I. Introduction

In the course of its work, the Battersea Society collects information about both members and other people who are interested in receiving information about the Society and our activities. This document sets out how the Society handles personal information and complies with its statutory obligations and the advice provided by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) and by organisations in the voluntary sector. This policy will be reviewed every two years.

II. Legal Principles

The Society is committed to the legal principles as defined by the ICO. We shall:
• Use data legally under a permitted lawful basis
• Use data fairly, being clear, open and honest with people whose data we hold
• Use data fairly, being clear, open and honest with people whose data we hold
• Use data fairly, being clear, open and honest with people whose data we hold
• Collect only what we need and use it as we planned and communicated that we would
• Keep our records accurate and up to date.
• Store data securely and confidentially
• Take responsibility for what we do with data
• Have records and policies that show how we are handling data.
We shall respect people’s rights to their personal data, including their right to:
• Understand what data we have about them and how it is being used
• See that information and get their own copy of it to use however they want
• Correct the information if it is wrong
• Ask for it to be deleted or limit how it is used
• Complain if they don’t like things the Society is doing with their data.

We gather and hold the minimum amount of personal information about our members that we need for the purpose of informing them about their membership and about the Society’s activities. We do not gather any personal information that is in one of the special categories defined by law. Members have the right to unsubscribe from mailing lists for the communications we circulate via different channels.

III. Data security, retention and deletion

Personal data is held by the Treasurer and Membership Secretary on password protected computers and backed up regularly to a dedicated Google drive. Email addresses are also held on Mailchimp, which is used for mass mailings to members. The data is processed only insofar as it is necessary for the administration of membership and the operation of mailing lists. We do not make the data available to anyone other than the elected Officers of the Society and a small number of others appointed by the trustees to undertake specific functions for a defined and limited period.

Our online membership subscriptions are managed by Moonclerkand payments are managed by Stripe. Both comply with relevant privacy legislation and follow best practice for data security. Members’ data is also held on our accounting system, Xero, which also provides high levels of protection.

We retain personal data on members for as long as they retain their membership and for a period of six years thereafter, to meet the requirements of the Charities Act for the retention of financial records. We delete information about individuals who are on our mailing list but are not members of the Society within one month of their informing us that they no longer wish to receive information from us.

IV. Data Access

Members who wish to receive a copy of the information the Society holds about them should direct their application to the Membership Secretary. The relevant officer will provide the information within one month.

V. Data breaches

Any data breach will be reported to the Board of Trustees, and where necessary to the ICO.

April 2023, updated December 2025 and March 2026