physical, electronic and managerial procedures to safeguard and secure your data.
We are ISO 27001 accredited and we also comply with the requirements of Cyber Essentials which is a Government-backed, industry-supported scheme to help organisations protect themselves against common online threats.
adam HTT Limited is registered with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) under registration number: ZA104405
Penetration Testing
We commission regular independent penetration testing of our infrastructure to ensure that we keep our web application free from vulnerabilities.
Personal Data Breaches
We have put in place procedures to deal with any suspected personal data breach and will notify you and any applicable regulator of a breach where we are legally required to do so.
Credit/Debit Card Details
For your security, we do not store your credit or debit card details on our web application and if you make any payments on our web application, your credit or debit card details are processed and stored directly by a third party processor and are protected by encryption. We only retain details of your transactions on our web application on secure servers.
Email Fraud
Please note we will never ask you to confirm your password or credit/debit card details by email. If you receive an email that request this information and appears to have been sent by us, please treat this as fraudulent and do not reply or provide any information. If you receive any such emails, please contact our Data Protection Officer to provide us with further details.
How Long Will You Use My Personal Data For?
We will only retain your personal data for as long as reasonably necessary to fulfil the purposes we collected it for, including for the purposes of satisfying any legal, regulatory, tax, accounting or reporting requirements. We may retain your personal data for a longer period in the event of a complaint or if we reasonably believe there is a prospect of litigation in respect to our relationship with you.
To determine the appropriate retention period for personal data, we consider the amount, nature and sensitivity of the personal data, the potential risk of harm from unauthorised use or disclosure of your personal data, the purposes for which we process your personal data and whether we can achieve those purposes through other means, and the applicable legal, regulatory, tax, accounting or other requirements.
Under certain circumstances, you have rights under data protection laws in relation to your personal data. Please see the section below entitled ‘Your Legal Rights’ to find out more about these rights.
If you wish to exercise any of these legal rights, please contact us at data.protection@avachoices.co.uk.
No Fee Usually Required
You will not have to pay a fee to access your personal data (or to exercise any of the other rights). However, we may charge a reasonable fee if your request is clearly unfounded, repetitive or excessive. Alternatively, we could refuse to comply with your request in these circumstances.
What We May Need From You
We may need to request specific information from you to help us confirm your identity and ensure your right to access your personal data (or to exercise any of your other rights). This is a security measure to ensure that personal data is not disclosed to any person who has no right to receive it. We may also contact you to ask you for further information in relation to your request to speed up our response.
Time Limit to Respond
We try to respond to all legitimate requests within one month. Occasionally it could take us longer than a month if your request is particularly complex or you have made a number of requests. In this case, we will notify you and keep you updated.
Performance of Contract means processing your data where it is necessary for the performance of a contract to which you are a party or to take steps at your request before entering into such a contract.
Legitimate Interest means the interest of our business in conducting and managing our business to enable us to give you the best service/product and the best and most secure experience. We make sure we consider and balance any potential impact on you (both positive and negative) and your rights before we process your personal data for our legitimate interests. We do not use your personal data for activities where our interests are overridden by the impact on you (unless we have your consent or are otherwise required or permitted to by law). You can obtain further information about how we assess our legitimate interests against any potential impact on you in respect of specific activities by contacting us.
Consent means you have given clear consent for us to process your personal data for a specific purpose.
Comply with a legal obligation means processing your personal data where it is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation that we are subject to.
You have the right to:
Request access to your personal data (commonly known as a “data subject access request”). This enables you to receive a copy of the personal data we hold about you and to check that we are lawfully processing it.
Request correction of the personal data that we hold about you. This enables you to have any incomplete or inaccurate data we hold about you corrected, though we may need to verify the accuracy of the new data you provide to us.
Request erasure of your personal data. This enables you to ask us to delete or remove personal data where there is no good reason for us continuing to process it. You also have the right to ask us to delete or remove your personal data where you have successfully exercised your right to object to processing (see below), where we may have processed your information unlawfully or where we are required to erase your personal data to comply with local law. Note, however, that we may not always be able to comply with your request of erasure for specific legal reasons which will be notified to you, if applicable, at the time of your request.
Object to processing of your personal data where we are relying on a legitimate interest (or those of a third party) and there is something about your particular situation which makes you want to object to processing on this ground as you feel it impacts on your fundamental rights and freedoms. You also have the right to object where we are processing your personal data for direct marketing purposes. In some cases, we may demonstrate that we have compelling legitimate grounds to process your information which override your rights and freedoms.
Request restriction of processing of your personal data. This enables you to ask us to suspend the processing of your personal data in the following scenarios:
• If you want us to establish the data’s accuracy.
• Where our use of the data is unlawful but you do not want us to erase it.
• Where you need us to hold the data even if we no longer require it as you need it to establish, exercise or defend legal claims.
• You have objected to our use of your data but we need to verify whether we have overriding legitimate grounds to use it.
Request the transfer of your personal data to you or to a third party. We will provide to you, or a third party you have chosen, your personal data in a structured, commonly used, machine-readable format. Note that this right only applies to automated information which you initially provided consent for us to use or where we used the information to perform a contract with you.
Withdraw consent at any time where we are relying on consent to process your personal data. However, this will not affect the lawfulness of any processing carried out before you withdraw your consent. If you withdraw your consent, we may not be able to provide certain products or services to you. We will advise you if this is the case at the time you withdraw your consent.
PLEASE READ THESE TERMS AND CONDITIONS CAREFULLY BEFORE USING THIS WEB APPLICATION
1.1 We refer to the terms and conditions in this document as the “Terms”. These Terms tell you what applies to you as a consumer for using our web application which can be accessed from www.avachoices.co.uk (or such other domain name that we tell you about from time to time), as well as all related web pages (we refer to all of this as our “web application” in these Terms).
1.2 The web application is only available to you as a consumer. If you are acting as an authorised representative for an Individual (as described in clause 1.3 below) then you agree that the Individual is also a consumer. We do not offer the use of the web application for any business use and any such use is strictly prohibited and would be a breach of these Terms by you.
1.3 In these Terms, when we say “you” (or when we use similar language such as “your”) that means either:
1.3.1 you as an adult individual who is capable of entering into a contract and wishes to use the web application for your own benefit as a consumer (we also refer to you in this case as the “Individual”); or
1.3.2 you as an authorised representative of the individual who is a consumer and who wishes to have the benefit of the web application (in this case we refer to that individual as the “Individual” in these Terms). In this case, you are also confirming that when you accept these Terms, that you will ensure that:
1.3.2.1 the Individual complies with these Terms (so that anything which you are agreeing to, you will ensure that the Individual also acts in a manner consistent with that);
1.3.2.2 where you are acting on behalf of the Individual that you will also comply with these Terms;
1.3.2.3 you will not allow the Individual to use the web application where he/she cannot fulfil both of these conditions: (1) he/she is an adult individual who is a consumer; and (2) he/she is capable of entering into a contract. Where the Individual cannot fulfil both conditions, then only you will use the web application on the Individual’s behalf. If the Individual fulfils both of the conditions and uses the web application then any use by you on the Individual’s behalf will be dealt with by clause 1.3.2 and any use by the Individual will be by dealt with by clause 1.3.1;
1.3.2.4 any issues faced by the Individual with the web application or the arrangements covered by these Terms will be raised by you as the representative of the Individual with us, rather than by the Individual with us (unless you are acting as the Individual’s agent in entering into these Terms on the Individual’s behalf and the Individual is able to legally contract with us in this manner);
1.3.2.5 you will enter into any Care Contract for the benefit of the Individual as a result of any Care Booking (such terms are described in clause 4 below); and
1.3.2.6 you accept full responsibility and liability for the wrongful actions or failures of the Individual.
1.4 Except as already set out in clause 1.3 above, where these Terms are accepted by a representative of an Individual, it is agreed that where applicable:
1.4.1 the Terms apply and will be interpreted as an obligation on, and requirement of, both the representative and the Individual (even where we just refer to ‘you’ or the ‘Individual’);
1.4.2 any of our limitations and exclusions of liability apply in respect of both the representative and the Individual (even where we just refer to ‘you’ or the ‘Individual’); and
1.4.3 any references to Care Services being provided are to be interpreted to be those for the benefit of the Individual (even where we just refer to ‘you’).
The interpretation in this clause will apply if there is any ambiguity or conflict with other clauses in these Terms.
2.1 The web application is operated by adam HTT Limited (we also refer to ‘adam HTT Limited’ in these terms as “Ava Choices”, ”we”, “us” or “our”). We are a limited company registered in England and Wales under company number 7718565 and have our registered office and trading address at The Pinnacle, 170 Midsummer Boulevard, Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, MK9 1BP, United Kingdom. Our VAT number is 198 5733 49.
2.2 If you have any questions about our web application, please contact us by:
2.2.1 live chat at www.avachoices.co.uk; or
2.2.2 e-mail at support@avachoices.co.uk.
2.2.3 telephone on 01908 978 840.
2.3 We try to make the web application as easy to use as possible. If you have any difficulties using the web application, please contact us by live chat, email or telephone.
3.1 By using our web application, you are confirming that you have read, understood and agree to these Terms. If you have any questions about these Terms, please email us at support@avachoices.co.uk.
3.2 For you to acknowledge and accept these Terms for yourself and, where applicable, as a representative for an Individual, you must select the appropriate tick-box when creating your account within the web application or logging into the web application for the first time (as applicable).
3.3 By completing the tick-box to confirm your acceptance of these Terms (on both your behalf and on behalf of the Individual), you are also confirming that:
3.3.1 you have fully read and understood the Terms and you and the Individual agree to them; and
3.3.2.2 bind an Individual to any resultant Care Booking; and
3.3.2.3 be responsible for your and/or an Individual’s correct technical usage of the web application for the Permitted Purpose (as we define in clause 10.1 below) in accordance with these Terms.
3.4 If you are using Direct Payments (as described in clause 16.7 below), you confirm by agreeing to these Terms, that where you are acting on behalf of an Individual, you have provided legal authority to do so to your local Clinical Commissioning Group or Council (as applicable) (we refer to this as the “Direct Payment Provider”) before using the web application for the Individual. You agree that we may suspend or end your use of the web application if you fail to do this.
