We will always do our best to get things right and provide an excellent level of service to all our customers. However, we recognise that things may sometimes go wrong and there may be a reason to complain. If you have a complaint and are one of our tenants or a leaseholder, your complaint will be handled in line with our Ongo Homes Complaints & Feedback Policy. 

If you have a complaint in respect of one of our Commercial companies (Ongo Roofing (trading as Ashbridge Roofing Solutions) or Ongo Heating & Plumbing (trading as Hales & Coultas), you should refer to the Commercial Complaints Policy.  

If your complaint is in relation to a non-landlord or non-commercial service provided by Ongo then please take a look at our Ongo Group Complaints Policy. 

We are responsible for collecting, processing, storing and safe-keeping personal and other data as part of our business activities. 

We manage personal information in accordance with the retained EU Law version of the General Data Protection Regulations (EU) 2016/679 (“The GDPR”) and the Data Protection Act 2018 (“The DPA”) and are registered Data Controllers with the Information Commissioners Office (ICO).

The GDPR and DPA control how personal information we hold on our customers and staff is used. Everyone using the data has strict rules to follow, called Data Protection Principles. We will make sure all the data we hold is:

• Used fairly, lawfully and in a transparent manner;
• Collected for specified, explicit and legitimate purposes and not processed in a manner which is incompatible with those purposes;
• Adequate, relevant and limited to what is necessary in relation to the purpose the data is being used for;
• Accurate and, where necessary, up to date;
• Kept for no longer than is necessary; and
• Kept securely so that data is protected against unauthorised use, accidental loss, destruction or damage.

Full details of our responsibilities and policy for handling data can be found in our Data Protection Policy and Privacy Notices:

• Privacy Notice - ASB cases
• Privacy Notice - Board Members
• Privacy Notice - Employees
• Privacy Notice - Job applicants
• Privacy Notice - Customers

We take our environmental responsibilities really seriously and are committed to protecting biodiversity, eco systems and promoting sustainable development. 

Our Environmental Policy will ensure that we:

• Recognise our contribution to meeting sustainability principles and the part we play in protecting the environmental inheritance of future generations
• Measure our Carbon Foot Print and seek ways to reduce it
• Promote sustainable principles in new development
• Minimise waste from our business operations
• Extend energy and water efficiency principles in our building design
• Seek new opportunities to improve the conditions of our housing stock and immediate surroundings
• Promote sustainable transport amongst our staff and customers
• Provide energy saving, waste minimisation and water conservation advice to our customers
• Encourage the environmental awareness of our staff and customers
• Reduce environmental risk arising from accidents and business activities
• Create, maintain and promote environmental purchasing principles in our business activities and for the benefit of our customers
• Promote improved environmental performance by contractors and suppliers

Our Environment Management system is compliant with ISO 14001, its scope covering the provision of rented accommodation, maintenance and construction services, tenancy management, and recruitment services. For further information, just click here.

As a customer-focused business, we aim to ensure all our customers and staff have equal and fair access to our services.

This is what we believe to be equality: creating a fairer society where everyone can participate and has the opportunity to fulfil their potential without fear of being disadvantaged.

We also recognise and value the differences that people bring to our organisation and strongly believe that a diverse community is a vibrant and successful one.

Our Equality & Diversity Policy sets out our approach to ensuring we meet our equality and diversity commitments and comply with the Equality Act 2010.

The UK Parliament passed the Modern Slavery Act in March 2015 with the objective of consolidating and extending current offences relating to slavery and human trafficking. A provision of the Act is that businesses with a minimum annual turnover of £36 million have to produce a statement setting out the steps they have taken to ensure there is no modern slavery in their own business or their supply chain. Our statement can be accessed here.

This statement will be published each financial year.

We also have a policy to support the statement.

Privacy Policy (Website)

At Ongo we take our responsibility of protecting your privacy very seriously. We protect any personal information you give us while you are using our website.  This privacy policy tells you what to expect when we collect personal information from visitors to our website.

Important information about us:

Ongo Partnership Limited is made up of different legal entities, details of which can be found here.  This privacy notice is issued on behalf of the Ongo Group so when we mention Ongo, "we", "us" or "our" in this privacy notice, we are referring to the relevant company in the Ongo Group responsible for processing your data.  Ongo Partnership Limited is the controller and responsible for this website.

We have appointed a data protection officer (DPO) who is responsible for overseeing questions in relation to this privacy notice. If you have any questions about this privacy notice, including any requests to exercise your legal rights, please contact the DPO using the details set out in the “Contact Us” section below.

What personal information we collect:

We may collect, store and use the following types of personal information from visitors to our website:

• Identity data – this names, usernames or similar identifier, marital status, title, date of birth and gender;
• Contact Data - includes billing address, delivery address, email address and telephone numbers;
• Financial Data - includes bank account and payment card details;
• Transaction Data - includes details about payments to and from you and other details of products and services you have purchased from us;
• 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 website;
• Profile Data - includes your username and password, purchases or orders made by you, your interests, preferences, feedback and survey responses;
• Usage Data - includes information about how you use our website, products and services;
• Marketing and Communications Data - includes your preferences in receiving marketing from us.

How we collect personal information:

We use different methods to collect your personal information. These include:

• Direct interaction with you – You may give us your Identity, Contact and Financial Data by filling in forms or by corresponding with us by post, phone, email or otherwise. This includes personal data you provide when you apply for our services, create an account on our website, request marketing materials be sent to you, enter a competition, promotion or survey, or give us some feedback; and
• Automated technology or interaction - As you interact with our website, we may automatically collect Technical Data about your equipment, browsing actions and patterns. We collect this personal data by using cookies and other similar technologies.

How we use personal information:

We will only use your personal information 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; or
• Where we need to comply with a legal or regulatory obligation.

Generally, we do not rely on consent as a legal basis for processing your personal data other than in relation to sending third party direct marketing communications to you via email or text message. You have the right to withdraw consent to marketing at any time.

Analysing visits to our website:

When someone visits www.ongo.co.uk we use a third party service, Google Analytics to collect standard internet log information and details of visitor behaviour patterns. We do this to find out things such as the number of visitors to the various parts of the site.  This information is only processed in a way which does not identify anyone.  We do not make, and do not allow Google to make, any attempt to find out the identities of those visiting our website.  If we do want to collect personally identifiable information through our website, we will be up front about this.  We will make it clear when we collect personal information and will explain what we intend to do with it.

Use of cookies:

We use cookies on this website to give you a better online experience. This includes recognising you when you sign into your account, remembering previous actions such as text entered into a form and understanding how users access our website in order to improve online services. You can 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 website may become inaccessible or not function properly.

Our search engine:

Our website search feature is powered by Umbraco. Search queries and results are logged anonymously to help us improve our website and search functionality. No user-specific information is collected by us or any third party.

E-newsletters and marketing:

Where you have consented for us to do so, we may send you e-newsletters to tell you about important information affecting you as a customer or alerting you to an event or issue you may be interested in. You can unsubscribe to these newsletters by clicking on the ‘unsubscribe’ button which appears at the bottom of the email at any time. 

We use a third party provider, MailChimp and Survey Monkey to deliver our e-newsletters and surveys. We gather statistics around email opening and clicks using industry standard technologies to help us monitor and improve our e-newsletter.

Blogs and comments:

The posting of personal information as a comment to an article or as a blog means your information will be publicly accessible and can be viewed and collated by third parties. We are not responsible for the behaviour of any third party or for the publication of any information you have published on our website.  We strongly advise you against publishing any personal information, such as full name, age and address.

How long we keep personal information:

We do not hold any personal data longer than necessary, having considered the purposes for processing. Our Data Retention Policy lists the length of time we keep information for.

A copy of our Data Retention policy is available upon request.

Your right to access personal information:

 You can find out if we hold any personal information about you by making a ‘subject access request’ under the General Data Protection Regulation (EU) 2016/679. If we do hold information about you, we will:

• Give you a description of it;
• Tell you why we are holding;
• Tell you who it has been disclosed to; and
• Let you have a copy of the information in an intelligible form.

You may also have the right for your personal information to be transmitted electronically to another organisation in certain circumstances.

You can request access to the information we hold about you at any time by contacting us (please see contact details section below). Please mark your request for the attention of our Data Protection Officer.

Your rights:

If you believe that any of the personal information we hold about you is incorrect, you have the right to ask us to rectify that information at any time.

You may also have the right, in certain circumstances, to request that we delete your personal information, to block any further processing of your personal information or to object to the processing of your personal information. There are some specific circumstances where these rights do not apply and we can refuse to deal with your request.

If we are processing your personal information based upon your consent (e.g. as part of our marketing or promotional activities or to make a voluntary referral to an external agency), you have the right to withdraw your consent at any time.

If you require any further information about your right to rectification, erasure, restriction of or object to processing or you wish to withdraw your consent please contact us (please see contact details section below).

Complaints:

We take any complaints we receive about the collection and use of personal information very seriously. We would encourage you to bring it to our attention if you think that our collection or use of information is unfair, misleading or inappropriate.  You can make a complaint at any time by contacting us (see contact details section below).

If you think our collection or use of personal information is unfair, misleading or inappropriate or if you have concerns about the security of your personal information, you also have the right to make a complaint to the Information Commissioner’s Office. You can contact the Information Commissioner’s Office at the following address:

Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF

Contact us:

You can e-mail us at enquiries@ongo.co.uk or write to us at the following address:

Ongo House, High Street, Scunthorpe, North Lincolnshire, DN15 6AT.

Tel: 01724 279900

We have appointed a Data Protection Officer to oversee our compliance with this privacy notice. If you have any questions about this privacy notice or how we handle your personal information, please contact us using the details above.

Click here to view our Data Protection Policy.

Privacy

At Ongo we take our responsibility of protecting your privacy very seriously.    We comply with the relevant data protection laws when dealing with your personal information.  This means the personal information you provide by completing this form will be processed in accordance with the law and our data protection policy.

By continuing to use My Home you are giving your agreement to the terms of this privacy policy.

What information do we collect and why?

We will use the personal information which you supply to us to identify you, manage your tenancy, process any requests you make and personalise your use of My Home.  This will also include updating your tenancy records based on the information you provide where appropriate.  We may also use your information to inform you about important changes affecting you as a tenant and, if you agree, as part of our marketing and promotional activities. 

You can update your communication preferences at any time in the My Home App or by contacting us directly.

How do we use personal information?

We will only use your personal information when the law allows us to.  Most commonly, we will use your personal information in the following circumstances:

• Where we have obtained your consent
• 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 or regulatory obligation

Who might we share your information with?

We will not normally share your information with anyone else.  However, there a certain circumstances where we will be required to share your information with other organisations and will comply with the data protection law when disclosing this information.  Where it is required or necessary in accordance with data protection law, we may share information with:

• Family, associates and representatives of the person whose personal data we are processing
• Educators and examining bodies
• Suppliers and service providers
• Financial organisations
• Central government
• Auditors
• Survey and research organisations
• Other housing associations, trusts or local authorities
• Trade unions and associations
• Health authorities
• Enquirers and complainants
• Security organisations
• Health and social welfare organisations
• Professional advisers and consultants
• Homes England
• Probation services
• Charities and voluntary organisations
• Police forces
• Courts and tribunals
• Professional bodies
• Insurers
• Employment and recruitment agencies
• Credit reference agencies
• Debt collection agencies
• Landlords
• Press and the media

Security

We have strict procedures and IT security measures in place to prevent unauthorised access to your information, which are tested on a regular basis, however no transmission of information over the Internet is completely secure and any information you do transmit to us, is at your own risk.  You can help keep your personal information secure by keeping your password and account details private and by logging out of your account after use.

