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Our privacy policy

The Ministry of Stories is committed to protecting you and your family’s personal information

We take your privacy very seriously. This privacy summary (together with our full Privacy Policy and Terms and Conditions) explain what information the Ministry of Stories may collect about you, how we will use it, and the steps we will take to ensure it is kept secure.

Policy statement

The Ministry of Stories is a registered charity and we process, gather and store information to support the delivery of our creative writing programmes to young people, to recruit and manage staff and volunteers and to raise money and public awareness of our work.

We are committed to keeping your data safe. We’re also committed to being up front and honest about what information we’re collecting, why we do this, and how we use it.

We take the collection and storage of your information seriously, so this document tells you more about how and why we collect and store your information, and how you can control the information we hold.

The Ministry of Stories is considered a Data Controller and Data Processor, and therefore falls under the obligations of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 1998.

  1. The information we collect
    We collect data from the young people under the age of 16 and families and schools that use our writing programmes. We also collect data from our staff, volunteer and learners 16+,  funders, donors and supporters, customers of Hoxton Street Monster Supplies, and the general public who visit our website and/or sign up to receive our email marketing. We will use your personal information to keep you informed about Ministry of Stories email about events, news and offers that we think will be of interest to you. If your child attends our writing programmes, we will use your information to keep you up to date about the programme.
  2. Legal basis for the collection of your information
    We collect your information under the following legal bases:

      • Consent – we will always ask for your consent to contact you for marketing and communications purposes.
      • Legitimate interest – charity governance including reporting and compliance, providing our writing programme or national training services, to provide information about our services, to recruit you to our volunteer programme or to contact you via post.
      • Legal obligation – we are required by law to retain information when a donation is submitted with a Gift Aid declaration, or where we record actions for a regulatory reason.
  3. Why we collect and process this data
    By disclosing your personal information to us using this website you consent to the collection, storage and processing of your personal information by the Ministry of Stories in the manner set out in our full Privacy Policy. We will never collect sensitive information about you without your explicit consent. We will use the information to provide our services to you or your child, to process any transactions you undertake with us, or for internal administration and analysis. We would only disclose your information to third parties to  provide the above services to you, for example, to put in a Gift Aid claim for your donation, once you have completed a Gift Aid Declaration. We know your data is precious and important, so we would never sell, rent or trade your personal information to third parties for any purposes, including marketing.
  4. Safeguarding
    Ensuring the safety of of our young writers and volunteers are among our most important priorities. In line with best safeguarding practice, we may share information with primary carers, school or referral partners, and other statutory bodies. You can read our Safeguarding Policy here.
  5. Marketing
    We would like to send you emails which showcase the wild imaginations of our young writers, latest news, writing tips, fundraising, events and how you can support our work. We will only send this to you if you have opt-ed in and given your consent. Once you have consented, you may opt out at any time and stop receiving these emails. We do not sell or share marketing data with any charities or other organisations.
  6. Opting-out of marketing emails
    You can opt out of any receiving our marketing emails from us at any time. Please email us on hello@ministryofstories.org.. We will keep a record of your contact details and appropriate information to enable us to comply with your request not to be contacted by us.
  7. Access to your information and correction
    You have the right to request a copy of the information that we hold about you. If you would like a copy of some or all of your personal information, please email hello@ministryofstories.org. We want to make sure that your personal information is accurate and up to date, so you may also ask us to correct or remove information you think is inaccurate.
  8. Cookies
    Cookies are text files placed on your computer to collect standard internet log information and visitor behaviour information. This information is used to track visitor use of our website and to compile statistical reports on website activity. You can set your browser not to accept cookies but this may mean some of our website features may not function as a result. We may also track click-through links in emails sent as part of our email marketing. You can review our cookie notice here. It fully details what cookies are, how you can manage them and which ones we use on this website.
  9. WordPress
    The Ministry of Stories’ website is built with WordPress and receives support from Fiasco Design who are contracted as a data processor for the Ministry of Stories. The site uses standard WordPress services to collect anonymous information about users’ activity on the site, for example the number of users viewing pages on the site and how long they spend on a given page. We do this to monitor and report on the effectiveness of the site and help us improve it. Further information about Fiasco Design’s Privacy Policy here.
  10. Security of your information
    Your data will be stored in a secure manner and we will take all reasonable steps to ensure that it cannot be accessed by unauthorised third parties.
  11. Other websites
    Our website contains links to other websites. This privacy policy only applies to this website so when you follow links to other websites you should read their privacy policies.
  12. Retention period
    We will hold your personal information on our systems for as long as is necessary for the relevant activity. For example, we will keep a record of donations subject to Gift Aid for at least seven years to comply with HMRC rules. If you request that we stop sending you marketing emails we will keep a record of your contact details and appropriate information to enable us to comply with your request not to be contacted by us.
  13. Changes to our privacy policy
    We keep our privacy policy under regular review as data protection regulations are updated, and we will place any updates on this web page. This privacy policy summary was last updated on 5 July 2020. Our full policy was updated in July 2019.
  14. Want to know more?
    We recognise this is only a summary. Please grab a tea and take the time to read our full Privacy Policy which explains how we manage the data of our different stakeholders, including:

    • The type of data we collect
    • How we process, store it and keep it secure
    • How long we will retain it
    • What we will use if for

Please also refer to our full Ministry of Stories Privacy Policy.

Any questions?

If you have any questions about our privacy policy or information we hold about you, please please email us hello@ministryofstories.org, call us on 020 7729 4159 or write to us at Ministry of Stories, 159 Hoxton Street, London N1 6PJ.

You also have the right to complain directly to the Information Commissioner’s Office if you are unhappy with how your data has been processed. See www.ico.org.uk.