The GDPR: Your personal information at Shepherds Friendly

The new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which comes into force on 25th May 2018, represents a change in the law that provides new and strengthened rights over how organisations handle, control and use your personal information. This is an important piece of legislation designed to strengthen the way that your personal information is safeguarded at all times and that your privacy is fully respected.

What does the GDPR look to achieve?

The new regulations are designed to provide consumers with new and strengthened rights and increased control over their personal information. These new rights include:

The right to be informed – you will have the right to be informed about the collection and use of your personal information.

The right to access to your personal information – you can request information on when, where and how your personal information is being used by the Society, and ask us to supply you with an electronic copy of the information we hold free of charge.

The right to rectification or erasure of your personal information – you can ask us to correct any inaccurate personal information we may hold about you and, if you wish, request that we erase it.

The right to restrict the processing of your personal information – you also have the right to restrict the processing of your personal information.

The right to data portability – should you wish to transfer your personal information to another organisation, you can request that we supply you with these in a commonly used electronic format.

The right to lodge a complaint – if you have a complaint regarding the way in which your personal information is being handled, you can lodge a complaint with your local data protection authority.

The right to object to the processing of your personal information – in certain circumstances, you have a right to object to our processing of your personal information.

The right to not be part of automated decision making – you are entitled to specific information about automated processing and it provides you with the opportunity to challenge and request a review of any automated decisions.

If you would like to read more about the GDPR you’ll find more details on the Information Commissioner Office’s (ICO) website, via this link.

Shepherds Friendly and our commitment to your privacy and data security

At Shepherds Friendly we have always been totally committed to keeping our members’ personal information safe and secure, and to respecting your privacy throughout your dealings with the Society. We have always maintained a clear Privacy Notice, recognising that you trust us with your personal information and that you must remain in control of the information you share with us at all times.

We will continue to take the privacy and security of your personal information very seriously. The commitments we make to you:

– Keeping your personal information safe and secure at all times
– Ensuring that you retain total control over the personal information we hold and how it is used
– Providing honest and regular information about any issues that might affect the security of your personal information

Our updated Privacy Notice

In order to maintain the highest standards of data security, and in the light of new GDPR legislation, we have recently updated and strengthened our Privacy Notice to further protect your rights. This new notice builds on our existing framework to provide even more security and control over the personal information you provide us with in your dealings with the Society.

We have simply extended the features covered by our Privacy Notice, including:

– Contact details of our data protection officer should you wish to contact them

– Explaining the types of personal information we may collect about you

– Outlining the legal basis for using your personal information

– Describing how long we may keep your personal information once any plan you may hold with the Society has expired

– Explaining your rights in relation to the personal information we hold on our records

You can view our new updated Privacy Notice here

Please get in touch if you have any questions or would like more information

Simply contact our Member Services Team on 0161 428 1212 and they’ll be happy to assist you in any way