City of York Council (CYC) current data protection notification is registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) – reference Z5809563. We regularly review this privacy notice, and it was last updated in March 2024.
CYC is committed to ensuring that personal data is handled in accordance with the principles set out in data protection legislation and guidance from the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).
This privacy notice tells you what to expect when we collect personal information about you for York Crematorium services
CYC is the controller for this information unless we specifically state otherwise in this privacy notice.
You can contact the council’s Data Protection Officer by email: information.governance@york.gov.uk, telephone: 01904 554145, or write to:
West OfficesStation Rise
York
YO1 6GA
This privacy notice should be read in conjunction with other relevant CYC privacy notices and/or policies and procedures.
When appropriate we will provide a ‘just in time’ notice to cover any additional processing activities not mentioned in this document.
- How we collect your information
- What personal data we process and why
- Automated decision-making
- Collecting information automatically
- Children's information
- Lawful basis for processing your personal data
- How long we keep your personal data
- Data sharing
- Data processors and/or third parties
- Transfers of personal data
- How we protect your information
- Your rights in relation to this processing
How we collect your information
We get most of the information from you, but we may also get some from family members or your Funeral Director.
What personal data we process and why
We only collect and use the minimum amount of personal data and certain ‘special category’ data such as:
- name
- address
- date of birth
- phone number
- email address
- date of death of the deceased
For medical certificates: we will collect and use doctors name, signature, qualifications, work address, work contact details, General Medical Council register number and name of anyone present at the time of death. We will also collect phone number if family member present, and work location if nursing staff present.
For CCTV: we will collect and use CCTV images only. There is no audio capture or recording from the CCTV in use at York Crematorium. You can find out more information about how the council uses CCTV in our CCTV Privacy Notice.
Wherever possible we use non-identifiable personal information.
We collect and use your information for the below:
- Burial and Cremation Services
- grave sales
- memorial sales
- deliver the service or handle your query
- plan and improve the services we offer
- research, however, this would be in anonymised form unless we ask for your consent to use your personal information for this purpose
- evidence positive outcomes to central government funding agencies
- allow us to meet the legal requirements for the provision of burials, cremations and to manage, regulate and control memorials and cemetery grounds
- ensure that we can make sure we are giving the right level of support to you
We may also convert ('anonymise') information into statistical or aggregated data in such a way that ensures that individuals cannot be identified from it. Aggregated data cannot, by definition, be linked back to an individual and may be used to conduct research and analysis, including the preparation of statistics for use in reports.
If we ask for your feedback about our services or ask you to take part in research, we will ask for your consent. You can withdraw this consent at any time by email: crematorium@york.gov.uk.
Automated decision-making
We do not carry out any automated decision-making in York Crematorium services.
Collecting information automatically
Please see our Cookies Policy for further information about the information we collect automatically when you use our website
Children’s information
Where we provide services directly to children or young people, the information in the relevant parts of this notice applies to children and young people, as well as adults.
Lawful basis for processing your personal data
Any personal data including special category data that we process about individuals is done so in accordance with Article 6 and 9 of the UK GDPR and Schedule 1 of the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA 2018).
- Article 6(1)(a) Consent: the individual has given clear consent for the council to process their personal data for a specific purpose
- Article 6(1)(b) Contract: the processing is necessary for a contract the council has with the individual, or because they have asked the council to take specific steps before entering into a contract
- Article 6(1)(c) Legal obligation: the processing is necessary for the council to comply with the law (not including contractual obligations)
- Article 6(1)(e) Public task: the processing is necessary for the council to perform a task in the public interest or for our official functions, and the task or function has a clear basis in law
The legal basis for processing your special category data is in accordance with the following:
- Article 9(2) (a) Explicit consent
- Article 9(2)(b) Employment, social security, and social protection (if authorised by law)
- Article 9(2)(g) Reasons of substantial public interest (with a basis in law)
- Article 9(2)(h) Health or social care (with a basis in law)
This is supported by Schedule1, Part 2 (6) of the Data Protection Act 2018 and the following legal framework:
- Burial Act 1857
- The Registration of Burials Act 1864
- The Cremation Act 1902, the Cremation Act 1952
- The Public Health (Control of Diseases) Act 1984
- The Cremation (England & Wales) Regulations 2008
- The Cremation (England and Wales) (Amendment) Regulations 2017.
- The Local Authorities Cemeteries Order 1977
- The Local Authorities' Cemeteries (Amendment) Order 1986
Some of the Schedule 1 conditions for processing special category and criminal offence data require an Appropriate Policy Document (APD) to be in place, which sets out and explains the procedures for securing compliance with the principles in Article 5 and policies regarding the retention and erasure of such personal data. This document explains this processing and satisfies the requirements of Schedule 1, Part 4 of the DPA 2018 and supplements this privacy notice
Our Appropriate Policy Document provides further information about this processing.
How long we keep your personal data
York Crematorium will only keep your information for as long as is necessary, we will retain the information provided to us for the following periods of time:
- cremation - acremation authority must keep the application for cremation and any other certificates or documents relating to a cremation, or an electronic copy of the documents, for a period of 15 years from the date of cremation. Where electronic copies of application forms and documents are kept, the originals must be kept for two years. The Register of Cremations is kept in perpetuity
- burial - the burial authority must keep all written forms for 7 years and Burial and Grave Registers in perpetuity, stored to preserve them from loss or damage
- CCTV - CCTV data will be held and then automatically overwritten after 31 days
Data sharing
We may need to share your information with other council services, other organisations and third parties, this will include:
- funeral service providers (for example, funeral directors, memorial products and services providers, officiants, specialist funeral service providers etc)
- Medical Referee
- Coroners Office etc
- medical certificate applicants can also request to see medical certificate (they can nominate someone on their behalf to view if they wish)
- Chief Officer of Police to inspect the cremation register
In some circumstances, such as under a court order or safeguarding, we are legally obliged to share information. We may also share information about you with third parties including our data processors, government agencies and external auditors. For example, we may share information about you with fraud investigation agencies.
We will always satisfy ourselves that we have a lawful basis on which to share the information and document our decision making.
Additionally, we are required under the Public Records Act 1958 (as amended) to transfer records to the City or National Archives (TNA) for permanent preservation. Full consideration will be given to Data Protection and Freedom of Information legislation when making decisions about whether such records should be open to the public.
Data processors and/or third parties
Where we have third parties providing parts or all of our services for us, we have contracts or agreements in place with them.
- Cooperative Funeral Care and Life planning (for public health funerals)
- Gough and Kelly Security Ltd (for CCTV)
Transfers of personal data
We do not routinely transfer personal data outside of the UK but when this is necessary, we ensure that we have appropriate safeguards in place and that is done in accordance with the UK data protection and privacy legislation.
How we protect your information
We're committed to keeping your information safe and secure. There are several ways we do this, such as:
- IT security safeguards such as firewalls, encryption, and anti-virus software
- on-site security safeguards to protect physical files and electronic equipment
- training for all staff and elected councillors
- policies and procedures
Your rights in relation to this processing
To find out about your rights under data protection law, you can go to the Information Commissioner's Office website.
You can also find information about your rights in our Privacy Notice.
If you have any questions about this privacy notice, want to exercise your rights, or if you have a complaint about how your information has been used, please contact us on email: information.governance@york.gov.uk, or on telephone: 01904 554145, or write to:
Data Protection OfficerCity of York Council
West Offices
Station Rise
York YO1 6GA