Privacy NOTICE
Privacy Notice
The
Parochial Church Councils (PCCs) of:
The United Benefice of Hormead with Wyddial,
Anstey, Brent Pelham and Meesden.
Also known as ‘The Quintet Churches’ (www.quintetchurches.com)
This Privacy Notice tells you what to expect us to do with your personal information.
Our contact details
The Rector, The Vicarage, Great Hormead, BUNTINGFORD, Hertfordshire, SG9 0NT, GB
Email: enquiries@quintetchurches.com
What information we collect, use, and why
We may collect or use the following information, according to purpose:
Names and contact details, including email addresses; gender; addresses; date of birth; photographs or video recordings; information about lifestyle, interests or personal history; records of meetings; payment details (including card or bank information for transfers and direct debits); taxpayer information (for Gift Aid purposes); website user information; copies of passports or other ID (for safeguarding and recruitment purposes);information relating to criminal offences (for DBS checks); right to work information and employment history (for safeguarding and recruitment purposes); information relating to health (if you make this known); information relating to compliments or complaints.
As a not-for profit body with a religious aim, we also collect or use information on religion.
We do this for the following reasons:
- to provide our voluntary, not-for-profit service to people in our benefice and to visitors to our Churches
- to receive donations or funding and organise fundraising activities
- to update you on our services, news, and events in our Benefice, Deanery, or Diocese
- for recruitment purposes (staff and volunteers)
- for safeguarding purposes (prevention of crime, and maintain health and safety in our environments)
- to enable us to manage, maintain and publish the Church Electoral Roll in accordance with Church Representation Rules (CRR)
- to comply with other legal requirements (e.g. obligations relating to weddings and funerals, Gift Aid rules etc)
Lawful bases and data protection rights
Under UK data protection law, we must have a “lawful basis” for collecting and using your personal information. There is a list of possible lawful bases in the UK GDPR. You can find out more about lawful bases on the ICO’s website.
Which lawful basis we rely on may affect your data protection rights which are in brief set out below. You can find out more about your data protection rights and the exemptions which may apply on the ICO’s website:
· Your right of access - You have the right to ask us for copies of your personal information. You can request other information such as details about where we get personal information from and who we share personal information with. There are some exemptions which means you may not receive all the information you ask for. You can read more about this right here.
· Your right to rectification - You have the right to ask us to correct or delete personal information you think is inaccurate or incomplete. You can read more about this right here.
· Your right to erasure - You have the right to ask us to delete your personal information. You can read more about this right here.
· Your right to restriction of processing - You have the right to ask us to limit how we can use your personal information. You can read more about this right here.
· Your right to object to processing - You have the right to object to the processing of your personal data. You can read more about this right here.
· Your right to data portability - You have the right to ask that we transfer the personal information you gave us to another organisation, or to you. You can read more about this right here.
· Your right to withdraw consent – When we use consent as our lawful basis you have the right to withdraw your consent at any time. You can read more about this right here.
If you make a request, we must respond to you without undue delay and in any event within one month. To make a data protection rights request, please contact us using the contact details at the top of this privacy notice.
Our lawful bases for the collection and use of your data
Our lawful bases for collecting or using personal information are:
· Legitimate interests – we’re collecting or using your information because it benefits you, our organisation or someone else, without causing an undue risk of harm to anyone. All of your data protection rights may apply, except the right to portability. Our legitimate interests are:
- To enable us to provide a voluntary service for the benefit of the public in a particular geographical area as specified in our constitution;
- To administer membership records
- To determine eligibility for attendance and participation at the Annual Parochial Church Meeting and for election to the Parochial Church Council deanery, diocesan and general synods where applicable; calculate the number of representatives who may be elected to each of these synods in the following year;
- To manage our employees and volunteers
- To maintain our own accounts and records (including the processing of gift aid applications)
- To enable our website, email and social media services to function and be maintained.
- To fundraise and promote the interests of the charities we represent
- To inform you of news, events, activities and services running in any of the Quintet Churches, or relevant information of events within the Buntingford Deanery or the Diocese of St Albans
- To respond effectively to complaints or queries that you may have
- To undertake a review and revision of the electoral roll as necessary; and publish your name but not your address, by exhibiting the roll in the parish church or the church website for public scrutiny.
- Legal obligation – we have to collect or use your information so we can comply with the law. All of your data protection rights may apply, except the right to erasure, the right to object and the right to data portability. These include:
- to enable us to manage, maintain and publish the Church electoral roll in accordance with Church Representation Rules (CRR)
- to comply with laws on financial accounting
- to comply with legal obligations relating to performance of marriage and funeral services
· Vital interests – collecting or using the information is needed when someone’s physical or mental health or wellbeing is at urgent or serious risk. This includes an urgent need for life sustaining food, water, clothing or shelter. All of your data protection rights may apply, except the right to object and the right to portability. An example of this kind of use would be:
- if we need to share your details with emergency services if we believe you are at immediate risk in a health or other crisis situation
Where we get personal information from
· Directly from you
· Family members or carers
· The Deanery or Diocesan Offices for our area
How long we keep information
We keep data in accordance with the guidance set out in the guide “Keep or Bin: Care of Your Parish Records” which is available from the Church of England website. We retain electoral roll and safeguarding 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. If you enter into email correspondence with the Rector, the email address you use is retained permanently within the email operating system but only used to reply to you.
For more information on how long we keep personal information, see our retention schedule at https:\\www.churchofengland.org\more\libraries-and-archives\records-management-guides
Who we share information with
Others we share personal information with:
· Other members of Quintet Churches; local and regional offices of the Church, e.g. The General Synod, the St Albans Diocesan Office, the Buntingford Deanery, where appropriate for administrative or communications purposes
· Organisations we need to share information with for safeguarding reasons
· Emergency services
· Organisations we’re legally obliged to share personal information with
· Publicly viewable data on our website, social media or other marketing and information media operators; publicly viewable Electoral Roll membership information
· Data processors, such as our website provider Church 123.com, Mailchimp, email operating systems
Your IP address, browser details, times of visits, etc. may be logged when you view our website. This data is used for statistical purposes, to monitor how effectively the site is working, network security and fraud prevention. We do not profile normal visitors to the site or invasively monitor them.
We will not share your data with any other third parties without your consent; we do not sell your personal data to any third parties.
How to complain
If you have any concerns about our use of your personal data, you can make a complaint to us using the contact details at the top of this privacy notice. If you remain unhappy with how we’ve used your data after raising a complaint with us, you can also complain to the ICO.
The ICO’s address:
Information
Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Helpline number: 0303 123 1113
Last updated 25th April 2025
Details about retention periods can currently be found in the Record Management Guides located on the Church of England website at: - https://www.churchofengland.org/more/libraries-and-archives/records-management-guides
Contact
The Vicarage
Great Hormead
Buntingford
Hertfordshire
SG9 0NT
01763 289258