Privacy Policy

2. Information we collect

• Your name, postal address, postcode, telephone number and email address.
• Information supplied when sponsoring a programme, including the requested date, sponsorship package, purpose, message, family members’ names and relationships, requested bhajans and additional instructions.
• Information contained in emails, telephone calls, WhatsApp messages, letters or other communications.
• Donation and payment information, such as the amount, date, payment reference and payment method. We do not currently ask you to enter payment-card details on our website.
• Information you provide when applying to volunteer, present, advertise, collaborate with or otherwise support Sanskar Radio.
• Technical information generated when you use our website, such as your IP address, browser, device type, approximate location, referring page, pages visited and access times.
• Cookie preferences and information collected through cookies or similar technologies.
• Recordings or other contributions you voluntarily submit for possible broadcast.

Depending on how you interact with us, we may collect:
Some sponsorship messages, bhajan requests or communications may reveal religious beliefs or other information classed as special-category personal data. We only use such information when we have an appropriate legal basis and an additional condition under data protection law, such as your explicit consent.

Please do not provide sensitive information about another person unless you have their permission to do so.

3. How we use your information

We may use personal information to:

• Process and administer programme sponsorship requests.
• Arrange requested programme dates, messages and devotional music.
• Contact you about a sponsorship, donation, enquiry or other request.
• Issue confirmations, acknowledgements or receipts.
• Operate and improve our radio service and website.
• Respond to messages received by email, telephone, post or WhatsApp.
• Manage relationships with sponsors, donors, presenters, volunteers, advertisers and community partners.
• Maintain financial, donation and sponsorship records.
• Prevent fraud, misuse, security incidents and disruption to our services.
• Comply with tax, accounting, safeguarding and other legal obligations.
• Establish, exercise or defend legal claims.
• Send news or fundraising communications where you have consented or where the law otherwise permits us to do so.
• Publish or broadcast a dedication, name, message or contribution when you have asked us to do so.

Submitting a sponsorship request does not automatically mean that every part of your message will be broadcast. We may edit or omit material where necessary for scheduling, editorial, legal or safeguarding reasons.

5. Our lawful bases

We rely on one or more of the following lawful bases:

• Contract: where processing is necessary to provide something you requested or to take steps before entering into an arrangement with you.
• Legitimate interests: where necessary to operate, administer, secure and improve Sanskar Radio, provided those interests do not override your rights.
• Legal obligation: where we must retain or disclose information to comply with the law.
• Consent: where you have made a clear choice, such as consenting to optional cookies, marketing or the use of sensitive information.
• Vital interests: in rare circumstances where processing is necessary to protect someone’s life.

Where information reveals religious beliefs or other special-category information, we will also rely on an appropriate condition under Article 9 of the UK GDPR. This will ordinarily be your explicit consent when you ask us to use or broadcast that information.

You may withdraw consent at any time by contacting us. Withdrawal does not affect processing that lawfully took place before consent was withdrawn.

5. Programme sponsorships and dedications

The sponsorship form currently requests contact information, an address, programme preferences, occasion details, family names and relationships, bhajan requests and a personal message.

We use this information to administer the sponsorship and prepare the requested programme. Information intended for a dedication may be read on air and therefore become publicly available to listeners. Online broadcasts may be available internationally, and recordings may remain available through our Listen Again service.

Before providing information about family members or other individuals, please ensure that they understand and agree that their information may be used or broadcast in this way.

Do not include unnecessary sensitive or confidential information in your dedication.

6. Donations and payments

Donations and sponsorship payments may currently be made by bank transfer, cash or cheque. Banks and payment providers process payment information under their own privacy notices.

We retain appropriate records of donations and sponsorship payments for accounting, fraud prevention, regulatory and tax purposes. We do not receive your complete online-banking credentials.

If Gift Aid or another tax-relief scheme is offered, additional information may be collected and disclosed to HM Revenue & Customs as required by law.

7. Live broadcasts and Listen Again

Our website provides access to a live audio stream and links to a third-party Listen Again service. When you play or access audio, the streaming provider may receive technical information such as your IP address, device information, access time and programme requested.

Listen Again is currently provided through an external service hosted at podcast.canstream.co.uk. That provider’s processing is also governed by its own privacy information.

If you call, message or contribute to a programme, tell the presenter if you do not want your name or contribution broadcast. Live contributions cannot always be edited before transmission.

8. WhatsApp and social media

Our website may link to WhatsApp and social-media services. If you contact us through these services, the relevant provider may process information about you under its own privacy policy.

