Privacy
Privacy and your information
How the Safe Church Register handles the personal information volunteers trust us with.
What we collect
Your name (and any previous names), address, contact details, gender and date of birth; the roles and ministries you serve in; your Working with Children Check number and expiry; Creating Safe Spaces training and police check details and certificates you upload; your signature on the code of conduct; your answers to the screening questionnaire (including any health information you choose to share, driving licence details if your role involves driving, churches you have attended and, for under-18s, a parent or guardian's details); any other certificates your church asks for (such as first aid); your referees' names, phone numbers and (if your church uses emailed references) email addresses; and what referees tell us.
Why we collect it
To check that people who serve in our churches are safe to do so, to keep those checks current, and to keep the records our churches need under their Safe Church practice and the law.
Who can see it
- You – your own record.
- Your church's Safe Church Team – your full record, so they can verify it.
- Ministry leaders – only whether you're cleared.
- Senior church admins – also any concern raised, your screening and health answers and restricted notes.
- Safe Church Coordinators who support your church – summary numbers only (for example, how many people are cleared). Access to personal records: to be confirmed.
Every time someone views your record or a document you've uploaded, it's recorded.
Where it's stored
The site uses an encrypted (HTTPS) connection, uploaded documents are kept out of public reach, and emails are sent from an authenticated mailbox. The site keeps a short log of emails sent – who they went to (partly hidden) and the subject, never the content.
To be confirmed: hosting location, backup arrangements and who holds the data.
How long we keep it
When you stop serving, your record is archived rather than deleted. Child safety records may need to be kept for many years. The retention period is to be confirmed on legal advice.
Seeing or correcting your information
You can see and update most of your details yourself from your record. To ask for a copy of everything held about you, or to correct something you can't change, contact your church's Safe Church Team.
Questions or complaints
Talk to your church first. You can also contact the Safe Church Coordinator at Baptist Churches of NSW & ACT – [email protected].