Purpose of policy

We are committed to protecting your personal information and being transparent about what information we hold about you.

Using personal information allows us to develop a better understanding of our customers’ needs and, in turn, provide relevant and timely information about the work that we do. As a charity, it also helps us to engage with potential donors and supporters.

The purpose of this policy is to give you a clear explanation about how we and our subsidiaries gather and use the information we collect from you directly and from third parties.

We use your information in accordance with all applicable laws concerning the protection of personal information.

This policy explains:

• What information we may collect about you
• How we may use that information
• In what situations we may disclose your details to third parties
• Our use of internet cookies
• Information about how we keep your personal information secure, how long we maintain it and your rights to be able to access it.

If you have any queries about this policy, please contact Data Compliance at the National Centre for Circus Arts on 020 7613 4141 or email: data@nationalcircus.org.uk

Who we are

The National Centre for Circus Arts is a charity supported by various trusts, foundations and individual donors and supporters. Our registered charity number in England and Wales is 1001839, and we are also registered as a company in England and Wales under registration number 2553293. We also operate a subsidiary.

• National Centre for Circus Arts Enterprises Limited – Company Number 2803347

Information collection

We collect various types of information and in a number of different ways:

Information you give us.

For example, when you register on our website, buy tickets, or make a donation, we’ll store the personal information you provide, such as your name, email address, postal address, and telephone number. We will also store a record of your purchases and donations.

Information about your interactions with us.

For example, when you visit our website, we collect information about how you interact with our content. When we send you a mailing, we store a record of it, and for emails, we keep a record of which you have opened and which links you have clicked.

Sensitive personal data

Data Protection law recognises that certain categories of personal information are more sensitive than others, such as health information, race, religious beliefs, etc. We do not usually collect this type of information unless there is a clear reason for doing so. As an example, we do collect medical information about course participants so that our teachers are aware of any issues and can adapt the session to accommodate these needs and ensure overall safety and well-being. Where we collect this information, we rely on your explicit consent, or where necessary for health and safety purposes, under Article 9 of the UK GDPR.

Legal basis

There are three main bases under which we may process your data:

Contract purposes

When you make a purchase from us or donate to us, you are entering into a contract with us. To perform this contract, we need to process and store your data. For example, we may need to contact you by email or telephone in the event of a show or class cancellation, or problems with your payment.

Legitimate interests

In certain situations, we collect and process your personal info for purposes that are in our legitimate organisational interests. However, we only do this if there is no overriding prejudice to you by using your personal information in this way. We describe below all situations where we may use this basis for processing.

With your explicit consent

In any situations where the two bases above are not applicable, we will ask for your explicit consent before using your personal information.

Marketing communications

We aim to communicate with you about the work we do in ways you find relevant, timely and respectful. To do this, we use data that we have stored about you, such as which events you have booked for in the past, as well as any preferences you may have shared with us.

We use our legitimate organisational interest as the legal basis for communications by post and email. In the case of postal mailings, you may object to receiving these at any time using the contact details at the end of this policy. For email, we will give you the option to opt out during your first purchase with us. If you do not opt out, we will provide you with an option to unsubscribe in every email that we subsequently send you, or you can alternatively use the contact details at the end of this policy.

We may also contact you about our work by telephone; however, we will always obtain your explicit consent before doing so. Please bear in mind that this does not apply to telephone calls we may need to make to you regarding your purchases.

Other processing activities

In addition to marketing communications, we also process personal information in the following ways that are within our legitimate organisational interests:

• We may analyse data we hold about you in order to identify and prevent fraud.
• In order to improve our website, we may analyse information about how you use it.
• We may collect information on existing and potential new supporters or donors who might be interested in becoming involved with the NCCA (for example, publicly available information on philanthropists or people with a public profile) but will only do this where we have a legitimate interest.

We will always ensure that your fundamental rights and freedoms are not overridden by our own rights and interests

You have the right to object to any of this processing at any time. If you wish to do this, please use the contact details at the end of this policy. Please bear in mind that if you object this may affect our ability to carry out tasks above, that are for your benefit.

Higher education data (HESA)

If you are a student, teacher or staff member on our Higher Education programme, some of your data is also processed and shared with the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) as part of our statutory obligations as an Office for Students-regulated Higher Education Provider. Full details of how HESA processes this data, including its own privacy notices for students and staff, are available at: https://www.hesa.ac.uk/about/regulation/data-protection/notices

Cookies

Cookies are small text files that are automatically placed onto your device by some websites that you visit. They are widely used to allow a website to function (for example to keep track of your basket) as well to provide website operators with information on how the site is being used.

We use cookies to track your basket and to understand how the website is used and what improvements we can make. Where cookies are not strictly necessary for the website to function, we will ask for your consent before placing them, and you can withdraw this consent at any time through our cookie settings tool.

Third parties

There are certain circumstances under which we may disclose your personal information to third parties. These are as follows:

• To the subsidiaries described above when it is necessary for them to be able to provide you with products or services that you’ve requested.
• To our own service providers who process data on our behalf and on our instructions (for example our ticketing system software provider). In these cases, we require that these third parties comply strictly with our instructions and data protection laws, for example, regarding the security of personal data.
• Where we are under a duty to disclose your personal information in order to comply with any legal obligation (for example to government bodies and law enforcement agencies).
• If you are a student, teacher or staff member on our Higher Education programme, to Jisc, the agency which collects, processes and shares data relating to higher education, as part of our statutory obligations as a Higher Education Provider (see also the Higher education data section above).

Your debit and credit card information

If you use your credit or debit card to purchase from us or make a donation, we will ensure the transaction is carried out securely and in accordance with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI-DSS). You can find more information about this standard here.

Maintaining your personal information

We store your personal data for as long as required to operate the service we provide to you, for archival purposes, and in accordance with legal requirements and tax and accounting rules.

A full retention schedule setting out specific retention periods for different categories of data (for example donor records, Higher Education student records, and course participant health and safety information) is maintained separately.

If you have not engaged with us for two years and we do not need to retain your personal data for archival, legal, or business reasons, we will delete or suppress your personal information.

When your information is no longer required, we will ensure it is disposed of securely.

If there are aspects of your record that are inaccurate or you would like to change, you can usually do so by logging in to your account on our website. If you don’t have an account, and wish to change or delete your record, please use the contact details below.

Any objections you make to the processing of your data will be stored on your record in our system so that we can comply with your requests.

Security of your personal information

We have implemented appropriate technical and organisational measures, in line with Article 32 of the UK GDPR, to keep your personal information secure. Where we use third party processors to handle your personal information on our behalf, we only do so under a written contract that meets the requirements of Article 28 of the UK GDPR

Where we transfer your data outside the UK, we will ensure appropriate safeguards are in place, such as reliance on a UK government adequacy decision or the use of the UK International Data Transfer Addendum to the EU Standard Contractual Clauses.

 Your rights to your personal information

• The Right to be informed
• The Right to Access
• The Right to Rectification
• The right to be forgotten
• The right to restrict processing
• The right to data portability
• The right to Object
• The Right not to be subject to automated decision-making, including profiling

You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) if you are unhappy with how we have handled your personal information. The ICO can be contacted at ico.org.uk or on 0303 123 1113.

Contact details and further information

If you have any queries about this policy, or wish to object to any processing of your personal information, please contact Data Compliance at the National Centre for Circus Arts on 020 7613 4141 or email: data@nationalcircus.org.uk

National Centre for Circus Arts, Coronet Street, London, N1 6HD

 

Last Revised

4 August 2026