Stalker privacy policy

Who are we?

We’re the Woodland Trust and we care about the UK’s woods and trees. This policy talks about the Woodland Trust as ‘we’ or ‘us’. We’re a registered charity in England and Wales (No. 294344) and in Scotland (No. SC038885). We’re a non-profit making company limited by guarantee. Registered in England (No. 1982873) at Kempton Way, Grantham, Lincolnshire, NG31 6LL.

This policy also includes Woodland Trust (Enterprises) Limited (registered in England No. 2296645). This is a company we own. We use it to raise money to help us do our charity work.

The personal information we collect and use

Personal data, or personal information, means any information about you where you can be identified. It does not include data where the identity has been removed (anonymous data). There are special categories of more sensitive personal data which require a higher level of protection by us. 

We collect, store and use the following categories of personal and sensitive information about you. 

Name

What the data is used for – identification information is essential for individuals to be identified in our system and to address the relevant communications to you.

Retention period – up to six years after the termination of your last volunteering role. 

Address and postcode

What the data is used for – to contact you to discuss and progress your application. To record your location in order to assess your suitability based on location.

Retention period – up to six years after the termination of your last volunteering role. 

Home telephone number and mobile telephone number

What the data is used for – to contact you to discuss and progress your application. To keep in touch with you regarding your activity.

Retention period – up to six years after the termination of your last volunteering role. 

Email address

What the data is used for – to contact you to discuss and progress your application. To keep in touch with you regarding your activity.

Retention period – up to six years after the termination of your last volunteering role. 

Firearm and shotgun certificates

What the data is used for – to evidence that you have the right to own and carry across land the firearm you will be using on our land.

Retention period – up to six years after the termination of your last volunteering role.

Deer stalking certificate and fitness and competency certificate

What the data is used for – to evidence that you have the skills to safely and legally shoot across our land.

Retention period – up to six years after the termination of your last volunteering role.

Insurance certificate 

What the data is used for – to evidence that you have adequate insurance when on our land.

Retention period – up to six years after the termination of your last volunteering role. 

Emergency and first aid at work certificate

What the data is used for – to evidence you have the skills and knowledge should an emergency occur whilst on our land.

Retention period – up to six years after the termination of your last volunteering role. 

Manual handling certificate

What the data is used for – to evidence that you are adequately trained in lifting heavy items.

Retention period – up to six years after the termination of your last volunteering role. 

ATV certificate 

What the data is used for – to evidence you have adequate training to use an ATV across our land.

Retention period – up to six years after the termination of your last volunteering role. 

Emergency contact information

What the data is used for – to disclose emergency contact details. In the event of an emergency these details can be passed onto the emergency services (processed under article 6 of the UK GDPR). We only retain current next of kin details.

Retention period – up to six years after the termination of your last volunteering role.

Accident book, first aid records, injury at work and third-party accident information

What the data is used for – this information is processed in accordance with the Health and Safety Act 1974 to ensure the safety of those on our land.

Retention period – up to 40 years after the termination of your last volunteering role.

Surveillance camera images 

What the data is used for – some of our locations have surveillance cameras installed (e.g. closed-circuit televisions). Surveillance cameras are used to provide security and protect our members and visitors. We process this information using legitimate interest as our legal basis for processing. 

Retention period – three months.

How do we use your personal data?

We will only use your personal information for the purposes for which we collected it, in line with the law.   

Most commonly, we will use your personal information in the following circumstances:  

1. where it is necessary for us to manage our relationship with you and the services you provide to us
2. where we need to comply with a legal obligation
3. where it is in the public interest to do so, or for official purposes
4. where you have provided your consent to us processing your personal information. We will process this in accordance with the terms of that consent and will advise you of your right to withdraw your consent at any time. 

There can be rare occasions where it becomes necessary to use your personal information to protect your interests (or someone else's interests). 

We’ll never sell or rent your information to anyone else. But we may need to share your personal information when the law tells us to. 

Situations in which we will use your personal information

We need all the categories of information in the section above (called 'The personal information we collect and use') to allow us to make use of the engagement you have afforded us and to enable us to comply with our legal obligations. The situations in which we will process your personal data are listed in the section of this privacy policy called 'The personal information we collect and use'.

Some of the purposes will overlap and there can be several grounds which justify our use of your personal information. If you fail to provide certain information when requested, we will not be able to fully perform the agreement we have entered with you, or we could be prevented from complying with our legal obligations.

How do we collect your personal information? 

We typically collect personal information about you directly from you. We will sometimes collect additional information from third parties including:

• police
• references as nominated by you. 

We will collect additional personal information throughout the period that you are in an operative relationship with us.

