Privacy Policy

Updated 8th July 2026

Who we are? 

“We” and “us” means Alder Hey Children’s Charity (AHCC). We are a charity with registered charity no. 1160661 and a registered company with Company No. 09389239. We raise money to make Alder Hey Children’s NHS Foundation Trust (the ‘hospital’) a truly world-class, patient-friendly hospital. Through providing funds for life-saving medical equipment, pioneering research and world-class facilities for patients and families, we make a crucial difference to the 450,000 patients and families who visit Alder Hey every year.  Alder Hey Promotions Limited (AHP) a registered company in England and Wales (company number 08019977) is a wholly owned subsidiary of AHCC which trades on its behalf selling Alder Hey merchandise. Within the context of this policy ‘we’ means both the charity and its subsidiary.   

Your privacy matters  

At AHCC, we are committed to keeping your personal data safe and secure. 

This notice sets out in detail the purposes for which we process information about you, who we share it with, what rights you have in relation to that information and everything else we think it’s important for you to know.  

If you have any questions about the processing of your personal information, or you would like to exercise any of your rights, please reach out to us with the details mentioned below: 

Email us: info@alderheycharity.org  

How we process your information: 

To understand how we process your personal information and to understand your rights, please visit the relevant appendix below: 

Appendix 1: Patients  

Appendix 2: Human Resources  

Appendix 3: Events, Donations, Fundraising and Marketing  

Appendix 4: General Information (Complaints Procedure, Your rights) 

Changes to this Privacy Notice 

We aim to keep this privacy notice regularly updated. This privacy notice is kept under regular review.  If we make any significant changes to the way in which we process your information, we will let you know by either reaching out to you or posting a banner on the website.  

This was last updated in July 2026.  

Appendix 1: Patients  

How and why do we collect information about you?  

We collect your personal information to support our services and raise awareness of the impact of our work. This may include your name, health information and photographs, which may be used in case studies published on our website, social media, newsletters, and brochures. We may also collect details about your dietary requirements and accessibility needs when inviting you to our events, to ensure we can accommodate you appropriately. In the case of child patients, we collect information about their parents or guardians, such as names, contact details, and their relationship to the child. Additionally, we may record and retain safeguarding information where relevant to ensure the safety and wellbeing of those that engage with us. 

What is our lawful basis for processing this information? 

To process your health information, images, dietary requirements and accessibility needs, we rely on your explicit consent. For any safeguarding information that we record, we rely on legitimate or vital interest, read with substantial public interest and conditions from the DPA. 

Who do we share your data with? 

We may share our patient’s images and information with organisations that we work in partnership with. This is done on the basis of your consent. 

To comply with our duty of care and safeguarding, we may need to pass some information raising safeguarding concern with the authorities. In such circumstances, we apply vital interest and legitimate interest as our lawful basis. Data subjects’ rights and other UK GDPR provisions may be restricted when concerning personal data processed in these circumstances. Exceptions and exemptions are applied on a case-by-case basis.  

How we store your information and for how long? 

We retain the personal data of all service users for a period of in line with our retention periods. If you would like to know more about this, please contact us at the email address above.   

Appendix 2: Human Resources 

(Job applicants and current and former employees, apprentice, trustees, volunteers, contractors) 

How and when do we collect information about you?  

You provide several pieces of data to us directly during the recruitment period and subsequently upon the start of your employment/engagement. In some cases, we will collect data about you from third parties, such as employment agencies or former employers when gathering references. 

What types of information is collected about you and who provides it?   

We keep several categories of personal data to carry out effective and efficient processes. Specifically, depending on your type of engagement with us, we may process the following types of data:  

• personal details such as name, address, phone numbers, marital status 

• name and contact details of your next of kin  

• footage of the organisation events where you may appear  

• information of any disability or other medical information you have disclosed   

• right to work documentation, National Insurance number, bank account details   

• information gathered via the recruitment process such as that included in a CV, cover letter or application form, references, details on your education and employment history etc  

• information relating to your employment with us (e.g. job title, job description, salary, terms and condition of the contract, annual leave records, appraisal and performance indication, formal and informal proceedings involving you such as letters of concern and disciplinary, disciplinary and grievance proceedings) 

• your biography and picture for the website (if applicable).  

