Privacy Notice

ICO Registration: ZA197779

Data Protection Officer:
The Trustees
Westgate Baptist Church
366 Westgate Road
Newcastle upon Tyne
NE4 6NX
0191 272 0647
admin@westgatebaptist.org.uk

Introduction

This document has been created to explain to you the types of personal data we hold about you and how we may use this for the benefit of managing the church. It also advises you on when we might make that information available to other organisations.

How We Use Your Information

Westgate Baptist Church (“the church”) collects information to enable the church to keep in touch with you, provide pastoral support as necessary and to meet its legal requirements.
This information may be held on paper or electronic records or a mixture of both. We use a combination of best working practices and technology to ensure that your information is kept secure. Where information about you is held on servers outside the church building, we use only providers within the UK who meet or exceed the required data security standards to hold that information.

The information you give us will only be used for appropriate activities connected to the Church’s purposes, mission and aims, which includes:

Enable the church to provide voluntary services for the benefit of the public;
To minister to individuals, provide pastoral support and spiritual care. This includes contacts by the pastoral team and providing specific religious services such as weddings and funerals;
Administer membership records;
Maintain our accounts and records including processing any donations made to the church, including Gift Aid information;
Managing staff and volunteers;
Inform individuals of services, events, news or activities at the church or which we believe will be of interest and relevance to the church;
To ensure the safety of all, including processing Safeguarding Procedures.

What Kind of Information Do We Hold?

We only hold information that is necessary for us to function as a fellowship together:

Your name and any contact details you give us;
Records of your financial giving to the church;
Attendance at any events or activities that require us to give a register;
For staff, information relevant to your employment;
For volunteers, information relevant to your volunteering role;
Information that enables us to provide pastoral support, including correspondence with external agencies.

When Do We Share Information?

By giving us contact details, you are giving us permission for those details to be used by the Pastor, Trustees and Employees of the Church and volunteers acting under the Trustees direction, for the purposes of administering the Church, keeping in touch with you and providing pastoral support.

Being a family together under Christ, we believe that a Church Directory helps the fellowship to grow together. However, we will only include only those details for which you have provided consent. The Church Directory may be emailed or passed in a paper copy to members and regular worshippers of the church; once issued, the church can no longer guarantee the confidentiality of contact details included within it.

We will not share your personal information with anyone out side the church without your consent. By asking us to provide specific support that would include communicating with an external agency, we will consider that consent has been given.

We may instruct an external company or agency to work on our behalf. For example, at the time of writing ChurchInsight provides our Website, which includes a secure area for maintaining rotas and contact details.

Information Shared For Pastoral Support

As a church we act as a family together to support individuals in times of difficulties. This does mean that information that may be shared between members of the pastoral team, Leadership Team and the Pastor.

Most of this sharing will be verbal but in all instances, it will be the minimum needed to enable to the team to be able to support you. Unless, the team are concerned that there is a significant risk to your health or wellbeing, this sharing will normally be with your consent. Sharing support needs via the prayer support chain will always be with your consent, with the level of detail

Information may be shared within the pastoral team, as a necessary part of caring for those providing pastoral support. Same principles of confidentiality apply to all members of the team whether directly involved in providing support or not.

When Would We Share Information Without Your Consent?

Pastoral privilege is covered by a Duty of Confidentiality under Common Law. However, there are a very few occasions when we need to share your information without your consent:

Where we believe that there is a serious risk of harm or abuse to you or other people;
Where a serious crime, such as an assault, is being investigated or where it could be prevented;
Where a formal Court Order has been issued;
Where we are otherwise required by law to provide information (an example would be under the Prevention of Infectious Diseases, or for child protection).

Legal Basis For Processing Data

We hold and use information because it is necessary for the legitimate interests and activities of the church, as permitted under Article 6(1)(f) of the Data Protection Act.

We will hold the information you give us for only as long as we need it. Some information we are required to retain for an extended period of time to meet legal requirements (an example is that financial records need to be kept for a minimum period of 7 years; details of marriages performed are required to be kept indefinitely).

CCTV

The church operates a CCTV system for the safety and security of the staff, visitors and the building itself. The system is operated by the church. In the event of a crime or suspicion of crime the trustees may make recordings available to the police.
CCTV footage is excluded from release under a Subject Access Request, since recordings will include data about 3rd parties.

Website

Details of how the website specific privacy policy, including cookies policy, can be found at here.

Your Rights

You have the right to see any information we hold about you. You can request this by writing to or emailing the church office. We will provide you with a copy of that information, or an explanation of why we are not able provide that information, within 28 days. Under the Data Protection Act 2018, no charge will be applied, unless there is a repeated request for the same information.

You have the right to ask for any inaccurate or incomplete information to be updated. Where there is disagreement about whether an entry is correct or not (for example a record of a conversation), we will append your request to the original record.

You have the right to have your personal information erased, if you feel that we should no longer be using it. When we receive your request, we will confirm whether the information has been deleted or the reasons why we are unable to do so (for example where we are required to do so). Similarly you have the right to ask that we stop using the information you give us, though, again, there may be legal reasons why we are unable to comply with your request.

If you are dissatisfied with our actions, you have the right to complain directly to the Trustees. You can also complain to the Information Commissioners Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF (Tel 0303 123 1113; email: casework@ico.org.uk)

Changes to this Fair Processing Notice

We will keep this Fair Processing Notice under regular review and any updates will be posted on our website.

This notice was last reviewed on : 15/01/2022
The last update was 02/11/2021
Status: Published
Version: 1.0