Privacy - Writers' Guild of Great Britain

Who are we?

The Writers’ Guild of Great Britain (“WGGB”, “we”, “us”, “our”) is a trade union representing professional writers in TV, film, theatre, radio, books, comedy, poetry, animation and videogames. Our members also include emerging and aspiring writers.

This notice reflects our duties under the Data Protection Act 2018 and the Privacy and Electronic Communication (EC Directive) Regulations 2003. It describes how we use personal data fairly, how we keep it secure, how we make sure it is accurate and how we uphold your rights as a data subject.

We are registered as a data controller under the Data Protection Act (2018).

How we use your information

This privacy notice tells you what to expect when WGGB collects personal information. It applies to information we collect from and about:

• our members
• visitors to our website
• individuals who submit enquiries or request communications via our website
• users of our services; and
• job applicants and our current and former employees and interns.

It also applies to personal information processed in pursuit of the objects of the WGGB and the interests of our members. This will include:

• registering you as a WGGB member
• Contacting you about your membership and about essential activities
• Representing you effectively
• Meeting our legal obligations as a trade union
• Acting in accordance with the WGGB Rule Book.

The lawful basis for this processing is WGGB’s responsibility to fulfil our contractual obligations to members and pursuing our legitimate interests as a trade union.

You will also find information about your rights, and what to do if you have a question, concern or would like to make a complaint.

Acknowledgement

By submitting personal information to us, you acknowledge and accept the practices described in this privacy notice.

We will endeavour to bring this notice to your attention every time we ask for your personal information.

We will seek your specific consent whenever this is required.

Your rights

We are committed to guaranteeing the statutory rights of individuals. If you send us a request regarding your rights under data protection law we will respond within thirty (30) calendar days of receipt and, where possible, address your request within such time. Where necessary, this period may be extended by up to a further sixty (60) days.

The persons to whom this policy applies are under no statutory or contractual obligation to provide personal data to WGGB. However, should you decide to submit personal data to us, you will have the following rights, as a data subject, under data protection law as summarised below:

• the right to be informed
• the right to access
• the right to rectification
• the right to erasure
• the right to restrict processing
• the right to object to profiling
• the right to data portability
• the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office
• the right to withdraw consent

Please note these rights may not always apply, for example if fulfilling your request would require us to reveal personal data relating to another WGGB member, or if you ask us to delete information which we are required by law to keep or have a compelling legitimate interest in keeping. If this is the case, then we will let you know at the same time as we respond to your request.

The WGGB does not engage in profiling which is capable of producing legal or other significant effects for individual data subjects.

Detailed information on the content and the means to exercise your rights is provided by the United Kingdom’s Information Commissioner’s Office, available here.

Membership

WGGB acts as a data controller in respect of the information you provide to us during the application process and throughout your membership.

By joining WGGB, you agree to our processing of your personal information, including sensitive personal information such as trade union membership, for the purposes set out below.

We reserve the right to access and disclose personally identifiable information to enable us to comply with applicable laws and lawful Government requests, to operate our systems or to protect ourselves or our members.

If you have any queries about the membership application process, please contact us at admin@writersguild.org.uk

If you have queries about how we handle your information, please contact dataprotection@writersguild.org.uk

Members wishing to leave WGGB must do so in accordance with our rules. Our Rule Book can be found here.

Membership application process

What will we do with the information you provide to us?

Initially, the information you provide will only be used for the purpose of progressing your application.

We will not share any of the information you provide during the application process with any third parties for marketing purposes. The information you provide will be held securely by us and/or our data processors whether the information is stored in electronic or physical format.

We will use the contact details you provide to us to contact you to progress your application. We will use any other information you provide to validate and assess your eligibility for membership, which may include contacting individuals identified in your application.

What information do we ask for, and why?

We do not collect more information than we need to fulfil our stated purpose as a trade union and will not retain it for longer than is necessary.

The information we ask for is used to assess your eligibility for membership, to comply with trade union legislation and to process your membership subscription fee. You don’t have to provide what we ask for, but it will affect your application if you don’t.

Application stage

We ask you for your personal details including name, address, date of birth and contact details. We will also ask you about your previous experience, professional credits and relevant annual income. This information will be used to assess your eligibility for membership and to assess the subscription rate you will be asked to pay if successful in your application.

We will ask you to provide either card details, a personal cheque or a completed Direct Debit mandate. Alternatively, you may choose to pay via PayPal. Without this information we will not be able to process your application.

Your application information will always be kept secure. If you make a postal application, your details will be kept securely in our head office as well as entered onto our secure server (see below). If you apply online your details will only be kept on our secure server.

