Bina Chat and booking through chat

Work chat with a clear purpose

Who this policy applies to

This policy applies to Bina Pathways Ltd staff, clients, authorised client representatives, management and departments using BINA CHAT. Use your own verified account and existing portal session. Each client company has its own conversation with Bina management. Clients and approved workers can also have work conversations. Clients cannot access another company’s conversations or unrelated internal staff conversations. Learners and the public do not gain chat access through this service.

What chat must be used for

Use chat for appropriate work updates, routine coordination, availability queries, training and supervision reminders, requests for support and clarification of Bina instructions. Use a group only where every member needs the information. Use a private management conversation for an individual routine query, sharing only the minimum necessary information. Keep messages factual, clear, respectful and relevant. Check the conversation title and recipients before sending.

Use the formal process as well

An informal chat, emoji, delivery tick or read receipt is not an assignment confirmation, approval of hours or pay, completion of supervision, a competence sign-off or a policy signature. Continue to use the relevant booking, timesheet, payroll, supervision, incident or compliance process. Structured booking actions update the booking record automatically. Other significant decisions and agreed actions must still be recorded in the appropriate authorised record and staff folder.

Urgent help must not depend on chat

Chat is not an emergency service and is not monitored continuously. For immediate danger or serious injury, call 999 first and follow the host service's emergency procedure. Report safeguarding concerns promptly through the host and Bina safeguarding routes, using the alternate route if the usual lead is involved or unavailable. For urgent attendance or booking problems, telephone the Bina office on 07337541218. Do not wait for a chat reply, notification, read tick or email before protecting someone or reporting an urgent concern.

Protect people and their information

Know who you are speaking with

Staff see other staff by BPW number. Management sees linked staff full names. Bina messages identify the signed-in person and department. Client messages identify the company and the named signed-in representative. BPW display is a pseudonym, not anonymity: message wording, a photograph or a document can identify someone. Never share credentials, impersonate another person or ask a colleague to send or acknowledge something in your name.

Information that does not belong in chat

Do not post identifiable service-user, patient or pupil information, care plans, clinical records, safeguarding case details, DBS or right-to-work documents, bank details, passwords or other sensitive staff records in general chat or groups. Use the specifically approved secure recording or document-submission route. A private chat is not automatically an approved channel for sensitive case files. If you need confidential support, ask management for the correct private reporting route without including unnecessary details.

Photos, videos, files and respectful conduct

Share only work-relevant material you are authorised to share, such as a general briefing or training resource without identifiable care information. Do not photograph, film, record or upload people receiving support or confidential records to chat. Respect copyright and permissions. No bullying, discrimination, harassment, threats, sexualised material, malicious files, spam or unauthorised advertising. Do not forward messages, screenshots or files outside the approved service without authority and a legitimate work purpose. A scan of an upload does not authorise its content.

What Bina can see and why

Client–staff, client–management and other Bina work conversations retain their existing management and department oversight. Staff-to-staff conversations are different: management and departments, including directors, cannot read them by default. A verified director may authorise named active Bina investigators to read selected staff-only conversations for a recorded safeguarding concern or investigation, with a case reference, reason and expiry. This does not grant access to unrelated staff conversations or any external messaging service. Use the approved confidential reporting route for sensitive case records.

Switching staff investigation access on and off

The affected staff and named investigators receive access-update notices when access is enabled, switched off or expires. Notices name the investigator and authorising director without disclosing the confidential case reason. Staff can continue their conversation. Investigators receive read-only access to the selected conversation and its attachments during the authorised period; they cannot send, edit, upload, book shifts or change membership inside it. The director can revoke access immediately, and access expires automatically. The system records authorisations, changes, expiry and investigative conversation/attachment access. Ending access does not delete the conversation or the retained investigation audit history.

Notifications, replies and receipts

Reply clearly and use emojis with care

Choose Reply to quote a message; select the quoted preview to locate and highlight its original. Use Message privately for an individual response rather than placing personal details in a group. Emojis are available through the picker and device keyboard, but use clear words for instructions, decisions, concerns and commitments. Do not assume a reaction or short acknowledgement proves understanding or agreement.

