Overview
Protecting our clients’ privacy is very important to us. To ensure our compliance with the Privacy Act and as part of our commitment to ensuring the safety of your private and confidential information, we have established and implemented this Policy.
The Privacy Act requires that we handle your personal information in accordance with a set of principles, known as the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs), which regulate the collection, use, correction, disclosure and transfer of personal information about individuals by organisations like us in the private sector.
By providing personal information to us, you consent to our collection, use and disclosure of your personal information in accordance with this Privacy Policy and any other arrangements that apply between us.
For the purposes of these Terms and Conditions of Use, “us”, “our”, “we”, “PensionHelp.com.au” or “PensionHelp” refers to SRG Applied Services Pty Ltd ABN 63 653 358 279 trading as PensionHelp and “you” and “your” refers to you, the client, visitor, or website (including PensionHelp products and services) user. Website refers to the website pensionhelp.com.au as well any products and services which you may purchase, use, or view directly via the website
Our Website may contain links to third party websites. We are not responsible for the privacy policies of any third parties, and we recommend that you review the privacy policy of the relevant third party.
What is privacy?
The Privacy Act 1988 (the Privacy Act) regulates the way we collect, store, provide access to, use and disclose personal information.
The Privacy Act gives you rights, including:
- being told generally what kind of information we are collecting and how we collect it
- being told generally why your personal information is being collected
- your personal information can only be collected for a lawful purpose
- finding out what information we hold about you and have it corrected if it is incorrect, out of date or incomplete, the Freedom of Information Act 1982 also supports this
- advising that your personal information must be stored securely and protected from interference or misuse.
This document also details how we use your personal information
Why we collect information
We collect personal information about you where it is reasonably necessary for, or directly related to, one or more of our functions or activities.
To deliver products and services
We may collect your personal information when it is reasonably necessary for delivering products or services. For example, we may collect your personal information to:
- confirm your identity
- communicate with you, including by SMS or email
- provide advice about available support
- ensure correct payments are made
- verify data provided in relation to claims and reviews with third parties
- investigate assessment of payment eligibility
- manage complaints and feedback
- manage and respond to requests for information
- administer and provide online services
- act on your behalf with Government bodies we are authorised by you to do. Including but not limited to Services Australia and Centrelink, Department of Veteran Affairs and MyAgedCare
The reasons we collect your personal information will depend on the products and services you access or are seeking.
For market research
We may share your personal information to conduct statistical analysis and market research to improve service delivery. We may engage external companies to conduct this research on our behalf. These third parties will also need to abide by the Australian Privacy act and APP
To make dealing with directly with PensionHelp easier for you
We administer our platforms to deliver more convenient, accessible, and efficient services. In doing so, we may work with other third parties. These third parties will also need to abide by the Australian Privacy act and APP
Your personal information may be shared for the purposes of developing and administering these platforms if either:
- you have given your consent
- the sharing of your information is authorised or required by law.
Only when required with third parties
We may disclose your information to Australian Government agencies, state and territory agencies and third parties. The disclosure of your personal information will depend on the products or services to which the information relates.
Use of Information
Your personal information will be used in accordance with the Privacy Act. It won’t be used for any purpose other than why it was collected.
It is important to read the Services Australia privacy policy to understand how they use your information.
We may use your personal information if:
- it’s authorised or required by law
- you’ve consented to the use
- the use meets one of the other exceptions in the Australian Privacy Principles.
When your personal information is collected, you’ll be advised of its intended use at the point of collection. Once your information is provided to Services Australia, your information may also be used by our other services, as authorised or required by law.
Our Privacy Policy
Our Privacy policy outlines what kinds of personal and sensitive information we collect, why we collect this information and how we handle it
Personal information is information or an opinion about an identified individual or an individual who is reasonably identifiable.
Sensitive information is a subset of personal information and includes information or an opinion about your:
- racial or ethnic origin
- political opinions
- religious beliefs or affiliations
- philosophical beliefs
- sexual orientation
- criminal record
- health information
- genetic information.
What we collect
We may collect personal information about you when it’s reasonably necessary for, or directly related to, our functions or activities or product and services that we may offer you and or you purchase
We may collect sensitive information about you:
- where you consent
- when the collection is authorised or required by law
- the collection is otherwise allowed under the Privacy Act.
The kinds of personal information we may collect includes all of the following.