If you are successful in your application to become a member, the information you provide during the application process will be retained by us as part of your membership file for the duration of your membership. Should you choose to leave WGGB, we will retain your details in accordance with our Data Retention Policy in case you wish to re-join or you wish to query an element of your membership.

Use of data processors

Data processors are third parties who provide elements of our membership service for us. We have contracts in place with all our data processors. This means that they cannot do anything with your personal information unless we have instructed them to do it, save for the purposes of fulfilling their own legal responsibilities. They will not share your personal information with any organisation apart from us. They will hold it securely and retain it for the period we instruct.

Our website services are provided by Savage & Gray Design Ltd, whose personal data policy can be found here.

IT support is provided by Maple Blue Ltd.

If you pay by card, we use a secure, cloud-based payment service provided by Sage Pay. We do not store details of your debit or credit card on our servers or in our offices. You can read more about Sage Pay’s privacy and security measures here.

If you join online via Direct Debit, we use the ‘Join Together’ platform to process your application. You can read their privacy statement here.

We also use a secure, cloud-based membership system provided by Wild Apricot Inc. This minimises the amount of information stored on our office servers. Your application and membership data will be stored on this system. It is password protected and only accessible by authorised WGGB staff. You can read about Wild Apricot’s privacy and security measures here.

We use Wild Apricot to facilitate some of our email communication with members, usually about the status of their membership. It is possible to opt out of these emails, but it may result in a loss of services and/or membership fees falling into arrears.

Training and Events

We use Zoom plc to host some training sessions and a number of our online events. You can access their full suite of privacy and compliance documents here

We occasionally use external trainers to provide courses of interest to our members. We do not share member or non member contact information with those trainers other than first names for registration purposes.

When ticketing our training and events we use either Microsoft Office 365 products or occasionally, a third party, Eventbrite to collect the data. You can read how Microsoft treats that data here and the Eventbright privacy notice here.

If you register for one of our events, we may contact you in the future, however, you will always be offered the opportunity to unsubscribe from any correspondence.

Respondents to our surveys

Should we survey our members or the general public, we use third parties, SurveyMonkey or Microsoft Office 365 to collect the data. You can read SurveyMonkey’s privacy notice here .

Details of how that data is treated in Microsoft Office 365 can be viewed here.

Telephone calls

When you call WGGB’s office we use a telephone system provided by HostComm. HostComm collect Calling Line Identification (CLI) information. A copy of their privacy policy can be viewed here.

Emails

Our email service is provided by Microsoft Office 365; details of how that data is treated can be viewed here.

We will also monitor any emails sent to us, including file attachments, for viruses or malicious software. Please be aware that you have a responsibility to ensure that any email you send is within the bounds of the law.

Social media

We use a third-party providers, Hootsuite and TweetDeck to help manage our social media interactions.

If you send us a private or direct message via social media the message will be stored for no more than three (3) months. It will not be shared with any other organisations.

Document management

WGGB uses Microsoft Office 365 as its document management system (see above).

Award nominations

We use a third-party, Ali Welsh Events, to manage the WGGB Awards. Other award ceremonies are organised in-house. When individuals complete a nomination for the WGGB Awards they submit their information and that of the nominee in an application form. Any personal information that is provided is used for the purpose of reviewing the nomination, determining the winners and issuing invitations to the event. Information about the winners, such as biographies and photos, will also be published on our website. WGGB may use the information to contact you in the future, but you will always be given the opportunity to unsubscribe from future communications.

Disclosure of personal information to third parties, including trade union membership

WGGB will not share your personal information with any commercial organisations.

The names, email addresses and phone contact numbers of members may be shared with elected officials in your region and craft area following acceptance of your application. In exceptional circumstances, a WGGB committee may vote to delegate specific tasks to committee members that may require limited access to members’ names and contact details. If you do not wish your details to be shared with elected officials or committee nominees, please contact us at dataprotection@writersguild.org.uk

The names of elected officials and committee chairs will be in the public domain. By standing for election to such a position, you consent to your trade union membership being in the public domain.

Similarly, members who choose to make use of WGGB’s ‘Find a Writer’ service or complete a ‘Why I’m a Member’ or ‘My Life as a Writer’ profile will be placing their data, including their trade union membership status, in the public domain. We may also, with your explicit consent, publish testimonials and your photograph on our website. Similarly, members who choose to promote upcoming work or appear in our newsletter may be placing their membership status in the public domain.

In most circumstances, we will not disclose personal data to external agencies or other third parties without your explicit consent. However, there may be occasions on which we do so either to comply with trade union legislation, to secure payments for our members, or to produce anonymised statistics. Where we do so, our legal basis for allowing such processing is our legitimate interests, namely the interests of our members, the proper administration of our services, and in furtherance of the objects of the WGGB.

International transfers

We work solely with world-class suppliers, some of whom have branches outside the European Economic Area (‘EEA’). Any transfers of your personal information outside the EEA take place only subject to appropriate safeguards as provided in data protection law. These safeguards are intended to secure your rights as a data subject with respect to any relevant non-EEA domiciled entities.

WGGB services

The WGGB offers various services to our members. Where appropriate, we use third parties to carry out certain services. These third parties are only permitted to use the information for the purpose specified in our agreement with them.

We have to hold the details of the individuals who have requested our services in order to provide them. However, we only use these details to provide the service the person has requested and for other closely related purposes. For example, we might use information about people who have requested assistance from us to carry out a survey to find out if they are happy with the level of service they received. We will only carry out such activities for the purpose of fulfilling our responsibilities to WGGB members.

Contract vetting and legal services

Our legal and contract vetting services are provided by gunnercooke and Contracts People. Please click on their names to view their privacy policies.

Pensions
If you join the WGGB pension scheme, pensions advice is provided by Bodkins Consulting Ltd. The pension scheme is administered and run by Aviva. A copy of their privacy policy can be viewed here.

E-newsletter

We use a third-party provider, MailChimp, to deliver our weekly e-newsletters. We gather statistics around email opening and clicks using industry standard technologies including clear gifs to help us monitor and improve our e-newsletter. For more information, please see MailChimp’s privacy notice here.

Recipients can unsubscribe from our newsletter at any time by following the link at the bottom of every issue.

Our website

When someone visits www.writersguild.org.uk we use a third-party service, Google Analytics, to collect standard internet log information and details of visitor behaviour patterns. We do this to find out things such as the number of visitors to the various parts of the site. This information is only processed in a way which does not identify anyone. We do not make, and do not allow Google to make, any attempt to find out the identities of those visiting our website. If we do want to collect personally identifiable information through our website, we will be up front about this. If this policy changes, we will make it clear when we collect personal information and will explain what we intend to do with it.

Use of cookies by WGGB

You can read more about how we use cookies on our Cookies page.

Search engine

Our website search and decision notice search is powered by WordPress. Search queries and results are logged anonymously to help us improve our website and search functionality. For more information about this service please see here.

Security measures

WGGB operates an internal Information Security Policy in co-operation with its website service provider Savage & Grey Design Ltd. We have taken technical and organisational measures to ensure our own and our suppliers’ information security standards are appropriate to the risks associated with the personal data processing we undertake. Our security objectives include guaranteeing the confidentiality, integrity and availability of personal data and the resilience of the systems that process it.

Job applicants, current and former WGGB employees

WGGB is the data controller for the information you provide during the process unless otherwise stated. If you have any queries about the process or how we handle your information please contact us at admin@writersguild.org.uk

What will we do with the information you provide to us?

All of the information you provide during the process will only be used for the purpose of progressing your application, or to fulfil legal or regulatory requirements if necessary.

We will not share any of the information you provide during the recruitment process with any third parties for marketing purposes. The information you provide will be held securely by us and/or our data processors whether the information is in electronic or physical format.

We will use the contact details you provide to us to contact you to progress your application. We will use the other information you provide to assess your suitability for the role you have applied for.

What information do we ask for, and why?

We do not collect more information than we need to fulfil our stated purposes and will not retain it for longer than is necessary.

The information we ask for is used to assess your suitability for employment. You don’t have to provide what we ask for but it might affect your application if you don’t.

How we make decisions about recruitment

Final recruitment decisions are made by hiring managers and members of our recruitment team. All of the information gathered during the application process is taken into account.

You are able to ask about decisions made about your application by speaking to your contact within our recruitment team or by emailing hr@writersguild.org.uk

Application stage

We ask you for your personal details including name and contact details. We will also ask you about your previous experience and education. Our recruitment team will have access to all of this information.

You will also be asked to provide equal opportunities information. This is not mandatory information – if you don’t provide it, it will not affect your application. This information will not be made available to any staff outside of our recruitment team, including hiring managers, in a way which can identify you. Any information you do provide will be anonymised and used only to produce and monitor equal opportunities statistics.

Shortlisting

Our hiring managers shortlist applications for interview. They will not be provided with your equal opportunities information if you have provided it.