3.5 If we ask you to provide details (including a copy of) any legal authority to act on behalf of an Individual, you agree that you will provide this promptly in writing to us (and within 1 day of our request). You agree that we may suspend or end your use of the web application if you fail to do this.
3.6 These Terms shall apply from the date that you accept them as mentioned in clause 3.3 above and shall remain in force until ended as mentioned in these Terms.
3.7 If you do not agree to these Terms, you must not use our web application.
In these Terms we use the following definitions, so please read them carefully:
5.1 Please be aware that the following additional terms also apply to your use of our web application:
5.1.1 Our Privacy Policy. See further under How we may use your personal information.
5.1.2 Our Acceptable Use Policy, which sets out the permitted uses and prohibited uses of our web application. When using our web application, you must comply with this Acceptable Use Policy.
5.1.3 Our Cookie Policy, which sets out information about the cookies on our web application.
5.2 Please also be aware that there will be other terms and conditions for the supply of goods or services which you will enter into directly with Care Providers for Care Services as a result of making a Care Booking on our web application. However, those terms will be between you and the Care Provider in the form of the Care Contract and not with us (so they do not form part of our contract with you and so we are not responsible nor liable for such Care Services being provided).
6.1 We amend these Terms from time to time. Every time you wish to use our web application, please check these terms to ensure you understand the terms that apply at that time. These terms were most recently updated on the version date shown at the top of this document.
7.1 We update and change our web application from time to time to reflect changes to our products, our users’ needs and our business.
8.1 We do not guarantee that our web application, or any Content on it, will always be available or uninterrupted. We may suspend or withdraw or restrict the availability of all or any part of our web application for business and operational reasons. We will try to give you reasonable notice of any suspension or withdrawal.
9.1 We make no representations, warranties or guarantees, whether express or implied, that the Content on our web application is accurate, complete or up to date or will meet your requirements and any reliance that you may place on the information on the web application is at your own risk. However, neither this nor anything else in these Terms affects your consumer statutory rights.
10.1 The purpose of the web application is for it to be used:
10.1.1 as an introductory website for Care Providers and consumers to potentially enter into contracts for Services with each other directly; and
10.1.2 to facilitate the management and payment of Care Bookings and Featured Services between Care Providers and consumers;
(we refer to such purposes as the "Permitted Purpose")
10.2 You acknowledge and accept that any contractual engagement for Services shall be just between you and the respective Care Provider. We shall not be responsible nor liable for any wrongful actions or failures associated with such Care Provider or your contract with the Care Provider. Consequently, you acknowledge and accept that we and our web application act as a platform to introduce Individuals (including their representatives, where applicable) to Care Providers. Therefore, any Care Booking is a contractual agreement directly between you and a Care Provider. Please therefore be aware, that we:
10.2.1 have only facilitated the introduction of you and the Care Provider;
10.2.2 allow the management of the Care Booking and Featured Services through the use of the web application;
10.2.3 have no responsibility or liability for providing the Services or any failures with the Services;
10.2.4 do not provide you with information regarding the suitability of the Services, a Care Provider or any other third party; and
10.2.5 are not responsible for the Content sent to the web application by you, the Care Provider or any other third party.
10.3 The content of these Terms deals with what you are allowed to do with the web application for the Permitted Purpose.
10.4 The Terms deal with the technical provision of the web application to you. Consequently, we, as a provider of the web application, shall have no responsibility or liability for the accuracy of the information sent by an Individual, you or a Care Provider within the web application. Therefore, you agree that you shall take all steps necessary to satisfy yourself with the accuracy and completeness of the information sent by you and the information sent by your Care Provider and to perform your own due diligence on the Individual, Care Provider and Services. We do not act on your behalf, nor on any Individual’s or Care Provider’s behalf, in delivering the actual Services.
10.5 We do not guarantee you any volume or quality of Care Quotes or Care Bookings through the web application and cannot provide any assurances about the Care Providers. You need to also be aware that, whilst you have the right to withdraw or decline to award a Care Request, a Care Provider may also withdraw or decline to progress with a Care Quote before entering into a Care Booking.
11.1 We grant to you a non-exclusive, non-transferable right, without the right to grant sublicences, to permit you to use the web application solely for the Permitted Purpose in accordance with these Terms.
11.2 You shall not access, store, distribute or transmit any Viruses, or any material during the course of your use of the web application that:
11.2.1 is unlawful, harmful, threatening, defamatory, obscene, infringing, harassing or racially or ethnically offensive or otherwise offensive;
11.2.2 facilitates illegal activity;
11.2.3 depicts sexually explicit images;
11.2.4 promotes unlawful violence;
11.2.5 is discriminatory, including that based on race, gender, religious belief, sexual orientation, disability; or
11.2.6 is otherwise illegal or causes damage or injury to any person or property;
We reserve the right, without liability or prejudice to our other rights, to disable your access to any material that breaches the provisions of this clause and/or to end your access to the web application.
11.3 You shall not (except where the law does not allow such restrictions, or except to the extent expressly allowed by the other clauses in these Terms) do any of the following:
11.3.1 attempt to copy, modify, duplicate, create derivative works from, frame, mirror, republish, download, display, transmit, or distribute all or any portion of the web application (as applicable) in any form or media or by any means; or
11.3.2 attempt to de-compile, reverse compile, disassemble, reverse engineer or otherwise reduce to human-perceivable form all or any part of the web application; or
11.3.3 access all or any part of the web application in order to build a product or service which competes with the web application; or
11.3.4 use the web application to provide services to third parties; or
11.3.5 subject to clause 27.3 below, license, sell, rent, lease, transfer, assign, distribute, display, disclose, or otherwise commercially exploit, or otherwise make the web application available to any third party except yourself or the Individual; or
11.3.6 attempt to obtain, or assist third parties in obtaining, access to the web application, other than as provided under this clause 11; or
11.3.7 introduce or permit the introduction of, any Virus or Vulnerability into our network and information systems.
11.4 You shall not allow any unauthorised access to, or use of, the web application. If you become aware of such unauthorised access, you will immediately notify us.
11.5 We reserve the right, at our sole discretion, to reject, suspend or remove you from the web application.
11.6 All Care Requests and other requests sent by you through the web application must be genuine, honest and true reflections of the Services that are required by an Individual. You agree that you will not do anything contrary to the Care Request or other requests made through the web application. Consequently, any Care Contract must use the same exact details from the Care Booking from the web application.
11.7 Except as set out in these Terms, you agree:
11.7.1 to only submit Care Requests and other requests using the web application that are genuine, bespoke requests for Care Quotes or Services, and are not speculative. You also agree to do so within a timely manner, and in all cases, no later than the deadlines mentioned within the web application;
11.7.2 to inform us of any changes to circumstances that may affect your usage of the web application or the Individual’s ability to receive the Services. If you are an authorised representative, you will also inform us of the death of an Individual. If there is any change to a Care Booking or a cancellation, then you will also immediately tell us about that;
11.7.3 not to progress any booking requests in relation to any Care Requests or Care Quotes or Services outside of the web application.
11.8 You agree that all information contained in your profile on the web application remains true, accurate and not misleading throughout the duration of these Terms. You will notify us immediately if you become aware of any incorrect information or any changes to the information which has an effect on your ability to carry on using the web application.
11.9 Please note that you have the right to cancel this contract within 14 days without giving any reason. The cancellation period will end after 14 days from the day that this contract starts. To meet the cancellation deadline, it is sufficient for you to send your communication concerning your exercise of the right to cancel before the cancellation period has expired. If you cancel this contract, we will reimburse to you all payments received from you under this contract within the prior 14 day period. We will make the reimbursement without undue delay, and not later than 14 days after the day on which we are informed about your decision to cancel this contract. We will make the reimbursement using the same means of payment as you used for the initial transaction, unless we have expressly agreed otherwise with you; in any event, you will not incur any Charges as a result of the reimbursement. However, if you requested to begin the performance of services during the cancellation period, you shall pay us an amount which is in proportion to what has been performed until you have communicated us your cancellation from this contract, in comparison with the full coverage of the contract. You can contact us to terminate these Terms, including by using the contact details within the web application (or notifying us otherwise of your decision to cancel this contract by a clear statement). You may use the attached model cancellation form, but it is not obligatory. We will promptly send you an acknowledgment of receipt of your request to end the contract, and we will get in touch with you if we need to further discuss the matter. Please note that where we have received any funds from the Direct Payment Provider within the 14 day cancellation period, we will refund those amounts to the Direct Payment Provider (less any amounts for any services which you have used during the cancellation period).
12.1 If you choose, or you are provided with, a username, password or other user account log in details (we refer to all of that as the “Log-In Details”) from us for using the web application, you must treat such information as confidential. You must not disclose it to any third party.
12.2 We have the right to disable any Log-In Details, whether chosen by you or allocated by us, at any time, if in our reasonable opinion you have failed to comply with any of the requirements of these Terms.
12.3 If you know or suspect that anyone other than you knows your Log-In Details, you must immediately notify us at support@avachoices.co.uk.
13.1 We do not guarantee that our web application will be free from bugs or viruses.
13.2 You are responsible for setting up your information technology, computer programs and platform to access our web application. You should use your own virus protection software.
13.3 You must not misuse our web application by knowingly or negligently introducing Viruses, or other material that is malicious or technologically harmful. You must not attempt to gain unauthorised access to our web application, the server on which our web application is stored or any server, computer or database connected to our web application. You must not attack our web application whether by way of denial-of-service attack or a distributed denial-of-service attack or otherwise. By breaching this provision, you would commit a criminal offence under the Computer Misuse Act 1990. We will report any such breach to the relevant law enforcement authorities and we will co-operate with those authorities by disclosing your identity to them. In the event of such a breach, your right to use our web application will cease immediately.
