General Privacy Notice | Southwark Cathedral     

This Privacy Notice explains when and why we collect personal information about you, how we use it and the conditions under which we may disclose it to others. Your personal data is defined as any information that can directly or indirectly identify you. This notice also explains how we keep your data safe and secure and includes information you need to know about your rights and how to exercise them.

This notice applies to our service users, fundraisers, donors, supporters and website visitors. For our HR Privacy Notice, please click here.

If you have any questions regarding our Privacy Notice and our use of your personal data, or would like to exercise any of your rights, please get in touch via the following information:

Email us: cathedral@southwark.anglican.org

Telephone us: 020 7367 6700

Write to us:

Southwark Cathedral
London Bridge
London
SE1 9DA

Data Protection Officer: dpo.cathedral@southwark.anglican.org 

If you are unhappy with the way we process your data, please get in touch by using one of the contact methods above. You can also make a complaint to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) which regulates the use of information in the UK. They can be contacted by:

Telephone 0303 123 1113

Write to the ICO: Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF

Or by going online to www.ico.org.uk/concerns

 

Your personal data – what is it?

Personal data is any information about a living individual which allows them to be identified from that data (for example a name, photographs, videos, email address, or address).  Identification can be by the information alone or in conjunction with any other information.  The processing of personal data is governed by the UK General Data Protection Regulation 2020 (UK GDPR), the Data Protection Act 2018 and any other applicable legislation.

Who are we?

We are Southwark Cathedral and for the purposes of UK Data Protection Law we are registered with the ICO under registration number Z8200750. Our purpose is to provide a place of worship and community service that supports the spiritual and pastoral needs of individuals in the area. The organisation provides religious services, pastoral care, venue hire, and events for the local community and visitors.

In this Notice, ‘Southwark Cathedral’', ‘we', 'us', 'our' means:

Southwark Cathedral (charity registration number 1200866) with a registered address at Southwark Cathedral Office, Montague Chambers, Montague Close, London, SE1 9DA.

Southwark Cathedral is the data controller   This means it decides how your personal data is processed and for what purposes. A description of what data is processed and for what purpose is set out in this Privacy Notice.

The Church of England is made up of a number of different organisations and office-holders who work together to deliver the Church’s mission in each community. The Cathedral works together with:

  • the bishops of the Diocese of Southwark; and
  • the Diocese of Southwark, which is responsible for the financial and administrative arrangements for the Diocese of Southwark including safeguarding.

As the Church is made up of all of these persons and organisations working together, we may need to share personal data we hold with them so that they can carry out their responsibilities to the Church and our community. Where this is the case, we may use the basis of our legitimate interest and/or legal obligation to share this personal data with our partners in order to provide you with a quality service which best suits your needs.  The organisations referred to above are joint data controllers of your personal information and you should read their privacy notice in addition to this one.

What data do we process?  

  • Names, titles, and aliases, photographs;
  • Contact details such as telephone numbers, addresses, and email addresses;
  • Where they are relevant to our mission, or where you provide them to us, we may process demographic information such as gender, age, date of birth, marital status, nationality, education/work histories, academic/professional qualifications, hobbies, family composition, and dependants;
  • Where you make donations or pay for activities such as use of our facilities, financial identifiers such as bank account numbers, payment card numbers, payment/transaction identifiers, policy numbers, and claim numbers;
  • The data we process is likely to constitute sensitive personal data recognised as special category data under the UK GDPR. This is because, as a church, the fact that we process your data at all may be suggestive of your religious beliefs.  Where you provide this information, we may also process other categories of special category data: racial or ethnic origin, mental and physical health, details of injuries, medication/treatment received, labour union affiliation, data concerning sexual orientation and criminal records, fines and other similar judicial records.
  • When we process special category data and criminal records, the lawful basis is supported by additional conditions of the law.

 

How do we process your personal data?

Southwark 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 meet all legal and statutory obligations (which include maintaining and publishing our electoral roll in accordance with the Church Representation Rules);
  • To carry out comprehensive safeguarding procedures (including due diligence and complaints handling) in accordance with best safeguarding practice from time to time with the aim of ensuring that all children and adults-at-risk are provided with safe environments;
  • To minister to you and provide you with pastoral and spiritual care (such as visiting you when you are gravely ill or bereaved) and to organise and perform ecclesiastical services for you, such as baptisms, confirmations, weddings and funerals;
  • To deliver the Church’s mission to our community, and to carry out any other voluntary or charitable activities for the benefit of the public in the parish, Diocese and beyond;
  • To administer membership records for Cathedral activities and groups;
  • To fundraise and promote the interests of the Church and charity;
  • To maintain our own accounts and records;
  • To seek your views or comments;
  • To notify you of changes to our services, events and role holders;
  • To inform you of news, events, activities and services at Southwark Cathedral;
  • To send you communications which you have requested and that may be of interest to you.  These may include information about campaigns, appeals, other fundraising activities;
  • To process a grant or application for a role;
  • To enable us to provide a voluntary service for the benefit of the public in a particular geographical area as specified in our constitution;
  • Our processing also includes the use of CCTV systems for the prevention and prosecution of crime.

