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Privacy Statement
Who we are
The RSPCA York, Harrogate and District Branch is a local animal welfare charity, registered charity number 232222.
We are primarily self-funding and raise our funds in the York, Harrogate and District areas. We rehome, rehabilitate abused and neglected animals as well as deliver a number of animal welfare initiatives, in our branch area.
Our privacy statement explains how the RSPCA York, Harrogate and District Branch uses personal information. All references to ‘we’, ‘us’ or ‘our’ in this notice refer to the RSPCA York, Harrogate and District Branch.
Data Protection law says that we are allowed to use personal information only if we have a proper reason to do so. We promise:-
- To keep our data safe and private
- Not to sell your data
- Not to share your data with third parties without your consent
The RSPCA York, Harrogate and District Branch is registered as a Data Controller with the ICO (Information Commissioners office) under the Data Protection Act 1998. Registration reference ZA166771
What personal information we collect about you
We may collect personal information about you when you:-
- ask about our activities
- register with us for information
- sign up for publications or newsletters
- volunteer with us
- fundraise for us
- organise or take part in a sponsored event for us
- sign up for an event
- make a donation via our Amazon Wish List
- request collection of donated goods from yourself
- sign up for Gift Aid on donated goods
- pledge or make a cash donation
- sign up for Gift Aid on cash donations
- purchase an item from our Internet shop
- enquire about animal adoption
- rehome or foster an animal from us
- rehome via our assisted adoption scheme from us
- request a neutering or microchipping voucher
- sign your own animal over to us and into our care
- report your animal lost or stolen to us
- leave a stray animal with us
- use our welfare clinic
- request welfare support
- telephone, write, email, contact us online, text us or otherwise provide us with your personal information.
This can include information such as your name, communication preferences, email address, postal address, telephone number, mobile number, date of birth or bank account details so we can process donations, or information as to whether you are a taxpayer to help us to claim gift aid.
We do not collect sensitive personal information about our supporters unless there is a clear reason for doing so or where we need to ensure that we provide appropriate support to enable you to participate in an event or support us in your chosen way.
We will only collect sensitive personal data with the supporters consent, and clear notices will be provided on applications for events and other relevant forms and communications, so you know what information we need and why we need it.
We will only retain your personal data for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes we collected it for, including for the purposes of satisfying any legal, accounting, or reporting requirements. To determine the appropriate retention period for personal data, we consider the amount, nature, and sensitivity of the personal data, the potential risk of harm from unauthorised use or disclosure of your personal data, the purposes for which we process your personal data and whether we can achieve those purposes through other means, and the applicable legal requirements. Details of retention periods for different aspects of your personal data are available below.
What personal information is held; why, where and for how long?
If you would like to download the below table please use this link
| What personal data is held? |
Why do we keep the personal data? |
Where and how long do we keep the personal information? |
|---|---|---|
|
Animal Adoption records, including,
|
Kept in order to refer to if the adopter has any queries or needs any clarification post adoption. |
Within two days of adoptions all the forms are scanned electronically and the paper copies shredded. The electronic copy is then stored against the animal adopted record, on cloud based passphrase protected storage. The records are destroyed two years after last contact with the adopters. |
Animal Adoption - Assisted Adoption records including:-
|
Kept in order to refer to, as and when the adopter needs our support with veterinary consultations. |
Within two days of the assisted adoptions all the forms are scanned electronically and the paper copies shredded. The electronic copy is then stored against the animal adopted record, on cloud based passphrase protected storage. The records are destroyed two years after last contact with the adopters, which will either be when the adopters declare they no longer need our support or the animal has sadly, passed away. |
| Animal Adoption - Failed | These records are only kept for referral in case of enquiry from the potential adopters in the months following the failed adoption |
Within two days of the failed adoptions all the forms are scanned electronically and the paper copies shredded. The records are destroyed six months after the last contact. |
| Animal Acceptance Forms (animals being taken into the York Animal Home) |
To keep a record of where the animals that are or were in our care, came from and if known, who the previous owner was. |
All the forms are scanned electronically and the paper copies shredded. The electronic copy is then stored against the animal adopted record, on cloud based passphrase protected storage. The acceptance forms are added to the appropriate animal care adoption files. |
| Animal Centre Visits | Visitors to the York Animal Home are required to sign a register to indicate the time of arrival and departure. |
The sign in register is cleared every day and the sheets are stored in a locked cabinet. The sign in sheets are used to monitor visitor trends and to calculate volunteer hours. Once these statistics have been gathered the sheets are destroyed. |
| Donation Correspondence | This is required to maintain financial records and enable donors to be thanked and supported.