14.1 You acknowledge that users of the web application may submit a quality review or summary of a Care Provider’s performance under these Terms or a Care Booking. Such reviews are the opinions of those sending such comments and not those of us. Please report any abusive or derogatory comments to us, and we shall deal with such instances as we deem reasonably necessary.
15.1 We will only use your personal information as set out in our Privacy Policy.
16.1 You acknowledge and accept that the creation of a Care Booking on the web application shall mean that payments will become due for Care Services which are delivered in respect of such Care Booking by a Care Provider under your separate contract with them. The payments for such Care Services shall be processed by the web application.
16.2 We shall raise an Invoice for the Care Provider’s fees (we refer to these as the “Fees”) and the associated Platform Charges within the web application for your review. Any approved Invoices shall then be processed by the web application for payment as further described in clauses 16.6 and 16.7 below.
16.3 The frequency of submission of Invoices shall be determined within the Care Booking (with this usually being weekly submissions). You agree that you will aim to review and either accept or reject Invoices within 48 hours of the date of receiving them. However, in certain cases the web application may operate automatic approvals for Invoices based on pre-set criteria of which you are made aware from time to time.
16.4 If you have an issue with the amount of any of the Fees charged by a Care Provider or the Services provided or not provided by the Care Provider, then you understand and agree that you need to raise that with your Care Provider rather than us. You may send any information about the dispute (but not any legal proceedings) to the Care Provider through the web application. You agree that we may review any such information as well and at our discretion discuss the matter with the Care Provider should we choose to do so, although we have no obligation to do so, as we are not a party to the Care Contract.
16.5 If the Care Provider makes an adjustment to the Fees as a result of a dispute which you raise with the Care Provider, then we will adjust our Self-Funding Charges accordingly to reflect the amount of the Fees (as the Self-Funding Charges are linked to the amount of the Fees, as described in Clause 17 below). However, any adjustment to the Fees will not affect you having to pay us the Direct Payment Charges referred to in clause 17 below (where they are applicable). We reserve the right to raise a separate invoice for the Platform Charges for you to pay in the event that there is any dispute by you with the Fees.
17.1 We shall charge you and add to your Care Quote and resultant Care Booking the following charges for using our web application:
17.1.1 If you are Self-Funding (as described in clause 16.6 above), then:
17.1.1.1 5% commission on the net amount (namely excluding value added tax or VAT) charged by the Care Provider in respect of the Care Request (including any additional amounts charged by the Care Provider for renewals, extensions or amendments); and
17.1.1.2 2% booking fee of the net amount (namely excluding value added tax or VAT) charged by the Care Provider in respect of the Care Request (including any additional amounts charged by the Care Provider for renewals, extensions or amendments).
We refer to the above commission (namely the 5% commission) as the “Self-Funding Commission”. We reserve the right to not charge you the Self-Funding Commission or reduce the Self-Funding Commission we charge you which will be set out in the web application;
We refer to the total of the above charges (namely the 5% commission and the 2% booking fee) as the “Self-Funding Charges”;
17.1.2 If you are paying using Direct Payments (as described in clause 16.7 above): a regular fee will be deducted by us from your Virtual Wallet as agreed between you and your Direct Payment Provider in your care and support plan.
We refer to the above regular charges as the “Direct Payment Charges”.
17.2 All Self-Funding Charges and Direct Payment Charges will have value added tax (at the then applicable rate) added to them. The total amount of such charges are payable by you in British pounds sterling. We shall provide you with an appropriate VAT invoice.
17.3 You agree to reimburse us in full against all liability which we incur (including any interest, penalties or costs) which we are required to pay at any time to the tax and duty authorities in respect of your failure to pay any VAT to us in a timely manner.
17.4 In the event that we issue you an Invoice for the Self-Funding Charges, then all Self-Funding Charges shall be payable within 14 days of the date that we send you the Invoice and we reserve the right to withhold your access to the web application until we have received the applicable Self-Funding Charges in full.
17.5 In the event that we issue you an Invoice for the Direct Payment Charges, we shall issue you with an invoice for the Direct Payment Charges monthly in arrears to account for the Direct Payment Charges due and payable to us.
17.6 You may not offset amounts against any Invoices without our express written permission.
17.7 Any transactions processed via the web application’s supported third party card payment service (currently Barclaycard) shall be protected by encryption. Card details are not stored within the web application.
18.1 You acknowledge and agree that we and/or our third party licensors own all intellectual property rights in the web application and Ava Content. Except as expressly stated herein, these terms do not grant you any rights to, under or in, any patents, copyright, database right, trade secrets, trade names, trade marks (whether registered or unregistered), domain names, design rights or any other intellectual property rights of any kind whether or not they are registered or unregistered (anywhere in the world) or licences in respect of the web application.
18.2 We confirm that we have all the rights in relation to the web application that are necessary to grant all the rights we purport to grant under, and in accordance with, these terms.
18.3 We and our licensors reserve all of our and their rights in any intellectual property in connection with these Terms. This means, for example, that we and they remain owners of them and free to use them as we and they see fit.
18.4 Nothing in these Terms grants you any legal rights in the web application other than as necessary to allow you to access the web application. You agree not to adjust, try to circumvent or delete any notices contained in the web application (including any intellectual property notices) and in particular in any digital rights or other security technology embedded or contained within the web application.
19.1 Whenever you make use of a feature that allows you to upload Content to our web application, or to make contact with other users of our web application, you must comply with the Content standards set out in our Acceptable Use Policy referred to in clause 5.1.2 above. You will fully reimburse us for all losses and liability which we suffer by your failure to comply with such standards.
19.2 You retain all of your ownership rights in your Customer Content, but you are required to grant us a licence to use, store and reproduce that Customer Content and to distribute and make it available to third parties. The rights you license to us are described in clause 20 below.
19.3 We also have the right to disclose your identity to any third party who is claiming that any Content posted or uploaded by you to our web application constitutes a violation of their intellectual property rights, or of their right to privacy, or is unlawful.
19.4 You are solely responsible for securing and backing up your Customer Content.
20.1 When you upload or post Customer Content to our web application, you grant us a perpetual, irrevocable, non-exclusive, assignable, royalty-free and global licence to use, store, reproduce, distribute, display, sub-license and/or commercially exploit any user-generated Content in connection with the service provided by the web application across different media. This applies of course subject to our Privacy Policy referred to in clause 5.1.1 above.
21.1 The web application may include information and materials uploaded by other users of the web application. That information and those materials have not been verified or approved by us.
22.1 If you wish to complain about Content uploaded by other users, please contact us at support@avachoices.co.uk.
23.1 Where our web application contains links to other sites and resources provided by third parties, these links are provided for your information only. Such links should not be interpreted as approval by us of those linked websites or information you may obtain from them.
23.2 We have no control over the contents of those sites or resources.
24.1 You shall reimburse us in full in respect of all losses and liabilities which we incur as a result of your or the Individual’s wrongful actions, or your failure or the Individual’s failure to comply with the Terms.
25.1 This condition sets out the entire financial liability of the parties (including any liability for the acts or omissions of employees, agents and subcontractors) to each other (and including the Individual) in respect of:
25.1.1 any breach of these Terms however arising;
25.1.2 any use made of the web application by you or the Individual, or of any product or service incorporating the web application; and
25.1.3 any representation, statement or tortious act or omission (including negligence) arising under or in connection with these Terms.
25.2 Nothing in this Licence shall limit or exclude the liability of either party for:
25.2.1 death or personal injury resulting from their negligence;
25.2.2 fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation; or
25.2.3 any other liability which may not be limited or excluded under any applicable law.
25.3 We are responsible to you for foreseeable loss and damage caused by us. If we fail to comply with these Terms, we are responsible for loss or damage you suffer that is a foreseeable result of our breaking this contract or our failing to use reasonable care and skill, but we are not responsible for any loss or damage that is not foreseeable. Loss or damage is foreseeable if either it is obvious that it will happen or if, at the time the contract was made, both we and you knew it might happen. WHERE WE ARE FOUND TO BE LIABLE TO YOU OR THE INDIVIDUAL, THEN WHERE THE LAW ALLOWS US TO DO SO (AND SUBJECT TO CLAUSE 25.2 ABOVE), WE LIMIT OUR LIABILITY AS FOLLOWS: WE WILL REFUND YOU THE AMOUNT OF ANY CHARGES WHICH WE WERE NOT ENTITLED TO INVOICE YOU FOR, TOGETHER WITH A MAXIMUM AMOUNT OF COMPENSATION OF £100.
25.4 Subject to clause 25.2 and 25.3 above, we shall not be liable for any loss or damage of any kind arising from the use of the web application or from errors, deficiencies or faults in it, whether such loss or damage is caused by negligence or otherwise, unless agreed otherwise in any other written and signed contract between you and us. We do not exclude our liability for breaches of the data protection laws, where to do so would be unlawful.
25.5 These terms set out the full extent of our obligations and liabilities in respect of providing you with access to, or failing to provide you with access to, the web application. In particular, there are no conditions, warranties, representations or other terms, express or implied, that are binding on us except as specifically stated in these terms. Any condition, warranty, representation or other term concerning the web application which might otherwise be implied into, or incorporated in, these Terms, or any collateral contract, whether by statute, common law or otherwise, is hereby excluded to the fullest extent permitted by law. However. nothing in these Terms affects your consumer statutory rights.
25.6 For the avoidance of doubt, we shall not be responsible or liable for any third party Content contained within the application or any content on any third party site, which may be hyperlinked or otherwise referenced through the web application.
25.7 Each party shall at all times take all reasonable steps to minimise any loss or damage which it suffers in relation to the web application and these Terms.
25.8 We are not liable for business losses. We only make the web application available for private consumer use. If you use the web application for commercial or business purposes, we will have no liability to you for any loss of profit, loss of business, business interruption, or loss of business opportunity. Also, any such use will be a material breach of the contract by you and it will automatically and immediately bring this contract to an end.
26.1 Either you or we may bring to an end the contract formed by these Terms between you and us, by either:
26.1.1 providing the other with 30 days’ notice in writing at any time and for any reason or no reason at all; or
26.1.2 letting the other know in writing, that the other has not complied with these Terms (together with details of the failure). This applies only where the failure cannot be reasonably corrected within a reasonable period of time.