 

What is the legal basis for processing your personal data?

We mainly rely on the basis of our legitimate interest to process your personal data   An example of this would be our safeguarding work to protect children and adults at risk.  We will always take into account your interests, rights and freedoms.

Some of our processing is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation.  For example, we are required by the Church Representation Rules to administer and publish the electoral roll, and under Canon Law to announce forthcoming weddings by means of the publication of banns.

We may also process data if it is necessary for the performance of a contract with you, or to take steps to enter into a contract.  An example of this would be process a donation that you have made (including Gift Aid information) or data in connection with the hire of Cathedral facilities or employment contracts and volunteer agreements.

Religious organisations are also permitted to process information about your religious beliefs to administer membership or contact details. This will include former members.

Where your information is used other than in accordance with one of these legal bases, we will first obtain your consent to that use for instance to keep you informed about news, events, activities and services and to process your gift aid donations.

Sharing your personal data


Your personal data will be treated as strictly confidential. It will only be shared with third parties where it is necessary for the performance of our tasks or where you first give us your prior consent.  It is likely that we will need to share your data with some or all of the following (but only where necessary):

  • The appropriate bodies of the Church of England including the other data controllers;
  • Southwark Cathedral Enterprises Ltd (the Cathedral’s wholly-owned trading subsidiary), Southwark Cathedral Development Trust, Southwark Cathedral Education Trust and the Friends of Southwark Cathedral;
  • Other clergy or lay persons nominated or licensed by the bishops of the Diocese of Southwark to support the mission of the Church in our parish. Assistant or temporary ministers, including curates, deacons, licensed lay ministers, commissioned lay ministers or persons with Bishop’s Permissions may participate in our mission in support of our regular clergy;
  • Other persons or organisations operating within the Diocese of Southwark including, where relevant, the Southwark Diocesan Board of Education, and Subsidiary Bodies;
  • There may be other legal entities we share data with within the Church of England who are also data controllers;
  • On occasion, other churches with which we are carrying out joint events or activities.

Personal data are not shared with funders. Information to funders is shared only anonymously.

To comply with our duty of care and safeguarding, we may need to pass some information raising safeguarding concerns with the authorities. In such circumstances, we apply vital interest and legitimate interest as our lawful basis. Data subjects’ rights and other UK GDPR provisions may be restricted when concerning personal data processed in these circumstances. Exceptions and exemptions are applied on a case by case basis.

 

How long do we keep your personal data?


We keep data in accordance with the guidance set out in the guide “Chapter and Verse: The Care of Cathedral Records” produced by the Church of England Record Centre which is available from the Church of England website at https://www.churchofengland.org/more/libraries-and-archives/records-management-guides.

Specifically, we retain electoral roll data while it is still current; gift aid declarations and associated paperwork for up to 6 years after the calendar year to which they relate; it is current best practice to keep financial records for a minimum period of 7 years to support HMRC audits; and parish registers (baptisms, marriages, funerals) are kept permanently. In general, we will endeavour to keep data only for as long as we need it.  This means that we may delete it when it is no longer needed.
 

Your rights and your personal data 

When exercising any of the rights listed below, in order to process your request, we may need to verify your identity for your security.  In such cases we will need you to respond with proof of your identity before you can exercise these rights.

1) The right to be Informed

  • You have the right to be informed as to how we use your data and under what lawful basis we carry out any processing. This Privacy Notice sets this information out however if you would like further information, please get in touch.

2) The right to access information we hold on you

  • At any point you can contact us to request the information we hold on you as well as why we have that information, who has access to the information and where we obtained the information from.  Once we have received your request we will respond within one month.
  • There are no fees or charges for the first request but additional requests for the same data may be subject to an administrative fee.

 

3) The right to correct and update the information we hold on you

  • If the data we hold on you is out of date, incomplete or incorrect, you can inform us and your data will be updated.

 

4) The right to have your information erased

  • If you feel that we should no longer be using your data or that we are illegally using your data, you can request that we erase the data we hold.
  • When we receive your request we will confirm whether the data has been deleted or the reason why it cannot be deleted (for example because we need it for our legitimate interests or regulatory purpose(s)).

 

5) The right to object to processing of your data

  • You have the right to request that we stop processing your data. Upon receiving the request we will contact you and let you know if we are able to comply or if we have legitimate grounds to continue to process your data.  Even after you exercise your right to object, we may continue to hold your data to comply with your other rights or to bring or defend legal claims.

