Data Protection documents for churches

From this page you can access the following documents which are intended to help our churches comply with current Data Protection legislation (including GDPR)

The Guideline Leaflet L13: Data Protection should be read by at least one person in your church. Among other things this includes a Checklist and Action Points which churches will find helpful to work through as well as some ideas for training within your church.

A Template Policy for churches to adapt as appropriate and adopt. This is available as a Word Document and in pdf form. Please note that this should be read alongside our Guideline Leaflet (L13). Not every part of this policy will be relevant to all churches. 

Training materials for use in a Church Meeting or other similar gathering. 
We have a PowerPoint Presentation with Script (also available in PDF format).
Feel free to adapt these for your own use.

A Frequently Asked Questions document 

Sample Privacy Statements as a Word Document and a sample Contact and Consent Form (Available as a Word Document and in pdf form) for collecting information from Church Members (and regular attenders). Please note that all of these are samples and must be adapted to suit your own church's practices and procedures. When producing a form to collect information please remember to only collect the information you actually need.

Guidance for churches on handling Data Subject Access Requests (DSARs).

A template Data Breach Log and a template Data Breach Reporting Form.

A basic Information Audit Template to help churches to identify and compile a list of the information they process. This will help with Sections 13 and 16 of the Template Policy and is available as a Word Document and in pdf form.

A suggested Data Retention Schedule for churches to adapt for their own use. This is available as a Word Document and in pdf form.  Some of the time periods given relate to legal requirements and other are 'Good Practice' and we have indicated this in the document. Data Protection Guidance is that personal information should not be kept for any longer than you need it. Individual churches will need to decide what that means in their own context.

The BUGB Safeguarding Team have a guide to 'Safeguarding Record Keeping' for Baptist Churches.