Privacy Policy

The protection of your personal information is important to us

Information is collected from you so that we can keep in contact with you and let you know of news and events happening in the church that we think may be of interest to you. You may be asked to provide information such as your name or email address in order to sign up for an event or to receive information from us on church related activities. It is entirely your choice whether you give us information about yourself of not.

The personal data we process

We process the personal information you share with us when completing and submitting forms on our websites or on paper, through Churchsuite, at events we run, corresponding with us by phone, email, letter, text or through social media.

The information you give us may include personal data such as your name, date of birth, postal address, email address, phone number, financial and credit card information, personal description and/or photographs. We may also hold certain categories of sensitive information that you have told us about, such as your health and this will be used to ensure we provide the best care and support we can.

We are committed to holding your personal data securely. Only TVCC staff, Elders, Ministry Leaders, Community Group leaders and TVCC members can see the data and can access it. You can choose whether to make your contact details visible to other members through the MyChurchsuite app.

Where do we store your personal data

We may store your information on computers (hard drives or cloud based storage), paper or both.

Any paper files that contain personal data (other than names and contact details) are kept on secure premises in locked cupboards and filing cabinets.

Information you provided to us is stored on secure servers. Where we have given you (or where you have chosen) a password that enables you to access certain parts of our site or app (ChurchSuite), you are responsible for keeping this password confidential. We ask you not to share this password with anyone.

Information we receive from other sources

We may also receive information about you from other third parties we work closely with, such as TVCP, Taking Ground and any of the other churches within Taking Ground and/or Salt and Light churches both nationally and internationally, other websites we control, payment and delivery services and search information providers

Special Category Data

Special category data, under the GDPR, is deemed more sensitive information in relation to your race, ethnic origin, politics, religion, health, sex life or sexual orientation. Therefore, in the event that we process special category data, we only do so where the law allows this.

Data in relation to criminal activity also requires an additional condition to be met when processing. Any criminal activity data we process, such as through DBS disclosures, is processing in line with our Disclosure and Disclosure Information Policy.

Our website uses browser cookies; please see our cookie policy on the website for further information.

How we use your personal data

We use your personal data for the following purposes:

• General administration of the church, such as pastoral care, prayer requests, preparation of rotas, recording attendance, Community Group allocation and attendance and Community Group pastoral care;
• 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 membership and congregational records;
• To fundraise and promote the interests of TVCC and other associated parties, such as TVCP, Taking Ground and other Salt and Light churches;
• 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, services and prayer requests linked with TVCC and other associated parties, such as TVCP, Taking Ground and other Salt and Light churches;
• To inform you of news, events and activities in relation to other Christians activities that will be occurring in the area and in which you may be interested;
• Statistical analysis to monitor trends in attendance at services, small groups, courses and to help us be more responsive to the needs of the church;
• To administer our website and for internal operations, including troubleshooting, data analysis, testing, research, statistical and survey purposes.

Our lawful basis for this processing is as follows:

• Explicit consent of the data subject so that we can keep you informed about news, events, activities and services and keep you informed.
• Processing is necessary for carrying out legal obligations in relation to Gift Aid or under employment law, or a collective agreement;
• Processing is carried out by a not-for-profit body with a religious  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
• Data collected to keep you informed about a specific area you expressed an interest in, is held to fulfil your legitimate interest and ours.
• Data collected to keep you posted about TVCC news and events is held via consent (unless otherwise stated).
• Data collected through our booking systems for the events and courses that we run is held via consent or for our legitimate interests or because of a contractual obligation to do so.
• Data collected about your children or young people when they attend any Children’s or Youth activity organised and run by TVCC is held on parental consent and legitimate interests.
• Employee, volunteer and church member data records are processed to comply with legal and contractual obligations and to fulfil our legitimate interests as a church community. Some of your records may be held with your consent. Where we choose to hold such records on consent we will ask you to agree to this when your data is collected. We will also inform you how you can withdraw your consent if you wish to do so.

You are under no statutory or contractual requirement or obligation to provide us with your personal data. But failure to do so will result in you not being kept up to date with all church activities and events and you therefore may not receive sufficient pastoral care and support.

Disclosure of your personal data

Your personal data will be treated as strictly confidential and will be shared only with other members of the church in order to carry out a service to other church members, or for purposes connected with the church. Your personal data will only be shared with TVCP and any churches in Taking Ground for the purposes of carrying out a church related activity. We will only share your data with third parties outside of the church with your consent and we will never pass on your details for marketing purposes.

International transfers

The data we collect from you may be transferred to, and stored at, a destination outside the European Economic Area (EEA). By submitting your personal data you agree to this transfer, storing or processing. We will take all reasonable steps to ensure your data is treated securely and in accordance with this policy and in compliance with the GDPR 2018.

How we protect your personal data

Protecting your data is important to us and we have put in place security measures to prevent your personal data from being accidentally lost, used or accessed in an unauthorised way, altered or disclosed. We also limit access to your personal data to those employees, volunteers, contractors and other third parties who have a business need to know such data. They will only process your personal data on our instructions and they are subject to a duty of confidentiality.

We have put in place procedures to deal with any suspected personal data breaches and will notify you and any applicable regulator of a breach where we are legally required to do so.

We may anonymise your personal data (so that you can no longer be identified from such data) for research or statistical purposes, in which case we may use this information indefinitely without further notice to you.

Our website may include links to third-party websites, plug-ins and applications. Clicking on those links or enabling those connections may allow third parties to collect or share data about you. We do not control these third-party websites and are not responsible for their privacy statements.

When you leave our website, we encourage you to read the privacy notice of other websites you visit.

Data retention

We keep your personal data for no longer than reasonably necessary and the length of time we keep your personal data will vary depending upon the purpose for which it is processed. For more information please request a copy of our Data Retention Policy from our Data Representative David Marley, Tees Valley Community Church, The Oakwood Centre, Cleasby Way, Durham Lane Industrial park, Eaglescliffe, Stockton on Tees, TS15 0RD – email: david.marley@tvcchurch.org.uk – Phone number 01642 781919.

Your rights

Unless subject to an exemption under the GDPR, you have rights with respect to the personal data we process, including the following:

• the right to request a copy of the personal data which we hold about you;
• the right to request that we correct 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 to retain such data;
• 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 data portability from one electronic environment to another, where data is processed by electronic means;
• the right to object to the processing of personal data in certain circumstances; your right to object to direct marketing is absolute;
• the right to be informed when automated decision making and profiling is used and to request human intervention;
• the right to withdraw your consent to the processing at any time, where ‘Consent’ was our lawful basis for processing your data.

For further details on your rights under the GDPR/ DPA 2018, please visit the ICO website.

Keeping your data up to date

We always try to ensure the data we hold is accurate and up to date. Please advise us if you change any details, such as your address, contact number, etc. so that we may update our records accordingly.

Automated decision making and profiling

We do not use any form of automated decision making.

Changes to our privacy policy

Any changes we make to our data and privacy in the future will be posted in this page, and where appropriate notified to you by email. Please continue to check to see any updates or changes to our Privacy Notice.

How to make a complaint

To exercise all relevant rights, queries or complaints, in the first instance please contact David Marley our Data Representative  Tees Valley Community Church, The Oakwood Centre, Cleasby Way, Durham Lane Industrial Park, Eaglescliffe, Stockton on Tees, TS15 0RD – email: admin@tvcchurch.org.uk – Phone number 01642 781919.

If this does not resolve your complaint to your satisfaction, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the: Information Commissioners Office on 03031231113 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, England.