Telephone Recording Policy

Introduction

ACUTEC has a telephone system that is capable of recording conversations. Like many other organisations, this is a standard practice that allows the recording of telephone calls for quality monitoring, training, compliance and security purposes.

All calls made and received by ACUTEC will be recorded and will be retained for a period of 24 months after which they will be deleted unless retained for the purposes specified in this policy. Recordings will only be used for the purposes specified in this policy.

Purpose of this telephone recording policy

In order to maintain high standards we need to record all telephone calls made and received by ACUTEC and retain them for a limited period of time.

We shall ensure that the use of these recordings is fair and that we comply with the requirements of the relevant legislation. This includes:

The Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000
The Telecommunications (Lawful Business Practice) (Interception of Communications Regulations) 2000
The Telecommunications (Data Protection and Privacy) Regulations 1999
The General Data Protection Regulation 2018
The Data Protection Act 2018
The Human Rights Act 1998.

Scope of policy

All calls made and received by ACUTEC will be recorded. Under normal circumstances a call will not be retrieved, monitored or retained for longer than 24 months unless:

It is necessary to investigate a complaint
It is required to be used as evidence in a legal dispute.
There is a threat to the health and safety of staff or visitors or for the prevention or detection of crime
It is necessary to check compliance with regulatory procedures
It will aid standards in call handling through use in training and coaching our staff. However, this will only be permitted if the recording is edited so that the caller remains anonymous and the member of staff who was party to the call agrees to its being used in this way.
If it becomes clear that a communication is private, then the conversation will not be included in routine audit and reviews.
If the person making the call says that they do not wish to have their call recorded, the call will be ended and any recording deleted.

Collecting information

Personal data collected in the course of recording activities will be processed fairly and lawfully in accordance with data protection law. It will be:

Adequate, relevant and not excessive
Used for the purpose(s) stated in this policy only and not used for any other purposes
Accessible only to managerial staff as part of training and coaching process.
Treated confidentially
Stored securely
Not kept for longer than necessary and will be securely destroyed once the issue(s) in question have been resolved.