Charity data protection

Data protection advice for charities

We believe that helping our charity clients to understand the scope and extent of their legal and regulatory obligations in relation to the data and information they hold is an essential part of good information management and governance.

Our experienced lawyers offer data protection training to support charities with the practicalities of information management. We also offer an audit service which can identify key areas of risk.

Quick Enquiry

Many charities handle significant amounts of data and information. This includes data about their beneficiaries, their staff and their supporters. New technology and the rapid growth of social media has resulted in an exponential growth in this data.

Information is a vital asset to many charities and managing it well is an obvious strategic aim, but it can also pose risks if it is not properly managed. The Information Commissioner has wide regulatory powers which recent experience shows will be used to fine charities on much the same basis as commercial operators where there are breaches of the rules.

Data requests

More people are becoming aware of the way in which the data protection legislation can be used, creating an additional administrative burden for charities holding data. Our specialist team can assist with dealing with requests from data subjects, and will provide practical advice that takes into account any specific circumstances. 

Information policies & procedures

Our extensive experience means that we can supply charities with a range of template policies and procedures to ensure that you deal with information on a compliant basis. For example, data subject access requests are often an area of difficulty, but can be better handled on a routine basis if the correct policies and procedures are in place and are being used by well trained staff.

We also work to support our clients where a project such as a merger or joint venture has an information angle. Early consideration of issues such as data security and export is important in order to ensure that they do not become obstacles at a later stage in a project.

Data breaches & when things go wrong

We can support charities when things have gone wrong. We have an excellent track record in managing data protection problems which pose both significant reputational risk and financial risk for a charity (in terms of fines by the Information Commissioner). Our aim is always to look at the problem as a whole so that while the focus is on information law, issues such as the trustees' serious incident reporting obligations to the Charity Commission and the best use of PR advice are factored in to the charity's response.

Further information regarding our expertise can be found in the commercial data protection area of our website.

For specialist charity data protection advice, please contact Vicki Bowles on 0117 314 5672 or make an enquiry below.