Assessments

We might ask you to attend an interview. Information will be generated by you and by us. For example, you might complete a written test or we might take interview notes. This information is collected in order to determine your suitability for the position you have applied for.

If you are unsuccessful following assessment for the position you have applied for, we may ask if you would like your details to be retained in our talent pool for a period of twelve (12) months. If you say yes, we would proactively contact you should any further suitable vacancies arise.

Conditional offer

If we make a conditional offer of employment we will ask you for information so that we can carry out pre-employment checks. You must successfully complete pre-employment checks to progress to a final offer. We are required to confirm the identity of our staff, their right to work in the United Kingdom and seek assurance as to their trustworthiness, integrity and reliability.

You will therefore be required to provide proof of your identity – you will be asked to attend our office with original identity documents and we will take copies of these documents.

We will also ask for the details of two (2) people who we will contact directly to obtain references.

If we make a final offer of employment, we will also ask you for the following:

• Bank details – to process salary payments
• Emergency contact details – so we know who to contact in case you have an emergency at work
• Whether you would like to contribute to the WGGB pension scheme.

Our rules may require staff to declare if they have any potential conflicts of interest. If you complete a declaration, the information will be held on your personnel file.

Third parties with access to personal data of staff

If you are employed by the WGGB, relevant details about you will be provided to Gillespie Inverarity & Co (London) Ltd who provide payroll services to the WGGB. This will include your name, bank details, address, date of birth, National Insurance number and salary.

Likewise, your details will be provided to Prudential plc who are the administrators of the WGGB pension scheme. You will be auto-enrolled into the pension scheme and the details provided to the Prudential will be your name, date of birth, National Insurance number and salary. Your bank details will not be passed to the Prudential at this time.

Internships

We also offer opportunities for people to come and work with us on an internship basis. We accept applications from individuals or from organisations who think they could benefit from their staff working with us.

Applications are sent directly to the WGGB. Once we have considered your application, if we are interested in speaking to you further, we’ll contact you using the details you provided.

We might ask you to provide more information about your skills and experience or invite you to an interview.

If we do not have any suitable work at the time, we’ll let you know but we might ask you if you would like us to retain your application so that we can proactively contact you about possible opportunities in the future.

If you secure an internship at WGGB, you will be expected to adhere to a confidentiality agreement and code of conduct which will be agreed with your organisation.

We might also ask you to complete our pre-employment checks.

We ask for this information so that we fulfil our obligations to avoid conflicts of interest and to protect the information we hold.

Data retention policy

Members. We retain the details of former and lapsed members in our secure archive, unless asked to remove them, for a period of six (6) years. Members in our archive do not receive communications from us, nor are their details shared with officials. We use this data to help us understand membership trends so we can improve the support we offer members.

Employees and interns. The information you provide during the application process will be retained by us as part of your employee file for the duration of your employment. When your employment ends, your details will be retained for six (6) years following the end of your employment. This includes records of any security checks and references.

Unsuccessful candidates and internship applicants. The information you have provided will be retained for twelve (12) months from the closure of the campaign. We retain this information in order to inform you if a suitable vacancy arises.

Information generated throughout the assessment process for all staff, for example interview notes, will be retained by us for six (6) months following the closure of the process.

Anonymised equal opportunities information will be retained following the closure of the campaign whether the applicant is successful or not.

Complaints or queries

The WGGB aspires to the highest standards in relation to the conduct and treatment of both our staff and members in relation to matters concerning data protection. For this reason, we take any complaints we receive very seriously. We encourage people to bring it to our attention if they think that our collection or use of personal information is unfair, misleading or inappropriate. We would also welcome any suggestions for improving our procedures.

Making a complaint

If you want to make a complaint about the way we have processed your personal information, please email us at dataprotection@writersguild.org.uk

When we receive a complaint from a person we make up a file containing the details of the complaint. This normally contains the identity of the complainant and any other individuals involved in the complaint.

We will only use the personal information we collect to process the complaint and to assess the level of service we provide. We may compile and publish statistics showing information, such as the number of complaints we receive, but not in a form which identifies anyone.

Similarly, where enquiries are submitted to us we will only use the information supplied to us to deal with the enquiry and any subsequent issues and to check on the level of service we provide.

Links to other websites

This privacy notice does not cover the material hosted on other websites accessible via links within this site. We encourage you to read the privacy statements on the other websites you visit.

Changes to this privacy notice

We keep our privacy notice under regular review and reserve the right to amend this policy from time to time. This privacy notice was last updated on 29 January 2024.

Contact

If you have any other queries about this Privacy Notice or any other data protection matters, please email dataprotection@writersguild.org.uk

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v 3.0.