UTS respects the privacy of each person it deals with. Information you provide when making a report will be held securely.
Sexual harm reporting privacy notice
Collecting your information when you make a report
MAKE A REPORT
Students
To disclose or report sexual harm, lodge an online report
Staff
If you receive a disclosure or report of sexual harm from or about a UTS student, complete the summary form
UTS SEXUAL HARM SUPPORT LINE
9am to 5pm
Monday to Friday
(UTS Security will connect you with support out of these hours)
Students reporting an incident
Information you provide to a safety caseworker will be held securely by the Student Services Unit and the UTS Counselling Service and will be managed in line with this notice, the Privacy Policy and the Confidentiality notice for safety caseworkers or the Confidentiality notice for UTS Counselling Service as appropriate.
The level of detail you include when you report an incident is your choice, however, please include as much relevant information as you reasonably can to allow UTS to support you and/or to investigate the incident.
In addition to your report, a summary report of the incident will be created in line with the Sexual Harm Prevention and Response Policy. Summary reports capture demographic information, UTS file/report reference numbers or police event numbers, if known, and the initials of the person who has experienced the incident to help identify any duplicate reports. These reports are managed by the safety caseworkers.
Staff reporting an incident
Information you provide will be held securely by the People Unit and will be managed in line with this notice and the Employee privacy notice.
The level of detail you include when you report an incident is your choice, however, please include as much relevant information as you reasonably can to allow UTS to support you and/or to investigate the incident.
In addition to your report, a summary report of the incident will be created in line with the Sexual Harm Prevention and Response Policy. Summary reports capture demographic information, relevant UTS file/report reference numbers or police event numbers, if known, and the initials of the person who has experienced the incident to help identify any duplicate reports. These reports are managed by the Student Services Unit.
How information will be used
The collected information will be accessed and used by staff who have responsibilities under the Sexual Harm Prevention and Response Policy. This includes:
- to provide you with advice and support
- to manage the reported case
- to investigate the reported incident (where it is possible to do so)
- to take action in light of the reported incident
- for quality improvement and planning processes associated with the reporting and management of incidents of sexual harm, and/or
- to develop anonymised statistical reports.
Who receives your information
Information will only be shared internally within UTS as necessary to deal with a reported incident under the Sexual Harm Prevention and Response Policy.
Incidents involving UTS controlled and associated entities
UTS may share information (including the findings from any investigation of an incident) with a relevant UTS controlled or associated entity (for example, ActivateUTS or UTS College) where the disclosure or report of an incident originates from such an entity; and/or where the entity is required to act as part of the university’s response to the investigation, disclosure or report; and/or as part of UTS’s ongoing duty of care, workplace health and safety obligations or any other legal or regulatory obligations.
When information may be disclosed
Personal or health information provided as part of a report of sexual harm will not otherwise be disclosed outside UTS without your express consent, unless there is a legal or safety requirement to do so. Note that UTS may be required by law to report an alleged incident to the police if an indictable offence is suspected to have occurred.
Contacts
If you have any questions, or wish to access or correct your information, contact the following:
- For students: email student.services@uts.edu.au or call (02) 9514 1177
- For staff: email hrclientservices@uts.edu.au or call (02) 9514 1079.
Confidentiality notice for safety caseworkers
Confidentiality notice for safety caseworkers
UTS safety caseworkers in the Student Services Unit provide services in the utmost confidence. The legal basis of this confidentiality is available below:
- In seeking support from a UTS safety caseworker, personal and health information will be collected from you to allow us to provide you (the client) with appropriate services, responses and ongoing support while you are a client. Information may also be collected from medical practitioners and/or parties with your consent.
- The safety caseworkers are part of a multidisciplinary team that aims to provide the best quality services for you. Clients may consult more than one caseworker depending on need and availability. Client records are accessible to all caseworkers and to approved administrative staff, including the unit's director, where needed to support continuity of care, enable supervision (where necessary), review service delivery and other responses.
- Client information may be discussed confidentially within the Student Services Unit under supervision and review arrangements in which trained trauma-informed staff provide supervision. Information held will also be used to plan and review service delivery and other responses.
- The Student Services Unit's services/programs (Accessibility, Counselling, Financial Assistance and safety caseworkers) adopt a collaborative approach to enhance service delivery for students. This approach enables more cohesion between the services when working with students, and a smooth transition and referral between services, minimising the duplication of processes and documentation provision. Staff may be working across various services/programs as part of this collaborative approach. Several services within the Student Services Unit share a single appointment system and, therefore, the details regarding the appointments booked by students.
- Client information will not be disclosed beyond the above requirements unless:
- You have provided consent for information to be shared or disclosed (or consent has been received from a person with legal authority to act on your behalf)
- The disclosure is considered necessary to lessen or prevent a serious and imminent risk to life or health of yourself or another person, or a threat to public health or public safety. Where a risk may not be imminent, but there is a threat that may endanger staff or students, information may be disclosed to those responsible for campus safety and wellbeing
- We are required by law to disclosure the information (for example, mandatory reporting of a serious crime)
- It is disclosed in the course of external supervision or external professional training, and the caseworker:
- conceals your identity and the identities of any associated parties involved, or
- obtains your consent, and gives prior notice to the recipients of the information that they are required to preserve your privacy, and obtains an undertaking from the recipients of the information that they will preserve for your privacy.
- You can request access to information held about you by contacting the Student Services Unit
- The Student Services Unit protects client personal and health information. Information collected about you will be stored securely and only retained to satisfy legal retention requirements before it is confidentially destroyed.
If you have any questions regarding privacy, contact the Director, Student Services Unit on 9514 1177 or Student.Services@uts.edu.au.
These requirements comply with our obligations under the NSW Health Records and Information Privacy Act (2002) and the Australian Psychological Society ethical guidelines (2007).
