Our Policies

Our Policies

English Heritage, including our subsidiary, English Heritage Trading Limited, (also referred to as “we, “us” or “our”) is fully committed to the protection of your rights and your privacy. 

English Heritage cares for over 400 historic buildings, monuments and sites – from world-famous prehistoric sites to grand medieval castles, from Roman forts on the edges of the empire to a Cold War bunker.  Through these, we bring the story of England to life for over 10 million people each year. We are a charity, no. 1140351, and a company, no. 07447221.

English Heritage Trading Limited (Registered company no. 02970369) is a wholly-owned subsidiary that carries out a range of commercial trading activities to generate income for English Heritage, including retail, catering, and sponsorship.

Our Privacy Promise

We are committed to protecting the privacy of our supporters. We take your privacy seriously and treat all the information you give us with great care.

We value and respect all the people whose support helps us to care for over 400 historic sites across the country and to keep the story of England alive for future generations.

Our Privacy Policy explains how we collect, store and use the personal information you give to us. If you have any questions about how we look after it then please contact  our Data Protection Officer at  data.protection@english-heritage.org.uk 

If you would like to update how you would prefer to hear from us please use our Preferences Form 

We are recorded on the ICO Data Protection Register under registration number ZA111846. 

English Heritage Trust
6th Floor
100 Wood Street
London
EC2V 7AN

Registered Charity 1140351

We Promise

  • To be clear about why we need to collect your personal information and what we are going to use it for.
  • To make it easy for you to tell us how you would like us to keep in touch.
  • To only collect the information we need to make sure we deliver the best service.
  • To never sell your personal information nor share it with other organisations for their own marketing purposes.
  • To take good care of your personal information, and make sure it is up to date, safe and secure at all times.
  • To make sure that any suppliers or partners who carry out work on our behalf meet the same high standards that we adhere to when handling your personal information.

 

Policy Overview

We collect information about members, visitors to our historic sites, supporters, customers, website visitors, owners, tenants and other site stakeholders such as neighbours and key-holders.  We do this in both digital and paper formats.

In addition we also collect details automatically about the pages you visit on our website. Please see our Cookies policy below for more information.

In choosing to share your personal information with us, you will be agreeing to our collection and use of your information as described in this policy.

We use the information you share with us to:

  • Make sure you receive the product, service or information you have requested or bought.
  • Carry out reasonable administration of your membership, donations, bookings, and volunteering.
  • Manage our sites effectively and to deliver community involvement.
  • To keep in touch with you in the way that you want. 
  • To better understand our supporters so that we can personalise and improve the services we offer.

For details of how we do this please see the full policy.

We will need to make changes to this policy from time to time, to make sure that we are always providing you the latest information about what is happening to your personal information.  The current version will always be posted on our website

This policy was last updated on 13 April 2021.

What information do we collect and how?

We collect personal information about you that helps us to deliver and improve our services. This includes:

  • Name and address
  • Email address and telephone numbers
  • Date of birth
  • Payment information such as bank details 
  • How you would like to hear from us
  • English Heritage historic sites you have visited
  • Details of purchases, membership, Gift Aid Declarations, donations and gifts in your will
  • Details of job applications and your volunteering activity
  • Enquiries and feedback including via web forms, call centre recordings, emails and webchat
  • Interaction with our digital channels including website members area, public wifi and social media pages including any log in via a social media account

Under our membership scheme we also ask for details of the children you would like to include in the membership. We use this information to better understand how to provide the best service to your family in terms of offers and events, and we will not contact your children directly.

If you have provided details for someone else, for example by purchasing a gift for them, we will not contact that person until they have been given the opportunity to let us know their communication preferences.

If you have contacted us on behalf of an organisation, for example making an Educational Booking or a Travel Trade enquiry, we will also store details of individuals in their professional capacity. 

When visiting our website we also collect information about your IP address and the pages you visit. This helps us to understand which areas of our website are most useful to our supporters and to make decisions on future improvements. This does not tell us who you are and where you live unless you choose to provide us with that information. Please see our Cookies policy below for more information.

We also buy anonymous external data (such as census data, Experian’s Mosaic consumer data) and may combine it with personal data to help us assist customers in finding the services and products that they are looking to receive from us.

Where people have been involved in the creation, excavation, conservation or use of historic objects, sites or buildings that we manage, we may gather information about them without contacting them to facilitate current or future historical and scientific research. The information we gather may include, date of birth, family relationships, education and employment information.

For supporters who use our mobile apps, please refer to our App Privacy Policies for Days Out, and Blue Plaques.

