Data Protection Policy
It’s the morning of toddlers. Volunteers are buzzing around; parents and children are beginning to wander through the door. Excitement is mounting. You’re ready with your registration sheet to take names, addresses, phone numbers and dietary information so you can keep in contact with the family.
Or perhaps you’re looking through the new list of church members, updating addresses and phone numbers, trying to format it all or creating a list for members supporting church groups.
Sound familiar?
But what do you do with the information you’re holding? How do you keep it? How do you make sure it’s safe? These questions became even more important in 2018 when changes in data protection law came into force.
On 25 May 2018, the 1998 Data Protection Act was replaced by the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
This meant changes for how churches handle personal information and it also means more consequences when information isn’t properly looked after. From May 2018 churches had an even greater responsibility to care for the information that the mum from toddlers scribbled down on a registration form.
So what did that mean for our church?
Reviewing Information
We regularly have to review the personal information we keep, ie addresses, phone numbers, emails. How we use this information and how we store it.
Consent
For any information which is held consent is required and this needs to be done separately for each group
Storing Information
All information must be stored securely and only the appropriate individuals have access to the information.
Data Protection Officer – Darleen Turner
Our Data Protection Policy here
Please go to TMCP website: www.tmcp.org.uk/about/data-protection for further information and guidance.