Privacy policy

Who we are

Fides Identification Limited (NZBN 9429053923899), trading as FIDES ("FIDES", "we", "us"), runs a reference and verification network for people who hire carers in aged care, childcare and disability support in Aotearoa New Zealand. We are responsible for the personal information described here under the Privacy Act 2020.

This policy covers fidesid.co.nz, the FIDES platform and our mailing list. It applies to workers, referees, organisations, families and website visitors. It takes effect on 1 October 2026.

FIDES is not a marketplace, an employer or a recruitment agency. We don't decide who gets hired; the organisation or family hiring does. Accounts are for people aged 18 and over.

What we collect

We collect information from workers themselves, and about workers from the employers, organisations and families who have engaged them.

Workers

• Identity: legal name, date of birth, email and mobile number.
• Identity check result: your document and selfie are checked by Stripe Identity. We receive the result, not the images.
• Documents you upload for review: photo ID, right-to-work documents, qualifications and professional memberships. These are kept in private storage and reviewed by our team.
• Employment history: employers, roles and dates. We check it against source documents you provide, such as payslips or an IRD income summary. We delete the source documents once your history is logged and keep only the history.
• References: answers from your past employers, and from organisations and families who engaged you, including any safety concerns raised and your replies.
• Incidents logged by an employer: if an organisation or family you work for has a subscription, it can log incidents as they happen (the date, what happened, whether it was documented, and any outcome). Each is reviewed by a person at FIDES before it forms part of your record, and you can reply.
• Consent records: what you've agreed to, which organisations and families you've authorised, and when.
• Purchases: what you bought and when. Card details are handled by Stripe and never reach us.

Referees

• Name, role, organisation, email and mobile number (verified by text message).
• Answers to the reference check, each marked as documented fact or an informal account, plus any optional free-text context.
• Your good-faith declaration.

Organisations and families

• The account holder's name and contact details. For organisations, the NZBN and business details, checked against the NZBN register.
• The workers you search for, authorisations you request, references you submit, checks you request and payments you make.

Searches

When a verified account searches by legal name and date of birth, we log who searched, when, and whether a match was found. If there is no match, we keep the name and date of birth entered for no longer than 24 hours, only to limit and detect misuse.

Workers added by an organisation

An organisation can add a worker it has engaged who isn't on FIDES yet. We hold that record as unclaimed: it can't be found by searching and nothing in it is shown to anyone. We contact the worker using the details the organisation gave, telling them who added them, what we hold, and how to claim or dispute it.

People receiving care

We don't need information about the people receiving care. Referees and organisations are asked not to name or identify clients, and we remove any identifying details we find during review.

Website visitors

Essential cookies keep you signed in. We don't use analytics or advertising cookies.

Why we use it

We use personal information only to run a reference and verification network for care-sector hiring. That means we use it to:

• confirm a worker is who they say they are, and tie each record to one verified person;
• collect references so the people hiring can see a worker's history across aged care, childcare and disability support;
• let workers control who sees their record and reply to what's on it;
• have a person review safety concerns before they form part of a record;
• verify organisation accounts;
• take payments and keep financial records;
• stop misuse, such as fake accounts, false references, or searching for people with no hiring reason;
• enforce permanent exclusions where we've decided one is needed;
• email you about your account, and about our launch if you've subscribed;
• meet our legal obligations.

We don't sell personal information, use it for advertising, or score workers by algorithm. The figures we show are counts of what referees answered.

Who can see what

Nothing about a worker is shown to anyone until that worker consents. There are two layers of consent, and a third for criminal record checks.

1. Discoverability. Once you consent, a verified organisation or family who searches your exact legal name and date of birth sees only that you have a verified FIDES profile, and can ask for your authorisation. They get the same "no match" result whether you aren't on FIDES or have switched discoverability off. You can switch it off at any time, and still invite a specific organisation or family to see your record from your dashboard.
2. Authorisation for each organisation or family. Your record is shown only to organisations and families you've authorised one by one. You choose who sees your record, not which parts: an authorised organisation sees the whole record, including whether any safety concern came through review, and your replies. Withdrawing an authorisation stops future access but can't undo what has already been seen.
3. Criminal record checks (not yet available). Once available, a Ministry of Justice check is requested only with your consent to that specific request. General consent never covers it.

