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Safety information

The importance of safety for both people as well as their information is of highest priority to us, and as such we've ensured we have clear and effective processes for both safeguarding and data protection, as explained below.

Safeguarding

Safeguarding Statement

The Leadership of Highgate International Church (HIC) and the trustees of Cholmeley Evangelical Church (Second Century) Trust, which is responsible for HIC (“the Trustees”) recognise the importance of its ministry with children and young people and adults in need of protection and its responsibility to protect everyone entrusted to our care while they are engaged in the activities of HIC or benefitting from our pastoral care.

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We are committed to creating and enabling a healthy culture in order to minimise any coercion and control within our church.

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The following statement has been agreed by the leadership and endorsed by the Trustees.

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This place of worship is committed to the safeguarding of all while they are engaged in the activities of HIC or benefitting from our care and in particular of children and adults with care and support needs, ensuring their well-being and having in place arrangements designed to achieve these objectives.

 

Specifically:

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  • We recognise that we all have a responsibility to help prevent the physical, sexual, emotional abuse and neglect of children and young people (those under 18 years of age) and to report any such abuse that we discover or suspect.

  • We believe every child should be valued, safe and happy.  We want to make sure that children we have contact with know this and are empowered to tell us if they are suffering harm.

  • All children and young people have the right to be treated with respect, to be listened to and to be protected from all forms of abuse.

  • We recognise that we all have a responsibility to help prevent the physical, sexual, psychological, financial and discriminatory abuse and neglect of adults who have care and support needs and to report any such abuse that we discover or suspect.

  • We recognise the personal dignity and rights of adults who find themselves victims of forced marriage or modern slavery and will ensure all our policies and procedures reflect this.

  • We believe all adults should enjoy and have access to every aspect of the life of the place of worship unless they pose a risk to the safety of those we serve and that we should do all we can to safeguard them from harm while they associate with HIC.

  • We undertake to exercise proper care in the appointment and selection of all those (whether remunerated or volunteers) who will work with children and adults with care and support needs.

  • We believe in the necessity of creating a healthy culture in our church where the value of all people is recognised, and challenges are responded to appropriately.

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We are committed to:

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  • Following the requirements for UK legislation in relation to safeguarding children and adults and good practice recommendations.

  • Treating children in the manner enjoined by the Lord Jesus Christ and respecting the rights of children as described in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

  • Implementing the requirements of legislation in regard to people with disabilities.

  • Ensuring that workers (whether remunerated or volunteers) adhere to the agreed procedures of our safeguarding policy.

  • Keeping up to date with national and local developments relating to safeguarding.

  • Following any relevant organisational guidelines in relation to safeguarding children and adults in need of protection.

  • Supporting the safeguarding co-ordinator/s in their work and in any action they may need to take in order to protect children or adults with care and support needs.

  • Ensuring that everyone agrees to abide by these recommendations and the guidelines established by the Trustees for this place of worship and other activities of HIC.

  • Supporting parents and families

  • Nurturing, protecting and safeguarding of children and young people

  • Supporting, resourcing, training, monitoring and providing supervision to all those who undertake this work within HIC.

  • Supporting so far as possible all associated with HIC who are affected by abuse.

  • Adopting and following the ‘Safe and Secure’ safeguarding standards developed by Thirtyone:eight

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We recognise:

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  • Children’s Social Services (or equivalent) has lead responsibility for investigating all allegations or suspicions of abuse where there are concerns about a child.  Adult Social Care (or equivalent) has lead responsibility for investigating all allegations or suspicions of abuse where there are concerns about an adult with care and support needs.

  • Where an allegation suggests that a criminal offence may have been committed then the police should be contacted as a matter of urgency.

  • Where HIC is working outside of the UK, concerns will be reported to the appropriate agencies in the country in which we operate, and their procedures followed, and in addition we will report concerns to the Trustees and Leadership Team of HIC.

  • Safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility.

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We will review this statement and our policy and procedures annually.

(Reviewed August 2020)

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If you have any concerns for a child or adult with care and support needs or about whether anyone associated with HIC may be at the risk of harm, then speak to one of the following who have been approved as safeguarding co-ordinators for HIC.

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Paula Millard                 Safeguarding Coordinator

Mark Davies                  Deputy Safeguarding Coordinator

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A copy of the full policy and procedures is available from Highgate International Church Office

Data protection

HIC Privacy Statement

Keeping your data secure is very important to us. In accordance with current data protection regulations, CEC/HIC holds, processes and uses personal data of individuals on one or more of the following bases:

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  • legitimate interests regarding your relationship with CEC/HIC and its past, present and future activities,

  • legal obligation e.g., in the case of marriage registration processing, taxation and employment matters,

  • contractual relationships with you, e.g. in the case of supply of services, lettings or other business matters.

  • consents you have given us for specific things such as news circulars or information about related events, etc.

 

We will never make your personal data available to external individuals or organisations without your consent, with the exception of archived material (see below) or unless there is a legal obligation to do so.

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CEC/HIC complies with its obligations under the General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) by keeping personal data up to date; by storing and destroying it securely; by not collecting excessive amounts of data or retaining them longer than necessary; by protecting personal data from loss, misuse, unauthorised access and disclosure, and by ensuring that appropriate technical measures are in place to protect personal data.

