Privacy & Cookie Policy

Who we are

Bavs (Berwickshire) Ltd (trading as Bavs) is an independent charitable organisation registered in Scotland. We operate three charity shops across Berwickshire and the Berwickshire Reuse Hub in Chirnside.

What personal data we collect

Bavs collects personal data that you provide in the course of our business and charitable operations. We may collect data when you:

• Make an enquiry (by telephone, online, or in person)
• Seek a volunteer role with us
• Sign up to receive our newsletter
• Book onto a training, event or activity run by Bavs or a partner organisation
• Enter into a partnership, membership or associate relationship with us
• Donate goods to our charity shops or Reuse Hub and sign up for Gift Aid
• Submit an application for funding administered by Bavs
• Contact us via our website contact form or social media
• Have your details shared with us by a third party with your permission

The personal data we collect may include your name, address, email address, telephone number, organisation, and job role. Where relevant and with your agreement, we may also collect social media profile names. For activities involving young people we may collect age and emergency contact information.

Sensitive data (such as medical needs, disability, gender, ethnicity, or religion) will only be collected where specifically necessary for a particular service and with your explicit consent.

How we use your data

Your data is used to pursue our charitable objectives and meet our operational and regulatory requirements. We use it to:

• Deliver our projects, services and charitable activities
• Recruit and manage volunteers
• Process Gift Aid claims on donated goods and monetary donations
• Process funding applications and administer grants
• Provide training, events and networking opportunities
• Send our newsletter and other updates (with your consent)
• Seek new partners and funders
• Respond to enquiries about any aspect of our work
• Report, analyse and evaluate our services
• Meet our legal and regulatory obligations
• Protect us against fraud

Lawful basis for processing

Under UK GDPR, we rely on the following lawful bases for processing your personal data:

Contractual necessity

Where we have a contractual relationship with you — for example, to deliver services, engage volunteers, or administer membership — we process your data on the basis of that contract.

Legitimate interests

We rely on our legitimate interests as a charity to process data for operational and legal purposes, including dealing with enquiries, seeking funding, providing training, reporting, and promoting our charitable aims.

Legal obligation

We may process your data to comply with our legal obligations, including Gift Aid administration requirements set by HMRC and reporting to OSCR (the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator).

Consent

We rely on your explicit consent for email marketing, for collecting data from anyone under 16, and for processing any sensitive personal data.

Email marketing

With your consent, we will use your email address to send you our newsletter and updates about Bavs activities. You can opt out at any time by clicking the unsubscribe link in any email we send, or by contacting us directly.

We may also rely on the soft opt-in where you have previously used or enquired about our services and did not opt out at the time. You may still unsubscribe at any time.

We use Mailchimp to manage and distribute our newsletter. Mailchimp processes data in accordance with UK GDPR.

Sharing your data

As a general rule, we do not sell or share your personal data with third parties for commercial purposes. However, we may share data in the following circumstances:

• With organisations contracted to deliver training or services on our behalf (e.g. a trainer receiving a participant list)
• With Disclosure Scotland, where required for volunteer vetting
• With HMRC, for the purpose of Gift Aid claims
• With OSCR, to meet our regulatory obligations as a Scottish charity
• With Mailchimp, for newsletter distribution
• With our website hosting provider and IT service providers, where necessary
• If required by law, to enforce our legal rights, or to protect the health and safety of individuals

Storing your data

Your personal data is held securely, both in physical form (in locked storage) and digitally, in accordance with our Cyber Security Policy. We retain personal data only for as long as is necessary for the purpose for which it was collected, in line with our data retention schedule.

Where data is stored or processed outside the UK, we ensure appropriate safeguards are in place in accordance with UK GDPR requirements.

Cookie policy

Our website uses cookies to help it function correctly and to understand how visitors use it. A cookie is a small text file placed on your device when you visit a website.

What cookies we use

Cookie	Type	Purpose	Duration
wordpress_* wp-settings-*	Essential	WordPress session and preference cookies required for the site to function correctly.	Session / 1 year
_ga _ga_*	Analytics	Google Analytics — used to understand how visitors use our site (pages visited, time on site). No personally identifiable information is collected.	2 years
_gid	Analytics	Google Analytics — distinguishes users for statistical reporting purposes.	24 hours
cookielawinfo-*	Functional	Remembers your cookie consent preferences so we don't ask every visit.	1 year

Managing cookies

You can control and delete cookies through your browser settings. Please note that disabling certain cookies may affect the functionality of this website. For more information on managing cookies visit aboutcookies.org.

We do not use cookies for advertising or to track you across other websites.

Your rights

Under UK data protection law, you have the following rights regarding your personal data:

To exercise any of these rights, please contact us using the details below. We will respond within one month. If you are unhappy with how we have handled your data, you have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO):

How to contact us

If you have any questions about this policy, wish to exercise your data rights, or have a complaint about how we have handled your personal data, please contact:

This policy was last reviewed in May 2026 and will be reviewed annually or when there are significant changes to our data processing activities.

Other policies

The following Bavs policies are available to download: