Butterfields Funeral Directors and Memorial Masons (“Butterfields”, “we”, “us”) has cared for families in Rotherham and district since 1874, and we are committed to protecting your personal information. We understand that when you contact us you are often sharing personal and sensitive information at a very difficult time.
This policy explains what personal information we collect, what we do with it, who we may share it with and why, and the choices and rights you have over the information you give us.
Who we are
The full name of our company is C T Butterfield & Sons Limited. We are the data controller for the personal information described in this policy, and we handle it in line with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018.
Our office is at 1-9 Wood Street, Swinton, Rotherham, South Yorkshire, S64 8BA.
How to contact us
If you have any questions about this policy or about the information we hold about you, please contact our Data Protection Officer:
FAO Data Protection Officer
C T Butterfield & Sons Limited
1-9 Wood Street
Swinton, Rotherham
South Yorkshire
S64 8BA
Telephone: 01709 571777
Email: contactus@ctbutterfield.com
The information we collect
When you contact us
If you send us a message through the contact form on our website, we collect your name, email address, telephone number (if you give it), the subject of your enquiry, how you would prefer us to contact you and anything you tell us in your message. We use this only to reply to your enquiry.
When you telephone, email, write to or meet us, we keep a record of your contact with us and what we have discussed so that we can help you.
When we arrange a funeral or memorial
To arrange and carry out a funeral, or to make a memorial, we need information about the person who has died and about the people making the arrangements. This may include:
- your name and contact details, and those of other family members or representatives we are working with
- information about the person who has died, such as their name, address, age, date of birth and death, religion, doctor and next of kin
- documents we are required to handle, such as the certificate for burial or cremation and medical or coroner’s paperwork
- your wishes for the funeral, including music, readings, flowers, stationery, donations and any newspaper announcement
- the wording and details for a memorial or headstone
- payment and invoicing details
Some of this is special category (sensitive) information, such as the health of the person who has died, their religious or philosophical beliefs, or their marital or civil partnership status. We only collect and use this where it is needed to provide the service you have asked for, or to meet our legal obligations.
Funeral plans
If you apply for a funeral plan with us, we need information such as your name, address, date of birth and bank account details. You may also give us information about other people, such as joint applicants or beneficiaries. Please make sure they are happy for you to share it.
If the person who has died had a funeral plan, the information we use to carry out the funeral will most likely have been given to us by them when they took out the plan.
Where else we get information from
Most of the information we hold comes directly from you, through application forms, phone calls, emails, letters and meetings with our funeral directors, stonemasons and office staff. We may also receive information from organisations such as hospitals, care homes and hospices, for example to confirm details about the person who has died or to get up-to-date contact details if we cannot reach you directly.
Obituaries and tributes
With the family’s agreement we publish obituaries on our website, which may include the name of the person who has died, their photograph and details of the funeral.
If you leave a tribute on an obituary we collect your name and your message. Every tribute is checked by our staff before it appears, and once approved your name and message are shown publicly on the obituary. To stop automated spam we keep a scrambled, one-way version of your internet (IP) address. We cannot turn it back into your actual address, and we use it only to limit how many tributes can be sent in a short time.
When you visit our website
Our website uses cookies. Some are needed for the site to work, and others are only set if you agree to them in the cookie banner. You can read about the cookies we use, and change your choices at any time, in our Cookie Policy.
Our contact page shows an embedded Google Map. When it loads, Google may receive information such as your IP address and set its own cookies. This is covered by Google’s privacy policy.
Why we use your information
We will only ever collect and use your personal information where it is necessary, fair and lawful to do so. Our lawful reasons are:
- To provide the service you have asked for: to answer your enquiry; to arrange and carry out a funeral; to make a memorial; or to set up and manage a funeral plan.
- To meet our legal obligations: for example, completing statutory paperwork for burials and cremations, keeping financial records and responding to requests from the coroner or other authorities.
