Privacy Policy

Sri Ramalayam, Manchester is operated by Jeeyar Educational Trust UK (JETUK), a registered charity in England and Wales (charity number 1139951).

JETUK is the data controller for personal information collected through this website and through temple activities. This means we decide how and why your information is used, and we are responsible for looking after it.

This policy explains what information we collect, why we collect it, how we keep it safe and the rights you have. It should be read alongside our Terms and Conditions and Cookie Policy.

We only collect the information we need for the purpose you are using our services for. This may include:

• Contact details — your name, email address, mobile number and postal address.
• Account details — the mobile number you sign in with and, if you choose to add them, family members you book on behalf of.
• Donation details — the amount, date, purpose of your gift and, where you make one, your Gift Aid declaration (including your home address, as HMRC requires).
• Booking and registration details — the seva, puja, event, class or room you book, preferred dates and times, and any information needed for the religious service (for example gotram, nakshatram or names for a sankalpam).
• Volunteering details — your areas of interest, availability, skills and, for some roles, information needed for suitability or DBS checks.
• Room hire details — information about your organisation, the purpose of the hire and any documents you upload, such as insurance certificates.
• Enquiries and correspondence — messages you send through our contact form, by email or by phone.
• Newsletter preferences — your email address and the record of your consent to receive temple news.
• Technical information — basic information your browser sends when you visit the website, such as your IP address, used for security and to prevent misuse.

We do not collect or store your full card details. Online payments are handled securely by our payment provider (Stripe), and we only receive confirmation that a payment was made, with limited details such as the last four digits of the card.

Because Sri Ramalayam is a place of worship, some information you share with us — for example the fact that you book a puja or attend religious classes — may indicate your religious beliefs. This is treated as a special category of personal data under data protection law.

As a not-for-profit religious body, we process this information only in connection with our legitimate religious and charitable activities, for our members, devotees and people in regular contact with us. We never share it outside the temple without your consent, unless the law requires us to.

Where we need health information (for example accessibility needs or allergy information for an event), we use it only for that purpose and keep it no longer than necessary.

We use your personal information to:

• Process donations, issue receipts and claim Gift Aid where you have made a valid declaration.
• Arrange and confirm seva, puja, event, class and room hire bookings, and contact you about them.
• Manage your account and keep it secure, including sending one-time sign-in codes by text message.
• Respond to your enquiries, feedback and complaints.
• Manage volunteering, including suitability checks for relevant roles.
• Send temple news and festival updates by email, where you have asked to receive them.
• Fulfil our safeguarding responsibilities.
• Keep appropriate financial and operational records, and meet our legal and regulatory obligations.
• Protect the website and our systems from fraud, misuse and security threats.

Under UK data protection law we must have a lawful basis for using your information. Depending on the activity, we rely on:

• Contract — to provide a booking, room hire or other service you have asked for.
• Legal obligation — for example keeping financial records and Gift Aid records required by HMRC and charity law.
• Consent — for example our email newsletter. You can withdraw your consent at any time.
• Legitimate interests — to run the temple and its charitable activities effectively, to keep our website secure, and to keep in touch with devotees about their bookings and donations, where this does not override your rights.
• Vital interests — in rare cases, to protect someone’s life or safety.

We do not sell, rent or trade your personal information. We share it only where necessary, with:

• Service providers who help us run the website and our services — including website and database hosting, our payment provider (Stripe), text message and email delivery services, and security services that protect our forms from automated abuse. They may only use your information on our instructions.
• HMRC, when we claim Gift Aid on your donations.
• Authorities and regulators — such as the police, local authority safeguarding services or the Charity Commission — where we are required or permitted by law, or where this is necessary to protect someone from harm.
• Professional advisers, such as our accountants, auditors or legal advisers, where needed.

Some of our service providers may process information outside the UK. Where this happens, we make sure appropriate safeguards are in place, as required by UK data protection law.

Our educational programmes and activities, such as Prajna classes, are attended by children. Information about children is normally provided by their parent or guardian, who is responsible for the registration.

We collect only what we need to run the activity safely, including emergency contact details and any relevant health information. Photographs and recordings of children are handled in line with our Safeguarding Policy and with appropriate consent.

We keep personal information only for as long as we need it for the purpose it was collected, or as required by law. As a general guide:

• Donation and Gift Aid records — at least six years after the end of the relevant financial year, as required by HMRC.
• Booking and room hire records — up to six years, for financial and record-keeping purposes.
• Enquiries — normally up to two years after the matter is closed.
• Newsletter subscriptions — until you unsubscribe.
• Volunteer records — for the duration of your volunteering and a reasonable period afterwards.
• Safeguarding records — for the periods recommended by relevant statutory guidance.

When information is no longer needed, it is securely deleted or anonymised.

We take appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your information, including encrypted connections (HTTPS), secure sign-in, restricted access for authorised trustees, staff and volunteers only, and records of who changes important information.

No method of transmission over the internet is completely secure, but we work hard to protect your information and will act promptly if a problem is identified.

Under UK data protection law you have the right to:

• Access — ask for a copy of the personal information we hold about you.
• Rectification — ask us to correct information that is inaccurate or incomplete.
• Erasure — ask us to delete your information, where we have no legal reason to keep it.
• Restriction — ask us to limit how we use your information.
• Objection — object to us using your information based on our legitimate interests.
• Data portability — ask for information you gave us in a commonly used electronic format.
• Withdraw consent — where we rely on your consent, you can withdraw it at any time, for example by using the unsubscribe link in our emails.

To exercise any of these rights, please contact us using the details below. We will respond within one month. There is normally no charge.

If you have a concern about how we handle your information, please contact us first so we can try to put it right.

You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the UK’s data protection regulator, at ico.org.uk or on 0303 123 1113.

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in the law or in how we work. The latest version will always be published on this page, with the date it was last updated.

For any questions about this policy or your personal information, please contact: