Privacy Policy
Lowther Funeral Services Ltd is committed to protecting your personal information. Our Privacy Policy contains important information about what personal details we collect, what we do with the information, who we may share it with and why and your choices and rights when it comes to the personal information you have given us.
We may need to make changes to our Privacy Policy; so please check our website for updates, if there are changes as to where your personal data will be processed we will contact you to let you know.
Last updated 10th September 2018.
About us - The full name of our company is Lowther Funeral Services Ltd. We are situated at 8 Barmoor Terrace, Ryton, Tyne & Wear NE40 3BB.
Contact Information - At the above address, telephone number: 0191 4471450
Email: lowtherfuneralservices@gmail.com
Information we collect and use -
• Who you are eg. name and contact details
• Details about your deceased relative or friend eg. their name, age, religion, doctor, occupation, next of kin etc.
• Sensitive Personal Information eg. relating to your deceased relative or friend eg. health, marital or civil partnership status, this will only be used to provide the service you have requested or to comply with legal obligations
• Information about your contact with us eg. details of meetings, phone calls, emails, letters
• Information about other people that you may provide eg. joint applications or beneficiaries for products you may have with us such as funeral plans.
How we collect information -
• Directly from you - from online enquiry form for a product or service, phone conversations, emails or letters and meetings.
• Pre-paid funeral information from plan providers. If your deceased relative or friend has a funeral plan, the information we collect will most likely have been provided by them.
• We may also collect personal information from places such as care homes or hospitals eg. cause of death, date of death etc.
What we collect and use information for -
We will only ever collect and use information which is personal to you
• Where it is necessary, fair and lawful to do so.
• You have given us permission to send you information about our products and services
• You have given your permission for selected 3rd parties we have chosen to work with that we may believe will be of benefit and interest to you.
• If it is needed to provide the product or service you have requested eg. funeral plan - name, address, date of birth, bank account details etc.
• It’s in the legitimate interest of a third party eg. hospital, mortuary, cemetery office, crematorium, funeral ministers, stationery providers etc.
If you do not want us to collect and use your personal information in this way. It may mean that we will be unable to provide you with our products and services.
Third Parties we may share your information with -
• Cemetery / Crematorium Office
• Coroners office
• Church Minister, Humanist, Celebrant
• Donation recipients
• Nursing homes/hospice
• Companies that support the funeral business eg. newspapers, organists, florists, catering services, vehicle providers, embalmers etc
We will never sell your details to someone else. When your information is only shared, we will only do so in line with our obligations to keep your information secure and safe.
The personal information we collect will be used for the following purposes:
• In order to contact you to make funeral arrangements & to fulfil the funeral service.
• Our legal basis for processing of the personal data
• Invoicing
• Statement
• Estimates
• Confirmation Letters
• Administration of accounts
• Donation acknowledgement letters – for the purpose of collecting, sending and administrating donations raised following a funeral
• Legal services – for the pursuit of non-payment of accounts
• Crematorium – processing the funeral booking
• Cemetery – processing the funeral booking
• Contacting a nominated celebrant, humanist or clergy – processing the funeral booking
• Contacting a musician – processing the funeral booking
• Contacting a Printer – processing any orders of service or other literature required for the funeral booking
• Contacting Safe Hands Funeral Plans Ltd and any other plan provider you may have an agreement with – processing the funeral booking
• Stonemason – processing a memorial headstone order
• Doctors – required by law for a cremation
• Coroners – required by law for anyone under the care of the Coroner
• Newspapers – processing the funeral booking if required
• Contacting care homes – information required about deceased and client to complete funeral booking
• Hospitals (bereavement centres and mortuaries) – process the collection of deceased and required paperwork
• Contacting other funeral directors – required should deceased be resting with another funeral director
• Contacting repatriation services (ALBA through ourselves or if deceased is “Out of England”, the repatriation service from your insurance.
• Contacting Insurance companies – processing funeral with repatriations or client invoicing
• Contacting solicitors – processing of payment information on behalf of client
Consent
By consenting to this privacy notice you are giving us permission to process your personal data specifically for the purposes identified.
Consent is required for Lowther Funeral Services Ltd to process both types of personal data, but it must be explicitly given. Where we are asking you for sensitive personal data we will always tell you why and how the information will be used.
You may withdraw consent at any time by contacting us to update your preferences.
Where your information is processed
All of your information is processed in the UK or EEA.
Where your information is being processed outside of the EEA, we take additional steps to ensure that your information is protected to at least an equivalent level as would be applied by UK / EEA data privacy laws e.g. we will put in place legal agreements with our third-party suppliers to ensure they meet these obligations.
How we protect your information
We take information and system security very seriously and we strive to comply with our obligations at all times. Any personal information which is collected, recorded or used in any way, whether on paper, online or any other media, will have appropriate safeguards applied in line with our data protection obligations.
Your information is protected by controls designed to minimise loss or damage through accident, negligence or deliberate actions. Our employees also protect sensitive or confidential information when storing or transmitting information electronically and must undertake annual training on this.
Our security controls are aligned to industry standards and good practice; providing a control environment that effectively manages risks to the confidentiality, integrity and availability of your information.
How long we keep your information
We will keep your personal information only where it is necessary to provide you with our services while you are a customer.
We may also keep your information after this period but only where required to meet our legal or regulatory obligations. The length of time we keep your information for these purposes will vary depending on the obligations we need to meet.
Your individual rights
You have several rights in relation to how Lowther Funeral Service uses your information. They are:
• Right to be informed
You have a right to receive clear and easy to understand information on what personal information we have, why and who we share it with – we do this in our Privacy Policy.
• Right of access
You have the right of access to your personal information. If you wish to receive a copy of the personal information we hold on you.
• Right to request that your personal information be rectified
If your personal information is inaccurate or incomplete, you can request that it is corrected.
• Right to request erasure
You can ask for your information to be deleted or removed if there is not a compelling reason for Lowther Funeral Service to continue to have it.
• Right to restrict processing
You can ask that we block or suppress the processing of your personal information for certain reasons. This means that we are still permitted to keep your information – but only to ensure we don’t use it in the future for those reasons you have restricted.
• Right to data portability
You can ask for a copy of your personal information. In certain circumstances, you may move, copy or transfer the personal information we hold to another company in a safe and secure way. For example, if you were moving your funeral plan to another provider.
• Right to object
You can object to Lowther Funeral Service processing your personal information where: it’s based on our legitimate interests; for direct marketing; and if we were using it for scientific/historical research and statistics.
How to make a complaint
We will always strive to collect, use and safeguard your personal information in line with data protection laws. In the event that you wish to make a complaint about how your personal data is being processed by Lowther Funeral Service (or third parties described above), or how your complaint has been handled, you have the right to lodge a complaint directly with the supervisory authority Lowther Funeral Service.
The details for each of these contacts are:
Managing Director
Lowther Funeral Service
8 Barmoor Terrace
Ryton
Tyne & Wear
NE40 3BB
Telephone: 0191 4471450
Email: lowtherfuneralservices@gmail.com
Web: www.lowtherfuneralservices.co.uk
Information Commissioner’s Office:
Telephone: 0303 123 1113