How can you access your information?

You can request access to the information we hold about you at any time by contacting us directly. 

You may also have the right for your personal information to be transmitted electronically to another organisation in certain circumstances.

Your rights

If you believe that any of the personal information we hold about you is incorrect, you have the right to ask us to rectify that information at any time.

You may also have the right, in certain circumstances, to request that we delete your personal information, to block any further processing of your personal information or to object to the processing of your personal information.  There are some specific circumstances where these rights do not apply and we can refuse to deal with your request.

If we are processing your personal information based upon your consent (e.g. as part of our marketing or promotional activities or to make a voluntary referral to an external agency), you have the right to withdraw your consent at any time.

If you require any further information about your right to rectification, erasure, restriction of or object to processing or you wish to withdraw your consent please contact us (please see contact details section below).

How can you make a complaint?

We take any complaints we receive about the collection and use of personal information very seriously.  We would encourage you to bring it to our attention if you think that our collection or use of information is unfair, misleading or inappropriate.  You can make a complaint at any time by contacting us (see contact details section below).

If you think our collection or use of personal information is unfair, misleading or inappropriate or if you have concerns about the security of your personal information, you also have the right to make a complaint to the Information Commissioner’s Office. 

You can contact the Information Commissioner’s Office at the following address:

Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF

How can you contact us?

You can e-mail us at enquiries@ongo.co.uk or write to us at the following address:

Ongo House, High Street, Scunthorpe, DN15 6AT

Tel: 01724 279900

We have appointed a Data Protection Officer to oversee our compliance with this privacy notice.  Our Data Protection Officer is Liz Birkhead.  If you have any questions about this privacy notice or how we handle your personal information, please contact Liz using the details above.

Terms & conditions - Competitions & giveaways

Every once in a while we like to run competitions, promotions and giveaways. Each one comes with an important set of Terms & Conditions (T&Cs) to make sure they are run transparently and fairly.

Here you will find the T&Cs for our different competitions, promotions and giveaways.

At Ongo, we conduct all our business in an honest and ethical manner. We take a zero-tolerance approach to bribery and corruption and are committed to acting professionally, fairly and with integrity in all our business dealings and relationships wherever we operate. Our Anti-Bribery and Corruption Policy details what we will do to ensure this, complying with all legislation relevant to bribery and corruption, specifically the Bribery Act 2010. 

It is important to us that everyone can see how we operate and has open access to our policies and financial statements.

We want everyone to be able to see that we run our business fairly, efficiently and effectively.

Read our Transparency Policy. 

Last updated: 10 August 2021

This accessibility statement applies to Ongo.co.uk. Our website has been designed with everyone in mind, regardless of ability. We’ve also taken on board best practice on web accessibility.

We have worked hard to make sure everyone can access the website, including people with sight or hearing difficulties and those with dexterity issues, as well as for use of different devices.

Much of the content has been proofread by our own customers, to ensure it is written in a way that is easy to understand and without any jargon.

We know parts of this website are not fully accessible and that some older PDF documents are not fully accessible to screen reader software, these can be requested on demand if required by emailing prdept@ongo.co.uk. 

If you have any comments or suggestions for further improvements on the content, we would love to hear from you. Please email prdept@ongo.co.uk

Conformance statement

When designing and developing our website we have taken guidance from the technical standard Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1 (WCAG) and the The Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) Accessibility Regulations 2018.

In February 2020, the Ongo.co.uk website was audited against these standards and various changes were made, which included:

• changing the site's colour scheme to ensure the colours were contrasting enough to enable those with colour blindness and colour vision deficiencies to access the site better
• ensuring that the website worked well when zoomed in to 200%
• enabling the site to be accessed through a keyboard only, for those that have dexterity issues and are unable to use a mouse or a tablet.

We test the site regularly to make sure we are working towards these standards.