We may also process special category of data which include health information, sexual orientation, race, ethnic origin. We may also process criminal records information if the role involves DBS check.   

How is the information used?  

We are required to use your personal data for various legal and practical purposes for the administration of your contract of employment or your volunteer/ trustee agreement, without which we would be unable to employ you or engage with you. Holding your personal data enables us to meet various administrative tasks, legal obligation or contractual/agreement obligation. We process information in relation to the DBS for our safe recruitment practices.   

What is our lawful basis for processing this information? 

We mainly use ‘contractual obligation’ as a lawful basis for processing personal data for employees, job applicants, apprentices, contractors and freelancers. We mainly use ‘legitimate interest’ for trustees. We may also have legal obligation in order to process and share your data, for example we need to share salary information to HMRC or use some of your data to enrol a new employee on a pension scheme.   

We may rely on our legitimate interest for processing activity such as keeping supervision and appraisal records; using your image, bio and videos/pictures of the organisations’ events where you may appear on our website or marketing/fundraising materials to promote the charity.   

Some special categories of personal data, such as information about health or medical conditions is processed in order to carry out employment law obligations and for health and social care obligations (such as those in relation to colleagues with disabilities and for health and safety purposes). We may also process other special categories of personal data, such as information about ethnic origin, sexual orientation, health or religion or belief on the basis of substantial public interest for the purposes of equal opportunities monitoring.  

When processing criminal records (for example, in order to perform DBS check), the organisation relies on the lawful basis of legitimate interest and additional conditions of the UK GDPR and DPA 2018.   

Who do we share your data with?  

Personal Data in relation to your salary is shared with HMRC as part of our legal obligation. Personal Data may be shared with third parties for the following reasons:  

• for the administration of payroll, pension, HR functions (for example the online holiday booking system) and administering other employee benefits. 

•  When sharing information with third parties, we have data sharing agreements, data processing agreements or contracts in place to ensure data is not compromised. These third parties implement appropriate technical and organisational measures to ensure the security of your data.  

How long do we keep your data?  

We only keep your data for as long as we need it for, which will be at least for the duration of your employment/engagement with us though in some cases, we will keep your data for a period of 7 years after your employment/engagement has ended. If you’ve applied for a vacancy but your application hasn’t been successful, we will keep your data only for 12 months.   

Some data retention periods are set by the law. Retention periods can vary depending on why we need your data. Please get in touch by contacting us using the details above if you want to know more about retention period.   

Data is destroyed or deleted in a secure manner as soon as the retention date has passed.   

Appendix 3: Marketing and Fundraising 

Events: 

We host many events in a year, and your personal information is collected when you register for an event with us. We may collect basic personal information, such as your name, email, phone number, marketing preferences, any reasonable adjustments you may require and dietary information. We rely on contractual consent or legitimate interest to administer your registration for an event depending on the nature of the event. When we collect other information such as dietary information, we rely on your explicit consent.  

If you have attended an event with us previously, we may reach out to you to invite you for our future events. We rely on legitimate interest to send you emails, call you on your registered number with us or send your direct mail.  

Donations: 

Your personal Information is provided by you when you donate to our charity through platforms such as JustGiving, GiveWheel, GoFundMe, Enthuse, Tribute and GivePanel etc. The information gathered may be name, email address, Gift Aid sign up, company name if donation made by an organisation, donation details, reasons to engage, postal address 

This information allows us to process your donation, and deal with any potential enquiry. We rely on our legitimate interest to process this data.  If you agree that we can claim Gift Aid on your donations we are legally required to keep a record of the claim and your Gift Aid declaration.  If you are donating using a third party, please also refer to the privacy notice published on their websites.  Your personal data including Gift Aid is retained for a period of 7 years from the date of donation for reporting purposes. 

Profiling:  

We may use information that is already publicly available (for example, from company websites, social media platforms, news articles, the Charity Commission, Companies House, or public registers) together with information you have given us, to better understand our supporters and potential supporters. This may include internal research as well as research undertaken with the help of trusted third-party providers. 

We may also carry out prospect research, due diligence, wealth screening and network mapping to  help us identify individuals who may wish to support our work through significant philanthropic gifts, understand their potential interest in our work, assess their capacity to give, identify appropriate professional or philanthropic connections, and ensure we carry out appropriate legal, ethical and reputational checks before accepting significant donations. This helps us use our resources more effectively, tailor our communications, avoid inappropriate approaches and build meaningful relationships. 

