Privacy and Cookies Policy
1. INTRODUCTION
Heartburn Cancer UK values your trust and because of this we take your privacy very seriously. We take appropriate security measures to safeguard your privacy.
This Policy explains how we protect and manage any personal data you share with us and that we hold about you, including how we collect, process, protect and share that data.
Personal data means any information that may be used to identify an individual including but not limited to a first and last name, address, email address and other contact information. Sensitive personal data includes any further information such as about ethnicity, health or bank details.
This privacy policy (“Privacy Policy”) is effective as of 22 May 2025 and will be regularly updated to reflect any changes in the way we handle your personal data or any changes in applicable law.
In this Privacy Policy ‘Heartburn Cancer UK’, ‘HCUK’, ‘we’, ‘us’ and ‘our’ refer to Heartburn Cancer UK – registered charity number: 1136413.
When we refer to “our website” or “this website” we mean the webpages of www.heartburncanceruk.org. When we refer to “our app” we mean the Heartburn Cancer UK Community app that is available to download from the Apple Store and the Google Play Store.
In this Privacy Notice, we may also sometimes collectively refer to handling, collecting, protecting and storing your personal information as “processing” such information.
2. WHAT PERSONAL DATA DO WE COLLECT
We collect information about you when you give it to us. For example, you enquire about our fundraising activities; make a donation; register for an event; make an enquiry; purchase one of our products; tell us your story; or if you otherwise provide us with personal information (such as, in person, over the phone, via social media, on paper, via our website or app, by SMS or email).
We will collect and store your personal data when you interact with our organisation, our website and our digital application.
Information provided by you: You provide us with personal data either via our website, app, email, social media channels, by telephone, in person or in written correspondence by post. This includes, name, address, email address, other contact details, social media profile information, transaction data, credit/debit card or bank details. We may obtain sensitive medical information directly from you if you are requesting patient information or are sharing your journey. We use this personal information to ensure we are giving you the appropriate guidance and information. We may also obtain sensitive medical information directly from you if you are sharing your personal journey.
Sensitive personal data: Under data protection law, certain categories of personal information are recognised as sensitive, including health information and information regarding race, religious beliefs, and political opinions (‘sensitive personal data’). In some cases, we may collect sensitive personal data about you. We would only collect sensitive personal data if there is a clear reason for doing so and with your consent.
In addition to the above, we typically collect personal information from you because we observe or infer that information about you from the way you interact with us. For example, we use cookies on our website so as to automatically collect information about the usage of our website and your visit. This information will help to improve your experience when you use this Website and ensure that it is functioning correctly.
3. HOW WE MAY USE YOUR INFORMATION
We may use your information in a number of ways, including:
- To deal with your enquiries and requests;
- To provide you with information that you have requested from us or that we feel may be of interest to you;
- To provide you with information about our work, our activities and events;
- To process donations we may receive from you;
- To fundraise in accordance with our internal policies and procedures;
- To share your experiences of cancer where you permit us to do so, such as on our website, in our newsletters and via press releases
- For administrative purposes (for example, we may contact you regarding an event for which you have registered, to provide information requested from us or with a query regarding a donation you may have made to us);
- For internal record keeping relating to any donations, feedback, or complaints;
- For the purposes of researching and analysing the use of our website and services, as well as researching and analysing other interactions with our organisation;
- To invite you to participate in voluntary surveys or research;
- For record keeping, to create and maintain our databases, back-up copies of our databases and our organisations records generally;
- For the purposes of security and the prevention of fraud and other criminal activity;
- For the purposes of obtaining or maintaining insurance coverage, managing risks and/or obtaining professional advice;
- For compliance with a legal obligation to which we are subject or in order to protect your vital interests or the vital interests of another natural person.
If we wish to use your personal data for a purpose beyond that for which it was originally provided, for example as a patient story or to feature in an awareness campaign, we will always ask for your consent.
4. INFORMATION FOR MARKETING PURPOSES
We may use your information to send you updates and news concerning Heartburn Cancer UK and our activities and events which we feel may be of interest to you.
We may send communications via telephone, post, email, text or whatsapp, via our social media platforms or our digital app.
If you wish to update us on your preferred communication preferences please contact: info@heartburncanceruk.org
If at any time you wish us to stop using your information for these purposes, please let us know by contacting info@heartburncanceruk.org.
5. SHARING INFORMATION
We will not sell or supply your personal information with any other organisation.
We will only disclose your information with any third parties such as a website agency, our IT service provider, our PR consultant, printing agents, email broadcast software or mailing house, research study organisers, other cancer charities, on the understanding that they keep the information confidential.
If necessary we will share your information with our third party partners that run events in partnership with us (examples of this include London Marathon Events, Royal Parks, Run for Charity and London Landmarks Half Marathon) whereby we share registrant’s email addresses with the event organiser so that they can get in contact with the registrant directly.
We may disclose your personal data to our insurers and/or professional advisers insofar as reasonably necessary for the purposes of obtaining or maintaining insurance coverage, managing risks, and obtaining professional advice.
Financial transactions relating to our website and operations may be handled by our payment services providers, [such as woocommerce]. We will share transaction data with our payment services providers only to the extent necessary for the purposes of processing your payments, refunding such payments and dealing with complaints and queries relating to such payments and refunds. Your personal data held in our website database will be stored on the servers of our hosting services providers.