Image Alt text

We have taken the decision to only use Alt text when images convey important information. We don’t use it on purely decorative images as this is unnecessary and serves to make screenreaders busier than they need to be.

Feedback

If you need information on this website in a different format like accessible PDF, large print, easy read, audio recording or braille, please contact us by emailing digital@ongo.co.uk. You can also use this email address to contact us about any other accessibility problems on this website, or if you think we’re not meeting accessibility requirements.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is responsible for enforcing the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018 (the ‘accessibility regulations’). If you’re not happy with how we respond to your complaint,contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS).

Last updated: October 2020

This accessibility statement applies to myhome.ongo.co.uk. Our customer portal has been designed with everyone in mind, regardless of ability. We’ve also taken on board best practice on web accessibility.

We are working hard to make sure everyone can access our online portal, including people with sight or hearing difficulties and those with dexterity issues, as well as for use of different devices.

Much of the content has been proofread by our own customers, to ensure it is written in a way that is easy to understand and without any jargon.

We know some parts of our online customer portal are not fully accessible and that some features are not fully accessible to screen reader software - and we are working on this to make sure they are all accessible.

If you have any comments or suggestions for further improvements on the content, we would love to hear from you. Please email digital@ongo.co.uk.

Conformance statement

When updating and any new development to our customer portal we are taking guidance from the technical standard Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1 (WCAG) and the The Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) Accessibility Regulations 2018.

In August 2020, the myhome.ongo.co.uk website was audited against these standards and various changes were identified, which include:

• changing the site's colour scheme to ensure the colours were contrasting enough to enable those with colour blindness and colour vision deficiencies to access the site better
• ensuring that the website worked well when zoomed in to 200%
• enabling the site to be accessed through a keyboard only, for those that have dexterity issues and are unable to use a mouse or a tablet.

We are actively testing the site regularly to make sure we are working towards these standards.

Image Alt text

We have taken the decision to only use Alt text when images convey important information. We don’t use it on purely decorative images as this is unnecessary and serves to make screen readers busier than they need to be.

Feedback

If you need information on this website in a different format like accessible PDF, large print, easy read, audio recording or braille, please contact us by emailing prdept@ongo.co.uk. You can also use this email address to contact us about any other accessibility problems on this website, or if you think we’re not meeting accessibility requirements.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is responsible for enforcing the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018 (the ‘accessibility regulations’). If you’re not happy with how we respond to your complaint, contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS).

We want to provide an open environment so that employees and those working for Ongo can raise issues that are ‘protected disclosures’ they believe to be in the public interest, with the confidence that they will be acted on appropriately without fear of reprisal.

We have a whistleblowing policy that applies to Employees, Workers, (Ex-employees and Ex-workers are also included) Board Members, Volunteers and Contractors who may have an issue with the conduct of Ongo, a specific area of Ongo, or individual employees or Board Members. You can read the policy here.

Raising a concern…

For our internal colleagues (Board members, employees, workers, volunteers), any concerns you have should be reported in line with our internal guidance to your manager or Head of Service. Alternatively, concerns can be raised or reported to a Director.

Alternatively, anyone can raise a concern in any of the following ways:

• E-Mail: whistleblowing@ongo.co.uk
• Telephone (secure, confidential answering service): 01724 298801
• In writing: Company Secretary, Ongo Homes, Ongo House, High Street, Scunthorpe, DN15 6AT

All reports made will be confidential through the secure, monitored answerphone service and e-mail.

Any reports in writing should be marked private and confidential.

At Ongo, we are required to comply with all relevant health and safety legislation, standards and requirements to enable us to provide a safe and healthy working environment for our colleagues and all others who may be affected by our activities. 

Our Health & Safety Policy and Statement outlines our commitment to continual improvement and the implementation of our Health & Safety Management System.

Our Boards, Leadership Team and all colleagues recognise their Duty under the Health & Safety at Work Act 1974 to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the heath, safety and welfare of employees, contractors, customers, volunteers and others who could be affected by the operations of the organisation.