Information about you, such as your:
- name
- address
- gender
- date of birth
- contact details.
Information about your circumstances, such as your:
- employment status and history
- education status
- financial situation
- cultural and linguistic background
- citizenship and visa status
- passport and travel movements
- health and welfare
- disabilities and medical information
- family circumstances.
Information about your family and other related persons, such as any:
- partners
- children
- dependants
- carers
- nominees or authorised representatives.
Information about your interactions with Services Australia us, such as:
- applications and claims you’ve made
- payments or services we provide you
- any other special service arrangements.
We may also collect information about you to help us establish and verify your identity and administer records, including:
- departmental reference numbers
- department of Veterans’ Affairs (DVA) file numbers
- tax file numbers
- healthcare identifiers
- or other identification such as passport id, driving licence
We may also collect information about how you use our online services and applications, such as:
- pages you visit
- online forms you fill in
- your interactions
- your chats with our virtual assistants
- your language preferences
- searches you make.
How we collect information
We collect your personal information through a variety of channels. This includes paper forms or notices, online portals, correspondence, face to face or over the telephone.
We will solicit personal information about you where you have knowingly provided that information to us, we believe you have authorised a third party to provide that information to us, or we are obligated or authorised by law to obtain such information. Third parties that we may need to collect information from include Services Australia or other Government bodies we are authorised to contact on your behalf, your financial adviser, product issuer, employer, accountant or solicitor.
In order to identify opportunities to improve our products and services and to enhance your customer experience with us, we may also collect data from third parties. Prior to engaging any third party, a thorough due diligence process is undertaken to ensure your personal information is fully protected. This includes ensuring that sufficient security measures and relevant confidentiality and contractual arrangements are in place which, at a minimum, require the third party to handle personal information in strict accordance with our requirements under Australian privacy law
When your personal information is collected from a third party, we take steps to inform you. This may occur through this Privacy Policy, application forms, notices or discussions with our staff.
Social networking services
We use social networking services such as Facebook, Twitter, Google+, YouTube, LinkedIn and Instagram to talk with the public and our staff. When you talk with us using these services, we may collect your personal information to communicate with you and the public.
The social networking service will also handle your personal information for its own purposes. These services have their own privacy policies. You can access the privacy policies for these services on their websites
What if you do not give us the information we request?
You are not obligated to give us the information that we request. However, if you do not give us the information we ask for, or the information you give is not complete or accurate, this may:
- prevent or delay the processing of your application or claim
- prevent or delay the processing of your required updates
- result in cancelled benefits or claim or debt situations with Services Australia or the relevant Government organisations
- preclude us from providing you services
- prevent us from contacting you about your product or services
- impact your benefits and means tested fees
For example, we may be required to ask for your bank statements to proceed with a Centrelink claim. If you choose to not give us your bank statement, your claim may be denied.
When we share your information
For the purpose of providing the services you have requested (or an authorised related purpose), we may provide your information within PensionHelp Pty Ltd or external organisations.
The types of external organisations to which we may disclose your personal information include:
- Government organisations involved in providing you benefits, such as Services Australia and Centrelink, Department of Veterans Affairs and MyAgedCare.
- your financial adviser or other advisers appointed by you
- businesses that have referred you to us.
- Like other service companies, there are situations where we may also disclose your personal information where it is:
- required by law (such as to the Australian Taxation Office or pursuant to a court order)
- authorised by law (such as where we are obliged to disclose information in the public interest or to protect our interests)
- necessary to discharge obligations (such as for enforcement activities of regulatory bodies or to foreign governments for the purposes of foreign taxation)
- required to assist in law enforcement (such as to a police force).
Data analytics and service improvement
How we use Google Analytics
We use Google Analytics to collect details about your use of our products and services to improve the services we deliver to you. This may include information about:
- how you navigate PensionHelp
- the pages you visit
- and the type of device used.
We’ve set up Google Analytics to operate on PensionHelp without collecting personal information about you. This means the following information won’t be collected:
- email address
- username
- full IP address.
Additionally, we have disabled settings so that Google cannot use data analytics for its products and services, benchmarking and technical support services.
You can read about how Google Analytics collects and processes data in its privacy notice on the Google website. You can opt out of Google Analytics if you disable or refuse the cookie, disable JavaScript, or use the opt out service provided by Google.
