BOLTON FM PRIVACY POLICY

Last updated: 7 September 2025

Bolton FM is committed to protecting your privacy. This privacy policy sets out how we collect, use and protect your personal information.

When you provide or we collect information by which you can be identified, it will only be used in accordance with this policy and all applicable laws concerning data protection of personal information, including the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018.

This policy explains:

• What information we may collect about you
• How this information is stored
• How we may use this information
• Whether we disclose this information to anyone else
• Your choices regarding the information you provide to us
• How we use cookies on our website

By using our website, supporting or volunteering for us, or providing us with any personal data, we will collect, use and disclose the information you provide in the ways set out in this policy.

Within the context of this policy ‘we’, ‘us’ and ‘our’ refers to Bolton FM and our subsidiaries:

• Bolton FM CIC Company number 06352549
• Bolton FM Media Academy Charity number 1180201
• Bolton Bury DAB Radio Limited Company number 13520918

We may change this policy from time to time to ensure it is up to date and in line with current legislation. You can check our current privacy policy on this page at any time and we recommend you do this periodically. This policy was last updated on 7^th September 2025.

What information we may collect about you

We may collect the following information for administrative purposes, to enable us to keep in touch with you and to help us run the organisation:

• Name and contact information including postal address, telephone numbers and email address.
• Information such as your date of birth, volunteering opportunities or activities you are interested in and your personal contact preferences.
• Audio, video and photographs  (e.g. on air, at roadshows and events).
• Communications to and from you.
• How you heard about us and your reasons for volunteering with us.
• Event based information (e.g. your t-shirt size, medical conditions or dietary requirements).
• Feedback or information about your experience of Bolton FM that we may use to improve our processes or systems.

We may collect the following information about candidates for employment or volunteering at Bolton FM and current staff members and volunteers, to enable us to recruit and manage our staff and volunteers:

• Name and contact information including postal address, telephone numbers and email address.
• Date of birth.
• Education, qualifications, professional memberships and registrations, employment history and references.
• Ethnicity, nationality, country of birth and gender for equal opportunities monitoring purposes.
• Physical or mental impairments that may require reasonable adjustments to be made, to prevent unlawful discrimination.
• Pending prosecutions, criminal convictions, current regulatory body investigations or proceedings, disqualifications from practice or profession and information required for a Disclosure and Barring Service check where applicable.
• Medical information via Occupational Health to ensure you are fit for the role.
• Driving license details and insurance, if you drive Bolton FM vehicles.
• Emergency contact details so that we can contact someone nominated by you in the event of an emergency.
• Details of your employment or volunteering with Bolton FM such as your start date, salary details, annual leave and pension and benefits information.
• Employment records (including job titles, work history, working hours, training records, professional memberships, performance information and disciplinary and grievance information).
• Photographs for website and promotion.
• Bank details for payroll or expenses.
• CCTV footage (on our premises).
• Information about your use of our information and communications systems.

We may collect the following information about people who register to attend our open days:

• Name and contact information including postal address, telephone numbers and email address.
• Role of interest.
• Physical or mental impairments that may require reasonable adjustments to be made.

We might collect this information from you in person, over the phone, by post, email, SMS or through our website or social media pages. 

How this information is stored

We hold volunteer data on a secure database. If you have provided information on paper it is either transferred to the electronic database or, where we need to retain it  it is stored securely in locked filing cabinets.

We do not store debit/credit card details. 

We store prospective employee, current employee and past employee data in secure electronic files and in locked filing cabinets.

Prospective, current and past volunteer data is stored on a secure database, in secure electronic files and in locked filing cabinets. 

In order to prevent unauthorised access or disclosure, we have effective physical, electronic and managerial procedures to safeguard and secure the information we hold about you.

How we may use this information

We will only use your personal information when the law allows us to. Most commonly, we will use your personal information in the following circumstances:

1. Where we need to perform a contract we have entered into with you or to provide you with services you have asked us for.

2. Where it is necessary for our legitimate interests (or those of a third party) and your interests and fundamental rights do not override those interests.

3. Where we need to comply with a legal obligation.

We use information about candidates and employees in order to recruit staff and fulfil our obligations under the contract of employment.

