Privacy Policy
This Privacy Policy covers data protection with regards to the services, activities and online presence of the unincorporated non-profit association Don’t Pay UK (hereafter, 'us' and 'we').
Overall, we try to collect as little personal data as possible and give you the option to remain anonymous if you want to. If we ask you to provide information by which you can be identified using this website or our pages on any other platforms (e.g. Facebook, Telegram, Shopify, etc.), via email, or on paper forms, then it will only be used in accordance with this policy.
If you choose to provide us with personal information by filling in a contact form with an e-mail address, name or postal address, and submitting it to us through the website, or via other means, we will use that information to respond to your message and to help you get the information you have requested.
Apart from the newsletter subscription, our website does not collect information or create individual profiles for profiling. While you must provide an e-mail address in order to receive a response to any of your questions or comments to us, we recommend that you do not include any other personal information.
Your e-mail address will only be used for the purpose for which you have provided it and will not be added to a mailing list except in the case of you requesting it and giving your positive consent. Your e-mail address will not be used for any other purpose, and will not be disclosed, without your consent.
You are at any time entitled to submit a subject access request (SAR), i.e. a request for personal information that we may hold about you. According to the General Data Protection Regulation, a SAR has to be answered within one month of receipt of the written request. If you suspect that we are processing your personal data in a way that is contrary to the protection of your private and personal life or violates the law, you can:
- Ask us for an explanation
- Demand that we remedy the situation thus arisen.
This may in particular be a blocking, correction, supplementation or destruction of the personal data.
All enquiries to the Data Protection Co-ordinators of the Don’t Pay UK can be made via the e-mail address info@dontpay.uk
You understand that in case of the suspicion that your personal data has been processed unlawfully, you also have the right to file a complaint with the Data Protection Authority of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland known as the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). We are registered with the ICO with registration number ZB363437.
Legal basis
Our lawful basis for using your data is based on two principles: 'Meaningful consent' and 'legitimate interest'.
'Meaningful consent' means that you have explicitly consented to the reason for using your data (putting you in touch with other people locally, or subscribing to our mailing list, for example.
'Legitimate interests' means that we can process your personal information if we have a genuine and legitimate reason and we are not harming any of your rights and interests.
When you provide your personal details to us we use your information for our legitimate interests to carry out our work creating a mass-movement of people to win a fairer settlement around energy bills. Before doing this we will also carefully consider and balance any potential impact on you and your rights.
Some typical examples of when we might use the Legitimate Interest approach are for are:
- Offering you guidance on how to participate in the strike based on your circumstances.
- Responding to your questions when you email or message us.
- Publishing anonymised statistics to demonstrate the scale of support the campaign.
Site Visit Data
This website records your visits and logs the following information for statistical purposes: the type of browser you use; the date and time you access the site; the pages you have accessed and the previous Internet address from which you linked directly to the site. We use this anonymised data to understand how the level of interest in the campaign is changing over time and how to improve our communications.
Unless you join our mailing list or register as an organiser, we do not collect any personally identifying information about you, and will not disclose any information to third parties.
We fully support you using a nickname rather than your real one, or using an anonymous email address if you are more comfortable doing so.
Pledge to strike
When you pledge to join the strike, we ask you to give your email address and ask you a few questions about your circumstances. The email is added to our mailing list and also used to stop us counting a pledge from the same email address twice. We use the questions about your circumstances ask to advise you how to participate in the strike and provide overall statistics that help us plan and coordinate the strike.
We record the pledge to strike using a digital signature derived from your email address, meaning that somebody who gained access to our database would not be able to work out who has pledged to strike. Information you give us about your circumstances are stored only as aggregates. This allows us to know, for example, what percentage of people who have joined the strike currently pay their bills by direct debit, but not whether any individual person does or not.
Security
Our internal data protection policy defines how we deal with data and by what information technology means our data can be processed and how the systems used comply with current security requirements. We have taken technical and operational precautions to mimimise the amount of personal data we store and protect it from unauthorised access and misuse. Our security procedures are monitored regularly and updated.
Incorporation
Don't Pay is currently an unincorporated association run entirely by volunteers. We are currently seeking to incorporate an organisation so that we can:
- Provide more transparency around our governance structure, including named directors or trustees.
- Allow us to organise this campaign at the scale needed to win.
If we do this, the data you provide us and responsibility for handling that data will be transferred to the new organisation as the data controller. In providing us with your personal data, you are agreeing to us transferring that data to the new incorporated organisation, and consenting to that organisation using your personal data in the same way that we do. We will inform you if we do this and give you the option of opting-out.
Policy Status
We reserve the right to change this Privacy Policy at any time according to the applicable laws or change in circumstances. This has been updated Monday 8th August 2022.
Social media
We may use buttons from or links to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Telegram, etc on our website. We don't really like 'big tech', but social media is an unavoidable part of any campaign. We use these platforms exclusively for posting content and responding to your questions and do not use anything 'extra' that provides them with additional data (tracking pixels, etc).
If you would like to support us, but want to remain anonymous, we'd encourage you to primarily join our email list and Telelgram groups, as they offer the best privacy.