Privacy Policy
Earlsfield Foodbank (EFB) is committed to protecting your privacy
This Privacy Policy was written on 2 April 2025. EFB does not have a Data Protection Lead yet, but any queries should be addressed to the current management team.
This Privacy Policy covers any paper and online / digital records held by Earlsfield Foodbank, and applies to the data collected on guests (the people who use our Foodbank), volunteers and staff (paid).
What is personal information / data?
When you come to the Foodbank or apply to be a volunteer / staff member, EFB will keep some information about you. This is personal data because it is about you as an individual, and it can be linked to you. EFB is responsible for looking after your personal information, known as the data controller. EFB is a data controller undergoing registration with the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (registration number to be updated here).
Data Protection:
We will never share your information with another organisation for their own marketing proposes.
We will never sell your information.
We will be clear, honest and transparent regarding information we collect, and ask specific consent when necessary.
When do we collect personal information about you?
We only store data that you have given us directly on the phone, by text or email, or in person on our registration form. For volunteers, we collect personal information on an online form and use mobile numbers on WhatsApp groups.
What type of information is collected from you?
When our guests register with us for the first time, we ask your name and postcode.
If you are within our catchment area and therefore can register for our services, we ask for additional information: your address; mobile number; date of birth or age bracket; details of your GP surgery; the number of people in your household, whether you are single, a couple, or a family, how many dependents you have and whether they are under 18 or under 5 years old; the nature of the problem that has led to your coming to the Foodbank for help (a list of reasons); what benefits you are on; who owns the property you live in (council, housing association, private landlord or owned); allergies, dietary requirements; next of kin details. We may also ask you about what help you would like to have in a practical way, to help lift you out of the situation which causes you to need the foodbank services, such as cv writing or application forms to seek employment.
If you are a volunteer applying to come and work with us, we will ask you: your name, address, mobile number, date of birth, emergency contact details (name and mobile number), as well as a number of questions about your working with the foodbank, none of which are personal data.
Why do we collect information about you?
We need your name and postcode to work out whether you are in our catchment area, the area that we serve in Earlsfield, defined on our catchment area postcode map.
If you fully register for our services, the information we ask for is used in the following ways:
to enable us to work out the level of need for our service, and what frequency you need to come to us for food parcels
so we can judge the amount of food needed in your food parcel, and what we should not be offering you (e.g. meat if you are vegetarian etc.)
so we can keep in contact with you if necessary about your visits to the Foodbank
so we can report to our Trustees and IFAN on statistics about the services we are providing (e.g. 50% of guests are in single-person households)
so we can apply for funding and grants – this is anonymous, statistical information e.g. 20% of the households we help are families with children under 18
If you are a volunteer applying to come and work with us, we ask for your contact details so we can keep in touch with you about volunteering shifts, and emergency contact details should we need to call someone for you while you are volunteering with us.
Does the food bank have a right to your data?
Under UK Data Protection law, we need a lawful basis for using your personal information. We have a legitimate interest to use information you provide to offer you the help you’ve requested, and to provide evidence of why people needed our help, and the support we’ve given.
In some situations we need your consent to use your information. For example, where you agree to providing a phone number so the food bank can contact you about any support available, or where you give your explicit consent for us to hold information about your ethnicity.
Consent:
Personal information is collected based on individual’s consent, by signing a registration form
Information is processed based on legitimate interest.
We will only use your contact details to contact you if we need to check in with you about something directly related to the Foodbank service, e.g. if you are coming to collect a food parcel.
Where you have given us consent to process your data, we will always keep a clear record of how and when this consent was obtained. You can withdraw your consent at any time by contacting: info@earlsfieldfoodbank.org.uk
Most interactions with our guests (beneficiaries), supporters and volunteers are voluntary and not contractual. Contractual interactions include employment and may include volunteering opportunities.
Storage of data:
Unless still required in connection with the purposes for which it was collected, such as your continued use of our services or continuing volunteering with us, we will usually remove your personal details ten years after the date it was collected.
Data is reviewed regularly, both digitally and on paper.
If you cease volunteering with us, we will remove database records and your number from our WhatsApp groups on your request.
You can exercise your ‘right of erasure’ to have your personal information removed completely and immediately.
All data will be stored securely using modern software that is kept-up-to-date, with appropriate back-up recovery. Paper forms are stored in a locked cabinet within a locked storage area.
Only the necessary people within EFB will have access to your data and appropriate security is in place to avoid unauthorised sharing of information.
What are your rights?
Right to be informed: you have the right to be told how your personal information will be used.
Right of access: you can ask what information we hold on you and to request a copy.
Right of erasure: you can request that all your personal information is deleted from our records.
Right of rectification: if you believe our records of your personal information are inaccurate, you have the right to ask for those records to be updated.
Right to restrict processing: you have the right to ask for processing of your personal data to be restricted if there is disagreement about its accuracy or legitimate usage.
Right to data portability: you may ask us to provide your information to you, or another service provider, in a machine-readable format.
To exercise these rights, please send a description of the information in question to info@earlsfieldfoodbank.org.uk
To make a complaint about the way we have processed your data to the Information Commissioner’s Office (“ICO”) please see the guidance here.
