Home Church Data Protection & Privacy Policy

 

INTRODUCTION

Home Church uses personal data about living individuals for the purpose of general church administration and communication.

Home Church recognises the importance of the correct and lawful treatment of personal data. All personal data, whether it is held on paper, on computer or other media, will be subject to the appropriate legal safeguards as specified in the General Data Protection Regulation 2017.

Home Church fully endorses and adheres to the eight principles of the GDPR. These principles specify the legal conditions that must be satisfied in relation to obtaining, handling, processing, transportation and storage of personal data. Employees and any others who obtain, handle, process, transport and store personal data for Home Church must adhere to these principles.

 

THE PRINCIPLES

The principles require that personal data shall

1. Be processed fairly and lawfully and shall not be processed unless certain conditions are met.

2. Be obtained for a specified and lawful purpose and shall not be processed in any manner incompatible with that purpose.

3. Be adequate, relevant and not excessive for those purposes.

4. Be accurate and where necessary, kept up to date.

5. Not be kept for longer than is necessary for that purpose.

6. Be processed in accordance with the data subject’s rights.

7. Be kept secure from unauthorised or unlawful processing and protected against accidental loss, destruction or damage by using the appropriate technical and organisational measures.

8. Not be transferred to a country or territory outside the European Economic Area, unless that country or territory ensures an adequate level of protection for the rights and freedoms of data subjects in relation to the processing of personal data.

 

1. HOW WE COLLECT DATA AND INFORMATION ABOUT YOU

We collect personal information each time you are in contact with us. For example, when you

  • Visit our website.

  • Register your details and your family details, at https://home.churchsuite.co.uk or via an embedded form on our website or social media.

  • Make a donation, by completion of offering envelopes, text, via our website or electronic means.

  • Register for church events or purchase tickets via the churchsuite platform.

  • Provide your contact details, in writing or orally, to Church staff or volunteers.

  • When you attend church services or participate in other Church activities.

  • Communicate with the Church by means such as email, letter, telephone.

  • Face to face meetings with staff and volunteers.

  • Access social media platforms such as Facebook, YouTube, WhatsApp, Twitter, Instagram with accounts related to Home Church.

 

2. MAINTAINING CONFIDENTIALITY

Home Church will treat all your personal information as private and confidential and not disclose any data about you to anyone other than the leadership and ministry overseers/co-coordinators of the church in order to facilitate the administration and day-to-day ministry of the church.

All Home Church staff and volunteers who have access to Personal Data will be required to agree to sign a Confidentiality Policy and a Data Protection Policy.

There are four exceptional circumstances to the above permitted by law:

a. Where we are legally compelled to do so.

b. Where there is a duty to the public to disclose.

c. Where disclosure is required to protect your interest.

d. Where disclosure is made at your request or with your consent.

 

3. USE OF PERSONAL INFORMATION

Home Church will use your data for three main purposes

a. The day-to-day administration of the church; e.g. pastoral care and oversight including calls and visits, preparation of ministry rotas, maintaining financial records of giving for audit and tax purposes.

b. Contacting you to keep you informed of church services, activities, resources and events.

c. Statistical analysis; gaining a better understanding of church demographics.

  • N.B. although collated church data may be passed to a third party, such as number of small groups or small group’s attendance, no personal data will be disclosed.

 

4. THE DATABASE

Information contained on the database will not be used for any other purposes than set out in this section. The database is accessed through the cloud and therefore, can be accessed through any computer or smart device with internet access. The server for the database is in the UK and hosted by Churchsuite.

a. Access to the database is strictly controlled through the use of name specific passwords, which are selected by the individual.

b. Those authorised to use the database only have access to their specific area of use within the database. This is controlled by the Data Controller and other specified administrators. These are the only people who can access and set these security parameters.

c. People who will have secure and authorised access to the database include Home  Church Trustees, Staff, Administrators, Department heads, Ministry Team Leaders, Connect Group Leaders.

d. All access and activity on the database is logged and can be viewed by the Database Controller.

e. Subject Access – all individuals who are the subject of personal data held by Home Church are entitled to:

  • Ask what information the church holds about them and why.

  • Ask how to gain access to it.

  • Be informed how to keep it up to date.