Will we change how we use your personal information?

We will only use your personal information for the purposes for which we originally collected it, unless we reasonably consider that we need to use it for another reason which is compatible with the original purpose.  

If we need to use your personal information for an unrelated or new purpose, we will notify you and we will explain the legal basis which allows us to do so. Please note that we will, if necessary, process your personal information without your knowledge or consent, in compliance with the above rules, where this is required or permitted by law. 

Do we need your consent? 

Broadly speaking, we do not require your consent to process your personal data. However, we will always ensure that you are fully informed about the data we process about you. What data you choose to share with us is always your choice. However, should you not provide us with all the data required, it is unlikely that we would be able to enter into a stalking agreement with you.

How do we use your special category data (sensitive information)? 

Special categories of particularly sensitive personal information require higher levels of protection. We need to have further justification for collecting, storing and using this type of personal information. We will, if necessary, process special categories of personal information in the following circumstances:  

1. where we need to carry out our legal obligations or exercise our employment-related legal rights in line with our data protection policy 
2. where it is in line with our data protection policy, is substantially in the public interest to do so and is necessary for equal opportunities monitoring, administering our pension scheme and/or preventing or detecting unlawful acts
3. where it is needed to assess your working capacity on health grounds, subject to appropriate confidentiality safeguards. In some circumstances, we will process this type of information where it is needed in relation to legal claims or where it is needed to protect your interests (or someone else's interests) and you are not capable of giving your consent, or where you have already made the information public
4. where you have provided your consent to us processing your personal information, we shall process in accordance with the terms of that consent and shall advise you of your rights to withdraw your consent at any time. 

In the section titled 'What personal information do we collect and use? ', we have outlined why we process your sensitive personal information. 

The Woodland Trust's legitimate interests

The Woodland Trust has a legitimate interest in processing personal information before, during and after the end of the relationship on the basis that processing this information allows the Woodland Trust to advance its aims and objectives using the valued help provided by our volunteers. Our legitimate interests include: 

• running and completing the recruitment and selection processes 
• supporting your ongoing relationship with us 
• maintaining accurate and up-to-date records and contact details (including details of who to contact in the event of an emergency) 
• ensuring effective general business administration 
• protecting our security and guarding against fraud and other wrongdoing. 

When processing your personal information based on a legitimate interest, we will make sure that it is exercised proportionately and is always balanced against your individual rights and other legal rights you have as an individual. 

How will we use your criminal conviction data? 

We will only use information relating to criminal convictions or alleged criminal behavior where the law allows us to do so. This can arise when it is necessary for us to comply with the law or for another reason where there is a substantial public interest in us doing so.  

Less commonly, we will, if necessary, use information relating to criminal convictions or alleged criminal behavior where it is necessary in relation to legal claims, where it is necessary to protect your interests (or someone else's interests) and you are not capable of giving your consent, or where you have already made the information public.  

We will only collect information about criminal convictions or allegations of criminal behaviour where it is appropriate given the nature of the volunteering role and where we are legally able to do so.  

Where appropriate, we will collect information about criminal convictions/allegations as part of the recruitment process or if we are notified of such information directly by you during your volunteering with us.  

We will use information about criminal convictions/allegations and offences to cross-reference to relevant policies/processes/vetting procedures. We are allowed to use your personal information in this way where it is in line with our data protection policy and where one of the following reasons arises:

1. where we need to carry out our legal obligations or exercise our rights
2. where it is substantially in the public interest to do so and is necessary. 

Automated decision-making

Automated decision-making takes place when an electronic system uses personal information to make a decision without human intervention. We are allowed to use automated decision-making in the following circumstances:  

1. where we have notified you of the decision and given you 21 days to request reconsideration 
2. where it is necessary to perform our duty as an employer, and there are appropriate measures in place to safeguard your rights
3. in limited circumstances, with your explicit written consent and where appropriate measures are in place to safeguard your rights.

If we make an automated decision on the basis of any particularly sensitive personal information, we must have either your explicit written consent or it must be justified in the public interest, and we must also put in place appropriate measures to safeguard your rights. You will not be subject to decisions that will have a significant impact on you based solely on automated decision-making, unless we have a lawful basis for doing so and we have notified you.  

Data sharing

In some circumstances, we may have to share your data with third parties, including third-party service providers. We require third parties to respect the security of your data and to treat it in accordance with the law and contractual obligations.  

We will share your personal information with third parties where required by law, where it is necessary to administer the working relationship with you, where it is in the public interest to do so, or where it is necessary for the performance of our functions. This will, in some circumstances, involve sharing special categories of personal data and, where relevant, data about criminal convictions/allegations. 

Which third-party service providers process your personal information?

