Britain Yearly Meeting is the charitable organisation that supports and works on behalf of Quakers in Britain. Our full address is Britain Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), Friends House, 173 Euston Road, London NW1 2BJ and our charity number is: 1127633.

What we do and your rights

    Introduction

    Britain Yearly Meeting is registered with the Information Commissioners Office (ICO) (Reg. No: Z1994952) and act as data controller when we collect personal data from the members and attenders of Quaker meetings in England, Scotland and Wales, as well as members and attenders of other Quaker meetings, and those who identify as Quaker but are unattached to a specific meeting, volunteers, staff, service users, and other stakeholders.

    Please note Quiet Company is operated by Friends House (London) Hospitality Ltd. (t/a Quiet Company), which is wholly owned by Britain Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) and personal data is processed in accordance with the Quiet Company privacy policy.

    For enquiries about Britain Yearly Meeting, please email: enquiries@quaker.org.uk or call 020 7663 1000

    The central offices of Quakers in Britain (Britain Yearly Meeting) are at  Friends House in London.

    If you need to contact a local meeting house please use the Find a Meeting function and enter a full postcode, meeting name, town or city.

    Our approach to managing personal data

    We will ensure that all personal information is processed in accordance with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018.

    Type of data we collect

    Britain Yearly Meeting collects personal data such as:

    • Membership data: name, address, email address, contact information, quaker group affiliations, information relating to nominations, appointments and offers of service on Quaker Committees or for Quaker events.
    • Fundraising and Donation information: such as contact data, payment information.
    • Grant applicant data: such as contact details, financial information, biographical and qualification/experience.
    • Safeguarding: contact information, other personal data relating to case (which may include special category data such as medical info)
    • Current, former and prospective employee and volunteer information: for more information please see our Employee privacy notice

    How we collect data

    Britain Yearly Meeting collects personal data through:

    • Enquiries received by phone, email and letter or other forms of direct contact (such as at events, face to face work in local meetings etc)
    • Online forms such as contact forms and surveys
    • Volunteer onboarding (from standard volunteer applications and onboarding to Quaker service which can include data sharing via recommendations from third parties and with volunteers on nominating bodies)
    • Event booking forms and other related events administration
    • Via third party donations services such as CAF

    We will ensure that all personal information supplied is held in accordance UK Data Protection legislation.

    Why we collect data

    We collect this data to carry out administration in support of Quakers in Britain, to do work on behalf of Quakers in Britain, to administrate donations, to offer services and events to Quakers and to the wider public, and for the administration of employees and volunteers.

    Under the UK General Data Protection Regulation and the Data Protection Act 2018, organisations are required to have a legal basis for processing personal data. The legal bases we use for processing data are:

    • Legitimate interests for the purposes of fulfilling supporting our work,
    • Contractual obligation in fulfilling any contract with you,
    • Legal obligation for the purposes of fulfilling our statutory obligations, including under health and safety, and safeguarding
    • Consent when people opt into our mailing lists or agree to take part in marketing and promotional campaigns.

    Principles we will maintain

    When we ask for personal data we will outline how we will use and manage it and, where appropriate, ask for your consent to do so.

    We will not keep information for longer than necessary.

    We maintain organisational retention schedules which set out the retention periods for the data we collect.

    We will not use third parties to process your data without taking reasonable steps to ensure they comply with UK Data Protection legislation and EU General Data Protection Regulation.

    We will never sell your data to third parties.

    We do not use data for automated decision making or profiling.

    Data location and security

    Personal data is collected and stored securely subject to appropriate security measures and is protected against misuse.

    Your personal data is held in electronic and paper form as appropriate. Electronic data is held on secure servers operated by the Britain Yearly Meeting and in some circumstances, on servers owned by third party contractors, primarily Microsoft who provide our main cloud-based infrastructure. We ensure that any third-party contractors we use comply with the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018. Data in paper form which holds personal data is held securely and destroyed securely.

