This policy explains what People's Powerhouse does with personal data in the Coast to Coast community listening programme. It covers three groups of people, and what we hold is very different for each:
- Community members whose conversations are recorded;
- Local Listeners who record those conversations for us;
- Supporters and attendees who sign up for updates or come to our events.
People's Powerhouse is the data controller.
Post: People's Powerhouse, c/o Mitchell Charlesworth, 3rd Floor,
44 Peter Street, Manchester M2 5GP
Email: james@peoplespowerhouse.org.uk
Data protection lead: James Armstrong, Connection and Impact Manager, is responsible for data protection at People's Powerhouse. If you have a question about your data, want to exercise any of your rights, or want to raise a concern, contact him at james@peoplespowerhouse.org.uk.
If your conversation was recorded
What we hold
- the audio recording of the conversation;
- a written transcript of it;
- a summary of the themes in what you said, produced by an AI system;
- the town or area where the conversation happened, and the date;
- a note of how your consent was given.
We do not ask for or record your name, address or contact details as part of a listening conversation.
Our lawful basis
Your consent (UK GDPR Article 6(1)(a)). Because a conversation may touch on things like your health, beliefs or political views - which the law treats as "special category" data - we also rely on your explicit consent under Article 9(2)(a). That is why consent is asked for and recorded before anything is captured.
Who helps us process it
| Who | What they do |
|---|---|
| AssemblyAI | Turns the audio into a written transcript |
| Anthropic (Claude) | Reads the transcript to summarise themes |
| Google Firebase | Stores the audio and transcript (London, UK) |
These suppliers act on our instructions only. They are not permitted to use what you said for their own purposes, and we do not sell or share recordings with anyone for marketing.
If you tell us something that worries us
If a Listener believes you or someone else may be at risk of harm, they will raise a safeguarding concern. In that situation we may share relevant information with the appropriate authority or support service. We would normally tell you we were doing so, unless doing so would increase the risk to someone.
If you are a Local Listener
To engage you and pay you, we hold:
- your name, email address, phone number and postal address;
- your bank details, used only to pay your invoices;
- the agreements and policies you signed, and when;
- your training and safeguarding course records;
- a record of the conversations you submitted, and invoices raised.
Lawful basis: performance of our contract with you (Article 6(1)(b)), and our legal obligations around payment and record-keeping (Article 6(1)(c)).
Your bank details are held separately from the rest of your record, are never visible to other Listeners, and are only ever seen by the small number of staff who process payments.
If you signed up for updates, an event or a webinar
We hold your name and email address, and anything else you chose to give us. Marketing email is sent only where you have opted in (Article 6(1)(a)); every message carries an unsubscribe link, and unsubscribing is immediate and permanent.
Event registration and ticketing may involve Eventbrite, online events use LiveKit for video, and our email is sent through Twilio SendGrid. Town names are turned into map coordinates by OpenStreetMap - never your name or contact details.
How long we keep things
| What | How long |
|---|---|
| Your conversation audio | 48 months from the date of the conversation, then deleted automatically |
| The transcript and theme summary | Kept - this is the research record |
| Notes from meetings with our staff | Full notes stripped after 48 months, summary retained |
| Local Listener records | As long as you work with us, then as long as tax and employment law requires |
| Supporter records | Until you unsubscribe or ask us to erase you |
You do not have to wait for that. If you ask us to delete your recording, we will delete it straight away.
Your rights
Under UK GDPR you can ask us to:
- tell you what we hold about you, and give you a copy;
- correct anything that is wrong;
- erase your data;
- stop or restrict how we use it;
- give you your data in a portable format;
- withdraw your consent - which you can do at any time, without giving a reason.
Email james@peoplespowerhouse.org.uk and we will reply within one month. If you are unhappy with how we have handled your data you can complain to the Information Commissioner's Office at ico.org.uk or on 0303 123 1113.
Security
Data is held in Google Firebase in the UK. Access is limited to named staff accounts with defined roles, recordings and contact records cannot be read directly by the public, and sensitive actions are logged.
Changes
If we change this policy we will update the date at the top of this page.
Website statistics
We count how many times each page of this website is viewed, so we know which information people find useful. This counting is done by us, on our own systems. It sets no cookies, creates no identifier for you, and stores no IP address or device details. We record only the page address, the date, and, if you arrived from another website, that website's name. There is no way for us to tell who you are or to follow you between visits, which is why you are not asked to consent to it.