Delivery and read receipts

A single tick means sent. Double delivery ticks confirm receipt by all current recipients' devices; group delivery counts show partial delivery. Staff read receipts are on and show when a message has been viewed in the active chat. Management read status is not shared. A manager's delivered message does not tell you whether it has been read. Viewing a notification preview, dismissing it or choosing Read aloud does not mark a message as read. A read receipt is not proof of comprehension, consent or action, and must not be used alone to decide misconduct or pay.

Choose safe notification settings

On-screen alerts are available while signed in to the staff portal, Management Hub or chat. Open Chat alerts to control message previews, optional sound and user-initiated Read aloud. Read aloud only where others cannot overhear confidential work information. For closed-app device alerts, choose Enable device notifications and allow the device prompt. On iPhone or iPad, first add the app to the Home Screen and open its icon. Each device requires its own permission and connection; Focus, connectivity and device settings can affect delivery.

Your device, working time and accessibility

Notification permission is optional and is not blanket consent to monitoring or access to personal device content. Hide previews where a lock screen or shared space could disclose information; lock your device and sign out of shared devices. Check confirmed work information through the portal even if alerts are enabled. Chat does not create a requirement to remain online, read or reply outside agreed working or on-call arrangements. Request an accessible explanation, format or alternative approved contact route if needed. Record and handle required work and training time under your applicable terms and legal entitlements.

Keep records and raise concerns

Sent content and the two-minute editing window

No participant, including management, can delete a sent conversation, message or shared attachment through chat. You may correct your own message text within two minutes of its original sending time. Edited messages are marked, and the original text, corrected text, actor and time remain in the audit history. The editing window does not restart after an edit. You can remove your own unsent uploads. Administrative retention, legal holds and account restrictions continue under the company’s separate retention and privacy procedures.

Book and rebook through chat

Use the plus menu to request a new shift or rebook a worker recorded as having worked at the selected location. Review the applicable price, location, role and UK shift times before sending the offer. Requests within 12 hours of shift start use the displayed emergency classification. The named signed-in requester is recorded. Staff must review current assignment instructions and use the acceptance control; a typed “yes” alone is not booking acceptance. The card uses the same booking record as the staff app. Normal clearance, availability, policy, working-hours and attendance checks still apply. Confirmed shifts appear in the rota; approved timesheets feed the existing payroll and invoicing processes.

Retain the right evidence

Use the company's retention schedule, privacy notice and lawful hold requirements. Do not keep everything indefinitely or use chat as the sole record of a material decision. Preserve relevant evidence securely when a complaint, safeguarding concern, dispute or investigation requires it; do not delete it to conceal an incident. Restrict access and record what was retained, why, where and by whom. Retention of backups or audit metadata is handled under the relevant schedule rather than assumed to end immediately when a visible message is removed.

Wrong recipient, harmful content or lost device

Report a mistaken disclosure, suspicious attachment, account compromise, lost device or abusive message promptly to management/privacy through admin@binapathways.co.uk or 07337541218. Give a minimal factual reference, date, chat and nature of the issue; do not repeat sensitive content into another group. Management must assess containment, access removal, preservation and any further reporting under the existing procedures. For safeguarding, use the safeguarding route rather than waiting for chat moderation.

Fair handling and acknowledgement

Concerns or alleged misuse are considered fairly under the existing conduct, disciplinary, grievance and safeguarding procedures. Necessary evidence must be obtained lawfully and proportionately, with confidentiality, an opportunity to explain and protection for lawful reporting. Ask management about access, correction or other privacy rights. Reading or acknowledging this policy confirms receipt and understanding; it does not waive rights, approve unrelated monitoring or establish task competence. New induction records identify the policy version and retain the worker's own acknowledgement and signature.

Contacts and review

Bina office: 07337541218. Management/privacy: admin@binapathways.co.uk. Safeguarding Lead: Wisdom Akpoturu. Director and Manager / alternate route: Precious Chinazonwa Ezurike. Use host and external safeguarding routes where required. Immediate danger: 999. Policy BPW-CHAT-20261107-v4; effective 7 November 2026; owner Directors / Management lead; review by 7 February 2027. Read alongside the full handbook, staff privacy notice and relevant reporting procedures.