 

CEC/HIC Data Processing Policy
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Introduction

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Highgate International Church (formerly Cholmeley Evangelical Church), for which CEC is responsible, is a friendly church family, reflecting London’s international character, based in and around Highgate, North London. Though we are made up of different ages and nationalities, we are united by knowing Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour, discovering how he brings forgiveness, freedom and purpose to our lives. We are an independent church, welcoming those of all church backgrounds or none. We run activities that range from internally focussed on those in regular contact with the church, to outreach focussed community benefitting activities that may involve people with no regular connection to the church other than using our facilities. We have a heart to serve those who come through our doors, while equipping all our members to be servants of Jesus Christ and his purposes in their homes, streets, schools and workplaces.

 

In the process of carrying out our activities we do hold some personal data which you may have provided if you may have been involved with CEC/HIC in anyway. The information you provide will be held under the General Data Protection Regulation which comes into final force on 25 May 2018 (the “GDPR”) being an updating of the Data Protection Act with which we seek to be fully compliant. We will comply fully with our legal obligation to protect your privacy and to make sure any personal information you share with us is stored securely.

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We value and respect everyone who connects with us. In line with our Christian beliefs, our aim is to be as transparent as possible about how and why we use information you give us. If your questions are not fully answered by the information below, please contact our data protection officer who will be happy to help. Email: office@hi-church.org or telephone 020 8347 9658 and leave a message including full contact details.

 

How and why we collect and process information about you

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The data we hold is mainly in the form of name, title, and address, contact phone numbers and mail. We collect personal information through direct contact with you. For example, from visitors to church services, regular attenders, those registering to attend the Tots & Toddlers groups or other community activities, hire and use of the facilities, entering into contract of works etc.

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Data is stored primarily in digital form on the church computer and cloud back-ups, all of which are password protected. Hard copy such as original details forms you may have filled in or print-outs made later, are stored in locked filing cabinets in locked offices, with limited data (usually just names used on registers for attendance purposes, etc).

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In pursuit of the trust objects of CEC in order to give public benefit as the charity is required to do, we collect information about you for the following reasons:

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  1. To maintain the existence and operations of HIC, which include membership matters, prayer, financial giving, Life groups, Tots & Toddlers, Community work, mission, training and missionary support, etc .

  2. To inform you of news, prayer matters, events and activities directly relating to HIC or of the wider Christian church, whether directly or indirectly connected to HIC.

  3. To maintain the operations of community activities such as Tots & Toddlers, Family Holiday clubs and Community’s cafes, use and hiring of HIC facilities, contract of works etc.

  4. To keep records of your relationship with us. For example; what events you have attended, what enquiries or complaints you have made, what areas of our work you have supported or what resources used. We use this information internally to modify and improve our activities, facilities and website, to customise the information and appeals we send to ensure we work in the most cost-effective way appropriate to you.

  5. To fulfil the registration of marriages.

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As noted above, the legal basis for processing your personal data is either on the basis of legitimate interests in accordance with current data protection regulations or of the consents you have given us or legal necessity or in pursuit of contractual obligations. For example: For item (1) & (2) above consent is not explicit but is assumed on the grounds of legitimate interest for those who have in the past or are currently regularly associated with HIC. For community activities such as in (3) above, express consent requested and given is the main basis for processing personal data. There are also the legal obligations on us, with which we are committed to comply, under employment, social security, social protection law, marriage legislation or a collective agreement for which we need to have and hold appropriate data. For example: to maintain effective safeguarding which requires some appropriate data processing.

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Your control of data updating and contact preferences

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Please tell us as soon as any of your contact details change so that we can keep our records up to date.

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You can change the way we contact you or the kind of material we send you at any time by contacting us by mail, phone or email using the contact details above.

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WHO SEES YOUR INFORMATION?

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The information we collect will be used exclusively within HIC/CEC. It is normally only viewed by the activities leaders and the Data Control Officer or where appropriate by the HIC Leadership Team and CEC Trustees. We do not pass any of your personal information to any other organisations and/or individuals without your express consent with the exception of archived material or unless there is a legal obligation to do so.

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As specifically provided for in the GDPR, historical data, which may include personal details of individuals, has been and will continue to be transferred to the Brethren Archive at Manchester University with accompanying instructions that the data may not be accessed by historians or researchers until after an appropriate time period has lapsed, which may vary dependent on content. Where such details are shared we will seek to have confidentiality arrangements in place that restrict the use of your information to the purpose for which it is provided that it is stored securely and kept no longer than necessary. All agents we share details with are also compliant with data protection

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How long do we keep your information?

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The length of time we keep the information on you depends on the context and purpose for which it was provided. We will only keep information that is necessary for us to provide full church membership functions, ongoing information to previous members, or the services you are making use of or related services. Past and present church members’ details are retained unless you specifically ask us to remove your contact details from our data base. For community contacts and service users, personal contact details (if held) will be deleted five years after the last time of contact unless otherwise requested or in the particular case it seems reasonable and necessary for us to retain it.

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We will keep records of any financial transactions you enter into with us for a minimum of six years. This will enable us to meet with accounting requirements and respond to any questions from you that arise during that period. Gift Aid declarations and transactions must be kept for a minimum of 12 years after the Gift Aid is no longer valid.

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VIEWING THE INFORMATION WE HOLD ABOUT YOU

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You may request details of all the information HIC holds about you by submitting a written request to our Data Control Officer. Please write to: The Data Control Officer, 272 Archway Road, Highgate, London, N6 5AU, phone 020 8347 9658 or email: office@hi-church.org

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