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Our privacy policy explains how we collect and use your information

Cats Protection (CP) is the UK’s leading feline welfare charity, registered in England and Wales (no. 203644) and Scotland (no. SC037711). As a charity that receives no government funding, we rely entirely on the kindness and generosity of our valued supporters to help around 200,000 cats and kittens every year. We are completely committed to protecting our supporters’ personal information and will only use the information that you provide lawfully.

This policy explains how we collect and use your information and it may be necessary to update it at any time without notice so please check it regularly.

If you have any queries about this policy please contact the Data Protection team, Cats Protection, National Cat Centre, Chelwood Gate, Sussex, RH17 7TT or email dataprotection@cats.org.uk

When you provide us with your personal information you are agreeing to this policy and consenting to our collection and use of that information as set out in this policy.

How do we collect information?

We may obtain personal information from you in a variety of ways, including when you:

  • enquire about adopting, rehoming or fostering
  • would like advice on caring for your cat, eg neutering, microchipping, behavioural (correspondence remains confidential between you and the specific advice service)
  • apply to become a member or volunteer
  • become a sponsor
  • make a donation
  • register for any of our campaigns, events and services
  • subscribe to our newsletter or our magazine
  • contact us with a general enquiry or other correspondence
  • post comments via social media
  • play the lottery or raffle
  • buy our goods online or in your local CP shop
  • visit our website (www.cats.org.uk) for any reason, please see our Cookie Policy for the information that is collected
  • update your previously registered contact details with publicly available sources, eg if you move and use Royal Mail’s redirect service

We may also obtain your information from a third party supplier, in order to send you postal communications, where you have given permission for your details to be shared with other organisations - namely charities. This could be when buying a product or registering for an event, service or competition. We will only collect your information in this way if we believe you may be interested in hearing from Cats Protection, and where you have not opted-out of receiving unsolicited marketing communications, by checking your details against the Mailing Preference Service. We will always tell you where we have obtained your details from and how to stop your details from being processed in this way in the future should you object.

All information collected is processed in accordance with our legal requirements and applicable data protection legislation.

What information do we collect?

The information we collect depends upon your reason for visiting our website or one of our centres, branches or shops, but may include:

  • your name, postal address, telephone number and email address (including details you provide from any social media account/profile such as Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter)
  • credit/debit card information or bank account details if setting up a Direct Debit mandate or making a purchase
  • analytical data when you visit our website via cookies and your Internet Provider (IP) address. For further information regarding this activity please read our Cookie Policy
  • records of any correspondence
  • information you enter into our website
  • health information when applying to take part in sporting events such as skydiving
  • your image on CCTV should you visit one of our shops or centres

Why do we collect your information?

Cats Protection has a legal basis for processing your personal information in relation to the reasons you have submitted your details these include:

When we have your consent to process your information for a specific purpose, for instance:

  • to respond to your requests for specific services, products and information
  • to contact you in relation to all purposes where you have consented

When the processing is in relation to a contract we may have with you, for instance:

  • to process your donation, Gift Aid or membership – and any queries or issues that may arise in connection with this processing
  • to manage your purchase orders, delivery of products and communicate with you about those orders
  • to process the data of and communicate with Cats Protection staff and volunteers in relation to the roles they carry out for the charity

When the processing is necessary in order for us to comply with a legal obligation, such as data protection and any other applicable legislation, for instance;

  • to record any contact we have with you so that we can manage any queries or complaints
  • to provide an increased level of security for the benefit of those who work in or visit CP premises
  • to prevent or detect fraud or abuses of our website

When we exercise our legitimate interest to raise the charity’s profile, awareness and funds to support the welfare of cats in our care, by:

  • keeping you up-to-date on CP’s news such as fundraising campaigns, challenges, achievements etc
  • enabling third parties to carry out technical, logistical or other legitimate functions on our behalf, or
  • conducting research on the demographics, interests and behaviour of our supporters to enable a better understanding of your requirements. This allows CP to identify areas for improvement in providing our services and make communications as relevant as possible. If this research is conducted by a third party CP will ensure that all personal information will be processed in accordance with data protection law
  • making a decision, on the basis of a supporter’s level of giving and postcode, whether to send different communications to people who might choose to give higher donations. To do this we conduct in-house research and may on occasion use additional, publicly-available sources such as Companies House and Land Registry records and/or private sources to make use of demographics and indicators of wealth. Where a supporter is identified as being potentially able and willing to give more than they already do, we may try to build a better understanding of how they might want to support us. This allows us to make sure we are spending your donations effectively, by using research and analysis to inform our decisions and ensure our conversations with you provide the best supporter experience possible

CP will never swap or sell your details. When dealing with your personal information we will always comply with the current UK data protection law and any other applicable legislation.