 

6) The right to data portability

  • You have the right to request that we transfer some of your data to another controller. We will comply with your request, where it is feasible to do so, within one month of receiving your request.

 

7) The right to withdraw your consent to the processing at any time for any processing of data to which consent was sought.

  • You can withdraw your consent easily by telephone, email, or by post (see Contact Details below).

8) The right to object to the processing of personal data where applicable.

9) The right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office.
 

Automated decision making

Automated decision-making takes place when an electronic system uses personal information to make a decision without human intervention. You have the right to question the outcome of automated decisions that may create legal effects or create a similar significant impact on you. We currently do not undertake automated decision making.

 

Transfer of Data Abroad

 Where personal data is stored outside of the UK and the EEA, safeguards to protect personal data may include but are not limited to the UK Addendum used in conjunction with the EU Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs), or UK International Data Transfer Agreement (IDTAs). Such safeguards will be subject to Transfer Risk Assessments (TRAs).

 

Website visitors and cookies

A cookie is a small file of letters and numbers, which often includes a unique identifier that is sent to your device’s browser from a website’s computer and is stored on your device’s hard drive. Cookies allow a website to recognise a user’s device. Websites can send their own cookie to your browser if your browser’s preferences allow it.

For more information see www.allaboutcookies.org/

On Southwark Cathedral's website, cookies record information about your online preferences and allow us to tailor the website to your needs. Cookies help us to provide a more personalised online service to you and our cookies do not store any sensitive or confidential information. You can set your computer/mobile phone/other device to accept all cookies, notify you when a cookie is issued, or not receive cookies at any time. Please bear in mind that certain personalised features of this website cannot be provided to you without the use of cookies. Each browser is different so check the ‘Help’ menu of your browser to learn how to change your cookie preferences if you wish to do so.

How does Southwark Cathedral's website use cookies?

During any visit to Southwark Cathedral's website the pages you view – along with a cookie – are downloaded to your device. This allows us to store information to operate the site as you move from page to page.

Southwark Cathedral uses cookies to help us analyse the profile of our visitors and provide them with a better, more personalised service. Cookies also allow us to provide our service to you - for instance, by retrieving your current shopping basket so that you can make purchases, by recognising you when you access the website and by making it easier for you to navigate our website.

Our cookies do not store financial information, or information which is capable of directly identifying you (such as your name or address). Cookies simply allow our website to retrieve this information from our systems in order to personalise and improve your experience of our website.

Because we rely on cookies in this way to personalise and improve your experience on our website, your browser needs to be set to accept cookies before you can place an order through our online shop. Each browser is different so check the ‘Help’ menu of your browser to learn how to change your cookie preferences if you wish to do so.

Third-party cookies on Southwark Cathedral's website

When you are on Southwark Cathedral's website you may notice that there is content from other websites - for example a video from YouTube - which we add from time to time. As a result, you may be sent cookies from these other websites. Southwark Cathedral does not control these cookies and we suggest you check these third-party websites for more information about the cookies they use and how you can manage them.

What cookies does Southwark Cathedral website use and can I reject them?

A list of the cookies that Southwark Cathedral website sets, along with details of what each one is used for can be found below.

You can set your browser to reject cookies (see the ‘Help’ menu of your browser to find out how to do this), but please bear in mind that if you do this, certain personalised features of this website cannot be provided to you.​

Social Media

When you interact with us on social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter/X, Instagram, TikTok and LinkedIn, we may obtain information about you (for example, when you publicly tag us in an event photo). The information we receive will depend on the privacy preferences you have set on those types of platforms. Please review the privacy notice of those platforms, in addition to this one.

Links to other websites

Our website may contain links to other websites of interest. Once you have used these links to leave our site, you should note that we do not have any control over that other website. Therefore, we cannot be responsible for the protection and privacy of any information which you provide whilst visiting such sites and such sites are not governed by this privacy policy. You should exercise caution and look at the privacy policy applicable to the website in question.

Further processing

If we wish to use your personal data for a new purpose, not covered by this Privacy 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.

Changes to this notice

This privacy notice is kept under regular review.  If we make any significant changes to the way in which we process your information, we’ll make the required changes to this Privacy Notice and will notify you so that you can raise any concerns or objections with us.

When making less impactful changes, we’ll update this notice and post a summary of the changes on our website.

This privacy notice was last updated in October 2024.

Contact Details

To exercise all relevant rights, queries of complaints please in the first instance contact the Chapter’s Data Controller, Paul Smith at paul.smith@southwark.anglican.org or 020 7367 6726.

You can contact the Information Commissioners Office on 0303 123 1113 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.