Privacy notice: your application and case record

Draft, 4 November 2026. This notice covers the case record the Islamic Sharia Council – Northern Britain keeps when you apply for a service. The website notice covers the website itself.

Who is responsible for your information

The Islamic Centre Ltd (company number 15652088), operating as the Islamic Sharia Council – Northern Britain ("ISCN", "we"), is the controller of your personal information. Our office is Union Chambers, 2nd Floor, 41 Grainger Street, Newcastle NE1 5JE.

Privacy questions and requests go to salam@theislamicshariacouncil.org.uk. Please quote your application reference.

ICO registration number: ❓ to confirm.

What we keep

When you apply, or when you contact us about a service, we open one case record under your application reference. It can hold:

• your name and contact details, and those of any other party you name (for example a husband, wife or witness)
• the service you asked for, your answers on the application form and what you tell us
• identity documents and evidence you send us
• fees due and payments made (we see the payment status and amount from Stripe, never your card number)
• notes made by our staff and scholars, the stage your case is at, and decisions and certificates issued
• a record of who at ISCN has looked at or changed your case, and when

Some of this is special category information under UK data protection law, because it shows your religious beliefs, and may include information about your family life, health or safety.

Why we use it, and our lawful basis

• To provide the service you asked for (assessing your application, arranging scholars and hearings, issuing decisions and certificates). Lawful basis: the agreement you make with us when you apply (UK GDPR Article 6(1)(b)). For your religious information: we are a not-for-profit body with a religious aim, acting for people in regular contact with us about that aim (Article 9(2)(d)), and where needed your explicit consent, given on the application form (Article 9(2)(a)). The consent box on each application form reads: "I agree that ISCN may use the religious and family information I give on this form to handle my application, as explained in the privacy notice."
• To take and check payments. Lawful basis: our agreement with you, and our legal duty to keep financial records (Article 6(1)(c)).
• To keep people safe. If something you tell us raises a safeguarding concern, we may share what is needed with the relevant authority. Lawful basis: legal duty or vital interests, and for special category information, substantial public interest in safeguarding (Data Protection Act 2018, Schedule 1).
• To keep our systems secure, including filtering spam sent through our website. Lawful basis: our legitimate interest in running a secure service (Article 6(1)(f)).

We do not use your information for marketing, we do not publish it, and we do not sell it.

Spam checks

Our website receives a large amount of automated spam. Every submission is checked by simple rules (for example, links to known spam sites, or a missing security check). A submission that looks like spam is set aside for a member of staff to review. It is never deleted automatically, and a person can return it to the normal queue at any time. A submission with a payment is never set aside automatically. No decision about your case is made by a computer alone.

Who can see it

• ISCN staff, only as far as their role needs. Every view and change of a case record is logged.
• The scholars and the Adjudication Board dealing with your case.
• Service providers who run our systems for us, under contract and only on our instructions: our server host (Hostinger), Stripe (payments), Microsoft 365 (email and document storage) and our website host (HostGator).
• Public authorities, where the law requires it or to protect someone from harm.

Where it is held

Your case record is held on a server in the UK (Hostinger, Manchester) and copied each night, encrypted, to a computer kept by the Head of ISCN in the UK. The encryption key is kept separately. Stripe may process payment information in the United States, under the UK's approved data transfer safeguards.

How long we keep it

• enquiries that do not become an application: 12 months from your last contact
• case records: six years after the case closes
• issued certificates and final decisions: kept for as long as someone may need us to confirm them (a copy of the certificate or decision and its reference only, not the rest of the case file)
• payment records: at least six years, as UK tax law requires
• the record of who viewed or changed a case: six years after the case closes
• messages set aside as spam by our checks: 90 days

After that, records are deleted or anonymised, unless a legal or safeguarding reason means we must keep them longer.

Your rights

You can ask us for a copy of your information, ask us to correct it, ask us to delete it or limit how we use it, object to how we use it, and, where you gave consent, withdraw that consent. Write to salam@theislamicshariacouncil.org.uk with your reference. We reply within one month.

Some religious records (for example, a decision or certificate already issued) may need to be kept even if you ask us to delete them. If so, we will tell you why.

If you are unhappy with how we handle your information, please tell us first. You can also complain to the Information Commissioner's Office at ico.org.uk or on 0303 123 1113.

Changes

We will update this notice if how we use your information changes, and show the date at the top.