Third parties include third-party service providers (such as contractors and designated agents) and other entities within the Woodland Trust.

For stalkers, sharing your data is minimal and likely to be limited to the police.

How secure is your personal information with third party providers? 

All our third-party service providers are required to take appropriate security measures to protect your personal information in line with our policies, the UK GDPR and legislation. We do not allow our third-party service providers to use your personal data for their own purposes. We only permit them to process your personal data for specified purposes and in accordance with our instructions.  

If required, we will need to share your personal information with a regulator or to otherwise comply with the law. 

Data security

Whilst security is never 100% successful, we have put in place measures to protect the security of your information, following appropriate guidance and regulations. Third parties will only process your personal information according to our instructions and where they have agreed to treat the information confidentially and to keep it secure. We have put in place appropriate security measures to prevent your personal information from being accidentally lost, used or accessed in an unauthorised way, altered or disclosed.  

In addition, we limit access to your personal information to those employees, agents, contractors and other third parties who have a business need to know. Third parties will only process your personal information according to our instructions. We have put in place procedures to deal with any suspected data security breach and will notify you and any applicable regulator of a suspected breach where we are legally required to do so. 

How long will we keep your personal information? 

We will only hold your information as long as we have a genuine reason to keep it and to fulfil the purposes we collected it for, including for the purpose of satisfying any legal, accounting or reporting requirement.

The Woodland Trust has established that your information in most circumstances will not be retained for more than six years as per our data retention policy. Details of retention periods for different aspects of your personal information are available in our retention policy which is available from our data protection portal.  

To determine the appropriate retention period for personal data, we consider the amount, nature and sensitivity of the personal data, the potential risk of harm from unauthorised use or disclosure of your personal data, the purposes for which we process your personal data and whether we can achieve those purposes through other means, and the applicable legal requirements.

In some circumstances we will anonymise your personal information so that it can no longer be associated with you, in which case we will use such information without further notice to you. Once you are no longer a volunteer of the Woodland Trust we will retain and securely destroy your personal information in accordance with our data retention policy and applicable laws and regulations.

What are your individual rights?  

It is important that the personal information we hold about you is accurate and current. Please keep us informed if your personal information changes during your working relationship with us.

Under certain circumstances, by law you have the right to:  

1. request access to your personal information, commonly known as a Data Subject Access Request (DSAR). This enables you to receive a copy of the personal information we hold about you and to check that we are lawfully processing it
2. request correction of the personal information that we hold about you. This enables you to have any incomplete or inaccurate information we hold about you corrected
3. request erasure of your personal information. This enables you to ask us to delete or remove personal information where there is no good reason for us to continue to process it. You also have the right to ask us to delete or remove your personal information where you have exercised your right to object to processing (see below). Please note that we are legally required to retain certain personal details such as HMRC, Gift Aid etc. 
4. object to processing your personal information where we are relying on a legitimate interest (or those of a third party) and there is something about your situation which makes you want to object to processing on this ground. You also have the right to object where we are processing your personal information for direct marketing purposes
5. request the restriction of processing of your personal information. This enables you to ask us to suspend the processing of personal information about you, for example if you want us to establish its accuracy or the reason for processing it 
6. request the transfer of your personal information to another party.  

If you want to review, verify, correct or request the erasure of your personal information, object to the processing of your personal data or request that we transfer a copy of your personal information to another party, please contact our offices. 

• By telephone: 0330 333 3300 
• By email: volunteering@woodlandtrust.org.uk 
• By post: Woodland Trust, Kempton Way, Grantham, Lincolnshire, NG31 6LL. 

You will not have to pay a fee to access your personal information (or to exercise any of the other rights). However, we are allowed under the law to charge a reasonable fee if your request for access is clearly unfounded or excessive. Alternatively, we can refuse to comply with the request in such circumstances.  

We sometimes need to request specific information from you to help us confirm your identity and ensure your right to access the information (or to exercise any of your other rights). This is another appropriate security measure to ensure that personal information is not disclosed to any person who has no right to receive it.  

In the circumstances where you have provided your consent to the collection, processing and transfer of your personal information for a specific purpose, you have the right to withdraw your consent for that specific processing at any time. To withdraw your consent, please contact our offices using the above information. 

Once we have received notification that you have withdrawn your consent, as per UK GDPR we will complete the request within one calendar month, and we will no longer process your information for the purpose or purposes you originally agreed to, unless we have another legitimate basis for doing so in law. 

Changes to this privacy notice

We reserve the right to update this privacy notice at any time, and we will provide you with a new privacy notice when we make any substantial updates. We will also notify you in other ways from time to time about the processing of your personal information.