Those providers may process information outside the United Kingdom. Please avoid sending confidential financial, identification or safeguarding information through social media or WhatsApp unless requested through an appropriate secure process.

9. Cookies

Our website may use cookies and similar technologies to:

• Enable essential website and audio-player functions.
• Remember preferences.
• Maintain security.
• Measure website usage and performance.
• Support content supplied by third parties.

Strictly necessary cookies may be used without consent where permitted by law. We will ask for consent before using non-essential analytics, advertising or similar cookies.

You can accept, reject or adjust non-essential cookies through our cookie controls. You can also manage cookies through your browser, although blocking essential cookies may affect parts of the website.

A separate cookie notice should identify each cookie or similar technology, its provider, purpose and duration.

10. Who we share information with

Where necessary, information may be shared with:

• Website hosting, email, IT support and security providers.
• Streaming, podcast and Listen Again service providers.
• Banks, accountants and professional advisers.
• Trustees, authorised staff, presenters and volunteers who require the information.
• Communications providers such as WhatsApp.
• Regulators, law-enforcement agencies, courts, HM Revenue & Customs or other authorities when legally required.
• A successor organisation if Sanskar Radio is reorganised or its operations are transferred.

We do not sell personal information.

Service providers acting on our behalf must only use personal information for authorised purposes and must protect it appropriately.

11. International transfers

Some providers, including communications, social-media, hosting and streaming services, may process personal information outside the United Kingdom.

Where UK law requires it, we use appropriate safeguards, such as UK adequacy regulations or approved contractual protections. You may contact us for further information about safeguards relevant to your information.

12. How long we keep information

We keep information only for as long as reasonably necessary. Our expected retention periods are:

• Unsuccessful or incomplete sponsorship enquiries: up to 12 months.
• Completed sponsorship, donation and accounting records: generally six years after the end of the relevant financial year, or longer if required by law.
• General enquiries: normally up to two years after the matter is closed.
• Consent and marketing-preference records: for as long as needed to demonstrate and respect your choices.
• Security and technical logs: normally no longer than 12 months, unless required to investigate an incident.
• Broadcast recordings and material of historical or community significance: potentially longer, where retention is justified for editorial, archival or public-interest purposes.

These periods may be extended where information is required for a complaint, safeguarding matter, investigation or legal claim.

13. Security

We use reasonable organisational and technical measures to protect personal information against accidental loss, unauthorised access, alteration or disclosure.

No internet or email system is completely secure. Please do not send payment credentials, passwords or unnecessary sensitive information by ordinary email or through a public form.

14. Children’s information

Our services and community activities may involve children and young people, but this website is not intended to collect children’s personal information without appropriate adult involvement.

A parent or guardian should contact us on behalf of a child where appropriate. Please do not submit a child’s full name, contact details, image, voice recording or other identifying information for broadcast without the necessary authority and consent.

15. Your rights

Subject to applicable law, you may have the right to:

• Ask for a copy of your personal information.
• Ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete information.
• Ask us to erase information.
• Ask us to restrict how information is used.
• Object to processing based on legitimate interests or to direct marketing.
• Receive certain information in a portable format.
• Withdraw consent at any time.
• Complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office.

Some rights are subject to legal exemptions and may not apply in every situation.

To exercise a right, email studio@sanskarradio.com. We may need to verify your identity before fulfilling your request.

16. Complaints

Please contact us first if you have a concern so that we can try to resolve it.

You may also complain to the UK Information Commissioner’s Office:

Information Commissioner’s Office

17. External links

Our website contains links to services and websites operated by other organisations. We are not responsible for their privacy practices. Please review their privacy information before providing personal information.

18. Changes to this policy

We may update this Privacy Policy when our services, providers or legal obligations change. The latest version will be posted on this page with its revision date. Significant changes may also be communicated through the website or other appropriate channels.

19. Contact us

Questions about this Privacy Policy or our use of personal information should be sent to:

The draft reflects the information collected by the current sponsorship form and the site’s external streaming, WhatsApp and Listen Again links. ICO guidance requires a privacy notice to explain purposes, retention and recipients, and generally requires consent before non-essential cookies are placed. See the ICO’s privacy-notice guidance and cookie guidance.

This is a practical draft, not formal legal advice. In addition to confirming the operator’s legal identity, the website owner should verify actual cookies, hosting and analytics providers, internal retention periods, streaming-provider arrangements and whether sponsorship dedications are retained in recordings.