Some of our sites are protected by CCTV.  You may be recorded when you visit them.  We use CCTV to help provide a safe environment for our members, visitors and staff, to help protect and detect crime.  We may also use CCTV to monitor visitor flow and help us improve our movement strategies.  The systems are operated in accordance with our Security Manual and will only be viewed when necessary.  We use signs to notify people that they are in an area where CCTV surveillance is being carried out.

For a small number of people, where we want to better understand the interest of individuals in supporting the work of English Heritage, we may seek information about their interests and preferences before contacting them, but only if we feel there is a legitimate interest to do so.  

The information we gather may relate to: career and business networks, voluntary roles including trusteeships, residential location, family (not including information about children unless given personally or made public by the individual concerned), wealth and assets, hobbies and interests and previous philanthropy.  

We use these details to improve our understanding of individuals’ interests and preferences. We will contact these few individuals to notify them of our privacy policy no later than one month following collection of any data relating to them.

We may use a number of sources to carry out our work, including printed and online newspapers and publications, charity and company websites, and the websites of organisations similar to us. From time to time we may use specialist companies to help us identify individuals who we think might be interested in supporting us and the work we do. This will only be done when individuals give permission to the relevant third party organisations to share the data they hold on them, or if the data is already available publicly.

What do we do with your information?

MEMBERSHIP AND FINANCIAL PROCESSING

We will make sure that: 

  • You receive the product or service you have requested. 
  • We process any payments and send you information relating to that service.

If you have joined as a Member this will include sending you confirmation of your purchase and membership materials such as membership cards, information on how to use your membership, regular magazines, handbook and email newsletters. We will also send you information about membership renewal and information relating to your Direct Debit payments.

If you have purchased tickets to visit one of our sites on a particular date or attend one of our events, either via our own website or via any of our approved partners who share data with us, we will use the information collected to administer your booking, if required contact you about any change of arrangements that are necessary, and to gain feedback on your visit experience.

If you have donated money or objects  this will include thanking you for your support, letting you know how your contribution has helped us, managing the custody of our collection and carrying out due diligence to meet our compliance obligations.

If you tell us you want to fundraise to support our cause, this will include using the personal information you give us to record your plans and contact you to support your fundraising efforts.

If you tell us you plan to leave us a gift in your will, we will record your contact details, and use these to invite you to events. 

If you have been recorded as part of an oral history project we will only use your information with your consent.  If you are a tenant of a let estate we will use your information to fulfil our contract with you and to keep in contact about issues or activities relating to your lease.  

If you live locally to an English Heritage property we may use your contact details to keep you up to date with local activities and to provide you with the opportunity be involved.  We will also do our best to keep your information up to date. This includes monitoring returned mail to let us know if you no longer live at the address we hold for you. We also use information from the Royal Mail’s National Change of Address database, the telephone preference service, the mailing preference service, the Bereavement Register and other similar suppression lists to make sure we do not send communications to the wrong place or person.

Please do let us know if your details have changed.

 

MARKETING AND COMMUNICATIONS

Receiving direct marketing information from English Heritage will always be your choice, and you can choose how you would like to receive that information from us.

You can also change your mind at any time, and we will keep your preferences up to date. If you would like to update how you would like to hear from us please use our Preferences Form

We limit the number of marketing communications we send to make sure we are not sending you too much. 

We may at times invite you to support fundraising initiatives which may include attending but only if appropriate and in line with this privacy policy.

We will only contact you for marketing purposes by telephone or text message (SMS) if you have told us we can.

We will only contact you by email for marketing purposes if you have told us you would like to hear from us this way, or to let you know about services you have previously bought.   Every email will have a link to help you unsubscribe if you wish to stop receiving this information.

We may contact you occasionally by post if you have told us you would like to hear from us this way. We may provide your email address and name to digital advertising or social media platforms, such as Facebook, Instagram and Google in accordance with their own terms and conditions. This is so we can reach you and others like you to enable us to tailor any advertising and to show relevant information about how you can support our cause. This data is always provided in an encrypted format so individuals cannot be identified and the data will not be used by social media companies for their own purposes.

If you don’t want to see targeted advertising from us on social media, please refer to the instructions provided by the social media site directly.
Below are some examples of the types of organisations with which we may share your data:

• Advertising partners – to enable us to ensure our advertising is relevant to the recipients.
• Analytics partners – to enable us to track the effectiveness of our website or mobile apps.
• Social media partners – so that we can effectively communicate with our supporters on social media platforms.
• Website and app partners – to help us develop websites and apps that give our customers the best possible online experience.
For further detail on the processes used to share your information please refer to our cookie policy.

If you have applied to work for English Heritage, your personal information will only be processed for the purposes of recruitment, including processing your application and tracking recruitment statistics. You will not receive marketing communications, but you may receive job alerts by email if you have signed up to this service.