26.2 We may also suspend or terminate these Terms immediately by written notice (including by email) to you if we become aware of any of the following:
26.2.1 you try to contract with, or otherwise contact, a Care Provider so as to circumvent the web application;
26.2.2 you seek to process payments for any Care Booking or Services outside of the web application when the parties set up the Care Booking or Services to be paid via the web application;
26.2.3 you fail to inform us that a Care Provider has sought to contact you or process payment for a Care Booking or Services outside of the web application;
26.2.4 your actions or failures cause concern for the welfare of any Individual, or otherwise cause actual or potential damage to the reputation or integrity of us or our web application, which shall be determined at our sole discretion;
26.2.5 you use the web application or any part thereof for any purpose other than the Permitted Purpose;
26.2.6 you breach these Terms;
26.2.7 you are deemed as either unable to pay your debts or as having no reasonable prospect of doing so, or otherwise face or have entered into bankruptcy;
26.2.8 you are abusive or are otherwise, in our sole discretion, deemed to be offensive or you engage in inappropriate conduct;
26.2.9 you fail to maintain any standards for participation in the web application as set by us from time to time; or
26.2.10 you fail to comply with these Terms in a way that is materially adverse to the interests of us or prevents us from complying with our legal requirements.
26.3 Upon termination for any reason:
26.3.1 all rights granted to you under these Terms shall cease;
26.3.2 you must cease all activities authorised by these Terms;
26.3.3 you must immediately pay to us any sums due, if any;
26.3.4 we may cancel your account and access rights to the web application; and
26.3.5 you shall reimburse us for all losses and costs which we suffer as a result of any termination resulting from your wrongful actions or failures.
26.4 Termination of these Terms shall not prevent us from seeking compensation from you for any losses which we suffer from your wrongful actions or failures.
26.5 Termination or expiry of these Terms shall not affect any Care Contract entered into before the Terms were terminated. You will also be required to pay us the Charges in connection with such Care Contract and these Terms will survive termination in that respect. We may raise an invoice for the respective charges outside the web application in such circumstances if we so wish, or alternatively we may provide you with limited access to the web application for payment purposes
26.6 The termination of a Care Contract shall not result in termination of these Terms.
26.7 The other terms in this document which are stated to, or intended to, survive termination of the contract, will continue to survive such termination.
27.1 We shall have no liability to you for any breach of these Terms caused by any event or circumstance beyond our reasonable control. Events beyond our control shall include, but not be limited to, strikes, lock-outs or other industrial disputes; breakdown of systems or network access; or flood, fire, explosion, accident epidemic or pandemic, COVID-19 related events.
27.2 We may transfer this agreement to someone else. We may transfer our rights and obligations under these Terms to another organisation. We will always tell you in writing if this happens and we will ensure that the transfer will not affect your rights under the contract.
27.3 You need our consent to transfer your rights to someone else. You may only transfer your rights or your obligations under these Terms to another person if we agree to this in writing.
27.4 Nobody else has any rights under this contract. This contract is between you and us. No other person shall have any rights to enforce any of its Terms.
27.5 If a court finds part of this contract illegal, the rest will continue in force. Each of the paragraphs of these Terms operates separately. If any court or relevant authority decides that any of them are unlawful, the remaining paragraphs will remain in full force and effect.
27.6 Even if we delay in enforcing this contract, we can still enforce it later. If we do not insist immediately that you do anything you are required to do under these Terms, or if we delay in taking steps against you in respect of your breaking this contract, that will not mean that you do not have to do those things and it will not prevent us taking steps against you at a later date.
27.7 These Terms constitute the entire agreement between us in relation to its subject matter. You acknowledge that you have not relied on any statement, promise, representation, assurance or warranty made or given by or on behalf of us which is not set out in these Terms and that you shall have no claim for innocent or negligent misrepresentation or negligent misstatement based on any statement in these Terms.
28.1 We will try to resolve any disputes with you quickly and efficiently.
28.2 If you are unhappy with us please contact us as soon as possible.
28.3 If a problem arises or you are dissatisfied with the web application, we will seek to resolve a dispute using our comprehensive complaints policy.
28.4 These Terms are governed by English law and you can bring legal proceedings in respect of the contract between you and us in the English courts. If you live in Scotland, you can bring legal proceedings in respect of it in either the Scottish or the English courts. If you live in Northern Ireland, you can bring legal proceedings in respect of it in either the Northern Irish or the English courts.
This acceptable use policy sets out the content standards that apply when you upload content to our web application, make contact with other users on our web application, link to our web application, or interact with our web application in any other way.
Click on the links below to go straight to more information on each area:
1. Who we are and how to contact us
2. By using our web application you accept these terms
3. There are other terms that may apply to you
4. We may make changes to the terms of this policy
5. Prohibited uses
6. Interactive services
7. Content standards
8. Breach of this policy
9. Which country's laws apply to any disputes?
www.avachoices.co.uk is a web application operated by Adam HTT Limited ("We"). We are a limited company registered in England and Wales under company number 7718565 and have our registered office and trading address at The Pinnacle, 170 Midsummer Boulevard, Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, MK9 1BP, United Kingdom. Our VAT number is 198 5733 49.
To contact us, please email suppliersupport@avachoices.co.uk.
By using our web application, you confirm that you accept these provider terms and conditions and that you agree to comply with them.
If you do not agree to these terms, you must not use our web application.
We recommend that you print a copy of these terms for future reference.
If you are a consumer, our Terms and Conditions also apply to your use of our web application. If you are a provider of care related products or services, our Provider Terms & Conditions also apply to your use of our web application.
We amend these provider terms and conditions from time to time. Every time you wish to use our web application, please check these terms to ensure you understand the terms that apply at that time. These terms were most recently updated on 4 August 2020.
You may use our web application only for lawful purposes.
You may not use our web application:
• In any way that breaches any applicable local, national or international law or regulation.
• In any way that is unlawful or fraudulent or has any unlawful or fraudulent purpose or effect.
• For the purpose of harming or attempting to harm minors in any way.
• To bully, insult, intimidate or humiliate any person.
• To send, knowingly receive, upload, download, use or re-use any material which does not comply with our content standards.
• To transmit, or procure the sending of, any unsolicited or unauthorised advertising or promotional material or any other form of similar solicitation (spam).
• To knowingly transmit any data, send or upload any material that contains viruses, Trojan horses, worms, time-bombs, keystroke loggers, spyware, adware or any other harmful programs or similar computer code designed to adversely affect the operation of any computer software or hardware.
You also agree:
• Not to reproduce, duplicate, copy or re-sell any part of our web application in contravention of the provisions of our Terms and Conditions or Provider Terms and Conditions (as applicable).
• Not to access without authority, interfere with, damage or disrupt:
• any part of our web application;
• any equipment or network on which our web application is stored;
• any software used in the provision of our web application; or
• any equipment or network or software owned or used by any third party.
We may from time to time provide interactive services on our web application, including, without limitation:
• Live Chat
• Direct Messaging
(interactive services.)
We will do our best to assess any possible risks for users from third parties when they use any interactive service provided on our web application, and we will decide in each case whether it is appropriate to use moderation of the relevant service (including what kind of moderation to use) in the light of those risks. However, we are under no obligation to oversee, monitor or moderate any interactive service we provide on our web application, and we expressly exclude our liability for any loss or damage arising from the use of any interactive service by a user in contravention of our content standards, whether the service is moderated or not.
These content standards apply to any and all material which you contribute to our web application (Contribution), and to any interactive services associated with it.
The Content Standards must be complied with in spirit as well as to the letter. The standards apply to each part of any Contribution as well as to its whole.
Adam HTT Limited will determine, in its discretion, whether a Contribution breaches the Content Standards.
A Contribution must:
• Be accurate (where it states facts).
• Be genuinely held (where it states opinions).
• Comply with the law applicable in England and Wales and in any country from which it is posted.
A Contribution must not:
• Be defamatory of any person.
• Be obscene, offensive, hateful or inflammatory.
• Bully, insult, intimidate or humiliate.
• Promote sexually explicit material.
• Include child sexual abuse material.
• Promote violence.
• Promote discrimination based on race, sex, religion, nationality, disability, sexual orientation or age.
• Infringe any copyright, database right or trade mark of any other person.
• Be likely to deceive any person.
• Breach any legal duty owed to a third party, such as a contractual duty or a duty of confidence.
• Promote any illegal activity.
• Be in contempt of court.
• Be threatening, abuse or invade another's privacy, or cause annoyance, inconvenience or needless anxiety.
• Be likely to harass, upset, embarrass, alarm or annoy any other person.
• Impersonate any person, or misrepresent your identity or affiliation with any person.
• Give the impression that the Contribution emanates from Adam HTT Limited, if this is not the case.
• Advocate, promote, incite any party to commit, or assist any unlawful or criminal act such as (by way of example only) copyright infringement or computer misuse.
• Contain a statement which you know or believe, or have reasonable grounds for believing, that members of the public to whom the statement is, or is to be, published are likely to understand as a direct or indirect encouragement or other inducement to the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism.
• Contain any advertising or promote any services or web links to other sites.
When we consider that a breach of this acceptable use policy has occurred, we may take such action as we deem appropriate.
Failure to comply with this acceptable use policy constitutes a material breach of the Terms and Conditions or Provider Terms and Conditions (as applicable) upon which you are permitted to use our web application, and may result in our taking all or any of the following actions:
• Immediate, temporary or permanent withdrawal of your right to use our web application.
• Immediate, temporary or permanent removal of any Contribution uploaded by you to our web application.
• Issue of a warning to you.
• Legal proceedings against you for reimbursement of all costs on an indemnity basis (including, but not limited to, reasonable administrative and legal costs) resulting from the breach.
• Further legal action against you.
• Disclosure of such information to law enforcement authorities as we reasonably feel is necessary or as required by law.
We exclude our liability for all action we may take in response to breaches of this acceptable use policy. The actions we may take are not limited to those described above, and we may take any other action we reasonably deem appropriate.