Chat records and the purposes of access

Bina records verified account identity, company and department details, conversation membership, messages and attachments, booking actions, delivery/read events, security events and investigation access records. These support work communication, staffing administration, service security, fair complaint handling and necessary safeguarding investigations. Client–staff, client–management and management–staff work conversations retain existing Bina management and department oversight. Access must be used for an authorised work purpose; a role or technical capability is not permission to browse out of curiosity. Staff-only conversations require the separate director-authorised control described above.

Lawful basis and proportionate investigation

Bina records the applicable lawful basis for each purpose. Routine staffing administration and proportionate security or complaint handling may rely on legitimate interests after a documented necessity and balancing assessment; legal obligation is used only where a specific duty applies. A client supply contract is not automatically a contract basis for processing a worker’s information. Before investigation access is enabled, the director must record the concern, why access is necessary, the selected conversation, investigators and duration, and consider a less intrusive route. Complete a DPIA where required and identify any Article 9 condition, Article 10 authority and associated UK-law requirements before processing the relevant sensitive information. Staff acknowledgement is not consent to surveillance and does not replace these assessments.

Limits on access and retained evidence

Investigation access exposes the selected conversation history and available attachments during the authorised period, including new messages while access remains active. The current control does not restrict access to selected dates within a conversation. The director must consider this scope before granting it. Switching access off ends further application access; it cannot withdraw a lawful copy or information already seen. Necessary retained evidence must be placed in the restricted case record, limited to the purpose and reviewed under the applicable retention schedule. No personal app, private device content or unrelated conversation is included. Do not use this control for covert monitoring.

Acknowledgement and optional choices

Staff acknowledge receipt and understanding of the current handbook and chat policy. Clients acknowledge the operational and privacy information, and an authorised company administrator separately accepts revised contractual terms where required. Nobody may accept or sign for another user. Earlier signed versions and receipts remain historical evidence. Optional marketing, device notification permission and any genuinely optional consent remain separate, may be declined without preventing ordinary account access, and can be changed through the relevant control. Essential service and policy notices are operational communications rather than marketing.

Retention and privacy rights

Chat participants cannot delete sent messages, attachments or conversations through the app. Own-message text editing ends two minutes after original sending; edits retain their audit history. This user-interface restriction does not remove data protection rights or authorise indefinite retention. Routine closed support conversations follow the published review schedule; operational chat and necessary investigation evidence follow their applicable justified category, with a specific legal hold where required. Contact admin@binapathways.co.uk for access, correction, objection, restriction, deletion or other applicable rights. Bina will assess the legal conditions and any necessary protection of another person’s information and explain any limitation. You may complain to the ICO.

Staff identity, attendance and communications — 9 November 2026

Bina Chat calls and voice notes

Authorised clients, staff and Bina management may use Bina Chat for appropriate work communication. Confirm the conversation and recipient before sending a voice note or starting or answering a call. Sent voice notes are stored audio attachments; do not include unnecessary sensitive information or play them where others can overhear. Current live Bina Chat calls are not audio-recorded or transcribed by the service, although call-event messages and connection metadata may be retained. Do not assume that management can listen to a previous live call. A separate recording needs the appropriate approved process, lawful basis and clear notice.

Formal decisions and urgent contact

A call, message, voice note, last-seen display or read tick is not a formal booking confirmation, accepted rate change, timesheet approval, incident report or safeguarding escalation. Put important agreed actions into the relevant booking, assignment, timesheet or incident record. Bina Chat is not continuously monitored and is not an emergency service. Use 999 and your emergency procedure for immediate danger; use Bina's office or current on-call route for urgent staffing and safeguarding issues. Follow your own statutory and service reporting obligations without waiting for a chat response.

Privacy and existing agreements

Use only necessary identity and attendance information for the assignment and keep it within authorised access. Do not demand continuous location sharing or access to a worker's private device, personal messages or unrelated records. Existing authorised Bina oversight of client work conversations, and the separate director-authorised process for staff-only investigations, remain governed by the privacy notice. Required notices and acknowledgement are separate from optional device permissions and any recording arrangement. This operational update does not silently change signed rates, liability, cancellation, payment or employment terms. Any contractual variation requiring agreement follows the existing authorised process.

Updated 9 November 2026 · BP-DIGITAL-OPERATIONS-2026-11-09-v1. Read the current staff identity, attendance and calls guide.