|
Donation correspondence is kept in physical form in locked storage and held together with the required financial records. See financial records below. The corresponding thank you letter is kept in a password protected electronic file. The physical correspondence is kept for 7 years (for HMRC purposes) and the electronic thank you letters are deleted after one year. |
| Employee Files | Personal and limited sensitive personal data is kept on branch employees for the purpose of maintaining the branch / employee relationship to include:-
|
Physical records are kept in a locked cabinet and electronic records are filed with the use of password protection. Staff files remain active until the employee leaves the employment of RSPCA York, Harrogate and District Branch. The physical staff file is shredded after one year, after which only sufficient personal data is kept for the purposes of responding to employment reference requests or any known civil action. |
| Employment Vacancy Applications (Successful Candidates) |
Personal, education, previous employment details are required to enable :-
|
Application details are kept in the successful applicants staff file. Staff files remain active until the employee leaves the employment of RSPCA York, Harrogate and District Branch. The physical staff file is shredded after one year, after which only sufficient personal data is kept for the purposes of responding to employment reference requests or any known civil actions. |
| Employment Vacancy Applications (Unsuccessful Candidates) |
Personal, education, previous employment details are required to enable :-
|
The applications and associated interview forms are kept for three months after the date of the interview to enable post interview discussion if the unsuccessful candidate requests it. After three months all the documentation is shredded. |
| Event Participation (Sponsored or raising funds) |
Personal details are required to:-
|
Participants details are held on a secure database and the details will be deleted after one year. Paper copies which are held in lockable storage will also be destroyed after one year. |
Financial Records which could include:-
|
Legally required to keep these records for HMRC and audit purposes |
Kept for seven years including the current tax y ear, in lockable storage. |
Foster Recruitment
|
The personal data collected is needed to enable the ongoing support by the branch for the animal fosterers. |
All records are kept electronically on a cloud based, passphrase protected software package. Records are destroyed 2 years after the end of the last foster placement. |
| General Correspondence including complaint correspondence | This category includes:-
We will keep general correspondence for the
purposes of interacting with our supporters,
dealing with any enquiries they make of us.
We may also need to refer to the correspondence
if further enquiries are made on the same subject.
