privacy policy

DATA PROTECTION POLICY AND PRIVACY NOTICE

Gateway Church Ashford Kent

Created: May 2018 | Reviewed: 24.7.24

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Section 1 - The Policy

 

Policy statement
Gateway Church is committed to protecting personal data and respecting the rights of our data subjects - the people whose personal data we collect and use. We value the personal information entrusted to us and we respect that trust by complying with all relevant laws, and adopting good practice. From 25th May, 2018, the processing of personal data is governed by the General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”).

 

Anyone who processes personal information must comply with the eight data protection principles contained within the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Act. Information must:

 

• Be processed fairly and lawfully

• Be obtained for specific and lawful purposes

• Be kept accurate and up to date

• Be adequate, relevant and not excessive

• Not be kept for longer than is necessary

• Be processed in accordance with the rights of data subjects

• Be kept secure to prevent unauthorised processing and accidental loss, damage or destruction

• Not be transferred to any country outside the EEA unless certain considerations apply

 

1. Your personal data – what is it?

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. 

Sensitive data relates to racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious beliefs, trade union activities, physical or mental health, sexual life, or details of criminal offences.

 

2. Who are we (the Data Controller)? 

Gateway Church is the data controller (contact details below), a church and incorporated charity, for any information supplied to it by its members, attenders or members of the public.  This means it decides how your personal data is processed and for what purposes.

 

3. How do we process your personal data?

Gateway Church, Ashford, 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 more data than is required for its purpose; 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. 

 

Data is collected and stored in various ways, i.e. via visitor cards, the Church website, Google Drive (cloud based office - a file storage, synchronization and sharing service), Churchsuite (cloud based church database management and communications system), MailChimp (email marketing service which we use for designing and sending out our monthly updates), Planning Centre (Sunday worship planning tool) and social media (Facebook, Twitter and Instagram).

 

We use your personal data for the following purposes: -

 

• maintain our list of church members [and regular attenders and newcomers];

• maintain consent for children for permission to engage in activities run by the church and emergency medical care if required, and use of photos or media, as completed by the legal guardian;

• provide pastoral support for members and others connected with our church;

• provide services to the community [i.e. Coffee & Play, ESOL];

• safeguard children, young people and adults at risk;

• recruit, support and manage staff and volunteers;

• to manage various rotas;

• promote our [goods and] services;

• maintain the security of property and premises;

• respond effectively to enquirers and handle any complaints;

• To enable us to carry out church business or trade, including the provision of space for hire or rent to members of the public who are our clients, and any business activity that we may engage in.

• To fundraise and promote the interests, services and activities of the church; 

• To manage our employees and volunteers; 

• To maintain our own accounts and records (including the processing of gift aid applications);

• To inform by letter, text, email, or social media, members, attenders and the public of news, events, courses, activities and services running at Gateway.

 

4. What is the legal basis for processing your personal data?

• Where it has explicit consent of you, the data subject, so that we can keep you informed about news, events, activities and services and keep you informed about other such church connected events.

• Where processing is necessary for carrying out legal obligations in relation to Gift Aid or under employment, social security or social protection law, or a collective agreement;

• Where processing is carried out by a not-for-profit body with a political, philosophical, religious or trade union aim provided: -

• the processing relates only to members or former members (or those who have regular contact with it in connection with those purposes); and 

• there is no disclosure to a third party without consent. 

 

5. 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. Personal data will not be shared with third parties without explicit consent of the data subject.

 

6. How long do we keep your personal data?

Specifically, we retain members’ and church attendees’ personal data for as long as it remains current;  accounting and financial data for 6 years or the duration of a financial or trading relationship (whichever is longer);  gift aid declarations and associated paperwork for up to 6 years after the calendar year to which they relate; and any formal or statutory registers (baptisms, marriages, funerals) permanently.

 

Where we have captured personal data from members of the public that we have contacted during the course of outreach or mission activity, or who have visited the church or participated in any of our events, but who do not become regular attendees, contacts or members, this data will be retained for 1 year.

 

7. 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 Gateway Church, Ashford, holds about you; 

• The right to request that the Gateway Church, Ashford, 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 Gateway Church, Ashford, to retain such data;

• The right to withdraw your consent to the processing at any time

• The right to data portability - the right to request that the data controller, Gateway Church Ashford, provide you, the data subject, with his/her personal data and where possible, to transmit/transfer that data directly to another data controller (i.e. another church). This only applies where the processing is based on consent or is necessary for the performance of a contract with you the data subject, and only applies if the data is processed by automated means (i.e. IT).

• 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, (where applicable) This only applies where processing is based on legitimate interests (or the performance of a task in the public interest/exercise of official authority); direct marketing and processing for the purposes of scientific/historical research and statistics.

• The right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).

 

8. Further processing

If we wish to use your personal data for a new purpose, not covered by this Data Protection 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.

 

9. Contact Details

To exercise all relevant rights, queries or complaints please in the first instance contact The Administrator at:

 

Gateway Church,

The Riverside Centre,

Clockhouse,

Ashford,

Kent,

TN23 4YN

 

Section 2 – ICO Registration

 

Data Controller: Gateway Church

Registration Number: Z8723361

Date Registered: 23 August 2004 

Registration Expires: 22 August 2024

Address: The Riverside Centre, Clockhouse, Ashford, Kent TN23 4YN

 

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.

 

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