In addition to the specific disclosures of personal data set out in this policy, we may disclose your personal data where such disclosure is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation to which we are subject, or in order to protect your vital interests or the vital interests of another natural person. We may also disclose your personal data where such disclosure is necessary for the establishment, exercise, or defense of legal claims, whether in court proceedings or in an administrative or out-of-court procedure.
6. CONFIDENTIALITY AND SECURITY
Heartburn Cancer UK will take all reasonable steps to:
- safeguard all personal information that you provide to us;
- ensure that it remains confidential and secure; and
- ensure that personal privacy is respected.
All our data is stored in written or electronic form on our servers and computers and in various physical locations. We maintain physical, electronic and procedural safeguards to protect your personal information from misuse, unauthorised access or disclosure and loss or corruption by computer viruses and other sources of harm.
7. RETAINING AND DELETING YOUR DATA
Personal data that we process for any purpose or purposes shall not be kept for longer than is necessary for that purpose or those purposes.
We take into account various criteria when determining the appropriate retention period for personal data including:
- the purposes for which we process your personal data and how long we need to keep the data to achieve these purposes;
- how long personal data is likely to remain accurate and up-to-date;
- for how long the personal data might be relevant to possible future legal claims;
- any applicable legal, accounting, reporting or regulatory requirements which specify how long certain records must be kept.
In some cases it is not possible for us to specify in advance the periods for which your personal data will be retained.
If you grant to us consent to publish any of your personal data, we may continue to retain and publish that personal data after the end of the relevant retention period specified in this section.
We may retain your personal data where such retention is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation to which we are subject, or in order to protect your vital interests or the vital interests of another natural person.
8. YOUR RIGHTS WITH REGARDS TO YOUR PERSONAL DATA
Data protection law provides individuals with certain rights, including the right to: access, rectify, withdraw consent, erase, restrict, transport, and object to the processing of, their personal information. Individuals also have the right to lodge a complaint with the relevant data protection authority if they believe that their personal information is not being processed in accordance with the law. Further information about your rights is set out below:
- Right to obtain a copy of your personal information. You may have the right to obtain a copy of the personal information we hold about you.
- Right to rectification. You may request that we rectify any inaccurate and/or incomplete personal information. If we disagree and believe the information to be accurate and complete, we will advise you and include a notation on the record that you dispute the information’s accuracy.
- Right to withdraw consent. You may, as permitted by law, withdraw your consent to the processing of your personal information at any time. Such withdrawal will not affect the lawfulness of processing based on your previous consent.
- Right to object to processing. You may request that we stop processing your personal information.
- Right to erasure. You may request that we erase your personal information and we will comply, unless there is a lawful reason for not doing so.
- Right to lodge a complaint with the supervisory authority. You have the right to complain about the use of your personal information to the relevant supervisory authority, which in the UK is the Information Commissioner’s Office.
Any request under this section should be submitted in writing to the Data Protection Officer at Heartburn Cancer UK, Grove House, Lutyens Close, Chineham Court, Basingstoke, Hampshire, RG24 8AG
We would also suggest that you contact us if you have any questions or if you have a complaint in relation to how we process your personal information by emailing info@heartburncanceruk.org
9. EXTERNAL LINKS
Our website and communications may provide hyperlinks to websites owned and controlled by others. Heartburn Cancer UK is not responsible and accepts no liability in relation to such websites or their contents or for their privacy practices. You should read any applicable privacy policy on any such website.
10. PROVIDING DATA ON BEHALF OF A THIRD PARTY
Where you submit personal information on behalf of another person, you confirm that you have made that person aware of how we may collect, use and disclose their personal information, the reason you have provided it, how they can contact us and the terms of this Privacy Policy. You further confirm that they have consented to such collection, use and disclosure.
11. COMPLIANCE WITH PRIVACY LAWS
Heartburn Cancer UK complies with the data protection and privacy laws to which it is subject. You should satisfy yourself that you are familiar with those laws, including any exceptions which may apply under them. You should also be aware that privacy laws in various jurisdictions may change from time to time.
12. COOKIES
Our website uses cookies. A cookie is a small file of letters and numbers that may be stored on your browser or the hard drive of your computer or device when you access our website. It allows the website to recognise your device and store some information about your preferences or past actions. Insofar as those cookies are not strictly necessary for the provision of website, we will ask you to consent to our use of cookies when you first visit our website.
Cookies help us to provide you with a good experience when you browse our website and also allows us to improve our site.
This website uses Google Analytics, a web analytics service provided by Google, Inc. (“Google”). Google Analytics uses “cookies”, which are text files placed on your computer, to help the website analyse how users use the site.
Google Analytics mainly uses first-party cookies to report on user interactions on Heartburn cancer UK website. These cookies are used to store non-personally identifiable information. Browsers do not share first-party cookies across domains.
We use the information gathered by Google Analytics to create reports about the use of our website. We use Google Analytics on our website to obtain statistics on user activity, such as most visited pages or the sources of traffic. We have opted-out of keeping your IP address so these statistics are anonymous.
You can find out more about Google’s use of information by visiting https://policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites and you can review Google’s privacy policy at https://policies.google.com/privacy.
If you would like to prevent your data from being used by Google Analytics and opt-out, visit Google’s Opt-Out Browser Add-on.
13. YOUR CONSENT
By using this website, you agree that we may collect and use information as described in this policy.
If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, please contact us by email at info@heartburncanceruk.org