DATA PROTECTION

We take the privacy of your personnal information seriously.

We will ensure your personnal data is stored securely and will not sell or give it to third parties or permit unauthorised access.

How your information is used

The information you provide here will be used in connection with the specified activities, including keeping you informed of events, and for internal record keeping purposes.

Resources & links

Primarily, by not solely, we use ChurchSuite to manage and maintain your personal data. For reference this is their Database Security information and Privacy Policy.

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

Ascot Life 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 Data Protection Act 1998, the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (EC Directive) Regulations 2003 (SI 2426/2003 as amended), and all applicable laws and regulations, including any replacement UK or EU data protection legislation relating to the Processing of Personal Data, including, where applicable, the guidance and codes of practice issued by the Information Commissioner’s Office.

Ascot Life Church fully endorses and adheres to the eight principles of the Data Protection Act. 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 Ascot Life Church must adhere to these 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.
Please see the below Database selection point 4.

1. Maintaining Confidentiality
Ascot Life 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 Ascot Life 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:

1.Where we are legally compelled to do so.
2.Where there is a duty to the public to disclose.
3.Where disclosure is required to protect your interest.
4.Where disclosure is made at your request or with your consent.

2. Use of Personal Information

Ascot Life Church will use your data for three main purposes:

1. 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.
2. Contacting you to keep you informed of church activities and events.
3. 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.

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.

1. Access to the database is strictly controlled through the use of name specific passwords, which are selected by the individual.
2. 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.
3. People who will have secure and authorised access to the database include Ascot Life Church Staff, data in-putters, Ministry Team Leaders, Small Group Leaders and Ascot Life Church Trustees.
4. The database will NOT be accessed by any authorised users outside of the EU, in accordance with the Data Protection Act, unless prior consent has been obtained from the individual whose data is to be viewed.
5. All access and activity on the database is logged and can be viewed by the Database Controller.
6. Subject Access – all individuals who are the subject of personal data held by Ascot Life 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 Ascot Life Church is doing to comply with its obligations under the 1988 Data Protection Act.
7. Personal information will not be passed onto any third parties outside of the church environment.
8. Subject Consent – The need to process data for normal purposes has been communicated to all data subjects. In some cases. If the data is sensitive, for example, information about health, race or gender, express consent to process the data must be obtained.

Rights to Access Information

Employees and other subjects of personal data held by Ascot Life 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 Ascot Life Church Data Controller, using the standard letter which is available on line from www.ico.gov.uk

Ascot Life Church reserves the right to charge the maximum fee payable for each subject request.
If personal details are inaccurate, they can be amended upon request.

Ascot Life Church aims to comply with requests for access to personal information as quickly as possible, but will ensure that it is provided within 40 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.

Sensitive data

We will strive to ensure that sensitive data is accurately identified on collection so that proper safeguards can be put in place. Sensitive data means data consisting of information relating to an individual’s

Racial or ethnic origin
Political opinions
Religious beliefs
Trade union membership
Physical or mental health
Sexual life
Criminal offences

Sickness records are likely to include sensitive data and as such should only be held if the explicit consent of each employee is obtained or if one of the other conditions for processing sensitive data is satisfied.

Changes to this policy

We reserve the right to change this policy at any time. Where appropriate we will notify data subjects of those changes by mail or email.