Data Protection Policy
Introduction
Purpose
Coton Green Church is committed to being transparent about how it collects and uses the personal data of its workforce and congregation, and to meeting its data protection obligations. This policy sets out the Charity's commitment to data protection, and individual rights and obligations in relation to personal data.
This policy applies to the personal data of job applicants, Church Members, employees, workers, contractors, volunteers, interns, apprentices and former employees, referred to as HR-related personal data.
This policy does not apply to the personal data of clients or other personal data processed for business purposes.
The Coton Green Church has appointed Trustee as its data protection officer. Their role is to inform and advise Coton Green Church on its data protection obligations. They can be contacted at trustees@cotongreenchurch.co.uk. Questions about this policy, or requests for further information, should be directed to the Data Protection Officer or Chair of Trustees.
Definition. - Sensitive Data
"Personal data" is any information that relates to a living individual who can be identified from that information. Processing is any use that is made of data, including collecting, storing, amending, disclosing or destroying it.
"Special categories of personal data" means information about an individual's racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs, trade union membership, health, sex life or sexual orientation, and genetic and biometric data.
"Criminal records data" means information about an individual's criminal convictions and offences, and information relating to criminal allegations and proceedings.
Data protection principles
The Charity processes HR-related personal data in accordance with the following data protection principles:
● The Charity processes personal data lawfully, fairly and in a transparent manner.
● The Charity collects personal data only for specified, explicit and legitimate purposes.
● The Charity processes personal data only where it is adequate, relevant and limited to what is necessary for the purposes of processing.
● The Charity keeps accurate personal data and takes all reasonable steps to ensure that inaccurate personal data is rectified or deleted without delay.
● The Charity keeps personal data only for the period necessary for processing.
● The Charity adopts appropriate measures to make sure that personal data is secure, and protected against unauthorised or unlawful processing, and accidental loss, destruction or damage.
Coton Green Church will inform individuals the reasons for processing their personal data, how it uses such data and the legal basis for processing in its privacy notices. It will not process personal data of individuals for other reasons. If the organisation wants to start processing HR-related data for other reasons, individuals will be informed of this before any processing begins.
HR-related data will not be shared with third parties, except as set out in privacy notices. Where the organisation relies on its legitimate interests as the basis for processing data, it will carry out an assessment to ensure that those interests are not overridden by the rights and freedoms of individuals.
Where the organisation processes special categories of personal data or criminal records data to perform obligations, to exercise rights in employment law, or for reasons of substantial public interest, this is done in accordance with a policy on processing special categories of data and criminal records data.
Coton Green Church will update HR-related personal data promptly if an individual advises that their information has changed or is inaccurate.
Personal data gathered during the employment, worker, contractor or volunteer relationship, or apprenticeship or internship, is held in the individual's personnel file (in hard copy or electronic format, or both), and on our HR systems. The periods for which the organisation holds HR-related personal data are contained in its privacy notices to individuals.
The organisation keeps a record of its processing activities in respect of HR-related personal data in accordance with the requirements of the UK General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR).
Individual rights
As a data subject, individuals have a number of rights in relation to their personal data.
Subject access requests Individuals have the right to make a subject access request. If an individual makes a subject access request, Coton Green Church will tell them:
● whether their data is processed and if so why, the categories of personal data concerned and the source of the data if it is not collected from the individual;
● to whom their data is or may be disclosed, including to recipients located outside the UK and the safeguards that apply to such transfers;
● for how long their personal data is stored (or how that period is decided);
● their rights to rectification or erasure of data, or to restrict or object to processing;
● their right to complain to the Information Commissioner if they think the organisation has failed to comply with their data protection rights; and
● whether the organisation carries out automated decision-making and the logic involved in any such decision-making.
Coton Green Church will also provide the individual with a copy of the personal data undergoing processing. This will normally be in electronic form, if the individual has made a request electronically, unless they agree otherwise.
If the individual wants additional copies, they may be charged a fee, which will be based on the administrative cost to the organisation of providing the additional copies. (This may be over the top but could be useful if there is a possibility thatyou may have an individual(s) requesting information on a regular or unreasonable basis). Coton Green Church reserves the right to charge the maximum fee payable for such subject requests.
To make a subject access request, the individual should send the request to the Data Protection Officer/Trustee. In some cases, Coton Green Church may need to ask for proof of identification before the request can be processed. The organisation will inform the individual if it needs to verify their identity and the documents it requires.
Coton Green Church will normally respond to a request within a period of one month from the date it is received. In some cases, such as where the request is complex, it may respond within three months of the date the request is received. The organisation will write to the individual within one month of receiving the original request to tell them if this is the case.
If a subject access request is manifestly unfounded or excessive, Coton Green Church is not obliged to comply with it. Alternatively, the organisation can agree to respond but will charge a fee, which will be based on the administrative cost of responding to the request. A subject access request is likely to be manifestly unfounded if it is made with the intention of harassing the organisation or causing disruption, or excessive where it repeats a request to which the organisation has already responded. If an individual submits a request that is unfounded or excessive, the organisation will notify them that this is the case and state whether it will respond to it.