What an authorised organisation or family sees: the answers to the standard reference questions, shown as counts (for example, "4 of 5 past employers would re-employ"), your verified employment history, whether any safety concern or incident is on record, and your replies. If you have a Verified profile, they also see the results of its identity, qualification, registration and right-to-work checks. They never see referees' free-text context, or referees' identities.

What you see: your record exactly as an authorised organisation sees it, plus every safety concern raised about you, without the referee's name, and the outcome of its review. You can also ask us who has searched for you or viewed your record.

Referee information

A referee's answers become part of the worker's record, and any safety concern they raise is shown to the worker so the worker can respond. The referee's name and contact details are withheld from the worker unless the law requires us to release them.

Every referee sees a notice explaining this before they answer.

We rely on section 50 of the Privacy Act 2020 (evaluative material) to withhold referees' identities and their free-text context. That ground covers opinion material compiled to assess someone's suitability for work and supplied in confidence. It doesn't cover facts, so documented facts recorded by a referee are always shown to the worker.

Five years after a safety concern is raised, we remove the referee's identifying details from it. Referees can ask to see the information we hold about them, such as their contact details and declaration.

Who we share it with

Beyond the organisations and families a worker authorises, we share personal information only with the service providers below, and only so they can run their part of FIDES. They act for us, and we stay responsible for the information under the Privacy Act.

We also disclose information:

• to the Ministry of Justice, once checks are available and the worker has consented to that specific request;
• where the law requires it, such as a court order;
• where we believe it's necessary to prevent or lessen a serious threat to someone's life or health.

We don't sell personal information.

How we protect it

• Access rules are enforced in the database itself, not only in the app. An account can't read another account's data, whatever the screen shows.
• Every search, view, request, submission and change to a sensitive record is logged with who did it and when. Logs can't be edited.
• Uploaded documents are kept in private storage that only our review team can open.
• Searches are limited per account, so no one can search at random.
• Our staff can access only what their role needs.

How long we keep it

We keep information only as long as we need it for the purposes above, then delete or de-identify it.

A safety concern found on review to be wrong, or about the wrong person, is corrected or removed.

Where there are serious grounds, we may permanently exclude a worker from FIDES. An organisation can raise a concern, but the decision is ours, made after review. The worker is told the reasons and can respond before it takes effect. Our Safety Concerns, Disputes and Exclusions Policy sets out the process.

Your rights

• See what we hold. Ask for the information we hold about you, including who has searched for or viewed your record. We respond within 20 working days. If we withhold anything, such as a referee's identity, we'll tell you which ground of the Privacy Act we're relying on.
• Correct it. We correct factual errors, such as a wrong date, the wrong employer, a mixed-up identity or a misattributed answer. If we don't agree to change something, such as a referee's honest opinion, you can ask us to attach your statement of correction, and it will be shown wherever that information is.
• Reply to it. You can reply to any safety concern raised about you. Your reply is shown alongside it.
• Withdraw consent. Switch off discoverability or withdraw an authorisation at any time from your dashboard. This stops future access. It doesn't delete information we keep for the reasons in the table above.
• Ask us to delete it. We'll delete information we don't need to keep. New Zealand law has no general right to erasure, so if we keep something, we'll explain why.

To use any of these rights, email info@fidesid.co.nz. We'll confirm your identity before releasing anything.

Breaches, mailing list and changes

Privacy breaches. If a breach has caused, or is likely to cause, serious harm, we'll tell the Privacy Commissioner and the people affected as soon as practicable.

Mailing list. If you sign up for updates, we keep your email address, the name you give, which group you said you belong to, and when you signed up. We use it only to email you about FIDES, through Resend. Every email has an unsubscribe link that works immediately.

Changes. If we change how we collect, use or share information in a way that affects you, we'll update this page and tell you before the change takes effect.

Contact and complaints

Our privacy officer is Galatea Young. Email info@fidesid.co.nz.

If you're not satisfied with how we handle a privacy concern, you can complain to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner at privacy.org.nz.