We do not pre-moderate Contributions (for example images and documents relating to care service listings) before they are made available on our web application therefore if you see a Contribution that you believe to be in breach of this acceptable use policy please report it to us immediately at support@avachoices.co.uk.
If you are a consumer, please note that the terms of this policy, its subject matter and its formation are governed by English law. You and we both agree that the courts of England and Wales will have exclusive jurisdiction except that if you are a resident of Northern Ireland you may also bring proceedings in Northern Ireland, and if you are resident of Scotland, you may also bring proceedings in Scotland.
If you are a business, the terms of this policy, its subject matter and its formation (and any non-contractual disputes or claims) are governed by English law. We both agree to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales.
Welcome to the Ava Choices privacy policy.
adam HTT Limited t/a Ava Choices is a limited liability company registered in England and Wales with registered number 7718565 and its registered office at The Pinnacle, 170 Midsummer Boulevard, Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, MK9 1BP, United Kingdom (herein referred to as “Ava Choices”).
Ava Choices respects your privacy and is committed to protecting your personal data. This privacy policy will inform you as to how we look after your personal data when you use the ‘Ava Choices’ web application as a consumer by visiting www.avachoices.co.uk regardless of where you visit it from (herein referred to as the “web application”) or when you correspond with us by post, telephone, email, live chat or otherwise and also tells you about your privacy rights and how the law protects you.
Please use the Glossary below to understand the meaning of some of the terms used in this privacy policy.
In this privacy policy we use the following definitions, so please read them carefully:
Care Booking means the order, purchase, payment or booking of care and support related products and/or services.
Care Services means the provision of care and support related services and/or products (including but not limited to domiciliary and residential care) to an individual;
Care Provider means the provider of care and support related services and/or products (including but not limited to domiciliary and residential care) available for Care Bookings on the web application (B2C only).
Direct Payment means the payment of Care Services using any funding from your Direct Payment Provider.
1. Important Information and Who We Are
2. The Data We Collect About You
3. How Is Your Personal Data Collected?
4. How We Use Your Personal Data
5. Disclosures of Your Personal Data
6. International Transfers
7. Data Security
8. Data Retention
9. Your Legal Rights
10. Glossary
This privacy policy aims to give you information on how Ava Choices collects and processes your personal data as a consumer through your use of this web application, including any data you may provide through this web application, when you contact our Ava Assistants by telephone, email or live chat and/or when you correspond with us by post or otherwise (collectively referred to as "you" or “your” in this privacy policy).
Please see our separate provider privacy policy which describes how Ava Choices processes personal data about (potential, existing or former) Care Providers through their use of our web application and/or when they contact our Ava Assistants.
Our web application is not intended for children and we do not knowingly collect data relating to children.
Please note where:
• you are paying for Care Services in respect of a Care Booking yourself adam HTT Limited is the controller and responsible for your personal data (collectively referred to as "Ava Choices", "we", "us" or "our" in this privacy policy).
• you are paying for Services using Directs Payments, your local Clinical Commissioning Group or Council (“Direct Payment Provider”) will be acting as the controller and is responsible for your personal data. If you would like more information about how any of our Direct Payment Providers process personal data, you should read the privacy policy for the relevant Direct Payment Provider which will be available on their website.
• personal data is provided to our Care Providers in relation the care related product and/or service you have requested, our Care Providers may also be acting as data controllers. If you would like more information about how any of our Care Providers process personal data, you should read the privacy policy for the relevant Care Provider which will be available on their website.
We have appointed a data protection officer (DPO) who is responsible for overseeing questions in relation to this privacy policy. If you have any questions about this privacy policy, including any requests to exercise your legal rights, please contact the DPO using the details set out below.
If you have any questions about this privacy policy or our privacy practices, please contact our DPO in the following ways:
Full name of legal entity: adam HTT Limited
Email address: data.protection@avachoices.co.uk
Postal address: The Pinnacle, 170 Midsummer Boulevard, Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, MK9 1BP, United Kingdom
If you would like this privacy policy in another format (for example: audio, large print, braille) please contact us using the details above.
You have the right to make a complaint at any time to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the United Kingdom (UK) supervisory authority for data protection issues (www.ico.org.uk). We would, however, appreciate the chance to deal with your concerns before you approach the ICO so please contact us in the first instance.
We keep our privacy policy under regular review. This version was last updated on 11 November 2020.
It is important that the personal data we hold about you is accurate and current. Please keep us informed if your personal data changes during your relationship with us.
Our web application may include links to third-party websites, plug-ins and applications. Clicking on those links or enabling those connections may allow third parties to collect or share data about you. We do not control these third-party websites and are not responsible for their privacy statements. When you leave our web application, we encourage you to read the privacy policy of every website you visit.
Personal data, or personal information, means any information about an individual from which that person can be identified. It does not include data where the identity has been removed (anonymous data).
We may collect, use, store and transfer different kinds of personal data about you which we have grouped together as follows:
• Identity Data includes first name, last name, username or similar identifier, date of birth and languages.
• Contact Data includes home address, billing address, email address and telephone number.
• Financial Data includes credit and debit card details, including name on card, card reference, card number, start date, expiry date, CVV (the last three digits of the number on the back of the card) and your financial budget for your care goals.
• Transaction Data includes details about payments to and from you relating to products and services you have purchased.
• Technical Data includes internet protocol (IP) address, your login data, browser type and version, time zone setting and location, browser plug-in types and versions, operating system and platform, and other technology on the devices you use to access our web application.
• Profile Data includes your profile photo, username and password, memorable question & answer, purchases or orders made by you, your interests, biography, preferences, care viewings & assessment booking details, contents of both your live chats with us and emails sent to us, records of our discussions on the telephone (written only), contents of messages & questions sent to Care Providers, reviews, feedback, comments and survey responses.
• Health Data includes care goals & preferences, disabilities/conditions, allergies, medicines, complex care needs.
• Usage Data includes information about how you use our web application and services.
• Marketing and Communications Data includes your preferences in receiving marketing from us and your communication preferences.
Where we need to collect personal data by law, or under the terms of a contract we have with you, and you fail to provide that data when requested, we may not be able to perform the contract we have or are trying to enter into with you (for example, to provide you with our services). In this case, we may have to cancel a service you have with us but we will notify you if this is the case at the time.
We use different methods to collect data from and about you including through:
• Direct interactions. You may give us your Identity, Contact, Financial, Profile and Health Data by filling in forms on the web application or by corresponding with us by post, telephone, email, live chat or otherwise. This includes personal data you provide when you:
o ask questions or message Care Providers;
o book viewings with Care Providers;
o create and/or login to a user account on our web application;
o create a user profile on our web application;
o create, manage and purchase Care Bookings.
o contact us by live chat, email, telephone or on our web application;
o enter a survey;
o find services near you;
o give us comments or feedback; or
o leave a review on a Care Provider.
• Automated technologies or interactions. As you interact with our web application, we will automatically collect Technical Data about your equipment, browsing actions and patterns. We collect this personal data by using cookies, server logs and other similar technologies. Please see our cookie policy for further details.
• Third parties. We may receive personal data about you from third parties as set out below:
o Technical Data from analytics and functionality providers such as Google Analytics and Google Translate based outside the UK; and
o Identity, Contact & Health Data from our Local Authority partners based in the UK.
We will only use your personal data when the law allows us to. Most commonly, we will use your personal data in the following circumstances:
• Where we need to perform the contract we are about to enter into or have entered into with you.
• Where it is necessary for our legitimate interests (or those of a third party) and your interests and fundamental rights do not override those interests.
• Where we need to comply with a legal obligation.
Please see the section below entitled ‘Lawful Basis’ to find out more about the types of lawful basis that we usually rely on to process your personal data.
We have set out below, in a table format, a description of all the ways we plan to use your personal data, and which of the legal bases we rely on to do so. We have also identified what our legitimate interests are where appropriate.
Note that we may process your personal data for more than one lawful ground depending on the specific purpose for which we are using your data. Please contact us if you need details about the specific legal ground we are relying on to process your personal data where more than one ground has been set out in the table below.
Purpose/Activity | Type of data | Lawful basis for processing including basis of legitimate interest |
---|---|---|
To register and/or login your new user account on our web application |
(a) Identity (b) Contact (c) Profile |
(a) Performance of a contract with you |
To create your user profile on our web application |
(a) Identity (b) Contact (c) Financial (d) Profile (e) Health |
(a) Performance of a contract with you (b) See Special Category Data section above in relation to Health data |
To find care related products or services near you including: (a) Mapping of Care Providers (b) Generating quotes from Care Providers to help you meet your care goals |
(c) Identity (d) Contact (e) Financial (f) Profile (g) Health |
(a) Performance of a contract with you (b) See Special Category Data section above in relation to Health data |
To process payments on behalf of Care Providers in relation to Care Bookings including: (a) Manage invoices, payments, fees and charges |
(a) Identity (b) Contact (c) Financial (d) Transaction (e) Profile (f) Marketing and Communications |
(a) Performance of a contract with you |
To manage your relationship with Care Providers on the web application which will include: (a) Giving you the ability to ask questions or message Care Providers (b) Booking viewings and/or assessments with Care Providers (c) Managing Care Bookings (d) Asking you to leave a review or take a survey |
(a) Profile |
(a) Performance of a contract with you (b) Necessary for our legitimate interests (to study how consumers use our services) |
To manage our relationship with you which will include: (a) Provide you with updates on our service (b) Notifying you about changes to our Terms and Conditions or Privacy Policy (c) Asking you to make a comment, give us feedback or take a survey |
(a) Identity (b) Contact (c) Profile (d) Marketing and Communications |
(a) Performance of a contract with you (d) Necessary to comply with a legal obligation (c) Necessary for our legitimate interests (to keep our records updated and to study how consumers use our services) |
To administer and protect our business and this web application (including troubleshooting, data analysis, testing, system maintenance, support, reporting and hosting of data) |
(a) Identity (b) Contact (c) Profile (d) Technical (e) Usage |
(a) Necessary for our legitimate interests (for running our business, provision of administration and IT services, network security, to prevent fraud and in the context of a business reorganisation or group restructuring exercise) (b) Necessary to comply with a legal obligation |
To administer your incoming queries via live chat, email, telephone or web application (which may include screen sharing) |
(a) Identity (b) Contact (c) Profile (d) Technical (e) Marketing and Communications Data |
(a) Necessary for our legitimate interests (for running our Ava Assistants contact centre to support users of our web application and services) (b) Consent where you have given us clear consent for you to share your screen with us to assist you with the use of the web application |
To use data analytics to improve our web application, services, marketing, consumer relationships and experiences |
(a) Technical (b) Usage |
(a) Necessary for our legitimate interests (to define types of consumers for our web application and services, to keep our web application updated and relevant, to develop our business and to inform our marketing strategy) |
To make suggestions and recommendations to you about services that may be of interest to you |
(a) Identity (b) Contact (c) Technical (d) Usage (e) Profile (f) Marketing and Communications |
(a) Consent where you have given us clear consent for us to process your personal data for direct marketing purposes. |
We strive to provide you with choices regarding certain personal data uses, particularly around marketing and advertising. We have established the following personal data control mechanisms:
Marketing From Us
We may use your Identity, Contact, Technical, Usage and Profile Data to form a view on what we think you may want or need, or what may be of interest to you. This is how we decide which services may be relevant for you (we call this marketing).