- Legitimate interests: ours, in running and protecting our business and website and dealing with questions or complaints, and those of the third parties who help carry out a funeral, such as the hospital, mortuary, cemetery office, celebrant or stationery provider.
- Your consent: for publishing obituaries and tributes, and for non-essential cookies. You can withdraw your consent at any time.
Where we handle special category information, we do so because it is necessary to carry out the service you have arranged with us, because you have given your explicit consent, or because it is needed to establish, exercise or defend legal claims.
If you do not want us to collect and use your personal information in these ways, we may not be able to provide you with our services.
Who we share your information with
We share information only when it is needed for the reasons above, or when the law requires it. This may include:
- cemetery and crematorium offices
- the coroner, registrars and other public bodies
- hospitals, mortuaries, nursing homes and hospices
- church ministers, celebrants and officiants
- charities and other recipients of donations made in memory of the person who has died
- companies you choose to help with the funeral, such as newspapers, organists, florists, caterers and stationery printers
- our accountants, IT and website providers, who handle information on our behalf and must keep it secure
- the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), our data protection regulator, where required
We will never sell your details to anyone. Whenever we share your personal information, we do so in line with our obligation to keep it safe and secure.
Where your information is processed
Your information is processed in the UK or the European Economic Area (EEA). If any of it is processed outside these areas, we take extra steps to make sure it is protected to at least the same standard as UK data protection law requires, for example by putting legal agreements in place with our suppliers.
How we keep your information safe
We take information security seriously. Whether your information is on paper, online or in any other form, it is protected by controls designed to prevent loss, misuse or damage through accident, negligence or deliberate action. Only staff who need your information to do their jobs can see it, and our staff take care to protect sensitive or confidential information when they store or send it.
How long we keep your information
We keep personal information only for as long as we need it:
- Website and general enquiries: up to two years after our last contact with you, unless they lead to a funeral arrangement.
- Funeral, memorial and funeral plan records: for as long as we are providing the service to you, and afterwards for as long as we are required to keep them for legal, regulatory and accounting purposes (at least six years). We may keep them longer if you ask us to, so that we can help your family in future.
- Obituaries and tributes: for as long as the obituary is published on our website, or until you ask us to remove them.
Your rights
Under UK data protection law you have the following rights:
- The right to be informed: to receive clear, easy-to-understand information about what personal information we hold, why, and who we share it with. This policy is how we do that.
- The right of access: to ask for a copy of the personal information we hold about you. This is known as a data subject access request.
- The right to rectification: to ask us to correct information that is inaccurate or incomplete.
- The right to erasure: to ask us to delete your information where there is no compelling reason for us to keep it.
- The right to restrict processing: to ask us to stop using your information for certain purposes. We may still keep it, but only so that we do not use it for those purposes in future.
- The right to data portability: in some circumstances, to have your information moved, copied or transferred safely to another organisation, for example if you move your funeral plan to another provider.
- The right to object: to our using your information where we rely on legitimate interests.
- The right to withdraw consent: at any time, where we rely on your consent.
To use any of these rights, please contact our Data Protection Officer using the details above. We will respond within one month, and there is normally no charge.
Data protection law covers living people only. Information about someone who has died is still treated with the same care and confidentiality, and we will only discuss a funeral with the people who arranged it or whom they have authorised.
How to make a complaint
We always aim to collect, use and protect your personal information in line with data protection law. If you are unhappy with how we, or any of the third parties described above, have handled your information, or with how we have dealt with a complaint, please contact us first and we will do our best to put things right:
FAO Data Protection Officer
C T Butterfield & Sons Limited
1-9 Wood Street, Swinton, Rotherham, South Yorkshire, S64 8BA
Telephone: 01709 571777
Email: contactus@ctbutterfield.com
You also have the right to complain directly to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the UK’s data protection regulator:
Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Telephone: 0303 123 1113
Website: ico.org.uk
Changes to this policy
We may update this policy from time to time. The latest version will always be on this page, with the date it was last updated at the top.