    Your rights over your data

    Under the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018, you have the following rights:

    • Right to be informed: This notice provides you with information in relation to how your data is processed. This ensures that we are transparent about what we will do with the information you supply to us.
    • Right of Access: You can ask us to provide you with the personal data about you we hold. This right always applies. There are some exemptions, which means you may not always receive all the information we process.
    • Right to rectification: You have the right to ask us to rectify information you think is inaccurate. You also have the right to ask us to complete information you think is incomplete. This right always applies.
    • Right to erasure: You have the right to ask us to erase your personal information in certain circumstances.
    • Right to object: You have the right to object to processing if we are able to process your information because it is in our legitimate interests. You can also unsubscribe from our mailings and remove your details at any time.
    • Right to data portability: This only applies to information you have given us. You have the right to ask that we transfer the information you gave us from one organisation to another or give it to you. The right only applies if we are processing information based on your consent or under, or in talks about entering into a contract and the processing is automated.

    Should you wish to make a subject access request to view your personal data held by us, please contact BYM data protection group: dataprotection@quaker.org.uk or Enquiries on 020 7663 1000.

    You can make a request by contacting us on the above details; however, to streamline the process please consider using our Data Subject Access Request Form (Word).

    Should you wish to withdraw permission for use of your data or to update the data we hold for you, please contact BYM data protection group: dataprotection@quaker.org.uk or Enquiries on 020 7663 1000.

    Cookies

    Cookies are text files stored on your computer, and accessible only to the websites which create them.

    Our website may from time to time use cookies and log files:

    • for statistical analysis
    • to understand user behaviour
    • to administer the site
    • to tailor the information presented to a user based on their preferences,
    • and to improve the user experience.

    Any information gathered by our use of cookies is compiled on an aggregate, anonymous basis.

    Most web browsers automatically accept cookies. You may delete, or disable cookies by following the instructions at http://www.allaboutcookies.org/manage-cookies/. Please note that you may not be able to take full advantage of a website if you disable cookies. Our website uses cookies to keep you logged in, so disabling cookies may impair your experience of the service.

    Further information about cookies can be found on the Interactive Advertising Bureau's website www.allaboutcookies.org.

    Social media

    If you share our content through social media, for example by liking us on Facebook, following or tweeting about us on Twitter, or giving us a '+1' via Google Plus, those social networks will record that you have done so. They may set a cookie for this purpose.

    In some cases, where a page on our website includes content from a social network, such as a Twitter feed, or Facebook comments box, those services may set a cookie even where you do not click a button. As is the case for all cookies, we cannot access those set by social networks. Social networks cannot access cookies we set ourselves.

    Log files

    Our systems automatically gather some anonymous information about visitors, including IP addresses, browser type, language, and the times and dates of webpage visits. The data collected does not include personally identifiable information. It is used, as described above, for statistical analysis, to understand user behaviour, and to administer the site.

    Google Analytics

    Our website uses Google Analytics, a web analytics service provided by Google, Inc. ("Google"). The information generated by the cookie about your use of our website (including your IP address) will be transmitted to and stored by Google on servers in the United States. Google will use this information for the purpose of evaluating your use of our website, compiling reports on website activity for website operators and providing other services relating to website activity and internet usage. Google may also transfer this information to third parties where required to do so by law, or where such third parties process the information on Google's behalf. Google will not associate your IP address with any other data held by Google. Further information about Google's privacy policy may be obtained from http://www.google.com/privacy.html.

    Any changes we may make to our privacy notice in the future will be posted on this page and, where appropriate, notified to you by email.

    External links

    The Britain Yearly Meeting website contains links to websites operated by third parties under different privacy policies. Should you choose one of those links, you will be leaving the Britain Yearly Meeting site and this privacy notice will no longer apply.

    Contact Us

    If you have any queries or complaints, please in the first instance, contact BYM data protection team: dataprotection@quaker.org.uk or Enquiries on 020 7663 1000.

    You can also complain to the ICO if you are unhappy with how we have used your data.

    The ICO's address: Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF

    Helpline number: 0303 123 1113 ICO website: https://www.ico.org.uk

    Changes to this notice

    We will review and update this notice in line with best practice and changes in legislation. We will always have an up-to-date version of the notice on this page or clearly signpost its location on the site under 'Privacy notice'. This privacy notice was previously referred to as the 'privacy policy', so may be referred to as either.

    Notice last updated: 2 April 2024

    Contact us

    Data Protection Group
    dataprotection@quaker.org.uk
    020 7663 1000