Other rights
IIndividuals have a number of other rights in relation to their personal data. They can require Coton Green Church to:
● rectify inaccurate data;
● stop processing or erase data that is no longer necessary for the purposes of processing;
● stop processing or erase data if the individual's interests override the organisation's legitimate grounds for processing data (where the organisation relies on its legitimate interests as a reason for processing data);
● stop processing or erase data if processing is unlawful; and
● stop processing data for a period if data is inaccurate or if there is a dispute about whether the individual's interests override the organisation's legitimate grounds for processing data.
To ask the organisation to take any of these steps, the individual should send the request in writing to the Coton Green Church Data Controller, using the standard letter which is available on line from www.ico.gov.uk or via email at trustees@cotongreenchurch.co.uk
Data security
Coton Green Church takes the security of HR-related personal data seriously. It has internal policies and controls in place to protect personal data against loss, accidental destruction, misuse or disclosure, and to ensure that data is not accessed, except by employees in the proper performance of their duties.
Where Coton Green Church engages third parties to process personal data on its behalf, such parties do so on the basis of written instructions, are under a duty of confidentiality and are obliged to implement appropriate technical and organisational measures to ensure the security of data.
Impact assessments
Some of the processing that Coton Green Church carries out may result in risks to privacy. Where processing would result in a high risk to individual rights and freedoms, the Charity will carry out a data protection impact assessment to determine the necessity and proportionality of processing. This will include considering the purposes for which the activity is carried out, the risks for individuals and the measures that can be put in place to mitigate those risks.
Data breaches
If Coton Green Church discovers that there has been a breach of HR-related personal data that poses a risk to the rights and freedoms of individuals, it will report it to the Information Commissioner within 72 hours of discovery. The organisation will record all data breaches regardless of their effect.
If the breach is likely to result in a high risk to the rights and freedoms of individuals, it will tell affected individuals that there has been a breach and provide them with information about its likely consequences and the mitigation measures it has taken.
International data transfers
The organisation will not transfer HR-related personal data to countries outside the UK in accordance with the Data Protection Act, unless prior consent has been obtained from the individual whose data is to be viewed.
Individual responsibilities
Individuals are responsible for helping the organisation keep their personal data up to date. Individuals should let the organisation know if data provided to the organisation changes, for example if an individual moves house or changes bank details.
Individuals may have access to the personal data of other individuals (and of our customers and clients} in the course of their employment, contract, volunteer period, internship or apprenticeship. Where this is the case, the Charity relies on individuals to help meet its data protection obligations to staff, Church Members and clients.
Individuals who have access to personal data are required:
● to access only data that they have authority to access and only for authorised purposes;
● not to disclose data except to individuals (whether inside or outside the organisation) who have appropriate authorisation;
● to keep data secure (for example by complying with rules on access to premises, computer access, including password protection, and secure file storage and destruction);
● not to remove personal data, or devices either containing personal data, or that can be used to access personal data, from the organisation's premises without adopting appropriate security measures (such as encryption or password protection) to secure the data and the device;
● not to store personal data on local drives or on personal devices that are used for work purposes; and
● to report data breaches of which they become aware to Sylvia Gilbert, Coton Green Church Data Protection Officer or Trustees at Coton Green Church, immediately.
Failing to observe these requirements may amount to a disciplinary offence, which will be dealt with under the Charity's disciplinary procedure. Significant or deliberate breaches of this policy, such as accessing employee or membership data without authorisation or a legitimate reason to do so, may constitute gross misconduct and could lead to dismissal without notice.
Training
Coton Green Church will provide training to all individuals about their data protection responsibilities as part of the induction process and at regular intervals thereafter. Individuals whose roles require regular access to personal data, or who are responsible for implementing this policy, or responding to subject access requests under this policy, will receive additional training to help them understand their duties and how to comply with them.
Resources & Links
• Primarily, but not solely, we use ChurchSuite to manage and maintain your personal data. For reference this is their Database Security Information https://churchsuite.com/tour/gdpr/security and Privacy Policy https://churchsuite.com/privacy-policy
• We also use Microsoft 365 for general administration. Their security and compliance policies can be accessed at: www.microsoft.com/en-us/trust-center
• Xero Finance System for finances. Their security and compliance policies can be accessed at: www.xero.com/uk/about/security/
• Infoodle, an app for Xero which is used to process Gift Aid. Their security and compliance policies can be accessed at: https://infoodle.com/data-processing-agreement-2018 and https://infoodle.com/_privacy-policv-2018
• Zoom an app used for online meetings. Their security and compliance policies can be accessed at: https://blog.zoom.us/wordpress/2018/05/23/zoom-gdpr-compliance/
Coton Green Church uses personal data about living individuals for the purpose of general church administration and communication.
Changes to this policy
We reserve the rights to change this policy at any time. Where appropriate we will notify data subjects of those changes by mail or email.
You can contact us via:
Phone 01827 60789
Email trustees@cotongreenchurch.co.uk
Writing to:
Coton Green Church
The Coton Centre
Comberford Road
Tamworth
B79 9AA