You will receive marketing communications from us if you have either contacted us, requested information from us or created a user account on our web application AND opted in to receive marketing information about our products and services.
Third-Party Marketing
We do not share or sell your personal data with any third parties for marketing purposes.
Opting Out
You can ask us to stop sending you marketing messages at any time by following the opt-out links on any marketing message sent to you or by contacting us at any time.
Where you opt out of receiving these marketing messages, this will not apply to personal data provided to us as a result of a product/service experience or other transactions.
Cookies
You can also set your browser to refuse all or some browser cookies, or to alert you when websites set or access cookies. If you disable or refuse cookies, please note that some parts of our web application may become inaccessible or not function properly.
For more information about the cookies we use, please see www.avachoices.co.uk/cookies which also gives you the ability to opt-out of cookies (except for strictly necessary cookies) by configuring the “cookie settings” toggles.
Change of Purpose
We will only use your personal data for the purposes for which we collected it, unless we reasonably consider that we need to use it for another reason and that reason is compatible with the original purpose. If you wish to get an explanation as to how the processing for the new purpose is compatible with the original purpose, please contact us.
If we need to use your personal data for an unrelated purpose, we will notify you and we will explain the legal basis which allows us to do so.
Please note that we may process your personal data without your knowledge or consent, in compliance with the above rules, where this is required or permitted by law.
We may share your personal data with the parties set out below for the purposes set out in the table Purposes for which we will use your personal data above.
• External third parties as set out below:
o Care Providers acting as data controllers based inside the UK in relation the care related product and/or service you have requested via the web application or by post.
o Infrastructure-as-a-service provider acting as a processor based inside the UK.
o Other service providers acting as processors based inside and outside the UK who provide analytics, address lookup, contact centre, customer relationship management, email marketing, growth marketing, maps, productivity cloud and translation applications/platforms.
o Payment service providers and other financial institutions acting as processors or joint controllers based inside the UK who process payments and retain financial records.
o Professional advisers acting as processors or joint controllers including lawyers, bankers, auditors and insurers based inside the UK who provide consultancy, banking, legal, insurance and accounting services.
o HM Revenue & Customs, regulators and other authorities acting as processors or joint controllers based inside the UK who require reporting of processing activities in certain circumstances.
• Third parties to whom we may choose to sell, transfer or merge parts of our business or our assets. Alternatively, we may seek to acquire other businesses or merge with them. If a change happens to our business, then the new owners may use your personal data in the same way as set out in this privacy policy.
We require all third parties to respect the security of your personal data and to treat it in accordance with the law. We do not allow our third-party service providers to use your personal data for their own purposes and only permit them to process your personal data for specified purposes and in accordance with our instructions.
Our web application, Ava Choices, does not operate outside of the UK. This means that any personal data provided to the Ava Choices web application is hosted and processed at data centres within the UK.
Some of our external third parties are based outside the UK so their processing of your personal data will involve a transfer of data outside the UK.
Whenever we transfer your personal data out of the UK, we ensure a similar degree of protection is afforded to it by ensuring at least one of the following safeguards is implemented:
• We will only transfer your personal data to countries that have been deemed to provide an adequate level of protection for personal data by the UK.
• Where we use certain service providers, we may use specific contracts approved by the UK which give personal data the same protection it has in the UK.
Please contact us if you want further information on the specific mechanism used by us when transferring your personal data out of the UK.
Our Commitment
We have put in place appropriate security measures to prevent your personal data from being accidentally lost, used or accessed in an unauthorised way, altered or disclosed. In addition, we limit access to your personal data to those employees, agents, contractors and other third parties who have a business need to know. They will only process your personal data on our instructions and they are subject to a duty of confidentiality.
Your Responsibility
Sending information over the internet is generally not completely secure, and therefore we can't guarantee the security of your data while it's in transit. Transmission of such data is therefore entirely at your own risk. We have procedures and security features in place to keep your data secure once we receive it. Data that is provided to us is stored on our secure servers. Details relating to any transactions entered into on our web application will be encrypted to ensure its safety.
If you want detailed information from Get Safe Online on how to protect your information and your computers and devices against fraud, identity theft, viruses and many other online problems, please visit www.getsafeonline.org. Get Safe Online is supported by HM Government and leading businesses.
Certifications & Accreditations
We are committed to ensuring that your information is secure. We have stringent physical, electronic and managerial procedures to safeguard and secure your data.
We are ISO 27001 accredited and we also comply with the requirements of Cyber Essentials which is a Government-backed, industry-supported scheme to help organisations protect themselves against common online threats.
adam HTT Limited is registered with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) under registration number: ZA104405
Penetration Testing
We commission regular independent penetration testing of our infrastructure to ensure that we keep our web application free from vulnerabilities.
Personal Data Breaches
We have put in place procedures to deal with any suspected personal data breach and will notify you and any applicable regulator of a breach where we are legally required to do so.
Credit/Debit Card Details
For your security, we do not store your credit or debit card details on our web application and if you make any payments on our web application, your credit or debit card details are processed and stored directly by a third party processor and are protected by encryption. We only retain details of your transactions on our web application on secure servers.
Email Fraud
Please note we will never ask you to confirm your password or credit/debit card details by email. If you receive an email that request this information and appears to have been sent by us, please treat this as fraudulent and do not reply or provide any information. If you receive any such emails, please contact our Data Protection Officer to provide us with further details.
How Long Will You Use My Personal Data For?
We will only retain your personal data for as long as reasonably necessary to fulfil the purposes we collected it for, including for the purposes of satisfying any legal, regulatory, tax, accounting or reporting requirements. We may retain your personal data for a longer period in the event of a complaint or if we reasonably believe there is a prospect of litigation in respect to our relationship with you.
To determine the appropriate retention period for personal data, we consider the amount, nature and sensitivity of the personal data, the potential risk of harm from unauthorised use or disclosure of your personal data, the purposes for which we process your personal data and whether we can achieve those purposes through other means, and the applicable legal, regulatory, tax, accounting or other requirements.
Under certain circumstances, you have rights under data protection laws in relation to your personal data. Please see the section below entitled ‘Your Legal Rights’ to find out more about these rights.
If you wish to exercise any of these legal rights, please contact us at data.protection@avachoices.co.uk.
No Fee Usually Required
You will not have to pay a fee to access your personal data (or to exercise any of the other rights). However, we may charge a reasonable fee if your request is clearly unfounded, repetitive or excessive. Alternatively, we could refuse to comply with your request in these circumstances.
What We May Need From You
We may need to request specific information from you to help us confirm your identity and ensure your right to access your personal data (or to exercise any of your other rights). This is a security measure to ensure that personal data is not disclosed to any person who has no right to receive it. We may also contact you to ask you for further information in relation to your request to speed up our response.
Time Limit to Respond
We try to respond to all legitimate requests within one month. Occasionally it could take us longer than a month if your request is particularly complex or you have made a number of requests. In this case, we will notify you and keep you updated.
Performance of Contract means processing your data where it is necessary for the performance of a contract to which you are a party or to take steps at your request before entering into such a contract.
Legitimate Interest means the interest of our business in conducting and managing our business to enable us to give you the best service/product and the best and most secure experience. We make sure we consider and balance any potential impact on you (both positive and negative) and your rights before we process your personal data for our legitimate interests. We do not use your personal data for activities where our interests are overridden by the impact on you (unless we have your consent or are otherwise required or permitted to by law). You can obtain further information about how we assess our legitimate interests against any potential impact on you in respect of specific activities by contacting us.
Consent means you have given clear consent for us to process your personal data for a specific purpose.
Comply with a legal obligation means processing your personal data where it is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation that we are subject to.
You have the right to:
Request access to your personal data (commonly known as a “data subject access request”). This enables you to receive a copy of the personal data we hold about you and to check that we are lawfully processing it.
Request correction of the personal data that we hold about you. This enables you to have any incomplete or inaccurate data we hold about you corrected, though we may need to verify the accuracy of the new data you provide to us.
Request erasure of your personal data. This enables you to ask us to delete or remove personal data where there is no good reason for us continuing to process it. You also have the right to ask us to delete or remove your personal data where you have successfully exercised your right to object to processing (see below), where we may have processed your information unlawfully or where we are required to erase your personal data to comply with local law. Note, however, that we may not always be able to comply with your request of erasure for specific legal reasons which will be notified to you, if applicable, at the time of your request.
Object to processing of your personal data where we are relying on a legitimate interest (or those of a third party) and there is something about your particular situation which makes you want to object to processing on this ground as you feel it impacts on your fundamental rights and freedoms. You also have the right to object where we are processing your personal data for direct marketing purposes. In some cases, we may demonstrate that we have compelling legitimate grounds to process your information which override your rights and freedoms.
