A plain-English summary of how we handle your information.

Who we are

The data controller is THE BISHOPS FROME CONSOLIDATED CHARITIES, a registered charity in England and Wales (number 219970). Our registered office is at New House, Bishops Frome, Worcester, WR6 5BT. You can reach us by post at that address, by telephone on +44 (0)1531 640323, or by email at [email protected].

Because we are a small charity, we are not required to appoint a Data Protection Officer. The data protection lead is the trustees' honorary treasurer; queries can be addressed to [email protected].

What personal data we collect

Depending on what you do with us, we may collect:

• Your name, postal address, email address and (if you give it to us) telephone number;
• If you donate: the amount, the date, and a Gift Aid declaration if you make one;
• If you apply for a grant: the information you provide on a single side of paper, plus a referrer's note if there is one;
• If you volunteer: the information you provide on the enquiry form, and a referee's note;
• If you subscribe to the dispatch: your email address only;
• If you visit this website: a small amount of analytics data (see the cookie policy).

Why we collect it, and the lawful basis

• To administer grants — lawful basis: legitimate interest (administering the charitable trust); for sensitive details, your explicit consent.
• To process donations — lawful basis: contract (between you and us, as donor and charity); for Gift Aid, legal obligation.
• To send the quarterly dispatch — lawful basis: your consent. You can withdraw consent at any time by replying to any dispatch or writing to us.
• To run the website — lawful basis: legitimate interest (running an accessible, working site) for essential cookies; consent for any optional analytics.
• To meet statutory obligations — lawful basis: legal obligation (Charity Commission reporting, HMRC Gift Aid).

Who we share your data with

As little as possible. We may share data with:

• HMRC, for Gift Aid claims, where you have made a Gift Aid declaration;
• Our bank, the Charities Aid Foundation (CAF), which holds the trust's deposit account;
• The Charity Commission, for our annual return — though this contains only aggregated, anonymised figures, not personal data;
• The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), if required to in a regulatory context;
• Our independent examiner, who reviews our receipts-and-payments accounts each year and is bound by confidentiality;
• An email-newsletter platform (Mailchimp), if you have subscribed to the dispatch — bound by Mailchimp's UK-GDPR-compliant terms.

We do not sell, swap, or rent your personal data to any third party. Ever.

How long we keep your data (retention)

• Donor records: 7 years (the HMRC retention requirement for Gift Aid records).
• Grant-application records: the duration of the trusteeship plus the next quarterly meeting (a short retention; usually less than 12 months for unsuccessful applications).
• Volunteer enquiries: 24 months from the last contact.
• Newsletter subscribers: until you unsubscribe.
• Website analytics: 14 months (the standard Google Analytics retention; if we use a privacy-friendly alternative such as Plausible, the retention is shorter and the data is aggregated).
• Correspondence: general enquiries are kept for 24 months from the last contact, unless the matter is ongoing.

Your rights under UK GDPR

You have the right to:

• Be informed of what we do with your data — that is what this policy is for;
• Access the data we hold about you (a "subject access request");
• Rectify it if it is wrong;
• Erase it ("right to be forgotten"), subject to our legal obligations;
• Restrict our processing of it;
• Object to our processing of it, where the lawful basis is legitimate interest;
• Data portability — though this is rarely relevant at our scale;
• Withdraw consent at any time, where we relied on consent.

To exercise any of these rights, write to [email protected]. We will respond within one calendar month. We will not charge for a subject access request unless it is plainly excessive or unfounded.

Cookies

This website uses a small number of cookies. The essential cookies are needed to remember your acknowledgement of the cookie banner. We may set a single privacy-friendly analytics cookie only if you accept it via the banner. See the cookie policy for the full list.

Children's data

We do not market to children. We do not knowingly collect data on anyone under 13. The Apprentice Bequest may receive applications from people aged 16–24; in those cases, we hold the application data only for the period of the application cycle plus the statutory retention required for grant records. We follow our short, written safeguarding policy (see resources).

Changes to this policy

If we change this policy materially, we will update the "Last updated" date at the top of this page and note the change in our next quarterly dispatch. The previous version is available on request.

How to complain

Please write to us first, and we will try to put it right within ten working days. If you remain unhappy, you have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office:

Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF
Telephone: 0303 123 1113
Web: ico.org.uk