How we will handle the information you share with us in this research
This fair processing notice (‘notice’) provides you with information about how your personal data will be used in our Real Accounts research project. Please read it carefully with Nest Insight’s privacy policy, which has more information about how your personal data will be used and your data protection rights. We are required under Data Protection legislation to notify you of the information contained in this notice.
Your consent
If you have not been in communication with Nest Insight, Glasgow Caledonian University or Aston University previously, we may be relying on the consent you provided to a third-party to allow us to contact you for research purposes. If this is incorrect, or you wish to withdraw your consent, please notify us by emailing realaccounts@nestcorporation.org.uk and we will stop processing your personal information and delete any personal information we may hold on you.
We will obtain your consent before you can take part in our research and any activities associated with this. If you do not provide your consent your personal data will not be used.
The personal data we collect will be processed solely for the purpose of conducting our research. The legal basis for processing your personal data will be consent and our purposes for using your personal data is to conduct research, which will include participation in the following research activities:
- Online / in-person interview and a potential focus groups with one or more of our researchers
- Connecting your bank accounts and financial products to the My Money Tracker which records income and spending data anonymously and will share with the research team on all financial transactions you have made from 1 May 2022.
Types of data
We may store, collect and use (process) the following personal data about you for the research and related activities only:
- first name
- surname
- phone number
- email address
- postcode
- home address for in-person interviews
- age and other information which relates to your age
- gender
- marital status
- employment information – sector, contract type
- housing and living arrangements information (e.g. do you rent or own your own home?Do you live alone or with others? Are there children living with you?)
- your personal circumstances (including some financial information to give us an overview of your financial situation e.g. approximate salary, savings or assets held, amount of debt, amount in pension pot) and your attitudes, experiences, behaviours and knowledge around money management
- bank account and financial product account details (card numbers, sort numbers and accounts numbers)
- financial transaction information (including date, item and amount of each transaction) and associated receipts
- audio recording (note: you will never be recorded without your prior consent).
Special category of data is more sensitive and require extra protection under Data Protection legislation. Special category data includes data that could reveal your racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs, trade union membership, health data, sex life data or data concerning a person’s sexual orientation.
We will seek to capture data that reveals your ethnic origin, and whether or not you have a health condition or disability that affects your ability to work. If you do not want to share this information with us, you do not have to. If you do share special categories of data information with us through your responses, we will process it on the basis that we have your explicit consent to this data being processed and used for the purpose of the research.
Please note that bank or financial product account details (card numbers, sort codes and account numbers) will not be collected for research purposes. Bank account details will be processed to pay incentives through the Ayda platform, and bank or financial product details will be needed to connect accounts to My Money Tracker. These details will not be accessible to the research team at any point in the research project. If supplied, this data will only be kept for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes it was collected it for or as long as required to fulfil our legal obligations.
Third parties
We have engaged some third parties to support us with this research projects, some of whom may have access to your personal or financial data. These include:
- Recruiters (Criteria and Field Mouse Research) for the research to help us contact suitable participants. You may be subject to their terms and conditions and privacy policy which they will communicate to you.
- We use a platform called Ayda to pay you any research incentive. You will be asked to sign up to their privacy policy and terms of use.
- Video recording platforms (Zoom and MS Teams) to conduct and record interviews. You will be asked to sign up to their privacy policy and terms of use.
- We use survey platforms to collect research and consent data (Smart Survey and REDcap)
- Moneyhub have developed our data collection tool My Money Tracker. You will be asked to sign up to their privacy policy and terms of use.
Nest Insight, Glasgow Caledonian University and Aston University will remain the joint controllers of your personal data. This means that we jointly decide the purpose for which your personal data is used and we are jointly responsible for protecting your personal data and ensuring that it is processed in accordance with the requirements of the data protection legislation.
Communicating with us via Whatsapp
We will use e-mail to inform and update you about the project and from time to time, we may also contact you by phone if you have shared your telephone number with us for this purpose.
We recommend you use email and phone to contact us. We know that some people prefer to use WhatsApp to communicate with others especially in some instances because of the functionality WhatsApp offers so we have added WhatsApp as an optional way for you to contact us if you wish to do so instead of emailing or phoning us.
We recommend that you consider using the Microsoft Teams app as an alternative to WhatsApp You can use the chat feature on Microsoft Teams to send chat or voice notes to us, and it works in a similar way as WhatsApp.
However, if you choose to contact us by using WhatsApp, we ask you to provide your consent for us contacting you this way and also to read the WhatsApp LLC privacy policy.
Just so you are aware, WhatsApp LLC encrypts any messages you send using the app which means they cannot see what you share with others. Some people are still concerned that WhatsApp isn't a totally secure platform. Whatever you feel about using WhatsApp for your own messages, it's a good idea to be careful about sending anything personal or sensitive through this channel:
- We recommend you only use WhatsApp to communicate with us about interview dates, logistics, questions or non-sensitive updates about your household finances.
- We recommend you do not share any personal or sensitive information with us via WhatsApp that include photos of people, bank details, addresses and other sensitive content.
- Please be aware that we have no control over the way data is stored and sent to you on your own device. We will erase any personal or sensitive data you share with us within 24 hours of receiving this from our device.
Frequently asked questions (FAQs)
Do I have to take part in the research?
You do not have to take part in the research. You can ask questions about our research before deciding whether or not to participate.
If you do agree to participate, you may withdraw yourself from the research at any time, without giving a reason, by advising the Real Accounts research team via email.
You can contact us with any queries or to request to withdraw from the research by emailing us at realaccounts@nestcorporation.org.uk. At your request any personal data not already anonymised will be deleted from the research.
Are there any risks and benefits in taking part?
The possible risks of participating in the research are minimal. We take the necessary steps to ensure compliance with Data Protection legislation and to protect your personal data at all times.
You will receive no direct benefits from participating, except being offered an incentive for your participation. However, your responses will help us to learn more about how people manage their money. These findings will contribute to important research that could help policymakers, academics and the financial services industry better understand how to support people to improve their financial wellbeing.