Request restriction of processing of your personal data. This enables you to ask us to suspend the processing of your personal data in the following scenarios:
• If you want us to establish the data’s accuracy.
• Where our use of the data is unlawful but you do not want us to erase it.
• Where you need us to hold the data even if we no longer require it as you need it to establish, exercise or defend legal claims.
• You have objected to our use of your data but we need to verify whether we have overriding legitimate grounds to use it.
Request the transfer of your personal data to you or to a third party. We will provide to you, or a third party you have chosen, your personal data in a structured, commonly used, machine-readable format. Note that this right only applies to automated information which you initially provided consent for us to use or where we used the information to perform a contract with you.
Withdraw consent at any time where we are relying on consent to process your personal data. However, this will not affect the lawfulness of any processing carried out before you withdraw your consent. If you withdraw your consent, we may not be able to provide certain products or services to you. We will advise you if this is the case at the time you withdraw your consent.
Welcome to the Ava Choices privacy policy for providers.
adam HTT Limited t/a Ava Choices is a limited liability company registered in England and Wales with registered number 7718565 and its registered office at The Pinnacle, 170 Midsummer Boulevard, Milton Keynes, MK9 1BP, United Kingdom (herein referred to as “Ava Choices”).
Ava Choices respects your privacy and is committed to protecting your personal data. This privacy policy will inform you as to how we look after your personal data when you use the ‘Ava Choices’ web application by visiting www.avachoices.co.uk regardless of where you visit it from (herein referred to as the “web application”) and tell you about your privacy rights and how the law protects you.
This privacy policy is provided in a layered format so you can click through to the specific areas set out below. Please also use the Glossary to understand the meaning of some of the terms used in this privacy policy.
"Care Provider" means the provider of care and support related services and/or products (including but not limited to domiciliary and residential care) available for Care Bookings on the web application (B2C only).
"Care Booking" means the order, purchase, payment or booking of care and support related products and/or services.
1. Important Information and Who We Are
2. The Data We Collect About You
3. How Is Your Personal Data Collected?
4. How We Use Your Personal Data
5. Disclosures of Your Personal Data
6. International Transfers
7. Data Security
8. Data Retention
9. Your Legal Rights
10.Glossary
This privacy policy aims to give you information on how Ava Choices collects and processes personal data about (potential, existing or former) Care Providers through your use of our web application and/or when you contact our Ava Assistants. This privacy policy therefore applies to personal data of owners, employees, representatives or other individuals acting on behalf of a Care Provider (collectively referred to as "Care Providers", "you" or “your” in this privacy policy).
Please see our separate privacy policy which describes how Ava Choices processes personal data collected about consumers making use of Ava Choices to find and make a Care Booking.
This web application is not intended for children and we do not knowingly collect data relating to children.
Adam HTT Limited is the controller and responsible for your personal data (collectively referred to as "Ava Choices", "we", "us" or "our" in this privacy policy).
We have appointed a data protection officer (DPO) who is responsible for overseeing questions in relation to this privacy policy. If you have any questions about this privacy policy, including any requests to exercise your legal rights, please contact the DPO using the details set out below.
If you have any questions about this privacy policy or our privacy practices, please contact our DPO in the following ways:
Full name of legal entity: Adam HTT Limited
Email address: data.protection@avachoices.co.uk
Postal address: The Pinnacle, 170 Midsummer Boulevard, Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, MK9 1BP, United Kingdom
If you would like this privacy policy in another format (for example: audio, large print, braille) please contact us using the details above.
You have the right to make a complaint at any time to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the United Kingdom (UK) supervisory authority for data protection issues (www.ico.org.uk). We would, however, appreciate the chance to deal with your concerns before you approach the ICO so please contact us in the first instance.
We keep our privacy policy under regular review. This version was last updated on 3 August 2020.
It is important that the personal data we hold about you is accurate and current. Please keep us informed if your personal data changes during your relationship with us.
This web application may include links to third-party websites, plug-ins and applications. Clicking on those links or enabling those connections may allow third parties to collect or share data about you. We do not control these third-party websites and are not responsible for their privacy statements. When you leave our web application, we encourage you to read the privacy policy of every website you visit.
Personal data, or personal information, means any information about an individual from which that person can be identified. It does not include data where the identity has been removed (anonymous data).
We may collect, use, store and transfer different kinds of personal data about:
(a) verified providers; and
(b) prospective providers,
which we have grouped together as follows:
• Identity Data includes first name, last name, username or similar identifier and job title.
• Contact Data includes address, email address and telephone number.
• Financial Data includes bank account name, bank account number and VAT number.
• Transaction Data includes details about payments to and from you relating to products and services purchased by consumers.
• Technical Data includes internet protocol (IP) address, your login data, browser type and version, time zone setting and location, browser plug-in types and versions, operating system and platform, and other technology on the devices you use to access this web application.
• Profile Data includes your username and password, preferences, contents of both your live chats with us and emails sent to us, feedback and survey responses.
• Usage Data includes information about how you use our web application and services.
• Marketing and Communications Data includes your preferences in receiving marketing from us and your communication preferences.
We also collect, use and share Aggregated Data such as statistical or demographic data for any purpose. Aggregated Data could be derived from your personal data but is not considered personal data in law as this data will not directly or indirectly reveal your identity. For example, we may aggregate your Usage Data to calculate the percentage of users accessing a specific web application feature. However, if we combine or connect Aggregated Data with your personal data so that it can directly or indirectly identify you, we treat the combined data as personal data which will be used in accordance with this privacy policy.
We do not collect any Special Categories of Personal Data about you (this includes details about your race or ethnicity, religious or philosophical beliefs, sex life, sexual orientation, political opinions, trade union membership, information about your health, and genetic and biometric data). Nor do we collect any information about criminal convictions and offences.
Where we need to collect personal data by law, or under the terms of a contract we have with you, and you fail to provide that data when requested, we may not be able to perform the contract we have or are trying to enter into with you (for example, to provide you with our services). In this case, we may have to cancel a service you have with us but we will notify you if this is the case at the time.
We use different methods to collect data from and about you including through:
• Direct interactions. You may give us your Identity, Contact, Financial and Profile Data by filling in forms or by corresponding with us by post, phone, email or otherwise. This includes personal data you provide when you:
o create a provider user account on our web application(s);
o register as a provider on our web application(s);
o create your care related service and/or product listings on our web application;
o contact us by live chat, email or telephone;
o enter a survey; or
o give us feedback or contact us.
• Automated technologies or interactions. As you interact with our web application, we will automatically collect Technical Data about your equipment, browsing actions and patterns. We collect this personal data by using cookies, server logs and other similar technologies. Please see our cookie policy for further details.
• Third parties or publicly available sources. We will receive personal data about you from various third parties and public sources as set out below:
o Technical Data from the following parties:
(a) analytics providers such as Google based outside the UK; and
(b) functionality providers such as Google Translate based outside the UK.
o Identity and Contact Data from:
(a) data brokers or aggregators based inside and outside the UK; and
(b) publicly available sources such as databases based inside and outside the UK and search information providers such as Google based outside the UK.
We will only use your personal data when the law allows us to. Most commonly, we will use your personal data in the following circumstances:
• Where we need to perform the contract we are about to enter into or have entered into with you.
• Where it is necessary for our legitimate interests (or those of a third party) and your interests and fundamental rights do not override those interests.
• Where we need to comply with a legal obligation.
Click here to find out more about the types of lawful basis that we will rely on to process your personal data.
We have set out below, in a table format, a description of all the ways we plan to use your personal data, and which of the legal bases we rely on to do so. We have also identified what our legitimate interests are where appropriate.
Note that we may process your personal data for more than one lawful ground depending on the specific purpose for which we are using your data. Please contact us if you need details about the specific legal ground we are relying on to process your personal data where more than one ground has been set out in the table below.
Purpose/Activity | Type of data | Lawful basis for processing including basis of legitimate interest |
---|---|---|
To register you as a new provider on our web application and to create your ‘initial admin’ user account |
(a) Identity (b) Contact (c) Profile |
Performance of a contract with you |
To add you as a new provider user | (a) Contact | Necessary for our legitimate interests (to onboard you as a user) |
To process payments for care related services and/or products bookings including: (a) Manage invoicing, payments, fees and charges |
(a) Identity (b) Contact (c) Financial (d) Transaction (e) Marketing and Communications |
(a) Performance of a contract with you |
To manage our relationship with you which will include: (a) Provide you with updates on our service (b) Notifying you about changes to our Provider Terms and Conditions or Privacy Policy for Providers (b) Asking you to leave a review or take a survey |
(a) Identity (b) Contact (c) Profile (d) Marketing and Communications |
(a) Performance of a contract with you
(c) Necessary to comply with a legal obligation (c) Necessary for our legitimate interests (to keep our records updated and to study how providers use our products/services) |
To enable you to complete a survey |
(a) Identity (b) Contact (c) Profile (d) Marketing and Communications |
Necessary for our legitimate interests (to study how providers use our products/services) |
To administer and protect our business and this web application (including troubleshooting, data analysis, testing, system maintenance, support, reporting and hosting of data) |
(a) Identity (b) Contact (c) Profile (d) Technical (e) Usage |
(a) Necessary for our legitimate interests (for running our business, provision of administration and IT services, network security, to prevent fraud and in the context of a business reorganisation or group restructuring exercise)
(b) Necessary to comply with a legal obligation |
To administer your incoming queries (via live chat, email & telephone) |
(a) Identity (b) Contact (c) Profile (d) Technical (e) Marketing and Communications Data |
(a) Necessary for our legitimate interests (for running our Ava Assistants contact centre to support provider users of our web application and services) |
To use data analytics to improve our web application, products/services, marketing, provider relationships and experiences |
(a) Technical (b) Usage |
Necessary for our legitimate interests (to define types of providers for our products and services, to keep our web application updated and relevant, to develop our business and to inform our marketing strategy) |
To make suggestions and recommendations to you about services that may be of interest to you |
(a) Identity (b) Contact (c) Technical (d) Usage (e) Profile (f) Marketing and Communications |
a) Necessary for our legitimate interests (to develop our products/services and grow our business)
Sole Traders & Partnerships (excluding limited liability partnerships) only: (b) Consent where you have given us clear consent for us to process your personal data for direct marketing purposes. |
We strive to provide you with choices regarding certain personal data uses, particularly around marketing and advertising. We have established the following personal data control mechanisms:
Promotional Offers From Us
We may use your Identity, Contact, Technical, Usage and Profile Data to form a view on what we think you may want or need, or what may be of interest to you. This is how we decide which services may be relevant for you (we call this marketing). We may contact you for by email or telephone for direct marketing purposes where it is in our legitimate interests to do so or we have your consent (if you are a sole trader or partnership as described above).
