Terms and conditions

Victim Support may amend these terms of use at any time. Please check them from time to time to ensure that you are aware of any changes that are made as they are conditional to your use of this service.

Unless otherwise stated, My Support Space is available free of charge and is provided to act as an additional support site for you to use.

We do not guarantee that My Support Space, content or functionality on the site will be available at all times or will not be interrupted. Access to the platform is permitted on a temporary basis and we may suspend, withdraw, discontinue or change the platform or access to it without prior notice. We will not be liable to you if the site is unavailable for any reason, at any time or for a period of time.

You are responsible for ensuring that all persons who access the platform through your internet connection use their own individual access credentials and that they are aware of these terms of use and that they abide by them. This may apply, for example, to another member of your family.

We may update or change the content of the platform at any time. Please be aware that any of the content on the platform may not be accurate and up to date at any given time. We will endeavour to ensure content is accurate and up to date, however we are under no obligation to update it.

When you are provided with user account access credentials in order to access the platform, you must treat them as confidential as they apply only to you. You must not share these credentials with any other person or third party.

We have the right to disable any user account at any time if in our reasonable opinion you have not complied with any part of these terms of use.

If you know or suspect that these access credentials are known by any other person other than yourself, you must notify the platform support helpdesk immediately by emailing WebAdmin@victimsupport.org.uk and providing details regarding the potential credentials breach. The support helpdesk will follow internal procedures including suspending the account while undertaking an investigation. Once this is complete we will reactivate your account and you will be required to change your password at next logon.

The platform currently allows you to add text within the guides, and within the diary section.

We have the right to remove any content posted to the platform for any reason including if, in our opinion, the content addition does not comply with the Acceptable Use Standards set out in this document.

Any content that you download or copy from the platform for your own personal use must not be modified in any way from the original content. You are not permitted to extract any material or take screen shots of the platform in order to post them anywhere else including on any other form of social media eg Facebook.

a) Prohibited Use

You may only use the platform for lawful purposes and in line with your provided access.
You may not use the platform:

• In any way that breaches any applicable law or regulation whether that be local, national or international;
• In any way that is unlawful or fraudulent;
• For the purpose of harming or attempting to harm minors, those that may be vulnerable or any other persons in any way;
• To send, knowingly receive, upload, download, use or re-use any content or material which does not comply with our content standards detailed within this document;
• To knowingly transmit any data, send or upload any material that contains viruses or malware 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:

• Access without relevant authority, interfere with or damage/disrupt:
• • Any part of the platform;
  • Any equipment or network on which the site is provided;
• Allow anybody else access to the platform using your credentials.

b) Content standards

These content standards apply to any and all content that you provide within the platform.
You must comply with the following:

Contributions MUST:

• Be accurate where facts are stated;
• Be genuinely held where opinions are expressed;
• Comply with applicable law both in the UK and in any country where content is posted.

Contributions MUST NOT:

• Discuss any element of an active criminal case or proceeding that may impact on the outcome of the ongoing investigation (This does not preclude you from discussing the relevant case in general terms);
• Discuss any evidence relating to a criminal case, including where this has not been disclosed to relevant authorities;
• Contain any material which may be deemed defamatory of or to any person;
• Contain any material which is obscene, offensive, hateful or inflammatory;
• Promote sexually explicit material;
• Promote violence;
• Promote any discrimination based on race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, nationality, disability or age;
• Contain details intended to mislead any person(s);
• Promote any illegal activity;
• Be threatening, abusive or invade another person’s privacy, or deliberately cause any annoyance, inconvenience or anxiety to another person;
• Be likely to deliberately harass, upset, embarrass or annoy any other person;
• Be used to impersonate any other person or to misrepresent your identity or affiliation with any other person;
• Advocate, promote or assist in any unlawful act.

c) Suspension and Termination of Access Rights

We will determine whether there has been a breach of our Terms of Use. Where a breach is deemed to have occurred, we may take any action we deem necessary and appropriate.

Failure to comply with these Terms of Use may result in us taking all or any of the following actions:

• Immediate withdrawal of your right to use the platform (either temporary or permanent);
• Immediate removal of any content provided by you to the platform (either temporary or permanent);
• Issuing a warning to you;
• Taking further legal action against you if deemed appropriate;
• Disclosing any relevant information or material to law enforcement authorities as we believe necessary.

We exclude liability for actions taken in response to breaches of our terms of use, including our acceptable use and content standards. The responses described above are not limited, and we may take any other action we reasonably deem appropriate.

Our platform may contain features, articles and other content which is published for and on behalf of, or is otherwise sponsored by, third parties. Such content is provided for information only and does not represent our views or opinions or an endorsement of any particular brand, product or service.

Where our platform contains links to other sites and resources provided by third parties, these links are provided for your information only. We have no control over the contents of those sites or resources.

We may also provide information about third party products and services, as well as the opportunity to purchase such products and services. In the event that you choose to do so, you will be taken to the relevant third party's website in order to complete your purchase. The third party will have its own terms and conditions, which you should read prior to using their site or purchasing any products or services.

You are responsible for configuring your information technology in order to access our platform. You should use your own virus protection software.

You must not misuse our platform by knowingly introducing any form of malicious software. You must not attempt, or allow anyone else to attempt, to gain unauthorised access to our platform, the server on which our platform is stored or any server, computer or database connected to our platform. You must not attack our platform via a denial-of-service attack or a distributed denial-of service attack. 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 platform will cease immediately.

You have the right to request the deletion of your user account and personal data by contacting us at DPO@victimsupport.org.uk Upon your request to delete your account all content you have inputted will be deleted along with your account.

Nothing in these terms of use excludes or limits our liability for death or personal injury arising from our negligence, or our fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation, or any other liability that cannot be excluded or limited by English law.

To the extent permitted by law, we exclude all conditions, warranties, representations or other terms which may apply to our platform or any content on it, whether express or implied.

We will not be liable to any user for any loss or damage, whether in contract, tort (including negligence), breach of statutory duty, or otherwise, even if foreseeable, arising under or in connection with:

• use of, or inability to use, our site; or
• use of or reliance on any content displayed on our site.

We will not be liable for any loss or damage caused by a virus, distributed denial-of-service attack, or other technologically harmful material that may infect your computer equipment, computer programs, data or other proprietary material due to your use of our platform or to you downloading any content on it, or on any website My Support Space provides a link to.

We assume no responsibility for the content of websites linked to from our My Support Space. Such links should not be interpreted as endorsement by us of those linked websites. We will not be liable for any loss or damage that may arise from your use of them.

These terms of use, 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 in relation to any claim or dispute.

To report any technical faults or to contact us regarding these terms of use or any other matter regarding My Support Space, please email WebAdmin@victimsupport.org.uk