|
We will only keep the correspondence for as long as we need to and no longer than two years |
| Gift Aid Forms | We require to take some specific personal information as guided by HMRC, in order t hat Gift Aid can be claimed by the branch, on cash and goods donations. |
The completed forms are scanned and then stored in cloud based secure storage. The physical forms are then shredded. The details are then added to our secure password protected till system so that future donations can be gift aided too. The details are kept until the donor advises that they no longer wish their donations to be gift aided. HMRC require that we keep the forms for 6 years |
| Microchip Forms (publicly owned animals) | When we microchip an animal, with the owners permission, we need some personal details in order that the microchip can be registered with the microchip company. |
We keep these records in paper form in secure lockable storage and they are destroyed after one year. |
| Newsletter Mailing List | We send a monthly newsletter to a mailing list who have asked us to do so. They have all actively opted in to this specfic mailing. |
The personal data for the mailing list will be used for the lifetime of the mailing list or as soon as possible after we have been asked to remove a recipients details. |
| Volunteer Recruitment | Personal details and volunteering preferences are needed in order to:-
|
The personal details for the volunteers are kept in lockable storage for the duration of the period of volunteering and destroyed one year after we become aware that the volunteer no longer attends the branch. |
| Welfare Clinic Records | The personal details of the owners of any animals that attend our clinic are taken to identify each animal. Proof of eligibility of low income (required for welfare clinic clients) are seen and are recorded as such but no physical copy of the document is kept by this branch. |
All records are held electronically and deleted 5 years after the last time an animal visits our clinic. |
Welfare Vouchers:-
|
When we issue welfare or neutering vouchers personal details are needed. These details are also recorded on voucher stubs. The details are also recorded on a password protected excel spreadsheet for the purposes of ensuring that all vouchers that are issued are presented for payment. We can also monitor t hat the treatments needed by the animals are administered |
The vouchers are kept with presented invoice and are kept for 7 years with our financial records. The stubs are kept for one year and then destroyed. All entries on the database are deleted after five years. |
Where we store the personal data
Records which include personal details are only kept for a long as is necessary and for the purpose that the information was gathered. Paper copies of all documents that hold personal information are kept in secure locked storage. Personal information held electronically is held on IT equipment that is passphrase protected and all laptops, mobile phones, tablets and external hard drives on RSPCA York, Harrogate and District premises, are kept in lockable storage overnight.
Children and vulnerable persons
Vulnerable Persons
We place great importance on the safety of vulnerable persons of any age. A copy of our Safeguarding Policy is available on request by emailing or writing to gdpr@rspca-yorkhome.org.uk.
Children’s personal information
We are committed to protecting the privacy of young people who want to raise funds for us or who take part in educational events at schools or on our own premises. Our fundraising events may request specific information about the age of participants. Where appropriate we will seek the consent from a parent, guardian or appropriate adult carer before collecting information about young people under 16.
Telling us when things change
You can help us keep our records up to date by telling us when your contact details and other personal information changes. You can also change your mind at any time about how we contact you or ask us to stop contacting you altogether.
Please contact our admin team in writing and they’ll make the changes for you:
Email: gdpr@rspca-yorkhome.org.uk
Post: Data Controller, RSPCA York, Harrogate and District Branch, York Animals Home, Landing Lane, York, YO26 4RH.
If you tell us that you no longer want to receive further contact from us and you are on our supporter database, it may take a short while before our communications stop altogether, as a selection of supporter information for some of our mail outs is done a few weeks in advance of mailing.
If you request to receive no further contact from us, we will keep some basic personal information, sufficient to identify you as someone who wants no further contact and add you to our suppression list, to ensure that you do not receive unwanted materials in the future.
Access to your information and correction
You have the right to see information contained in personal data we hold about you. If you would like to receive some or all of your personal information (called a Subject Access Request), please contact the Data Controller,
Email: gdpr@rspca-yorkhome.org.uk
Post: Data Controller, RSPCA York, Harrogate and District Branch, York Animals Home, Landing Lane, York, YO26 4RH.
What is an individual entitled to?
Under the right of subject access, an individual is entitled only to their own personal data, and not to information relating to other people (unless they are legally acting on behalf of that person).
Subject access provides a right to see the information contained in personal data, rather than a right to see the documents that include that information.
What is a valid subject access request?
For a subject access request to be valid, it should be made in writing including by email and fax.
We may require proof of identity of the person making the request.
We want to make sure that your personal information is accurate and up to date. You may ask us to correct or remove any information you think is inaccurate by contacting the Data Controller at the address provide above.
Please note the Freedom of Information Act (the ‘FoIA’) applies to public authorities and certain organisations that are listed in Schedule 1 of the FoIA. The RSPCA York, Harrogate and District Branch is not listed and thus has no formal obligations under the FoIA. However, we support transparency and will supply information where possible.
How we may use your information
We will not rent, swap or sell your personal information to other organisations for them to use in their own marketing activities.