How we use data analytics for our other online services
We collect information about how you use our online services, this includes:
- Internet Protocol (IP) address
- browser and operating system, for example whether you use Internet Explorer or Chrome, Windows or iOS
- screen size and orientation
- mouse clicks and areas your mouse hovered over
- fields you’ve entered information into
- how long it took to do certain tasks
- how you move through pages.
We collect this information to help us improve the services we deliver.
We use this information to:
- find out when our systems aren’t working as expected
- understand user needs and what’s hard to use on our online services and applications
- learn where we can streamline services
- cater for different types of browsers and devices you use
- develop relevant help information
- improve our ability to assist people who call us for help.
We use this information to learn how you use our digital channels.
We know a session is yours if you either:
- tell us about it during a phone call
- sign into your online account.
Your information stays confidential. We don’t give it to anyone unless they’re an authorised staff member or it’s required by law.
We remove information that might identify an individual before it’s stored.
We destroy information in accordance with Australian law. We destroy:
- repayable website interactions after 7 days
- data such as clicks and searches after 30 days
- summary reports on event data after 500 days.
Cookies
A “cookie” is a small text file that may be placed on a computer by a web server. Our websites may use cookies, Google Analytics and/or other analytics tools which may enable us to identify you, your browser or other information about you while you are using our site. These cookies may be permanently stored on a computer or are temporary session cookies. They are used for a variety of purposes, including security and personalisation of services. They are frequently used on websites and you can choose if and how a cookie will be accepted by configuring your preferences and options in your browser.
All browsers allow you to be notified when you receive a cookie and you may elect to either accept it or not. If you wish not to accept a cookie, this may impact the effectiveness of the website. Your internet service provider or other IT service provider should be able to assist you with setting your preferences.
How we store personal information
We take reasonable steps to protect your personal information against misuse, interference and loss, and from unauthorised access, modification or disclosure. These steps include:
- storing paper records securely
- only accessing personal information on a need-to-know basis and by authorised personnel
- monitoring system access which can only be accessed by authenticated credentials
- ensuring our commercial buildings are secure
- regularly updating and auditing our storage and data security systems.
When no longer required, we destroy or archive personal information in a secure manner.
Data hosted for other agencies
We do not host data for any Government Agency
How we share information outside Australia
We may disclose your personal information overseas, such as to a foreign government or agency, where the disclosure is required or authorised by law.
PensionHelp does not use overseas providers to complete your service. However to operate our normal day to day business, such as business development, social media, automation services may be used by an overseas provider.
How to access and correct information about you
You have the right to both ask:
- for access to personal information that we hold about you
- that we correct personal information we hold about you.
If you ask, we must give you access to your personal information, and take reasonable steps to correct it if we consider it is incorrect, unless there is a law that allows or requires us not to.
We will notify you in writing, and explain our reasons if we refuse to give you access to, or correct, your personal information.
You can request the information PensionHelp holds on your by sending an email to support@pensionhelp.com.au
PensionHelp may charge a reasonable fee to cover our costs.
Updating information about you
It’s important to tell us if your circumstances change circumstances change to ensure you are accessing the correct products, services and payments. Some examples include:
- if your financial assets change by $2,000 or more
- your living arrangements change
- your income situation changes
You can do this by simply sending an email to support@pensionhelp.com.au
How to make a complaint about privacy
If you wish to complain about how we’ve handled your personal information, first try to resolve the issue with the person you’ve been dealing with. If you’re not satisfied, wish to submit a complaint or offer us a suggestion or compliment you can
- Call us on 1300 SENIOR (1300 736 467)
- Email support@pensionhelp.com.au and in the Subject Line inserting ‘Privacy Question’
How we deal with your complaint
We will always respond to your feedback.
We will use the information from your feedback to investigate and resolve individual issues. We will also use the information to provide feedback to staff or our business areas. Your information will be stored and used to assist us to improve the delivery of our services.
Roles and Responsibilities
The PensionHelp Board is ultimately responsible for overseeing the Privacy Policy and are the acting Privacy Officer(s) responsible for updating this Policy and for managing the business impacts of privacy laws across PensionHelp
Unless required earlier, this Policy is reviewed and updated annually by the Privacy Officer.
Material amendments to this Policy must be approved by the PensionHelp Board. Non-material amendments to the Policy may be approved by the Company Secretary
The most current version of the Policy can be obtained from our website at pensionhelp.com.au