 

VOLUNTEERING

Volunteers are part of our collective movement to ensure the past is protected for future generations and the historic environment is understood, valued, cared for and enjoyed.  If you volunteer with English Heritage then we will keep information about you to ensure we provide you with the best volunteer experience we can.  

 

USER SUPPORTER PROFILES

In addition to respecting your communication preferences, we know it is important to our supporters that we use our resources in a responsible and cost effective way. For this reason we use automated profiling and targeting to help us understand our supporters and make sure that:

  • Our communications and services are relevant, personalised and interesting to you
  • Our services meet the needs of our supporters
  • We only ask for further support and help from you if it is appropriate
  • We use our resources responsibly and keep our costs down

To do this we will analyse how you interact with us and use both geographic and demographic information to let you know what is happening in your local area and understand your interests.

If you have agreed that we can contact you we may also gather additional information about you from external sources, for example updates to address and contact information, or publicly available information regarding your wealth, earnings, or employment. We may use this information to assess your capacity to support us and invite you to do so. If you would prefer that this did not happen simply let us know.

This analysis may be carried out by English Heritage or by third parties organisations working for us.

 

WHO WILL HAVE ACCESS TO MY INFORMATION?

Your information will be only be accessible to our staff, volunteers and contractors appropriately in order for them to carry out their role in line with this Privacy Policy.

We will never sell your personal information and we never share it with other organisations for their own marketing purposes.  We will only share your personal information where:

  • We are legally required to, or as a result of a lawful request by a governmental or law enforcement authority.
  • We have engaged a supplier or contractor to carry out services on our behalf, such as:
  • Building and managing additional websites for our site and event ticket sales
  • Fulfilling website orders or sending our communications 
  • Providing IT support for our systems
  • Carrying out research and analysis to help develop our services

We only work with trusted suppliers and partners who have agreed to treat your information as respectfully as we do and in accordance with data protection legislation.

Our website may contain links to other websites that are outside our control and are not covered by this Privacy Policy. If you access other sites using the links provided, the operators of these sites may collect information from you that will be used by them in accordance with their privacy policy, which may differ from ours. This includes where an additional external web page or site has been built for English Heritage to provide eg site or event tickets. 

 

How do we keep your information safe?

The security of your information is paramount to us. We use encryption for transfer of data and our networks are monitored regularly to ensure they remain secure.

We also regularly review our measures to ensure they are up to date and in line with latest developments, particularly when we are handling payment information. 

If you have a password to allow access to certain parts of our website, you must keep that password safe and not share it with anyone or your personal information could be at risk.

We store most of your data within the United Kingdom. Some organisations which provide services to us may transfer data outside the UK but we’ll only allow this if your information  is adequately protected. Data will only be transferred to the USA if protected by the Privacy Shield.

We will keep your personal data for no longer than is necessary for the purposes for which it is processed, in accordance with our internal policies. 

If we dispose of your information it will always be done securely.

 

How to get in touch and understanding your rights

We want to ensure you remain in control of your personal data.  Part of this is making sure you understand your legal rights, which are as follows:

  • the right of access to a copy of the information we hold about you (this is known as a subject access request)
  • the right to have your data erased (though this will not apply where it is necessary for us to continue to use the data for a lawful reason e.g. HMRC and Gift Aid auditing)
  • the right to have inaccurate data rectified
  • the right to object to your data being used for marketing or profiling
  • Where technically feasible, you have the right to personal data you have provided to us which we process automatically on the basis of your consent or the performance of a contract.  The information will be provided in a common electronic format.

Please bear in mind that there are exemptions to the rights above and though we will always try to respond to your requests there may be situations where we are unable to do so.

If you would like further advice or information on your rights, or wish to exercise them, please write to the Information Governance Manager (who is our Data Protection Officer) at English Heritage Trust, The Engine House, Fire Fly Avenue, Swindon, SN2 2EH or email data.protection@english-heritage.org.uk

You may wish to use our template subject access form which includes guidance on how to make your request.

If you are not happy with our response or you believe that your data protection or privacy rights have been infringed, you can complain to the UK Information Commissioner’s Office which regulates and enforces data protection law in the UK.  Details of how to do this are available at the Information Commissioner’s Office website at www.ico.org.uk.

 

Cookies

Our Cookie Policy explains what Cookies are and how we use them

Accessibility

We aim to conform to accessibility level AA of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0, which help make the web more user friendly for all people.

Our website should display correctly in the current and previous two versions of Firefox, Chrome, Internet Explorer, Safari and Opera. There may be some areas that require you to have JavaScript turned on to work.

While we strive to adhere to standards for accessibility and usability, there are areas we are still working on to improve such as providing video and audio transcripts, audio captions and audio descriptions. If you have concerns or issues you wish to raise please contact our customer services team at customers@english-heritage.org.uk

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