Volunteers

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 volunteering opportunities, to progress your application, or to keep you updated on our services, activities and events. Also to record your location in order to assess your suitability for volunteer projects in your region, to monitor the location demographics of our volunteer base, and to allow the distribution of volunteer activities depending on location.

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

Date of birth and/or age

What the data is used for – to ensure (where you are under 18 years old) that any volunteering opportunity is suitable for your age and that you are supported by your parent or guardian, and to monitor the age demographics of our volunteer base. You are unable to register without supplying a date of birth, as this allows us to ensure we are assessing risk in relation to engagement with individuals under 18 years old and to ensure they are not marketed to. 

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 volunteering opportunities, to progress your application, or to keep you updated on our services, activities and events, to record your location in order to assess your suitability for volunteer projects in your region, and to monitor the location demographics of our volunteer base.

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 volunteering opportunities, to progress your application, or to keep you updated on our services, activities and events, to record your location in order to assess your suitability for volunteer projects in your region, and to monitor the location demographics of our volunteer base.

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

Equal opportunities monitoring information, including details of your ethnic origin, sexual orientation, gender and religion or belief

What the data is used for – we will only collect this sensitive information with your explicit consent, which can be withdrawn at any time. This is optional and anonymised in any reports by our volunteer management system so that it cannot be attributed to any individual. It aims to help us understand where we are now in respect to inclusion, enabling us to monitor, maintain and promote equality amongst our volunteer community. This information is also required for the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) audit. 

Retention period – anonymised data. 

Financial data (bank account details) including expenses 

What the data is used for – this information is processed directly by our finance team for any relevant expenses to be paid into the correct bank account. We maintain a history of past expenses for financial auditing in line with legislative requirements.  

Retention period – 15 years. 

Record of past volunteering activity 

What the data is used for – to determine an accurate start date for our reward and recognition programmes. This information allows references to be obtained and aids the recruitment of additional volunteering roles. 

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

Medical/health details 

What the data is used for – we will only collect this sensitive information for the purposes of protecting your life and health. This data is collected in cases where it may affect the safety of individuals or others. It is used by us for risk assessing the volunteering role of individuals. 

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

Records of interaction 

What the data is used for – stored to protect the Woodland Trust in the event of any policies and procedures being breached. 

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

Safeguarding correspondence 

What the data is used for – to determine that due diligence has been done in respect to any safeguarding situations, and to ensure best practice to protect our volunteers. 

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

Information related to criminal record checks, including obtaining Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks

What the data is used for – the Woodland Trust aims to allow the opportunity to volunteer for everyone from all backgrounds. We need to capture unspent convictions data so that we can ensure certain groups are not working together for safeguarding compliance and safety reasons. 

Retention period – up to 12 months after your last communication.

Location data 

What the data is used for – to allow the distribution of volunteer activities depending on location.  

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

Parental links for under 18s  

What the data is used for – to comply with safeguarding procedures ensuring that we have parental consent for volunteers under the age of 18.

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

Social media information (Instagram etc.) 

What the data is used for – this is not a compulsory field but can be completed by our volunteers if they wish to provide it. This is not something that we actively use.  

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

Emergency contact information 

What the data is used for – an option field for volunteers to disclose emergency contact details. In the event of an emergency, these details can be passed onto the emergency services. This information is processed under article six 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. 

Volunteer role 

What the data is used for – providing information on the role the volunteer has signed up to do, including generic risk assessment information for those tasks. 

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

Photographs and videos

What the data is used for – we collect photographs, videos and voice recordings. However, this is only collected and processed using consent and appropriate model release forms.  

Retention period – retained forever for historical purposes, but reviewed annually.

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 our volunteers. 

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.

Information related to availability and the reasons for periods of unavailability 

What the data is used for – to assess your suitability for volunteering with us and for specific projects.

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

Information provided by you during any role review, volunteer experience survey, and our own supervision and support notes based on your activity 

What the data is used for – to enable us to review and support you within your role, log your feedback, experiences, safeguarding checks and issues arising, as well as your training and development needs. This also includes any grievances/disciplinary actions.  

Retention period – up to one year after the completion of analysis of responses.

Communication preferences and marketing opt-ins 

What the data is used for – to enable us to contact volunteers with information about the difference we are making together and other opportunities/marketing materials within the Woodland Trust.  

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

Your curriculum vitae (CV) or other experience profiles you have provided in letters or application forms, your answers to the questions that have been asked during an interview, the results of any assessments undertaken by you and evidence of training and qualifications that are relevant to the volunteering role (such as chainsaw operation certificates) 

What the data is used for – we use this to build a picture of your skills, experience and interests in order to assess your suitability for volunteering opportunities generally or specific volunteering projects. 

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

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 comply with our volunteer charter, which lays out our commitments to you and yours to us. This can be found in the volunteer handbook. In addition, you are provided with your volunteer role profiles which lay out the expectations of each role
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 volunteer 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 volunteering agreement we have entered with you (such as paying back expenses or providing a benefit), or we could be prevented from complying with our legal obligations (such as ensuring the health and safety of our volunteers).  

How do we collect your personal information? 

We typically collect personal information about volunteers through the application and volunteering process directly from candidates and/or a parent/guardian. We will sometimes collect additional information from third parties including: 

• Disclosure Barring Service (DBS)  
• references as nominated by the volunteer in the recruitment process. 

We will collect additional personal information in the course of volunteer-related activities throughout the period that you volunteer with us. 

We have some volunteers at the Woodland Trust that also support us in other areas such as memberships and donations. This data is provided voluntarily and migrates from our volunteer privacy policy to our supporter privacy policy, which can be found on our privacy policy page.

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 for, 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? 

We will not process any volunteering requests or collection of your personal and special category data without your explicit consent. We will also notify you of the processing intent of your data.

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 volunteering relationship on the basis that processing volunteer 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 volunteer recruitment and selection processes 
• supporting your ongoing volunteering relationship with us 
• carrying out research and surveys about our services and your volunteering experience 
• sending you information about volunteering with us, for example the volunteer newsletter and volunteer events 
• 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 in the following ways:  

1. 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
2. where we need to carry out our legal obligations or exercise our employment-related legal rights
3. 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 will have to share your data with third parties, including third-party service providers such as training providers and legal services. 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.  

The following activities are carried out by third-party service providers: payroll, pension administration, benefits provision and administration, IT services and security vetting.  

• Agenda Screening – staff members provide them with their own personal data. 
• DBS/ PVG (if required) – staff members provide them with their own personal data. 
• Lloyd’s bank (for salary) – the Woodland Trust processes these payments. 
• HMRC – tax requirements. 
• Scottish Widows – pension requirements. 
• Specsavers – glasses vouchers – no personal data given from us. 
• Salutes – occupational health. 
• Posturite – DSE display screen equipment assessments. 
• COVASE – car hire and company vehicles.

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

We have put in place measures to protect the security of your information. 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 seven 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.