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Who we are

This Statement relates to any personal data held by Central Baptist Church, Victoria Road South, Chelmsford, Essex CM1 1LN (we, us).

UK legislation requires us to manage personal information in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulations and principles. This notice tells you what personal information we collect, how we use it, who we may share it with, steps we take to protect and secure it, your rights under data protection law and finally, how you can contact us with questions or concerns.

We are committed to protecting the privacy of the personal information that is entrusted to us and ensuring you can exercise your privacy rights.


What personal information we may hold about you

We use a wide range of personal information about you that we have put into the following categories:

  • Contact - Information we can use to make contact with you and where you live.
  • Pastoral - Information you have shared with us relating to personal situation.
  • Financial - Information relating to any payments made by you to the church or to you by the church.
  • Consents - Information relating to permissions, consents and contact preferences.
  • Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS) Checks - Information relating to checks completed on individuals within the church who work with children and vulnerable adults. *Giving / Gift Aid - Information relating to the money you give to church and where relevant our engagement with the HMRC to claim back tax via the gift aid process.

Where we collect personal information from

We may collect personal information about you from the following sources:

  • The Data Protection form we ask you to complete.
  • Application forms, including on-line forms, you complete when registering for events, courses and special events or seeking use of church premises, from emails and letters you send us, and visitor and yellow card you complete.
  • Direct debit and gift aid forms you complete.
  • The Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS) when you work with children or vulnerable adults.

If you are under 13 years of age, we will only seek personal information from your parent or guardian, however you will still have the same rights as set out below regarding your personal information.


What we use your personal information for

We will use your personal information for the following purposes:

  • maintain our list of church members and regular attenders whom we call friends;
  • provide pastoral support for members and others connected with our church;
  • provide services to the community;
  • safeguard children, young people and adults at risk;
  • recruit, support and manage staff and volunteers;
  • maintain our accounts and records;
  • promote what we do;
  • maintain the security of property and premises;
  • respond effectively to enquirers and handle any complaints;
  • support the use of our premises by the wider community.
  • Ensuring we comply with any legal obligations or engage in any necessary legal processes; to establish or exercise our legal rights or, defend against legal claims;
  • To take appropriate action in any situation involving potential threats to the safety of any person;
  • To engage with HM Revenue & Customs or other authorities as required.
  • Testing new systems and checking upgrades to existing systems.

Recipients of personal information

When we use your personal information in the ways described above, we may need to share it with other organisations outside the Church as detailed below:

  • The Baptist Union of Great Britain (BUGB) in respect of certain schemes run by the BUGB which you have signed up to as a participant.
  • HM Revenue & Customs or other lawful authorities;
  • Our agents, service providers, contractors and others involved in running church events and activities where necessary and appropriate;
  • Banks and other debit/credit card providers when managing payments or refunds.

We will never sell your personal information to third parties.


Using your personal information to keep in contact with you

Central Baptist Church, Chelmsford will use your personal information to keep in touch with you and to provide you with updates on church life, including news about special events, services, courses, highlighting ways you can engage in church life and other church-related information which we believe will be of interest to you.

We will only contact you in the way you have agreed to. We will not contact you if you have asked us not to.

You can ask us to stop sending you communications or change your contact preferences at any time by any convenient means.

You may write to us at:

The Data Protection Administrator,
Central Baptist Church,
Victoria Road South
Chelmsford
Essex CM1 1LN

Telephone: 01245 264163 Option 4

e-mail: info@centralbaptistchelmsford.org

We will not provide information about you to an external organisation unless we are legally obliged to do so or you have given us your explicit consent to do so.


How long will we retain your personal information?

We will continue to hold your personal information for as long as you wish to maintain a relationship with us. In some circumstances, personal information will only be held for the duration of an event, e.g. Holiday Club, after which it will be destroyed/deleted. You also have the right to ask us to delete your personal information if you believe we no longer have a valid reason to continue holding it.


Confidentiality and security of personal information

The security of your personal information is of paramount importance to us and we use a wide range of technical and organisational security measures to safeguard it, including physical, electronic, and procedural controls.

From time to time we may publish photographs or video captured at church events and meetings in our publications, or on our websites or social media to help publicise events or demonstrate church life providing you have given us prior permission to do so. We do not normally process or disclose personal information when using such content, but should we wish to, we will ask for your explicit consent before displaying your name alongside any such content.


Obtaining a copy of your personal information

You have the right to ask for copies of the personal information we hold about you. It will be provided in electronic format unless you specifically ask for it in hard copy. You can obtain it by writing to us at:

Central Baptist Church
Victoria Road South
Chelmsford
Essex
CM1 1LN

You also have the right to ask us to transmit your data directly to another data controller where possible, (known as the right to data portability). This right only applies where the processing is based on consent or is necessary for the performance of a contract with the data subject and in either case the data controller processes the data by automated means.


Other important Rights

You have the following additional rights:

  1. The right to request that we correct any personal information if it is found to be inaccurate or out of date.
  2. The right to request that your personal information is deleted where we no longer have a valid basis to continue processing it.
  3. The right to withdraw your consent to us processing your personal information.
  4. The right to object to the processing of personal information in certain limited circumstances.
  5. The right to object to the processing of personal data. This right only applies where processing is based on legitimate interests (or the performance of a task in the public interest/exercise of official authority); direct marketing and processing for the purposes of scientific/historical research and statistics.
  6. 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.
  7. The right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office. You can contact the Information Commissioner’s Office on 0303 123 1113, via email (see https://ico.org.uk/global/contact-us/email/) or in writing at The Information Commissioners Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, SK9 5AF.

Exercising your rights

To exercise any of your Rights please contact us by emailing us at info@centralbaptistchelmsford.org or by writing to us at

The Data Protection Administrator
Central Baptist Church
Victoria Road South
Chelmsford
Essex CM1 1LN


Contacting us about privacy concerns

If you have any concerns regarding the use of your data by Central Baptist Church or this Privacy Statement please contact us by emailing us at info@centralbaptistchelmsford.org or by writing to us at

The Data Protection Administrator
Central Baptist Church
Victoria Road South Chelmsford
Essex CM1 1LN.

In some instances, honouring your requests (for example requesting that we delete your personal information) may mean that we can no longer contact you.


Changes to the Privacy Policy

If there is ever a change to how we use or intend to use your personal information, we will amend this policy and highlight the change. Where necessary or appropriate, we will seek your consent to such new uses.

We keep our privacy policy under regular review.

Issue 25/10/22