In the course of my work as a Celebrant accredited by Humanists UK I am committed to compliance with the requirements of the General Data Protection Regulation, Data Protection Act 2018 and any successor legislation, in order to protect your rights in relation to the processing of your personal data.

As a client you will supply me with personal data including names, phone numbers and email addresses, as well as personal information for the purposes of creating your ceremony. This may include information about where and when people were born, lived, and worked, and extensive personal details of their lives and the lives of their friends and families and of any individuals who are involved in the celebration concerned, whether directly or indirectly. It may include information regarding an individual’s gender, race and beliefs, and medical issues and be in the form of written material, photographic and audio material, emails, texts and other electronic messages, as well as the working and final scripts, which I will write as the basis for the ceremony.

WHAT DO I DO WITH THE DATA?

I only use data that I acquire for the creation and delivery of your ceremony. This may include administrative purposes such as booking and billing, and organising aspects of the ceremony, but it will centre on the writing of the script for the ceremony.

WHO DO I SHARE DATA WITH?

I am a sole celebrant and do not share data with any employees, subcontractors or agents, or with any other third party apart from as set out below. With your express written consent I will present the script for the ceremony to those attending in person or remotely.

With your explicit written consent I may also:

1. share contact and organisational information including relevant details of the ceremony with those involved in the delivery of the ceremony concerned, such as funeral directors or people working at the relevant crematorium or burial ground;
2. in the event that I am unable to undertake a ceremony due to unexpected illness or accident, and following your approval, I may share a script and contact and organisational information with a Humanists UK accredited celebrant colleague who has agreed to replace me;
3. following your approval include photographs related to the ceremony on my website to promote my work;
4. submit a copy of a finished script for retention in the Humanists UK Tribute archive;
5. share a copy of a finished script with another accredited Humanists UK celebrant for the purposes of peer review;
6. share an anonymised copy of a script for the purposes of mentoring or continuing professional development activities led by Humanists UK.

HOW I STORE DATA

I store data on electronic devices such as a laptop computer, smartphone, and tablet computer, and in secure cloud storage. All such devices and storage are password protected.

I will also create and use written records for the creation of a ceremony and will retain these in my secure home office until after the ceremony is concluded as detailed below

HOW LONG DO I RETAIN DATA?

I will retain core information relating to the ceremony, including contact information, and the full script for the ceremony, in electronic format for record keeping purposes and to enable me to review my professional output for as long as I remain a practising celebrant, subject to regular review. I will destroy hard copy information within three months of the delivery of the ceremony concerned.

If you request me to destroy any of the personal information I hold at any time I will do so on receipt of a written notice sent directly to me from you, usually via email.

ACCESS TO INFORMATION I HOLD ABOUT YOU

You may ask at any time for me to give you copies of all personal information I hold about you in the form of copies of any of the retained materials specified above. Non-clients may ask to see details only of personal information I hold relating directly to them, and I will extract and supply a list of such information within one calendar month of receipt of any such request to the extent it complies with any data protection legislation then in force and applicable to the personal data concerned. If any such information is incorrect I will correct it immediately on production of evidence to that effect, or will delete the information held.

PROCEDURE IN THE EVENT OF A DATA BREACH

As a sole trader I act as the Data Protection Manager for my celebrant activities. If I believe a data breach has occurred and that personal data may have been seen, stolen or accessed by any unauthorised individual or automated system I will immediately make a record of such an event, and will assess the likely risk to any individual data subject, and the likely severity. I will then follow guidance as specified by the Office of the Information Commissioner (“ICO”) as regards potential notification of the ICO and of any affected individuals in order to help them to protect themselves from the effects of any such breach.