Privacy Statement

We are committed to serving and respecting all people regardless of their gender, marital status, race, ethnic origin, religion, age, sexual orientation or physical and mental capability. We recognise that people hold different values and beliefs to our own and we acknowledge the freedom of people to hold and to express these respectfully and freely within the limits of UK law. We allow spaces to explore Christian beliefs and values in a respectful environment. We form partnerships with other churches, voluntary groups, statutory agencies and local government where appropriate to provide the best service for our community.

Your privacy is important to us. Our aim is to be as clear as possible about how and why we use the personal data you give us. This Privacy Notice explains how we collect, use, store and share personal data, and your rights.

Arun Church is a collective name for connected organisations and services under the church umbrella that may share administrative systems. These are:

1. Arun Community Church (including Arun Youth Projects, Arun Kids, Arun Youth and CAP Debt Help)
2. Arun Community Church: Wickbourne Centre (including The Wickbourne Centre and Playcentre childcare settings)
3. Refresh Trading Ltd
4. Arun Creative Ltd

Depending on the activity, one of the Arun Church group entities may be the controller, or we may act as joint controllers. If you want to confirm which entity is responsible for a specific activity (e.g., childcare, venue hire, trading activity, or membership administration), please contact us using the details below.

For privacy queries across Arun Church and associated entities/services, please contact:
The Data Controller
Arun Church, The Wickbourne Centre, Clun Road, Littlehampton, BN17 7DZ
Email: hello@arunchurch.com
Telephone: 01903 782744

Broadly, personal data is information that can identify you. Depending on how you engage with us, we may collect:

1. Identity & contact data
   Name, email, phone number, postal address
   Relationships/family links (where relevant for family activities)
2. Church & participation data
   Church membership status, small group involvement, attendance information (where recorded)
   Volunteering roles, rota/availability, training records
   Event registration details
   
3. Donations & finance data
   Donation history, Gift Aid declarations, payment references (note: we do not store full card details)
   Financial transaction records required for accounting and audit
4. Employment & volunteering vetting data
   Application details, references, right-to-work checks
   DBS check status and related recruitment vetting information, where lawful
   Training records
5. Childcare & children’s data
   Parent/guardian contact details, child’s details, emergency contacts
   Observations, learning records and safeguarding/incident records (where required)
   Photographs/video (only where we have a clear lawful basis, commonly consent)
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   A note on children’s data: By default, we work through parents/carers in relation to children’s information, permissions and communications, taking account of the child’s age, understanding, and the requirements of data protection law. If a child attends an activity (e.g. a youth club) before full parent/carer registration has been completed, we may record their details as a visitor in our systems so we can keep them safe, manage attendance, and contact a parent/carer as soon as possible to complete full registration.
6. Website data
   IP address, device information, cookie identifiers and browsing activity on our site (depending on your cookie choices)
7. Special category data
   We may process “special category” data where relevant and lawful (e.g., religious belief, safeguarding information, health details for accessibility, and information about children). We only do this where UK GDPR allows, using appropriate safeguards.By engaging in church membership, small groups, volunteering, or pastoral ministry, some information may reveal your religious beliefs or association with a faith community.

As part of our ministry, Arun Church provides pastoral care and support to individuals and families. This may involve recording notes of conversations or interactions to provide appropriate care, follow-up, and safeguarding. Where we do keep pastoral records, we aim to keep them brief, factual and relevant, rather than detailed personal notes. These records may include:

• details of pastoral conversations or meetings
• prayer requests or support needs shared with us
  
• information about personal circumstances (e.g. family, wellbeing, or life events)
• safeguarding concerns or disclosures where relevant

We process pastoral care information because it is necessary for:

1. our legitimate activities as a not-for-profit religious organisation
2. the provision of pastoral support and care
   
3. safeguarding children and adults at risk; and
4. our legal and safeguarding obligations where applicable

Ordinary personal data may be processed under the lawful basis of legitimate interests, legal obligation, or vital interests, depending on context. Some pastoral care information may include special category personal data (such as information relating to health, religious beliefs, or other sensitive matters). Special category data may be processed by us as part of our not-for-profit religious activities, as well as for safeguarding, legal reasons, or where otherwise permitted by law.

