Privacy policy.

Last amended: 1st September 2020

The Church of Ireland & Methodist Chaplaincy Belfast takes the preservation of your privacy seriously, and we are committed to letting you know how we use your personal information and to making only responsible use of your data.

References to “we”, “us”, “you” or “our” in this Privacy Policy are references to the Church of Ireland & Methodist Chaplaincy Belfast, a charity registered with HMRC, Ref. No. XR42126.

1. Information about you (Personal Data)


1.1   We will collect personal information from you when you or your organisation contact us to enquire about our activities, or enter information through a form on our website (e.g. for residency application or to apply for a job). This may include your name, title, email address, physical address, email address, and telephone numbers.  We may also ask for some additional, non-personal information. If part of an application form, there may be further data gather in the form of answers to questions, such as employment history, or information on your next of kin.

1.2 We will collect relevant data and behaviour information with regard to our website solely in relation to our use of Google Analytics (see section 4.2 below).

2. How we may process your personal data


2.1   Your personal information will only be used to process your requests, to provide you with our services, and to provide you with information relating to our services and all other services which we think you may be interested in. 

2.2   We do not share your information with partner organisations unless expressly stated during the data collection (for example, if applying for an outreach team run in conjunction with another charity).

2.3 For legal purposes, The Chaplain of the Church of Ireland & Methodist Chaplaincy is the data controller registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office.  This means he is ultimately responsible how your personal data is processed and for what purposes.

2.4 The legal basis for processing your personal information should be one of the following:

  • Explicit consent of the data subject so that we can keep you informed about news, events, activities and services and process your gift aid donations and keep you informed about chaplaincy events;

  • Processing is necessary for carrying out obligations under employment, social security or social protection law, or a collective agreement;

  • 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.

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

3. Security


3.1   We will take reasonable precautions to prevent the loss, misuse or alteration of information you give us. Your personal data will be treated with strict confidentiality, and will never be shared with any other party without your explicit and clear consent.

3.2   Communications in connection with this service may be sent by e-mail. For ease of use and compatibility, communications (other than payments where applicable) will not be sent in an encrypted form unless you require it and provide the certification to enable us to communicate with you in that way. E-mail unless encrypted is not a fully secure means of communication. Whilst we endeavour to keep our systems and communications protected against viruses and other harmful effects we cannot bear responsibility for all communications being virus-free.

4. Cookies


4.1   If cookies are used they will only be used to assist the purposes set out in this privacy notice, but cookies will not be used if we do not consider them to be necessary.

4.2 We use cookies from Google Analytics to help us plan and produce material relevant to our target demographics. These cookies may share information about your available data and behaviour on the site, including broad demographic data such as age category and country of origin. We only collect this information for our own reflection and use, and will never share it with any third party.

You can change you cookie settings at any time in your browser. Google’s applicable privacy regulations can be found at https://policies.google.com/privacy?hl=en and https://marketingplatofrm.google.com/about/

5. Retention

5.1 We keep data in accordance with the guidance set out within UK Data Protection Legislation, details of which can be found here and  in the guide “Keep or Bin: Care of Your Parish Records” which is available from the Church of England website here.

  • Specifically, we retain electoral roll data while it is still current; 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.

  • Electronic mailings lists will be reviewed and refreshed at least every three years. Student lists are renewed annually.

  • Applications for employment (if successful) may be maintained for up to three years following the end of employment. All other applications, successful or otherwise, are removed permanently once the application process and/or residency period is completed.

  • New applications for student residency (if successful) may be securely preserved in our alumni archive, provided the subject has given express permission. All other applications, successful or otherwise, are removed permanently once the application process and/or residency period is completed.

  • For individual sign-up/registration forms (e.g. for events, or to register interest) the retention period will always be clearly stated at the start of the form.

6. Your rights and your personal data

6.1 Unless subject to an exemption under the GDPR, you have the following rights with respect to your personal data: –

  • The right to request a copy of your personal data which the Church of Ireland & Methodist Chaplaincy holds about you

  • The right to request that the Church of Ireland & Methodist Chaplaincy corrects any 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 Church of Ireland & Methodist Chaplaincy 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 the data subject with his/her personal data and where possible, to transmit that data directly to another data controller, (known as the right to data portability), (where applicable)

[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]

  • 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

  • The right to object to the processing of personal data, (where applicable)

[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]

  • The right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioners Office (UK).

7. Other information


7.1   If you would like us to correct or update any information, or if you would like information deleted from our records, then please email us at friends@thehubbelfast.org

7.2   This privacy notice may be updated from time to time, so please check it periodically.

7.3   Links within our sites to other websites are not covered by this privacy notice.

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