The ICO has now provided further guidance about the lawful basis for collecting test and trace data - now recommending that churches (places of worship) collect that data with "consent" rather than "legal obligation". This update comes following clarification that sharing of 'test and trace' data is not a legal obligation. It also recognises that churches may have other purposes for collecting service attendance data, which will require consent:

In the context of contact tracing, we recommend using consent if you are logging details in places of worship, for example. You should also use consent if you provide a service to small groups or on a one-to one basis, like tailoring or sports massage. That's because the information you may be asked to share for contact tracing purposes may only apply to one or two people - rather than a roomful - making it more likely that you'd make assumptions about your customer's health.

Further information can be found on the ICO website: https://ico.org.uk/global/data-protection-and-coronavirus-information-hub/coronavirus-recovery-data-protection-advice-for-organisations/collecting-customer-and-visitor-details-for-contact-tracing/

We do encourage customers to carefully consider your internal processes around data collection and data retention. For example, ICO guidance says contact tracing data should only be retained, with consent, for no longer than 21 days, which means that unless you have another lawful basis for processing or retaining that data, event signup and check-in/attendance data should be cleansed within that timeframe. We also encourage you to review your privacy notice to ensure it is best-compliant with your purposes for processing, and that your event descriptions make contact tracing clear to those signing up.

It's becoming increasingly apparent that reopening church is an incredibly difficult thing to do - a number of factors need to be considered, such as finding a balance between respecting social distancing and the need to physically meet and hold services.One scenario many churches seem to be considering is holding multiple shorter services with limited attendance at each. While this is a real challenge to organise and implement, ChurchSuite actually has the tools in place to significantly ease the organisational burden of making this happen!

Our managing director, Gavin Courtney, has put together a short demo video, walking you through the process.

This convenient tool will allow your church members to sign up quickly and easily to the right service, while helping you manage attendance numbers at each of your services in line with social distancing regulations.

We hope this helps! As always, if you have any questions or comments we'd love to hear from you at support@churchsuite.com