The legal basis that we rely on for processing your data will depend upon the circumstances in which it is being collected and used, but will in most cases fall into one of the following categories:
- where you have provided your consent to allow us to use your data in a certain way
- where the processing is necessary to carry out for the performance of a contract with you
- where the processing is necessary in order for us to comply with a legal obligation; or
- where it is in our legitimate interests to perform our functions. A legitimate interest is when we have a business or commercial reason to use your information. For example, processing donations or sending you administrative communications where our legitimate interest is to raise funds and to deliver our charitable purposes, subject to the branch obtaining your personal information fairly.
Cookies
Cookies are small text files that are placed on your computer by websites you visit. They are widely used in order to make websites work, or work more efficiently, as well as to provide information to the owners of the site. Cookies may tailor what pops up on your screen according to what you’ve viewed on a site before. We do not use Cookies on our website; however, our website is linked to other sites such as Facebook, You Tube and they also link to other websites. We have no control over these sites or their cookie policy and usage. If you want to know more about cookies, the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) website has a useful guide giving further information.
Google Analytics
Google Analytics is used to collect analytical information about how visitors use our site. All information is collected in an anonymous form and no personal data is collected or stored. The information gathered includes statistics such as browser usage, new visitor numbers, and response to marketing activity. The information helps us to improve the website and your experience.
Service providers
We use service providers, web hosting and software platform providers to help us provide you with our services.
We may give relevant persons within these service providers access to your personal information, but only to allow them to perform their services for us. Some service providers may be based outside of the European Economic Area (EEA) however, we will endeavour to ensure that any data transfers outside of the EEA are carried out in compliance with relevant data protection legislation and that the processing of your data is subject to appropriate security measures.
Legal requirements
We may disclose your personal/sensitive personal information when required to by law, for example, to HMRC for tax purposes or to police forces for the prevention or detection of crime. Further, we safeguard the sharing of such information by using formalised information sharing agreements with organisations where appropriate, or on an ad hoc basis after ensuring the request and disclosure are legally compliant.
Our donors and supporters
If you wish to support us by making a donation, registering to fundraise for us, joining our lottery or signing up to an event, we will collect your name and contact details as a minimum.
Where appropriate, we may also ask for your date of birth and other relevant data. We will use the information you provide to:-
- give you the services, products or information you asked for,
- tailor communications to you,
- administer your donation including requesting and processing gift aid,
- send you a thank you letter,
- support your fundraising or
- manage your marketing preferences.
We may also send you administrative communications, for example confirming a standing order instruction when you have made a donation to us.
Online donations and payments
To make an online donation or payment by card, you will be directed to a payment gateway which uses security features and encryption to ensure your data remains safe.
We offer the use of PayPal for some of our products and services, and have payment gateways operated on behalf of and under contract to us by service providers.
If you enter your details into one of our online forms and you don’t "send” or "submit” the form we may contact you to see if we can help you with any problems you may be experiencing with the form or our website.
Rehoming an animal from us
When you apply to rehome an animal from us, we’ll need to share personal information such as your name, address and telephone number, to enable a home visit by one of our volunteer home-visitors.
If you already have animals in your household we will need to carry out a vet check with your existing veterinary practice of choice. This will require us to share personal information but we always obtain your written authority before doing so.
We try to make sure that all animals are microchipped when they’re rehomed from us; this is a legal requirement in relation to dogs. We will share your personal information with a microchip company in case your animal goes missing. Depending on which microchip is used, this will be one of the following providers:-
- AVID,
- Anibase / Identibase
- Pet Protect
- Petlog
- Smartchip
Volunteers and job applicants
If you apply for a job with us or volunteer, we’ll hold the personal information you provide to process your application.
If we need to disclose information to a third party, we will not do so without asking you beforehand unless the disclosure is required by law. For example if we need to take up a reference, or obtain "disclosure” from the Disclosure & Barring Service.
If you apply to work with us we’ll only hold your data for the purposes of that application. We won’t hold your personal information for any longer than is necessary for the purposes of the application process.
If you volunteer for us your personal information will be held and processed so that we can contact you about future volunteering opportunities. We’ll only hold information relating to the nature of your voluntary work and we’ll delete it in accordance with our retention policies.
