Privacy policy

Worcester Cathedral is committed to respecting your privacy and protecting your personal information; the Cathedral Chapter welcomes the improvements to data protection brought about by the UK General Data Protection Regulation 2016/679 (the “UK GDPR”) in May 2018. This Privacy Notice explains the reasons why Worcester Cathedral collects personal information, the types of personal information collected, how it is used and your legal rights regarding this use. This Privacy Notice is not intended for children.

Who are we?

The Dean and Chapter of the Cathedral Church of Christ and the Blessed Mary, the Virgin of Worcester (known as “Worcester Cathedral”) is the data controller. This means that Worcester Cathedral decides how your personal data is processed and for what purposes and comprises a number of legal entities: Dean and Chapter of Worcester Cathedral; Worcester Cathedral Enterprises Ltd.; Friends of Worcester Cathedral. 

Worcester Cathedral works with a large number of people on a daily basis, for example worshippers, visitors, volunteers, students and businesses.

Your personal data – what is it?

Personal data relates to a living individual who can be identified from that data. Identification can be by the information alone or in conjunction with any other information in the data controller’s possession or likely to come into such possession. The processing of personal data is governed by the UK GDPR.

How do we collect personal data?

Generally, Worcester Cathedral receives personal data from the individual directly. We recognise the need to collect data in an appropriate way for the situation so utilise different methods, namely online; email; paper documents; telephone and on some occasions whilst you are visiting the Cathedral or attending a service. Visitors to Worcester Cathedral should be aware that CCTV cameras are located around the campus for the purposes of prevention and detection of crime, but not inside the main Cathedral building.  Photographs and recordings are occasionally taken at Cathedral services and events – on these occasions attendees are informed by way of clear signage and by messaging inside the order of service or programme.

What personal information do we collect?

For most purposes we need to collect your name and contact details. There are times when we need to collect additional information for example:

• Requirements and statutory information for people arranging religious ceremonies and services such as weddings, baptisms, memorial services and confirmations;
• Requirements for people booking an educational visit to Worcester Cathedral;
• Payment details for visitors pre-booking a tour visit around Worcester Cathedral;
• Payment details for visitors pre-booking tickets for an event or admission charge;
• Payment details and gift aid records for people who make donations;
• Requirements and payment details for hiring a room, space or facilities;
• Areas of expertise for people working in partnership with Worcester Cathedral to either contribute to, support or organise Worcester Cathedral services and events;
• Areas of expertise for people providing goods and services to support the work of Worcester Cathedral.
  
  

Why do we process your personal data?

Worcester Cathedral complies with its obligations under the UK GDPR by keeping personal data up to date; by storing and destroying it securely; by not collecting or retaining excessive amounts of data; by protecting personal data from loss, misuse, unauthorised access and disclosure and by ensuring that appropriate technical measures are in place to protect personal data. We use your personal data for the following purposes:

• 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 the Cathedral Community records (also known as the Cathedral Roll) and benefactor records;
• To provide pastoral care to Worcester Cathedral’s congregations;
• To fundraise for, promote the interests of, and administer the business of Worcester Cathedral, its charitable trusts and its trading entities;
• To manage our clergy, employees, volunteers and tenants;
• To maintain and audit our own financial accounts and records and process gift aid applications;
• To inform you of news, events, activities and services at Worcester Cathedral;
• To contact individuals via surveys to conduct research about their opinions of current services, events and facilities or of potential new fabric developments that may be offered;
• To operate the Worcester Cathedral web site and deliver the services that individuals have requested online;
• To operate the Worcester Cathedral Online Shop and deliver the products that individuals have purchased online.
  
  

Our processing also includes the use of CCTV systems for the prevention and detection of crime.

At times, to assist us in our fundraising and marketing, in addition to the data that you provide to us, we may also obtain data from trusted third parties to help us understand what you might be interested in. This ‘profiling’ information is produced from a variety of sources, including publicly available data (such as the electoral roll) or from sources such as surveys and polls where you have given your permission for your data to be shared. We may also use trusted third party specialist companies that collate and analyse information from public registers alongside statistical social-economic data to automate some of this work.

We use profiling to determine whether you would be interested in receiving marketing and fundraising information from us concerning Worcester Cathedral and to help us make appropriate requests for support from those who may be able to make a bigger difference than they already do.

What is the legal basis for processing your personal data?

• Legitimate Interests of the data subject so that we can keep you informed about Cathedral news, events, activities and services and keep you informed about other events and activities hosted or arranged by Worcester Cathedral or its entities. As part of Legitimate Interests we will write to you unless you tell us to stop. Read our Legitimate Interests Statement here.
• Processing is necessary for carrying out legal obligations in relation to the Cathedrals Measure 1999, Gift Aid or under employment, social security or social protection law, or a collective agreement.
  
  

You may opt-out of our emails at any time. An ‘unsubscribe’ link is included in all of our email newsletters.

Sharing your personal data

Your personal data will be treated as strictly confidential and will only be shared within Worcester Cathedral in order to carry out a function or service as outlined above or for legitimate purposes connected with Worcester Cathedral. We will only share your data with third parties outside of Worcester Cathedral with your prior consent. We will never sell your data to third parties.

How long do we keep your personal data?

We keep data in accordance with the guidance set out in the Church of England Record Centre Records Management Guide “Chapter and Verse: The Care of Cathedral Records” which is available from the Church of England website . Specifically, we retain Cathedral Community data while it is still current; gift aid declarations and all other financial paperwork for up to 6 years after the calendar year to which they relate; and parish registers (baptisms, marriages, funerals etc.) permanently. Personnel records relating to clergy and employees are presently being held indefinitely for safeguarding investigation purposes relating to the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA).

Your rights and your personal data

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

• The right to request a copy of your personal data which Worcester Cathedral holds about you;
• The right to request that Worcester Cathedral 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 Worcester Cathedral to retain such data;
• The right to withdraw your consent to the processing at any time;
• The right to request the transfer of your data to a third party;
• 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;
• The right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioners Office.
  
  

Further processing

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

Use of our website

With regard to each of your visits to our website, we may automatically collect the following information:

• Technical information, including the Internet protocol (IP) address used to connect your computer to the Internet, browser type and version, time zone setting, browser plug-in types and versions, operating system and platform;
• Information about your visit, including the full Uniform Resource Locators (URL) clickstream to, through and from our site (including date and time); page response times, download errors, length of visits to certain pages, page interaction information (such as scrolling, clicks, and mouse-overs), and methods used to browse away from the page.
  
  

We may work closely with third parties (including, for example, business partners, sub-contractors, advertising networks, analytics providers, search information providers, credit reference agencies) and may receive information about you from them.

For information about our use of cookies, please see our Cookie Policy.

Third party links on our website

Our website may contain links to other websites that are not operated by us. This Privacy Notice does not address the privacy policy and other practices of any third parties, including any third party operating any website or service that may be accessible via a link on our website. We strongly advise you to review the privacy policy of every site you visit. We have no control over and assume no responsibility for the content, privacy policies or practices of any third party sites or services.

Contact Details

To exercise all relevant rights, queries of complaints please in the first instance contact the Cathedral’s Chief Operating Officer or email, info@worcestercathedral.org.uk or contact Worcester Cathedral, Chapter Office, 8 College Yard, Worcester, WR1 2LA.  We hope to be able to resolve any complaints about our Privacy Notice directly with you. However, if you feel this has not been achieved, you can contact the Information Commissioner’s Office on 0303 123 1113 or via email at https://ico.org.uk/global/contact-us/email/ or at the Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF.

Read our Covid-19 Test and Trace Online Privacy Notice dated 24 07 20.
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