Data Protection

Vision and Values of YCC

York Community Church is a Christian charity and one of its objects is to advance the Christian faith. We express this in terms of our vision, which is:
“Together, to know God and make Him known”
This means that together, as a Christian community, we seek to deepen our knowledge and experience of God and to make his love and the message of his kingdom known to the communities that we serve. We want everything we do to reflect our core values which are:

Faith • Love • Unity • Trust • Enjoyment

We want all of our policies to:
• comply with all relevant statutory guidance, legislation and regulations,
• be embedded in our practice in line with our values and culture,
• be aligned with our biblical faith.

In terms of what “our biblical faith” means: YCC is a member of the Evangelical Alliance and supports their ‘Basis of Faith’. York Community Church also has its own Statement of Faith and Practice which all members of The Leadership Team, the Trustees and all employees are required to sign indicating their agreement to its contents. The church expects all workers (volunteer and staff) to reflect the character of Jesus through their conduct and lifestyle. 

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

York Community 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 General Data Protection Regulation 2018.

York Community Church fully endorses and adheres to the eight principles of the GDPR. 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 York Community Church must adhere to these principles.

The 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. 

1. How we collect data and information about you

  • Visit our website;
  • Register your details and your family’s details at https://ycc.churchsuite.co.uk or via an embedded form on our website or social media;
  • Make a donation by completion of offering envelopes, text, via our website or electronic means;
  • Register for a conference or other Church event;
  • Provide your contact details in writing, or orally, to Church staff or volunteers;
  • Purchase goods or services, including when you provide credit or debit card details;
  • When you attend church services or participate in other Church activities;
  • Communicate with the Church by means such as email, letter, telephone, direct message;
  • Face to face or video linked meetings with staff and volunteers;
  • Access social media platforms such as Facebook, YouTube, WhatsApp, Twitter and Instagram

2. Maintaining Confidentiality

York Community Church will treat all your personal information as private and confidential and not disclose any data about you to anyone other than the trustees, leadership and ministry overseers/co-coordinators of the church, in order to facilitate the administration and day-to-day ministry of the church.

Use of non-personal data summaries could be used by Trustees in their annual reporting to the Charity Commission and Companies House.

All York Community Church staff, trustees, leadership 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.

3. Use of Personal Information

York Community 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, and maintaining financial records of giving for audit and tax purposes.

2. Contacting you to keep you informed of church services, activities, resources 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 (currently the Operations Manager) 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 York Community Church Trustees, Church Leaders, Staff, data in-putters, Ministry Team Leaders.

4. All access and activity on the database is logged and can be viewed by the Database Controller.

5. Subject Access – all individuals who are the subject of personal data held by York Community 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 York Community Church is doing to comply with its obligations under the General Data Protection Regulation 2018

6. Personal information will not be disclosed outside York Community Church except as required by law or with the permission of the individual for a purpose directly related to a York Community Church activity (for example, a collaborative venture with a third party such as York Christian Youth Holidays).
In this regard, “outside York Community Church” does not preclude use of software service providers such as ChurchSuite, Google and Mailchimp who act as Data Processors under the GDPR definition.

7. Sensitive Personal Information: The Church may collect and store sensitive personal information such as health information, religious information (church attendance) when you and/or your family attend, register for church events and conferences. Your personal information will be kept strictly confidential. It is never sold, given away, or otherwise shared with anyone, unless required by law.

Rights to Access Information
Employees and other subjects of personal data held by York Community 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 York Community Church Data Officer, using the information, which is available online from www.ico.org.uk.

Please address all correspondence to:

FAO: The Data Controller
York Community Church
The Centre @ Burnholme
Mossdale Avenue
YO31 0HA

or emailing office@yorkcommunitychurch.co.uk

If personal details are inaccurate, they can be amended upon request.
York Community Church aims to comply with requests for access to personal information as quickly as possible, but will ensure that it is provided within 30 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.