Privacy Policy
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St Peter’s Church Watford
Data Privacy Policy
1. Your personal data and what it is
Personal data relates to a living individual who can be identified from that data. Identification can be by the information alone or in conjunction with any other information in the data controller’s possession or likely to come into such possession. The processing of personal data is governed by the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR).
2. Who are we
The Parochial Church Council of St Peter’s Church Watford is the data controller (contact details below in section 12). This means that we decide how your personal data is processed and for what purposes and are ultimately responsible for managing your personal data.
The incumbent of the parish (that is our vicar) is a separate legal entity from the PCC but works together with the PCC to deliver the mission of the church.
As the church is made up of incumbent and PCC working together, personal data is shared between them so that they can carry out their responsibilities to the Church and our community. They are joint data controllers. This means we are jointly responsible to you for how we process your data.
3. The personal data we collect
The type of personal data St Peter’s church collects includes the following:
• Church member and visitor contact details for communications
• Electoral roll memberships details
• Details of those participating in groups, events and other activities
• Pastoral care records
• Employee details and those applying for roles
• Details of those in appointed roles including the members of the PCC, churchwardens, treasurer and parish safeguarding officer
• Details of volunteers appointed to roles leading and supporting groups, clubs and events
• Safeguarding information including DBS checks
• Details of giving including gift aid details
• Register for baptisms, marriages and funerals
• Photos and videos when you participate in one of our church services or events
4. How we collect your personal data
You may provide us with your personal data in the following ways:
• when you give us your contact details via our web page contact forms
• when you enter your personal details on Churchsuite
• when you give us financial details for gift aid and general giving
• when you give us your personal details by telephone, email or in person
• when you engage with us on social media networks
• by website cookies and similar technologies
• when we take photo and video footage of our church services or events for which you participate in
• when you apply for and/or are appointed to a role in the church in a paid or unpaid capacity including providing details for DBS checks
If you give us information on behalf of someone else, please confirm that the other person has appointed you to act on their behalf and has agreed that you can give consent on their behalf to the processing of their personal data and receive on their behalf any data protection notices.
5. How we use your personal data
We use your personal data for the following purposes:-
• To enable us to deliver the mission of the church serving you and the community
• To enable us to provide a voluntary service for the benefit of the public in the parish and neighbouring areas
• To manage, maintain and publish the electoral roll
• To fundraise and promote the interests of the church
• To administer donations (including gift aid)
• To manage our employees and volunteers including to determine your suitability to work with vulnerable adults, children and youth
• To administer courses and events
• To manage our social media accounts
• To inform you of news, events, activities and services running at or supported by St Peter’s church
• To share your contact details with the diocesan office in accordance with our obligations under ecclesiastical law and in relation to safeguarding
• To share your details with the charity commission when required
• To comply with a legal or regulatory obligation
• To prevent or detect crime
6. How we manage your personal data
St Peter’s church complies with its obligations under the “GDPR” by keeping personal data up to date; by storing and destroying it securely; by not collecting or retaining excessive amounts of data; by protecting personal data from loss, misuse, unauthorised access and disclosure and by ensuring that appropriate technical measures are in place to protect personal data.
We use reasonable technical, administrative and physical controls to safeguard your personal data from unlawful use and unauthorised disclosure. In addition we limit access to your personal data to those who need to know and they will only process your personal data on our instructions.
St Peter’s Watford maintains church member information on a third-party secure electronic database called “Churchsuite”. It ensures personal data is secure and only accessible to authorised users. Our Churchsuite account is hosted in the UK. Churchsuite has a member facing system called “My Churchsuite”, which enables you to manage your own personal information, make changes and set preferences on what contact details are available to other church members. All personal information stored on our Churchsuite account is backed up securely each day.
Almost all the personal data we hold is stored and backed up in the UK including for
Churchsuite. Our website is hosted in the US via webhost Squarespace. If you submit your contact details via the webpage they will pass through US territory. If you prefer you can email your contact details via info@stpeterswatford.org.uk which is a UK hosted.
This privacy policy only addresses the use and disclosure of personal data held by us. Our website may publish links to other websites which may be of interest to you. In addition the church uses and posts links to Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, Spotify and Apple podcasts. If you follow the buttons or links to any other third party sites, please be aware that they have their own cookies and privacy policies which we recommend you read.
7. The lawful basis for processing your personal data
• The processing is necessary to further the “legitimate interests” of St Peter’s church, provided that such processing does not prejudice the “right and freedoms or legitimate interests” of the person concerned. If St Peter’s church processes data under this condition, there is no requirement to obtain consent from the person concerned, but we will always ensure that St Peter’s church respects that person’s rights. This includes the rights of those who provide services to St Peter’s church (e.g. tradespeople).
• The person concerned has given consent. The consent may be explicit or implicit. By way of an example, a person who emails the church is deemed to give implicit consent for his or her contact details to be stored in such a way that enables the church to respond to the email. You can update your privacy preferences anytime via MyChurchsuite.
• In compliance with a legal obligation – for example a court order requiring disclosure of information or a gift aid declaration.
8. Sharing your personal data
Your personal data will be treated as strictly confidential and will only be shared with other members of the church in order to carry out a service to other church members or for purposes connected with the church. We will only share your data with third parties outside of the parish with your consent.
We have a legal obligation to notify the Diocese of St Albans of the names and contact details of Office Holders including Churchwardens, Deanery Synod members, PCC Treasurer, PCC Secretary, Parish Safeguarding Officer as well as sharing personal data for the purposes of obtaining DBS checks. We also notify the Charity Commissioners of the members of the PCC.
9. How long do we keep your personal data ?
We keep data in accordance with the guidance set out in the Church of England guides “Keep or Bin: Care of Your Parish Records” (2009) and “Safeguarding Records -Retention” (2015). These are available from the Church of England website [see footnote 1. for link].
Specifically, we retain electoral roll data while it is still current; gift aid declarations and associated paperwork for up to 6 years after the calendar year to which they relate; and parish registers (baptisms, marriages, funerals) permanently.
10. Your rights and your personal data
Unless subject to an exemption under the GDPR, you have the following rights with respect to your personal data: -
• The right to request a copy of your personal data which St Peter’s church holds about you;
• The right to request that St Peter’s church corrects any personal data if it is found to be inaccurate or out of date;
• The right to request your personal data is erased where it is no longer necessary for St Peter’s church to retain such data;
• The right to withdraw your consent to the processing at any time
• The right to request for your personal data to be (where possible) transmitted to another data controller (known as the right to data portability)
• The right, where there is a dispute in relation to the accuracy or processing of your personal data, to request a restriction is placed on further processing;
• The right to object to the processing of personal data if you are not satisfied that there is a legal basis for doing so
• The right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioners Office.
11. Further processing
If we wish to use your personal data for a new purpose, not covered by this Data Protection Privacy Notice, then we will provide you with a new notice explaining this new use prior to commencing the processing and setting out the relevant purposes and processing conditions. Where and whenever necessary, we will seek your prior consent to the new processing.
12. Contact Details
To exercise all relevant rights, queries or complaints please in the first instance contact the data protection administrator at the church office at info@stpeterswatford.org.uk
You can contact the Information Commissioners Office on 0303 123 1113 or via email https://ico.org.uk/global/contact-us/email/ or at the Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire. SK9 5AF.
13. Changes to this privacy notice
We review our data protection policy and privacy notice every 3 years or sooner if we substantially change how we process your personal data.
This data protection policy privacy notice was last reviewed on 11th October 2022.