We do this on the basis of our legitimate interests in identifying, engaging, and stewarding supporters, while always balancing this against your rights and expectations. Wealth screening is only one factor we consider and does not determine whether or how we engage with an individual. Decisions are always made by experienced members of staff and are not based solely on automated processing. Where we commission third-party screening or research services, we ensure they act strictly on our instructions and in compliance with data protection law. 

You have the right to object to your information being used in this way at any time. If you would prefer us not to undertake prospect research, wealth screening or network mapping in relation to you, please contact us on the details given above. Please note that we may still need to carry out proportionate due diligence where necessary to meet our legal obligations or protect the charity’s legitimate interests when considering significant donations. 

Charity Champions: 

If you agree to be one of our Charity Champions to promote our charity and raise awareness on the work we do using your platform, we will process your information such as name, contact information, professional background and your relationship with our charity. We may use this to promote our charity and rely on legitimate interest.  

Fundraising and Marketing: 

We may reach out to you for fundraising, if you have previously engaged with us in an event, made a donation, or if we believe that you may be interested in engaging with our organisation. We work with third-party face-to-face fundraising agencies and may use the information collected during these interactions to contact you.  

We use texts, email, direct mail and calls for marketing. We may send you emails and text messages if you have signed up for marketing communication. If you have given us your phone number, we may call you about our work and ways to support us on the basis of our legitimate interests, unless you have registered with the Telephone Preference Service (TPS) or opted out of our calls. 

We may send you fundraising appeals and updates by post on the basis of our legitimate interests, unless you tell us you prefer not to receive them. 

When we make calls for fundraising and marketing, we make these calls on the lawful basis of legitimate interest. However, we will screen your calls through the telephone preference service (TPS). If you would prefer to not receive these calls, please do let us know.  

We rely on your consent to send your email communications (except where this is a business email address, whereby we rely on legitimate interest). 

If you would like to change your marketing preferences, please reach out to us on the email address provided in the first section of this privacy notice, or you can simply unsubscribe with the option on the bottom of the emails.  

We may also use post as a mode of sending you marketing communications, relying on legitimate interest. If you would like us to not send such communications, please do reach out to us.  

Internal Analysis: 

We also use the information we hold to run the charity effectively. This includes reconciling income, checking Gift Aid records, improving data quality and reporting to trustees. We reply on our legitimate interests for this. These reports use summary information wherever possible. 

Appendix 4: General Information (Complaints Procedure, Your rights) 

Your rights as a Data Subject 

You have the following rights: 

• ‘Right to be informed’, which means we will be completely clear and transparent about how we plan to use your personal information. 

• ‘Right of access’, which means you can request details of the personal information we hold about you and how we use it. We will provide this within one month. 

• ‘Right to rectification’, which means you can ask us to update or amend the personal information we hold about you, if it is incorrect. 

• ‘Right to restrict processing’, which means you can ask us to change, restrict or stop the way we are using your personal information. 

• ‘Right to erasure’ (or ‘right to be forgotten’), which means you can ask us to remove your personal information from our records. 

• ‘Right to object’, which means you can object to us using your personal information for marketing purposes. 

• ‘Right to data portability’, which means you can obtain the personal information we hold about you and reuse it for your own purposes. 

• ‘Right not to be subject to automated decision making’, which means if we use systems to make a decision about you, you have the right to ask for a person to intervene, which may change the outcome. 

• Right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority, such as the Fundraising Regulator or the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), if you are not satisfied with our response to a request you make to us, or you feel we are not using your information correctly. 

International Data Transfers 

Where personal data is stored outside of the UK and the EEA, safeguards to protect personal data may include but are not limited to the UK Addendum used in conjunction with the EU Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs), or UK International Data Transfer Agreement (IDTAs). Such safeguards will be subject to Transfer Risk Assessments (TRAs).  

Complaints procedure   

If you are unhappy with the way we process your data, please get in touch with the Data Protection Lead using the contact details mentioned above.  

You can also make a complaint to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), which regulates the use of information in the UK. They can be contacted at 0303 123 1113 or, you can write to them at Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF.