Parish Buying is a service for the Church of England and the Church in Wales. It is dedicated to making available contracts for products and services, together with procurement guidance for parishes, cathedrals, relevant church-linked charities, and other applicable church bodies.
We work closely with third-party product and service providers to offer Members a range of products and services (e.g., the Energy Basket, Office Products, Charity and Church Software, and Safety supplies). This Policy relates to personal data—that is, information about a living individual who can be identified from that data.
This Policy explains:
• when and why we collect personal information about people who visit our website
• how we use it
• the conditions under which we may disclose it to others
• how we keep it secure.
If this policy changes, you will be notified in an email or on the Parish Buying login page. It is important that you acquaint yourself with any changes so you are fully aware of how we handle your personal data and of your rights when you use our website.
Any questions regarding this Policy and our privacy practices should be sent by email to [email protected] or by post to Parish Buying, The National Church Institutions, Church House, Great Smith Street, London SW1P 3AZ
The Parish Buying service is provided by:
Church of England Central Services Trading Limited (no. 8940330).
Church House
Great Smith Street
London
SW1P 3AZ.
This means that Church of England Central Services Trading Limited decides how the personal data stored on our systems is processed and for what purposes. When you enquire about or purchase products or services, the relevant third-party product provider will use your details to provide you with the information you require and to carry out their obligations arising from any contracts you have entered into with them. In some cases, they will be acting as a data controller of your information, and therefore, we advise you to read their Privacy Policy. These third-party product providers will share your information with us, which we will use in accordance with this Privacy Policy.
Parish Buying is only available to churches, parishes, cathedrals, dioceses, and other bodies in the Church of England and the Church in Wales. To access its services as a Parish Buying Member and to be entitled to its terms and conditions for contracts, we need to confirm your eligibility to join and then remain a Member of the Parish Buying service.
The personal information we collect will include your:
• Name
• Address
• Diocese
• Email Address
• Phone Number
• Job Role
• Interests
• IP Address
We may also collect information relevant to specific enquiries, such as meter readings for the Energy Basket.
We may use your information to:
• Process enquiries that you have submitted.
• Carry out our obligations arising from any contracts you entered into.
• Seek your views or comments on our services - we may contact you by email, phone or mail.
• Customise the website according to your interests or to make your experience easier when visiting external supplier websites.
• Notify you of changes to the contracts and services offered to Parish Buying members.
• Send you our regular members’ newsletter, which may include information about our suppliers’ goods and services, information on new suppliers and general guidance and advice.
• Create an account with a supplier by supplying identifying information.
The legal bases for our processing of your personal data are:
• The consent you gave upon registration with Parish Buying.
• For the performance of a contract (such as a contract for electricity or gas) to which you are a party or to take steps at your request prior to entering into a contract.
• For other legitimate purposes such as service management, advising you of changes to contracts with suppliers or changes in suppliers, and to draw your attention to other relevant information.
We collect and use personal data under the following lawful bases:
• Consent: when you register as a Parish Buying member.
• Contract: to fulfil obligations arising from contracts entered into by you and us (e.g., contracts for electricity or gas).
• Legitimate Interests: for the management of our services and to inform members about relevant information.
Because we consider that we have a legitimate interest in processing your personal data, we have undertaken a Legitimate Interests Assessment which sets out why we consider such processing is justified.
| We have a specific purpose with a defined benefit |
To collect and process personal data of Parish Buying members in order to provide services and products, manage membership, and inform members of relevant updates, changes, or new opportunities related to the contracts and services offered.
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| The processing is necessary to achieve the defined benefit. |
Collecting and processing personal data is essential for managing memberships. This ensures members have access to relevant contracts and services, can receive quotes/submit their interests, receive support from their diocese, and are kept informed about changes or new offerings. This allows Parish Buying to deliver its services effectively and provide value to its members.
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| The processing legitimately overrides the interests of the data subject and any risks to their rights or freedoms. | Data processing is limited to the necessary information required to provide the services, such as contact details and service preferences. Appropriate safeguards such as limited access to data by authorised staff, authentication, and amendments of personal data are in place to protect data subjects' rights and freedoms. The processing is proportionate, with minimal risk. It does not override the members’ rights or freedoms as it is aligned with their expectations as members seeking the benefits of Parish Buying services. |
We collect your information from:
• Your registration on our website.
• Your enquiries about products and services.
• Your purchase of products and services from suppliers.
• Your interaction with our marketing activity
• Where necessary, our suppliers, with whom you entered into a contract.
We may share your information with:
• Third-party service providers, agents, sub-contractors, and other associated organisations to complete tasks and provide services to you on our behalf.
• Parish Buying's digital giving suppliers share donation data with the Church's National Giving Team, who pass this information on to Dioceses. For SumUp, Stripe, Give A Little, and GWD, this information includes the number and value of transactions by account; however, it does not include any personal information (such as donor details) for individual transactions. For Stripe, the National Giving Team can also see the name of some donors by virtue of the Connect account structure. Give A Little also has access to Parish Buying’s Stripe data, which is required for the support they provide to facilitate Parish Buying’s services via Stripe. No personal data is shared with Dioceses. For further information, please see the individual privacy policies for each supplier.
• We may share church email addresses with the respective dioceses when we believe that support from the diocese could be beneficial. We only share these email addresses selectively, not every time a church contacts us, but specifically when it is deemed that the church could benefit from the diocese's assistance.
We will not sell or rent your information to third parties or share it with them for marketing purposes. We disclose only the personal information necessary to deliver the service to our service providers, and we have contracts in place that require them to keep your information secure and not use it for their own direct marketing purposes.