Access to pastoral records is strictly limited to authorised staff and trained volunteers who require access for their role. We treat this information with a high level of confidentiality and apply additional safeguards where appropriate.

We recognise that pastoral information is often shared in confidence. We will seek to respect confidences, although there may be circumstances (particularly safeguarding or legal requirements) where information needs to be shared.

We keep pastoral records only for as long as necessary for pastoral care and follow-up. We review them periodically and take into account the nature and sensitivity of the information, whether there is an ongoing pastoral relationship, and whether there is any safeguarding, legal, insurance or governance reason to retain them for longer. Where pastoral information also forms part of a safeguarding record, it will be retained in line with our safeguarding retention requirements.

We use your data for purposes including:
- to provide church services and pastoral care
- to administer membership and participation records
- to fundraise and promote our charitable purposes
- to manage volunteers, leaders, contractors and staff
- to maintain accounts and records, including Gift Aid
- to communicate about news, events, activities, services and opportunities
- to operate and improve our website and digital services
- to undertake surveys or feedback and evaluate our activities
- to meet safeguarding obligations and protect children and adults at risk
- to comply with legal and regulatory requirements

We do not use personal data to build profiles about you from third-party sources, and we do not sell personal data.

We only process personal data when we have a lawful basis under UK GDPR. The most common bases are:
Consent - used where you actively choose to give permission for a specific purpose, for example:
- receiving certain marketing emails where consent is required
- photographs/video for specific uses
- non-essential website cookies.
You can withdraw consent at any time.

Contract - used where we provide a service you sign up for or where an agreement exists, for example:·       - event registrations or bookings
- childcare services
- employment contracts.

Legal obligation - used where we must process data to comply with law, for example:
- financial record-keeping and Gift Aid compliance
- safeguarding records
- employment and health & safety obligations.

Legitimate interests - used where processing is necessary for our legitimate interests as a church and charity and does not override your rights and freedoms. Typical examples include:
- internal communications with members and volunteers
- planning and running church activities
- administrative management, reporting and service improvement.

Special category data – where we process special category data, we also ensure an appropriate UK GDPR Article 9 condition applies (e.g., for not-for-profit religious organisations and safeguarding obligations), and we apply extra protections.

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We restrict access to authorised staff and volunteers who need it for their role. We apply appropriate security controls.

‍Third-party service providers (processors)
‍We use trusted third-party suppliers to help us deliver services (e.g., IT systems, email delivery, finance platforms, childcare systems). These providers must only process data under our instructions and are required to protect it. Examples may include:
- Church administration/membership systems (e.g., “My ChurchSuite”)
- Childcare management systems (e.g., “Tapestry”)
- Website analytics/video embeds (depending on cookie choices)
- Payment processors (we do not store full card details)

We do not sell personal data.
We do not use bought-in lists for electronic marketing.
We do not share your personal data with other organisations for their own marketing without your explicit consent, unless required by law or needed for safeguarding or legal claims.

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Where possible, we enable you to view and manage your personal data through secure systems such as:
My Churchsuite (for church members, where enabled)
‍TAPESTRY (for parents/guardians in Playcentre settings, where enabled)

You can also update details or preferences by contacting us using the details above.

Cookies are small text files placed on your device when you visit a website. We may use the following types of cookies on our website:
Essential cookies - These are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems.
Non-essential cookies (analytics, marketing, personalisation) - We will only place non-essential cookies if you give consent through our cookie controls/banner. You can change your cookie preferences at any time using the “cookie settings” link on our site.
Third-party content - We may embed third-party content (e.g., YouTube, Facebook) that can set cookies if you consent to that category. Please see the relevant providers’ privacy and cookie information for details.You can review or change your cookie settings at any time using the cookie settings by clicking here: Cookie settings.

We may update this Notice from time to time. The latest version will be published here on our website with the “Last updated” date at the top.