The short version: We collect only what's needed to run this service. We don't sell your data, share it with advertisers, or do anything creepy with it. Apart from Google Analytics (only with your consent) and basic visit counting on our landing page, there is absolutely no tracking whatsoever on this website — no ad networks, no profiling, no third-party cookies.
Who we are
The Simple Church Rota is a volunteer scheduling service for churches, operated from Great Britain. You can contact us at .
What data we collect and why
1. Account information
When a church registers or a volunteer accepts an invitation, we store:
- Name and email address
- Church name, and optionally: contact name, address, telephone, website
- A securely hashed password (we never store your actual password)
- Account preferences (e.g. email and SMS notification settings)
- Mobile phone number (optional — only if you choose to enable SMS notifications)
This is the information needed to run your rota, send email and SMS notifications about assignments and swap requests, and manage your account. Name, email address, and password are required to provide the service. Mobile number is entirely optional and only used if you choose to enable SMS notifications.
Legal basis: Performance of a contract (providing the service you signed up for).
2. Rota and scheduling data
The service stores rota assignments, availability, swap requests, messages, and service dates that you and your church create. This data belongs to your church and is used solely to operate the rota system.
Legal basis: Performance of a contract.
3. Payment information
Payments are processed by Stripe. We never see or store your card details — Stripe handles that entirely. We do store your Stripe customer ID so we can manage your subscription. Stripe's privacy policy is available at stripe.com/gb/privacy.
Legal basis: Performance of a contract.
4. Landing page visit statistics
When you visit our landing page, we record an anonymised visit in our own database. This stores:
- A one-way hash of your IP address (the original IP is never stored and cannot be recovered)
- The referring website or search engine, if any
- Approximate time spent on the page
- UTM campaign parameters if you arrived via a link in our email
No personal data is stored. This data is used only to understand how many people visit our landing page and where they come from.
Legal basis: Legitimate interest (basic, anonymised website analytics).
5. Google Analytics (optional — with your consent)
We use Google Analytics 4 to understand visit patterns, device types, and geographic regions. This only loads if you click "That's fine" on our cookie banner. If you decline, Google Analytics does not run at all.
You can change your mind at any time by clearing your browser's local storage for this site, which will show the banner again on your next visit.
Legal basis: Consent.
6. Google Calendar integration (optional)
If you choose to connect your Google Calendar, we request permission to create, update and delete calendar events on your behalf using the calendar.events scope. This allows your rota assignments to sync automatically to your personal Google Calendar.
We use this permission solely to:
- Create calendar events when you are assigned to a rota slot
- Update those events if your assignment changes
- Remove those events if you are removed from a slot
We do not read, access or store any of your existing Google Calendar data. Your Google OAuth access token is stored securely in our database solely to perform these sync operations. You can disconnect Google Calendar at any time from your account settings, which will immediately revoke our access and remove your stored token.
Legal basis: Consent.
What we absolutely do not do
- Sell your data to anyone, ever
- Share your data with advertisers or marketing companies
- Use ad networks, retargeting pixels, or behavioural tracking
- Profile volunteers or church members
- Set any third-party cookies (other than Google Analytics, with consent)
- Send unsolicited marketing emails to your volunteers
Email communications
We send emails to account holders for the following purposes:
- Rota assignment notifications
- Swap and cover request notifications
- Church-wide messages sent by your admin
- Account-related emails (email verification, password reset)
- Service-related updates (subscription, billing)
You can turn off rota notification emails from your account settings. Account and billing emails cannot be turned off as they are necessary for the service.
SMS notifications (opt-in only)
You can optionally provide your mobile phone number to receive SMS text message notifications for time-sensitive rota events, including:
- Swap requests sent to you
- Urgent cover needed requests
- Last-minute cover requests
- Any future notification types we introduce
SMS notifications are entirely opt-in. You will not receive any SMS unless you add your mobile number to your account profile and enable SMS notifications in your account settings. No SMS will ever be sent without your explicit consent.
Your mobile number is used solely to deliver these rota notifications. It is never shared with third parties for marketing or any other purpose. Standard network message rates may apply depending on your mobile provider.
You can remove your mobile number or disable SMS notifications at any time from your account settings, which will stop all further SMS messages immediately.
Legal basis: Consent.
Data retention
We keep your data for as long as your account is active. If you cancel your subscription and wish your data to be deleted, email us and we'll remove it within 30 days.
Your rights under UK GDPR
As a UK-based service, we operate under the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR). You have the right to:
- Access the personal data we hold about you
- Correct inaccurate data
- Request deletion of your data ("right to be forgotten")
- Object to processing based on legitimate interest
- Withdraw consent for analytics at any time
- Lodge a complaint with the ICO (ico.org.uk) if you believe we've mishandled your data
To exercise any of these rights, email us at . We'll respond within 30 days.
Third-party services
The only third-party services we use are:
- Stripe — for payment processing
- Google Analytics 4 — for website analytics (consent required)
- Google Fonts — for typography (loaded from Google's CDN)
- Font Awesome — for icons (loaded from Cloudflare's CDN)
- Your email provider — we send rota emails via our own mail server
- Google Calendar API — for syncing rota assignments to volunteers' personal calendars (only if connected by the volunteer)
- SMS gateway provider — for delivering SMS notifications to volunteers who have opted in. Your mobile number is passed to this provider solely for message delivery and is not retained by them for any other purpose.
- Third-party weather service — we may display weather information based on church location using a third-party weather service.
Changes to this policy
If we make significant changes to this policy, we'll notify account holders by email. The "last updated" date at the top of this page will always reflect the most recent revision.