  • Be informed what Home Church is doing to comply with its obligations under the General Data Protection Regulation 2017

 

f. Personal information will not be passed onto any third parties outside of the church environment.

g. Sensitive Personal Information: The Church may collect and store sensitive personal information such as health information, religious information (church attendance) when you and/or your family attend, register for church events and conferences.Your personal information will be kept strictly confidential. It is never sold, given away, or otherwise shared with anyone, unless required, by law.

 

CONNECT CARDS & PRAYER REQUESTS

As a religious organisation, Home Church provide Connect Cards in all services to give people the opportunity to get connected into the life of the church. When an individual fills out one of these connect cards, the following actions are taken:

  • When a connect card is filled, this will be loaded into a secure database that staff and key volunteers are given access to by the data controller.

  • Where a phone number is provided, a member of staff will call the individual to help with the enquiry.

  • Once the information request has been fulfilled, the individual's information is removed from the database permanently.

Prayer Requests are also added to a central database that staff members and key volunteers are given access to by the data controller. Requests are actioned by the below ways:

  • Prayer requests are collected and data placed into a central secure database. Staff members and key volunteers have access given to the by the data controller.

  • If the individual has requested prayer, a member of staff or a key volunteer will call them during the week to pray for them.

  • Prayer requests remain on the database for a maximum of two weeks, after which requests will be deleted.

 

GENERAL STAFF GUIDELINES

  • The only people able to access data covered by this policy should be those who need it for their work.

  • Data should not be shared informally. When access to confidential information is required, employees can request it.

  • Home Church will provide guidance to all employees and applicable volunteers to help them understand their responsibilities when handling data.

  • Employees and volunteers should keep all data secure, by taking sensible precautions and following the guidelines below.

  • In particular, strong passwords must be used and they should never be shared.

  • Personal data should not be disclosed to unauthorised people, either within the church or externally.

  • Data should be regularly reviewed and updated if it is found to be out of date. If no longer required, it should be deleted and disposed of.

  • Employees and approved volunteers should request help if they are unsure about any aspect of data protection.

 

DATA STORAGE

These rules describe how and where data should be safely stored. Questions about storing data safely can be directed to the Data Controller.

When data is stored on paper, it should be kept in a secure place where unauthorised people cannot see it.

These guidelines also apply to data that is usually stored electronically but has been printed out for some reason:

  • When not required, the paper or files should be kept in a locked drawer or filing cabinet.

  • Employees should make sure paper and printouts are not left where unauthorised people could see them, like on a printer.

  • Data printouts should be shredded and disposed of securely when no longer required.

When data is stored electronically, it must be protected from unauthorised access, accidental deletion and malicious hacking attempts:

  • Data should be protected by strong passwords that are changed regularly and never shared between employees.

  • If data is stored on removable media (like a USB or CD), these should be kept locked away securely when not being used.

  • Data should only be stored on designated drives and servers, and should only be uploaded to an approved cloud computing services.

  • Servers containing personal data should be sited in a secure location, away from general office space.

  • Data should be backed up frequently. Those backups should be tested regularly, in line with the church’s standard backup procedures.

  • Data should never be saved directly to laptops or other mobile devices like tablets or smart phones.

  • All servers and computers containing data should be protected by approved security software and a firewall.

 

COOKIES

Cookies are small pieces of data that websites store on a device. Cookies can improve your browsing experience because they help our website remember preferences and understand what content visitors request the most. We use cookies to help us decide what pages to highlight to new visitors, collect analytics on views and interactions each month and to track the effectiveness of our website. Any information collected will never be shared or sold to any third party company.

 

RIGHTS TO ACCESS INFORMATION

Employees and other subjects of personal data held by Home Church have the right to access any personal data that is being held in certain manual filing systems. This right is subject to certain exemptions: Personal Information may be withheld if the information relates to another individual.

Any person who wishes to exercise this right should make the request in writing to the Home Church Data Officer, using the standard letter which is available online from www.ico.gov.uk.

Please address all correspondence to:

hello@homechurch.com

If personal details are inaccurate, they can be amended upon request.

Home Church aims to comply with requests for access to personal information as quickly as possible, but will ensure that it is provided within 21 days of receipt of a completed form unless there is good reason for delay. In such cases, the reason for delay will be explained in writing to the individual making the request.