As part of the services offered to you through this website, the information which you provide to us may be transferred to countries outside the UK. For example, this will happen when using our mailings and survey providers whose servers are located in the USA. The organisations comply with the UK’s regulations and operate under the Privacy Shield (see https://www.privacyshield.gov/Program-Overview). If we transfer your information outside of the UK in this way, we will take steps to ensure that appropriate security measures are taken with the aim of ensuring that your privacy rights continue to be protected as outlined in this Policy.
If you use our services outside the UK, your information may be transferred outside the UK to provide you with those services.
While you are a member of Parish Buying, we keep a record of all the personal information you have supplied to us, as well as any enquiry history. You can view your enquiry history any time by clicking on your account page. You may request the deletion of your personal information and your account at any time via the website by contacting our Customer Service Team or emailing [email protected]. Once your account is deleted, records cannot be retrieved. It is your responsibility to download your records before requesting deletion. Email trails that you have had with the Customer Service Team will be retained.
The accuracy of your information is important to us. You can amend your name, email, telephone number, and interests by clicking on your account page on our website. If any other personal details need amending, please email us at [email protected]. Alternatively, you can write to us at Parish Buying, The National Church Institutions, Church House, Great Smith Street, London SW1P 3AZ.
Unless subject to an exemption under the GDPR, you have the following rights with respect to your personal data:
• The right to request a copy of the personal data that Parish Buying holds about you.
• The right to request that the Parish Buying corrects any personal data if found to be inaccurate or outdated.
• The right to request your personal data be erased where Parish Buying no longer needs to retain such data.
• The right to withdraw your consent to processing at any time.
• The right, where there is a dispute about the accuracy or processing of your personal data, to request a restriction be placed on further processing.
• The right to be informed about any personal information we collect and use about you.
• The right to object to the processing of your personal information.
• The right to obtain and reuse your personal information to move, copy or transfer it from one IT system to another. (only applicable for data held online).
You have a choice about whether you wish to receive information from us. If you do not want to receive the Members’ newsletter, you can unsubscribe by clicking the unsubscribe link at the bottom of any newsletter or by emailing [email protected] and requesting to be unsubscribed.
We will not contact you for marketing purposes by email, phone, or text message unless you have given your prior consent. We will not contact you for marketing purposes by post if you have indicated that you do not wish to be contacted. You can change your marketing preferences at any time by contacting us at [email protected].
If we wish to use your personal data for a new purpose that is not covered by this Privacy Notice, then we will provide a new notice explaining this new use prior to commencing the processing and setting out the relevant purposes and processing conditions. We will seek your consent to the new processing where and whenever necessary.
Parish Buying complies with its obligations under the regulations set out in the UK General Data Protection Regulation 2018 (“UK GDPR”) by keeping personal data up to date; storing and destroying it securely; not collecting or retaining excessive amounts of data; protecting personal data from loss, misuse, unauthorised access and disclosure and by ensuring that appropriate technical measures are in place to protect personal data.
When you provide us with personal information, we take steps to ensure it is handled securely. Our website uses SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) technology, indicated by the lock icon in your web browser and the "https" prefix in our URL. This means that any information exchanged between your browser and our server is encrypted, protecting the confidentiality and integrity of your data during transmission.
Non-sensitive details (your email address, etc.) are transmitted normally over the Internet, which can never be guaranteed to be 100% secure. As a result, while we strive to protect your personal information, we cannot guarantee the security of any information you transmit to us, and you do so at your own risk. Once we receive your information, we make our best effort to ensure its security on our systems. Where we have given (or where you have chosen) a password which enables you to access certain parts of our websites, you are responsible for keeping this password confidential. We ask you not to share your password with anyone.
We may analyse your personal information to create a profile of your interests and preferences so that we can contact you with relevant information. When additional information about you is available from external sources, we may use it to help us do this effectively.
We use the following types of cookies in the operation of our System:
Necessary cookies
Necessary cookies are required for the operation of our website. They include, for example, cookies that enable you to log on to the secure area of our website. These are session cookies that expire after 24 hours.
Analytic cookies
Analytic cookies collect information about how visitors use our website. We use the information to compile reports and to help us improve the website. The cookies collect information anonymously, including the number of visitors to the website, where visitors have come to the website from, and the pages they visited. These are session cookies that expire after 30 days.
These cookies are used to track visitor activity on our website and allow us to track when visitors are accessing the website via our social media posts, such as Facebook; read more here.
The LinkedIn Insight Tag is a cookie that allows us to produce campaign reports and unlock valuable insights about our website visitors. Read more here.
Our website contains links to websites run by other organisations. This Privacy Policy applies only to our website and to the services provided by Parish Buying‚ so we encourage you to read the privacy statements on the other websites you visit. We cannot be responsible for other sites' privacy policies and practices, even if you access them using links from our website.
We use Mailchimp to manage and distribute our newsletters and marketing materials that you may have agreed to receive when you registered with Parish Buying. Mailchimp is a third-party service that stores and processes your personal information, such as your name and email address, on our behalf. You can opt out at any time by unsubscribing or emailing us at [email protected]. Your information will not be shared with any other third parties for marketing purposes without your explicit consent.
Our website will use Google Analytics, a web analytics service provided by Google, Inc. ("Google"). Google Analytics uses "cookies", which are text files placed on your computer, to help the website analyse how users use the site.
We regularly review this Policy. It was last updated in December 2024, and when it’s updated further, you will be informed on the login page. Where the update is a notification of additional personal data processing, the notification will provide a link to seek your consent for the change.
If you have any concerns or queries about how Parish Buying handles your personal data, please email [email protected]
You have the right to make a complaint at any time to the Information Commissioner:
Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane Wilmslow Cheshire SK9 5AF
Tel: 0303 123 1113
