Confidentiality Agreement

YUSU is a registered charity and as such, must abide by UK Charity Law. Ratified student groups have no separate legal identity from YUSU, therefore the same UK Law regarding charities must also apply to those affiliated groups.

Due to this, there are a number of rules and regulations that all projects must adhere to ensure compliance with legal guidelines, YUSU by-laws and your Project Constitution.

YUSU Confidentiality Agreement

As part of re-ratification, projects had to select that they agreed and would adhere to YUSU's Confidentiality Agreement.

This is because, whilst undertaking your volunteering role, you may have access to or become aware of information that should be treated as confidential. This could include information about people you are supporting (e.g. a child, a service user), information about other volunteers, and information about people who work at a third party organisation. Confidential information can include:

Names, personal contact details such as phone numbers or addresses, personal histories including relationships, contact with certain services, medical diagnoses.

Any of this information could help identify an individual and therefore should not be shared with third parties during your time volunteering at the University of York and even after you leave.

The only exception to this is if you become aware of any risk of serious harm to themselves or others. In this case, you would be expected to share this information with the Student Communities Manager. If a volunteer discloses information about themselves that makes the Fundraising and Volunteering Coordinator or any other member of YUSU staff aware of any risk of serious harm to themselves or others, confidentiality will have to be breached to ensure that the wellbeing of the volunteer is the first priority.

By signing the agreement you understand that...

You understand that as a volunteer you may come across information that is confidential.
You agree not to share this information with any third parties unless absolutely necessary.
You understand that any breach of confidentiality is a serious matter that YUSU will have to address.
You understand that confidentiality will have to be breached if you share any information that makes us aware of a risk of serious harm to yourself or others.
You understand that as a member of the volunteering project committee you have a responsibility to pass this information on to members and volunteers involved in the project.
Applicable to Signatories: You understand that you must complete the OPPIA module on the General Data Protection Regulation as a member of the volunteering project committee.

Questions?

Jasmine Pledger, Student Citizenship and Employability Development Coordinator - j.pledger@yusu.org