We use information about prospective and current volunteers in order to recruit, communicate with, train, supervise and celebrate the contribution of volunteers.

We will only  information about past employees and volunteers in order to provide references to other organisations where requested with permission.

We cleanse data periodically to update the information we hold to prevent us from retaining unnecessary data.  We keep  records for 6 years after leaving, unless legal obligations require longer.

Whether we disclose this information to anyone else

We have never and will never sell your data or share it with another company or organisation for marketing purposes.

We sometimes share your information with trusted partner service providers who act on our behalf. Our partner service providers are required to treat your data as carefully as we do and use it only in the course of the work they are doing for us. We will comply with the Data Protection Act 2018 and the General Data Protection Regulation when using your information in this way. We always use secure encryption when your data is transferred to them. A full list of our partner service providers who your information might be shared with can be found below. We will not share your data with third parties (other than as described above or as required by law) unless you agree.

Candidate / Employee / Volunteer data only:

Your choices regarding the information you provide to us

We may contact our staff and volunteers by post, email, social media, telephone and SMS (text).

You may request details of personal information which we hold about you under the Data Protection Act 2018 and the General Data Protection Regulation. If you would like a copy of the information held on you please write to us at Bolton FM Office 6, Ashburner St Market , Bolton BL1 1QT or email admin@boltonfm.com. Mark your request PRIVATE AND CONFIDENTIAL

If you believe that any of the personal information we hold about you is incorrect, you have the right to ask us to rectify that information at any time.

You may also have the right, in certain circumstances, to request that we delete your personal information, to block any further processing of your personal information or to object to the processing of your personal information.  There are some specific circumstances where these rights do not apply and we can refuse to deal with your request.

If we are processing your personal information based upon your consent (e.g. as part of our marketing or promotional activities), you have the right to withdraw your consent at any time.

If you believe that any information we are holding on you is incorrect or incomplete, or you want us to remove information held about you on our database, please write to or email us at the above addresses. We will act promptly on your request.

How we use cookies on our website

Our website uses cookies. A cookie is a small file which asks permission to be placed on your computer's hard drive. Cookies allow web applications to respond to you as an individual. The web application can tailor its operations to your needs, likes and dislikes by gathering and remembering information about your preferences which are stored on your computer not our server.

We use traffic log cookies to identify which pages are being used. This helps us analyse data about our site traffic and improve our website in order to tailor it to your needs. We only use this information for statistical analysis purposes and then the data is removed from the system.

Overall, cookies help us provide you with a better website by enabling us to monitor which pages you find useful and which you do not. A cookie in no way gives us access to your computer or any information about you, other than the data you choose to share with us.

You can choose to accept or decline cookies. Most web browsers automatically accept cookies, but you can usually modify your browser setting to decline cookies if you prefer. This may prevent you from taking full advantage of the website.

Our website may contain links to other websites of interest. However, once you have used these links to leave our site, you should note that we do not have any control over that other website. Therefore, we cannot be responsible for the protection and privacy of any information which you provide whilst visiting such sites and such sites are not governed by this privacy policy. You should exercise caution and look at the privacy policy or statement applicable to the website in question.

Third party vendors, including Google, use cookies to serve ads based on a user's prior visits to your website or other websites.

Google's use of advertising cookies enables it and its partners to serve ads to your users based on their visit to your sites and/or other sites on the Internet.

Users may opt out of personalized advertising by visiting Ads Settings. Alternatively, you can  opt out of a third-party vendor's use of cookies for personalized advertising by visiting www.aboutads.info.

Complaints

We take any complaints we receive about the collection and use of personal information very seriously.  We would encourage you to bring it to our attention if you think that our collection or use of information is unfair, misleading or inappropriate. You can make a complaint at any time by contacting us (see Queries section below).

If you think our collection or use of personal information is unfair, misleading or inappropriate or if you have concerns about the security of your personal information, you also have the right to make a complaint to the Information Commissioner’s Office. You can contact the Information Commissioner’s Office at the following address:

Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF.

Queries

If you have any queries about this policy please call 01204 375408 or email admin@boltonfm.com.