Your rights and choices

The Church of Scotland respects your right to privacy. It is important that you are able to control your personal data. The following statement provides you with details about your rights under data protection laws.

Individuals have a number of rights under data protection laws, these are as follows:

  • The right to be informed – a privacy notice in relation to the purpose of processing will address this
  • The right of access, commonly known as subject access request (SAR) – this means you have the right to access and receive copies of personal data held about you
  • The right to rectification – this means you have the right for incorrect or incomplete data held about you to be rectified
  • The right to erasure, commonly known as the right to be forgotten (RTBF) – this means you can request all data held about you to be deleted
  • The right to restrict – this links with some of the other rights and means you can request that the organisation restricts processing your data while the issue is resolved, for example if the data is incorrect and the rectification right is exercised.
  • The right to data portability – this means you have the right to request an organisation provide your data in a machine-readable format, e.g. a .csv file and transfer it to another organisation
  • The right to object – this means you can object to the processing and the controller has to stop unless it can prove a legitimate lawful purpose for the processing. The right to object is absolute in relation to marketing.
  • Automated individual decision-making, including profiling – the Church does not process data in this way.

It's important to note that not all rights are absolute and it depends on the lawful basis for processing as to what rights apply. This will be detailed in the relevant privacy notices detailed here. You can exercise any of your rights with the Church of Scotland either verbally or in writing to Privacy@churchofscotland.org.uk

Complain to The Church of Scotland

You have the right to make a complaint about our processing of your personal data. You can make a complaint directly to The Church of Scotland:

Or in writing to:

Law Department
The Church of Scotland
121 George Street
Edinburgh
EH2 4YN

Complain To the Regulator

If you are not satisfied following a complaint to the Church or if you have an issue with the processing you have the right to make a complaint to the regulator, the UK Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), at the following address:

Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF

Or by visiting their website.