We will only use your personal information for direct marketing purposes if we are permitted to do so by law or if we have your consent. For more information on direct marketing go to Marketing communication. The law does permit us to send marketing mail (post) without prior consent until you opt-out of this service which you can do at any time.

You can update your communication preferences by writing to Freepost Cats Protection or emailing supporter.services@cats.org.uk

How do we protect personal information?

We take the security of your information very seriously and have put appropriate measures in place to minimise the risk to your information from loss, theft or misuse. These include:

  • use of a secure server (encrypted) to protect your transaction details when making a donation or purchase via our website
  • restricted access control, including use of complex passwords, to your information stored on our systems
  • taking measures to ensure the information provided is accurate, up-to-date and kept only for as long as is necessary for the purposes that you have given consent
  • contractual agreements between working partners (eg banks for payment transactions)
  • minimising and/or anonymising the information we hold after it is no longer being processed using technical measures available

Do we share your information?

We will never share your personal information:

  • with other organisations for them to use for their own marketing purposes
  • for our own marketing purposes if you have indicated that you do not wish to be contacted by us for such purposes. However, we will retain your details on a suppression list to help ensure that we do not continue to contact you

There are some circumstances where we may need to share your information. For instance:

  • if we are legally required to do so, eg court order, law enforcement agency pursuing an investigation
  • if we believe it necessary to protect or defend our rights, property or the personal safety of our personnel or visitors to our premises or website
  • when we work with carefully selected partners for either research or analysis, fundraising and processing card payments eg Barclays, Lloyds etc. These partners will only have access to your information when the necessary contractual arrangements have been agreed and signed, these contracts dictate CP’s requirements for them to process the information and conform to data protection legislation
  • information that has to be sent to HMRC as part of the declaration process for Gift Aid so that we can reclaim the Gift Aid on your donation(s)
  • in certain limited circumstances we transfer data outside of the EEA, to the US. We always ensure we only use carefully selected partners who comply with agreed Standard Contractual Clauses

Your right of access to your information

You have the right to ask for a copy of the information we hold about you (this is called a Subject Access Request) and how we use that information. You can also request that any inaccuracies are corrected and, in certain circumstances, request that CP should stop processing your personal information, arrange for it to be transferred or erased.

If you wish to pursue any of the above rights or have any other concerns regarding your information that CP may hold please email dataprotection@cats.org.uk or write to the Information Governance Team, Cats Protection, National Cat Centre, Chelwood Gate, Sussex, RH17 7TT.

Change contact details or consent

If your personal details change, please help us to keep your information up-to-date by notifying us.

If at any time you’d like us to change the way we contact you, if you would prefer that we did not profile your data, or if you would like to opt out of our communications altogether please contact a member of our Supporter Services team to action your request by:

We will only email or text you if we have your consent to do so, but if you receive anything you would rather not, please let us know. We include an unsubscribe option within every email/text message we send so you are always in control of what you receive.

There are also details of how to opt out of mailings in every pack sent in the post. If you receive a mailing you do not want please let us know so we can update your communication preferences. This will help us to ensure we only ever send you materials that you would like to receive.

Please allow a 28-day period for any changes to take effect.

Do we use 'cookies'?

Cookies are small pieces of information stored by your internet browser onto your computer or mobile device. CP uses session cookies to ensure that you can interact with our websites successfully but to find out more about our cookie policy and usage, please click here.

Links to third party websites

If you access any other websites published via CP on website or email communication, please ensure you read their Privacy policy as they are independent from CP and we have no control over how they manage your personal information that is collected from your visit to their website.

Social media sites (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn etc)

This policy covers how we will use your information from social media pages that you visit but you will also need to read how the providers of the social media websites will use your information. Please ensure you read their Privacy policy before sharing data and make use of their privacy settings and reporting mechanisms to control how your data is used.

Website information

All information published on this site is provided to the best of our knowledge.

However, while Cats Protection is happy to supply any assistance and guidance regarding feline welfare to Cats Protection supporters and members of the public, it must be appreciated that such guidance is based only on information supplied to Cats Protection and Cats Protection will not be liable for injury, loss or damage arising from such guidance supplied.

You may print any newsletter or factsheet on this site for your own information but you may not sell it, reproduce it on the internet, distribute it, alter it, or reprint it in any publication without permission from the Communications Department, Cats Protection, National Cat Centre, Chelwood Gate, Sussex, RH17 7TT or email websites@cats.org.uk

Complaints

If you have a complaint about Cats Protection or any of our policies or procedures please visit the Contact Us page – www.cats.org.uk/contact-cp or email CustomerComplaints@cats.org.uk

Should you be dissatisfied with our response to your complaint you can contact the Information Commissioner’s Office via their website https://ico.org.uk/ or telephone 0303 123 1113.

If you prefer you can also write to them at Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF.

This policy was last updated Feb 2020

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