Opting Out
You can ask us to stop sending you marketing messages at any time by following the opt-out links on any marketing message sent to you or by contacting us at any time.
Where you opt out of receiving these marketing messages, this will not apply to personal data provided to us as a result of a product/service experience or other transactions.
Cookies
You can also set your browser to refuse all or some browser cookies, or to alert you when websites set or access cookies. If you disable or refuse cookies, please note that some parts of this web application may become inaccessible or not function properly.
For more information about the cookies we use, please see the cookie policy which also gives you the ability to opt-out of cookies (except for strictly necessary cookies) by configuring the “cookie settings” toggles.
Change of Purpose
We will only use your personal data for the purposes for which we collected it, unless we reasonably consider that we need to use it for another reason and that reason is compatible with the original purpose. If you wish to get an explanation as to how the processing for the new purpose is compatible with the original purpose, please contact us.
If we need to use your personal data for an unrelated purpose, we will notify you and we will explain the legal basis which allows us to do so.
Please note that we may process your personal data without your knowledge or consent, in compliance with the above rules, where this is required or permitted by law.
We may share your personal data with the parties set out below for the purposes set out in the table Purposes for which we will use your personal data above.
• External third parties as set out below:
o Infrastructure-as-a-service provider acting as a processor based inside the UK.
o Other service providers acting as processors based inside and outside the UK who provide email marketing platform and productivity cloud applications.
o Payment service providers and other financial institutions acting as processors or joint controllers based inside the UK who process payments and retain financial records.
o Professional advisers acting as processors or joint controllers including lawyers, bankers, auditors and insurers based inside the UK who provide consultancy, banking, legal, insurance and accounting services.
o HM Revenue & Customs, regulators and other authorities acting as processors or joint controllers based inside the UK who require reporting of processing activities in certain circumstances.
• Third parties to whom we may choose to sell, transfer or merge parts of our business or our assets. Alternatively, we may seek to acquire other businesses or merge with them. If a change happens to our business, then the new owners may use your personal data in the same way as set out in this privacy policy.
We require all third parties to respect the security of your personal data and to treat it in accordance with the law. We do not allow our third-party service providers to use your personal data for their own purposes and only permit them to process your personal data for specified purposes and in accordance with our instructions.
Our web application, Ava Choices, does not operate outside of the UK. This means that any personal data provided to the Ava Choices web application is hosted and processed at data centres within the UK.
Some of our external third parties are based outside the EEA so their processing of your personal data will involve a transfer of data outside the EEA.
Whenever we transfer your personal data out of the EEA, we ensure a similar degree of protection is afforded to it by ensuring at least one of the following safeguards is implemented:
• We will only transfer your personal data to countries that have been deemed to provide an adequate level of protection for personal data by the European Commission. For further details, see European Commission: Adequacy of the protection of personal data in non-EU countries.
• Where we use certain service providers, we may use specific contracts approved by the European Commission which give personal data the same protection it has in Europe. For further details, see European Commission: Model contracts for the transfer of personal data to third countries.
Please contact us if you want further information on the specific mechanism used by us when transferring your personal data out of the EEA.
Our Commitment
We have put in place appropriate security measures to prevent your personal data from being accidentally lost, used or accessed in an unauthorised way, altered or disclosed. In addition, we limit access to your personal data to those employees, agents, contractors and other third parties who have a business need to know. They will only process your personal data on our instructions and they are subject to a duty of confidentiality.
Your Responsibility
Sending information over the internet is generally not completely secure, and therefore we can't guarantee the security of your data while it's in transit. Transmission of such data is therefore entirely at your own risk. We have procedures and security features in place to keep your data secure once we receive it. Data that is provided to us is stored on our secure servers. Details relating to any transactions entered into on our web application will be encrypted to ensure its safety.
If you want detailed information from Get Safe Online on how to protect your information and your computers and devices against fraud, identity theft, viruses and many other online problems, please visit www.getsafeonline.org. Get Safe Online is supported by HM Government and leading businesses.
Certifications & Accreditations
We are committed to ensuring that your information is secure. We have stringent physical, electronic and managerial procedures to safeguard and secure your data.
We are ISO 27001 Accredited. The scope covers how we manage information security in providing commissioning tools for procurement of complex services in the public sector.
We also comply with the requirements of Cyber Essentials which is a Government-backed, industry-supported scheme to help organisations protect themselves against common online threats.
adam HTT Limited is registered with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) under registration number: ZA104405
Penetration Testing
We commission regular independent penetration testing of our infrastructure to ensure that we keep our web application free from vulnerabilities.
Personal Data Breaches
We have put in place procedures to deal with any suspected personal data breach and will notify you and any applicable regulator of a breach where we are legally required to do so.
Email Fraud
Please note we will never ask you to confirm your password or bank details by email. If you receive an email that request this information and appears to have been sent by us, please treat this as fraudulent and do not reply or provide any information. If you receive any such emails, please contact our Data Protection Officer to provide us with further details.
How Long Will You Use My Personal Data For?
We will only retain your personal data for as long as reasonably necessary to fulfil the purposes we collected it for, including for the purposes of satisfying any legal, regulatory, tax, accounting or reporting requirements. We may retain your personal data for a longer period in the event of a complaint or if we reasonably believe there is a prospect of litigation in respect to our relationship with you.
To determine the appropriate retention period for personal data, we consider the amount, nature and sensitivity of the personal data, the potential risk of harm from unauthorised use or disclosure of your personal data, the purposes for which we process your personal data and whether we can achieve those purposes through other means, and the applicable legal, regulatory, tax, accounting or other requirements.
Under certain circumstances, you have rights under data protection laws in relation to your personal data. Please click on the links below to find out more about these rights:
• Request access to your personal data.
• Request correction of your personal data.
• Request erasure of your personal data.
• Object to processing of your personal data.
• Request restriction of processing your personal data.
• Request transfer of your personal data.
• Right to withdraw consent.
If you wish to exercise any of the rights set out above, please contact us at data.protection@avachoices.co.uk.
No Fee Usually Required
You will not have to pay a fee to access your personal data (or to exercise any of the other rights). However, we may charge a reasonable fee if your request is clearly unfounded, repetitive or excessive. Alternatively, we could refuse to comply with your request in these circumstances.
What We May Need From You
We may need to request specific information from you to help us confirm your identity and ensure your right to access your personal data (or to exercise any of your other rights). This is a security measure to ensure that personal data is not disclosed to any person who has no right to receive it. We may also contact you to ask you for further information in relation to your request to speed up our response.
Time Limit to Respond
We try to respond to all legitimate requests within one month. Occasionally it could take us longer than a month if your request is particularly complex or you have made a number of requests. In this case, we will notify you and keep you updated.
Legitimate Interest means the interest of our business in conducting and managing our business to enable us to give you the best service/product and the best and most secure experience. We make sure we consider and balance any potential impact on you (both positive and negative) and your rights before we process your personal data for our legitimate interests. We do not use your personal data for activities where our interests are overridden by the impact on you (unless we have your consent or are otherwise required or permitted to by law). You can obtain further information about how we assess our legitimate interests against any potential impact on you in respect of specific activities by contacting us.
Performance of Contract means processing your data where it is necessary for the performance of a contract to which you are a party or to take steps at your request before entering into such a contract.
Comply with a legal obligation means processing your personal data where it is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation that we are subject to.
You have the right to:
Request access to your personal data (commonly known as a “data subject access request”). This enables you to receive a copy of the personal data we hold about you and to check that we are lawfully processing it.
Request correction of the personal data that we hold about you. This enables you to have any incomplete or inaccurate data we hold about you corrected, though we may need to verify the accuracy of the new data you provide to us.
Request erasure of your personal data. This enables you to ask us to delete or remove personal data where there is no good reason for us continuing to process it. You also have the right to ask us to delete or remove your personal data where you have successfully exercised your right to object to processing (see below), where we may have processed your information unlawfully or where we are required to erase your personal data to comply with local law. Note, however, that we may not always be able to comply with your request of erasure for specific legal reasons which will be notified to you, if applicable, at the time of your request.
Object to processing of your personal data where we are relying on a legitimate interest (or those of a third party) and there is something about your particular situation which makes you want to object to processing on this ground as you feel it impacts on your fundamental rights and freedoms. You also have the right to object where we are processing your personal data for direct marketing purposes. In some cases, we may demonstrate that we have compelling legitimate grounds to process your information which override your rights and freedoms.
Request restriction of processing of your personal data. This enables you to ask us to suspend the processing of your personal data in the following scenarios:
• If you want us to establish the data’s accuracy.
• Where our use of the data is unlawful but you do not want us to erase it.
• Where you need us to hold the data even if we no longer require it as you need it to establish, exercise or defend legal claims.
• You have objected to our use of your data but we need to verify whether we have overriding legitimate grounds to use it.
Request the transfer of your personal data to you or to a third party. We will provide to you, or a third party you have chosen, your personal data in a structured, commonly used, machine-readable format. Note that this right only applies to automated information which you initially provided consent for us to use or where we used the information to perform a contract with you.
Withdraw consent at any time where we are relying on consent to process your personal data. However, this will not affect the lawfulness of any processing carried out before you withdraw your consent. If you withdraw your consent, we may not be able to provide certain products or services to you. We will advise you if this is the case at the time you withdraw your consent.