Data Privacy Policy

St Robert’s Pannal – Data Privacy Notice

This Notice sets out the essential elements and procedures of our Data Privacy Policy.


Welcome to the website for St Robert’s Church, Pannal. We take your privacy seriously and are committed to protecting your personal data.

This Privacy Notice tells you how we deal with your personal data, your privacy and other various rights you have when you use this site or supply information to us.

It is important that you read this Privacy Notice together with any other privacy notice or fair processing notice we may provide on specific occasions (such as certain fundraising events) when we are collecting or processing personal data about you so that you are fully aware of how and why we are using your data.


Your personal data – what is it?

Personal data relates to a living individual who can be identified from that data.  Identification can be by the information alone or in conjunction with any other information in the data controller’s possession or likely to come into such possession. The processing of personal data is governed by the Data Protection Act 2018 (the Act) and the provisions of Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (the General Data Protection Regulation or GDPR). The term “data subject” refers to the person about whom data is held and/or processed.

Who are we?

The Parochial Church Council of the Parish of St Robert’s Pannal (PCC) is the data controller.  This means it decides how your personal data is processed and for what purposes.


How do we get your personal data and how do we process your personal data?

Most of the personal data which we hold has been provided to us directly by the relevant data subjects. For example, by providing information for inclusion within our electoral roll; by subscribing to publications (such as the Link magazine); by asking for regular email notices etc. or by communicating directly with us (for example in order to book an event such as a wedding). This information is likely to be limited to contact details such as your name, address, telephone number and email address.

The PCC complies with its obligations under the applicable data privacy laws by keeping personal data up to date; by storing and destroying it securely; by not collecting or retaining excessive amounts of data; by protecting personal data from loss, misuse, unauthorised access and disclosure and by ensuring that appropriate technical measures are in place to protect personal data.

We may use your personal data for one or more of the following purposes: –

  • 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 parish records;
  • to fundraise and promote the interests of the parish;
  • to manage our employees and volunteers;
  • to maintain our own accounts and records (including the processing of gift aid applications);
  • to inform you of news, events, activities and services running in the Parish; and
  • to share, when appropriate, your contact details with the Diocesan office so they can keep you informed about news in the diocese and events, activities and services that will be occurring in the diocese and in which you may be interested.

Changes to our policy due to the effects of Covid-19

As Covid-19 has affected our operations considerably we have had to make changes to the way in which we administer some of our activities. As an effect of this, data may sometimes be stored off-site but this will be secured by a password protected device and password protected files. Every effort and care will be taken to ensure the safety of data. This information will predominantly be; names, address, and contact details of different groupings of people.

What is the legal basis for processing your personal data?

There is a number of grounds that we rely upon in order to process the personal data we hold, and these are set out below. Please note that we may process personal data under more than one ground depending on the specific purpose for which we are using the data:

  • consent of the data subject so that we can keep individuals informed about news, events, activities and services and process their gift aid donations and keep them informed about appropriate events;
  • processing is necessary in connection with our legitimate interests. This is the ground that we would most commonly rely upon. Please note that we will always take into account your interests, rights and freedoms when relying upon this ground and ensure that they do not conflict with this ground;
  • processing is necessary for the performance of a contract with the data subject or to take steps to enter into a contract, e.g. weddings and funerals;
  • processing is necessary for carrying out obligations under employment, social security or social protection law, or a collective agreement; and/or
  • processing is carried out by a not-for-profit body with a political, philosophical, religious or trade union aim provided: –
    • the processing relates only to members or former members (or those who have regular contact with it in connection with those purposes); and
    • there is no disclosure to a third party without consent.

Sharing your personal data

Your personal data will be treated in confidence and will only be shared with other members of the church in order to carry out a service to other church members or for purposes connected with the church. We will only share your data with third parties outside the parish with your consent or where necessary in connection with the grounds referred to above, for example, we may need to share data where you are taking part in an organised event organised by a third party or in connection with wedding or funeral preparations.

How long do we keep your personal data[1]?

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 [see footnote 1 for link].

Specifically, we retain electoral roll data while it is still current and for six years thereafter; 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.


Your rights and your personal data

Subject to certain provisos and exemptions under the data privacy laws, you have the following rights with respect to your personal data: –

  • the right to request a copy of your personal data held by the PCC ;
  • the right to request that the PCC corrects your personal data if it is found to be inaccurate or out of date;
  • the right to request your personal data is erased where it is no longer necessary for the PCC to retain such data;
  • the right to withdraw your consent to the processing at any time;
  • the right to request that the data controller provide you with your personal data and where possible, transmits that data directly to another data controller, where applicable (known as the right to data portability).;
  • the right, where there is a dispute in relation to the accuracy or processing of your personal data, to request a restriction is placed on further processing; and
  • the right to object to the processing of personal data, (where applicable).

If you have any complaints or queries about matters affecting your privacy, or any other general data protection matters, then please do let us know by contacting us as set out below and we will do our best to resolve the problem. In any event you have the right to make a complaint at any time to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), which is the supervisory authority for data protection issues. The ICO’s contact details are set out below.

Further processing

If we wish to use your personal data for a new purpose, not covered by this Privacy Notice, then we will provide you with a notice explaining this new use prior to commencing the processing and setting out the relevant purposes and processing conditions. Where and whenever necessary, we will seek your prior consent to the new processing.


Contact Details

To exercise all relevant rights, queries or complaints please in the first instance contact the Parish Administrator, Tim White, St Robert’s Church, Pannal, HG3 1JZ  or by email at admin@strobertschurch.co.uk

You can contact the Information Commissioners Office on 0303 123 1113 or via email https://ico.org.uk/global/contact-us/email/ or at the Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire. SK9 5AF.

Changes to our Privacy Notice

This Privacy Notice is subject to change from time to time and the latest version will be available via our website. We recommend that you revisit this privacy policy on a regular basis so that you are aware of any updates or changes to our policy.

In addition, it is important that the personal data we hold about you is accurate and current and so please do keep us informed of any changes using the contact information set out above.


[1] 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/about-us/structure/churchcommissioners/administration/librariesandarchives/recordsmanagementguides.aspx