DATA POLICY

King’s Church Data Protection Policy

King’s Church commits to follow the Data Protection principles laid out below.

Introduction

King’s Church needs to gather and use certain information about individuals. These can include members, attendees, church/business contacts, employees and other people the organisation has a relationship with or may need to contact.

This policy describes how this personal data must be collected, handled and stored to meet the organisation’s data protection standards—and to comply with the law.

Why this policy exists

This data protection policy ensures King’s Church:

  • Complies with data protection law and follows good practice

  • Protects the rights of staff, members and contacts

  • Is open about how it stores and processes individuals’ data

  • Protects itself from the risks of a data breach

Data Protection Law

The Data Protection Act 1998 describes how organisations—including King’s Church—must collect, handle and store personal information.

New regulations come into effect from the 25th May 2018 called the General Data Protection Regulations which will require King’s Church to adhere to these new standards and regulations. These rules apply regardless of whether data is stored electronically, on paper or on other materials. To comply with the law, personal information must be collected and used fairly, stored safely and not disclosed unlawfully.

The Data Protection Act is underpinned by eight important principles. These say that personal data must:

  1. Be processed fairly and lawfully

  2. Be obtained only for specific, lawful purposes

  3. Be adequate, relevant and not excessive

  4. Be kept accurate and kept up to date

  5. Not be held for any longer than necessary

  6. Processed in accordance with the rights of data subjects

  7. Be protected in appropriate ways

  8. Not be transferred outside the European Economic Area (EEA), unless that country or territory also ensures an adequate level of protection

Policy Scope

This policy applies to all data that the organisation holds relating to identifiable individuals, even if that information technically falls outside of the Data Protection Act 1998. This can include:

  • Names of individuals

  • Postal addresses

  • Email addresses

  • Telephone numbers

  • Plus any other information relating to individuals

Data Protection Risks

This policy helps protect King’s Church. from some very real data security risks, including:

  • Breaches of confidentiality. For instance, the information being given out inappropriately.

  • Failing to offer choice. For instance, all individuals should be free to choose how the organisation uses data relating to them.

  • Reputational damage. For instance, the organisation could suffer if hackers successfully gained access to sensitive data.

Responsibilities

Everyone who works for or with King’s Church, including volunteers has some responsibility for ensuring data is collected, stored and handled appropriately. Each team that handles personal data must ensure that it is handled and processed in line with this policy and data protection principles. However, these people have key areas of responsibility:

The Board of Directors is ultimately responsible for ensuring that King’s Church meets its legal obligations.

The Church Administrator is responsible for:

  • Keeping the board updated about data protection and responsibilities, risks and issues.

  • Reviewing all data protection procedures.

  • Handling data protection questions from staff and anyone else covered by this policy.

  • Dealing with requests from individuals to see the data King’s Church holds about them (also called ‘subject access requests’).

  • Ensuring all systems, services and equipment used for storing data meet acceptable security standards.

  • Evaluating any third-party services the organisation is considering using to store or process data. For instance, cloud computing services.

General staff guidelines

  • The only people able to access data covered by this policy should be those who need it for their work.

  • Data should not be shared informally. When access to confidential information is required, employees can request it from their line managers.

  • Employees should keep all data secure, by taking sensible precautions and following the guidelines below.

  • In particular, strong passwords must be used and they should never be shared.

  • Personal data should not be disclosed to unauthorised people, either within the organisation or externally.

  • Data should be regularly reviewed and updated if it is found to be out of date. If not longer required, it should be deleted and disposed of.

  • Employees should not save copies of personal data to their own computers. Always access and update the central copy of any data.

Application of Guidelines

  • Keeping ChurchSuite as our main database. We should minimise/eradicate where possible the number of places that personal information is stored. If another storage functionality is required, it must be password protected as a minimum standard.

  • The number of people with access to ChurchApp should be limited to essential users only. If people are not regular users / have never logged on, their access should be deleted until requested again and evaluated for the need of access.

  • Bi-annual checks should take place by all staff to ensure a regular review of data held is relevant and if unnecessary, shredded confidentially.

  • All staff should ensure that their computers have regularly updated firewall protection and regular scans activated. The majority of computers have inbuilt protection – ensure this is on! If your usage would deem an external software package to be required, speak to the Central Support Manager. E.g. any computer that processes card gifts is required to have recognised external software in addition to that which is inbuilt.

  • Our printer software now allows for ‘locked’ print jobs to be activated. This requires the user to enter a password before the print commences. Please use this function for confidential printing. Speak to the Central Support Manager for more details.

Data storage

When data is stored on paper, it should be kept in a secure place where unauthorised people cannot see it.

These guidelines also apply to data that is usually stored electronically but has been printed out for some reason:

  • When not required, the paper or files should be kept in a locked drawer or filing cabinet.

  • Employees should make sure paper and printouts are not left where unauthorised people could see them, like a printer.

  • Data printouts should be shredded and disposed of securely when no longer required.

  • When data is stored electronically, it must be protected from unauthorised access, accidental deletion and malicious hacking attempts:

  • Data should be protected by strong passwords that are changed regularly and never shared among employees.

  • Data should only be stored on designated drives and servers, and should only be uploaded to approved cloud computing services.

  • Data should be backed up frequently. Those backups should be tested regularly.

  • Data should never be saved directly to laptops or other mobile devices like tablets or smartphones.

  • All servers and computers containing data should be protected by approved security software and a firewall.

Subject access requests

All individuals who are the subject of personal data held by King’s Church. are entitled to:

  • Ask what information the company holds about them and why.

  • Ask how to gain access to it.

  • Be informed how to keep it up to date.

  • Be informed how the organisation is meeting its data protection obligations.

If someone contacts the organisation requesting this information, this is called a subject access request. Subject access requests from individuals should be made by email.

Disclosing data for other reasons

In certain circumstances, the Data Protection Act allows personal data to be disclosed to law enforcement agencies without the consent of the data subject. Under these circumstances, King’s Church. will disclose requested data. However, the central support manager will ensure the request is legitimate, seeking assistance from the board and from the organisation’s legal advisers where necessary.

Providing information

King’s Church aims to ensure that individuals are aware that their data is being processed and that they understand:

  • How the data is being used

  • How to exercise their rights

To these ends, the organisation has a privacy statement, setting out how data relating to individuals is used by the organisation.

Privacy Statement

King’s Church recognises the importance of the correct and lawful collection and treatment of personal data. By submitting your details you acknowledge that your details will be added to the church’s database and be used solely for the church’s ministry and mission. We may periodically communicate with you from time to time, to let you know about upcoming events. We will only maintain such information as is necessary for the purposes of Christian Ministry.