We may collect and process the following information about you

  • Information you provide to us either face to face or over the phone. 
  • Information you provide to us via letter or email.
  • Information you provide when filling in a contact us form on our website.
  • Information you provide to us when completing pre-paid funeral plan documentation.

This data is likely to include your name, address, telephone number and email address. We may also collect information when you pay with a debit or credit card. The information that is collected, (which may include sensitive information) is essential to us in the performance of our duties to you. We use this information for the purpose of carrying out funeral arrangements on your behalf or to make pre-paid funeral plan applications. 

The legal basis of us holding this personal data is therefore for us to provide you a service as set out in a contract between both parties.

We DO NOT use any information collected via the use of cookies on our website for marketing purposes. 

How we use this information

  • We will only use your data for the purposes of fulfilling our services to you. These services could include:  arranging and carrying out a funeral, funeral wishes or pre-paid funeral plans, managing donations on your behalf, arranging ashes interments and arranging jewellery or items that may contain your loved one’s ashes, fingerprints or hair.
  • We WILL NOT use your data for marketing purposes. Ecclesiastical funeral plans have their own privacy policy and marketing policy which you will agree to when you make a plan application.

How we share information about you

  • We may disclose your personal information to third parties in the following circumstances:
  • For the purposes of carrying out our funeral services for you.
  • In accordance with our legal duties of compliance.
  • If we are under a duty to disclose or share your personal information in order to comply with any legal obligation or to protect the rights, property, or safety of us, our clients or others. This includes exchanging information with other companies and organisations for the purposes of fraud protection and prevention, credit risk reduction and to pursue debtors.
  • If we handle charitable donations on your behalf, then we will provide next of kin contact details to the charities for them to acknowledge receipt of the final monies collected. In our correspondence with these charities we state that next of kin information is to be used for the sole purpose of acknowledgment of the monies received, and not to be used for any marketing or third party linking.
  • We do not transfer your personal data outside of the EEA.

Data retention period

  • We only keep your personal information for as long as is necessary. For the performance of a pre-paid funeral plan this could be several years. 
  • We never store records of payment details.
  • We keep some business records for a period of 7 years to satisfy our legal and regulatory obligations. 
  • We will review on a regular basis the information that we hold and if it is deemed no longer relevant then it will be destroyed.
  • We keep some information for purpose of creating an historical archive. This information will not be shared with any 3rd party without the express consent of the next of kin or person to whom the information relates.
  • We will also keep information regarding funeral arrangements where by we still have the deceased’s ashes, this is so we can act accordingly and check personal details for security checks ensuring they are collected by the appropriate person.

How we will keep your data secure

We will take all reasonable security measures to protect your personal information in storage. These measures include:

  • Paper copies of information held will be kept secure and where necessary locked away with access restricted to the relevant personnel in the performance of our services to you.
  • Password restricted access to specific personnel that we hold on the computer.
  • Any personal data that is transferred electronically for the purposes of funeral arranging will be encrypted.
  • Digital data stored on-site will be protected by anti-virus software and a firewall.

Where we store your data:

  • The information we collect from you will be stored securely in a locked cabinet or an encrypted online database. 

Your rights

Should you wish to access the information we hold about you:

GDPR gives you the right to access any information held about you. We shall respond promptly within 30 days of receiving any request. We shall provide you with details of the personal information we hold about you, including the source(s) of this information and the reason for processing this information, and the people/organisations we are entitled to share this information with. 

Your right to adjust/change your data and data accuracy

You have the right to request rectification of any inaccurate data that we hold about you. It is important that we hold accurate information about you and will take all reasonable steps to ensure when collecting this data, that accuracy is always considered. Sometimes data held will need to be updated and you can assist us with this by informing us of any changes when they occur.

Your right to restriction of processing

You have the right to obtain a restriction of processing data in the following circumstances:

  • Where the personal data held is potentially inaccurate, it is restricted until the accuracy has been established.
  • Where the purpose for processing the data is unlawful.
  • Where we no longer need the personal data, but it is required by you regarding a legal claim.

Your right to request we erase all your data

You have the right to request the erasure of any personal data that we hold about you.

Your right to data portability

You have the right to data portability. We will provide the data in a suitable format to be readily transferred to another data controller. This would be in the event you wish another funeral director to take over your arrangements.

Your right to object

You have the right to object if there are legitimate reasons to your data being processed by us. If you have objected to us processing your personal data based on legitimate reasons then we shall cease such processing immediately unless it can be demonstrated that our legitimate grounds for processing over-ride your interests, rights, and freedoms, or that the processing is necessary for the conduct of legal claims.

If you have a question

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact Dave Barker (Director) at Hayley Owen Funeral Director, 01904 792525.

If you have a complaint

If you have a complaint about any aspect of how your personal data has been used then please contact Dave Barker in writing at Hayley Owen Funeral Director, 169-171 Boroughbridge Road, York, YO26 6AN.

We will review this policy and may make changes from time to time in accordance with any requirements of GDPR.

Updated 9th May 2025

Next review date 9th May 2026