Project Apis CIC Privacy Policy

Last updated: 8 June 2026

This Privacy Policy explains how Project Apis CIC collects, uses, stores and protects personal information through our website, community apiary sessions, volunteer activities, workshops, events, enquiries, and the Project Apis Hive Manager app.

1. Who we are

Project Apis CIC is a non profit community interest company that provides community beekeeping, apiary sessions, environmental education, volunteer opportunities, workshops and related community activities.

In this policy, “Project Apis CIC”, “we”, “us” and “our” means Project Apis CIC.

Organisation: Project Apis CIC

Company number: 16379655

Registered address: Unit 10, Queens Road, Great Yarmouth, NR30 3HT

Email: info@project-apis.co.uk

Website: www.project-apis.co.uk

Privacy Policy URL: https://www.project-apis.co.uk/privacy-policy

App: Project Apis Hive Manager

For data protection purposes, Project Apis CIC is the data controller for the personal information we collect and use, unless we tell you otherwise.

2. What this policy covers

This policy covers personal information collected when you:

Use the Project Apis Hive Manager app
Create an app account or volunteer profile
Attend a community apiary session
Volunteer with Project Apis CIC
Attend a workshop, talk, visit, event or training session
Complete a consent, enquiry, registration or feedback form
Contact us by email, website form, social media, phone or in person
Appear in photos or media where permission has been given
Act as an emergency contact for a volunteer or attendee
Use our website

3. Personal information we may collect

Depending on how you interact with us, we may collect the following information.

Account and app information

Name
Preferred name
Email address
Phone number, if provided
Login and account details
Profile photo, avatar or initials
App role, such as volunteer, site lead or admin
Consent preferences
Account creation date and app activity logs

Volunteer and attendance information

Apiary sessions attended
Check in records
Volunteer hours
Usual or preferred apiary
Manual attendee records, where someone attends without an app account
Age bracket, such as Under 18, 18 to 25, 26 to 40, 41 to 65, 65 plus, Prefer not to say, or Unknown
Session notes where relevant

Emergency and safety information

Emergency contact name
Emergency contact phone number
Emergency visible notes, where provided and necessary
Records showing when emergency contact information has been accessed
Reason for emergency access
Safeguarding or welfare notes where needed to keep people safe

Health, accessibility and support information

We may collect limited health, accessibility or support information where it is relevant to safe participation in beekeeping, workshops or community activities. This might include bee sting allergy information, mobility needs, communication needs, or information needed to make reasonable adjustments.

We only collect this type of information where it is needed, where you choose to provide it, or where there is a clear safety, safeguarding or legal reason.

Hive, apiary and beekeeping records

Hive inspection submissions
Hive health scores and slider values
Inspection notes
Honey extraction records
Queen and colony records
Colony installation dates
Photos uploaded to support hive or apiary records
Records of who submitted, edited or approved beekeeping data

Photos, videos and media

Profile photos uploaded by users
Photos uploaded as part of hive records, honey extraction records or site issue records
Photos or videos taken at sessions, events or workshops where permission has been given
Photo permission preferences

Website and technical information

Basic device, browser and usage information
IP address and technical logs where collected by our website or app platform
Cookies or similar technologies where used by our website
Error logs and security logs

4. How we collect information

We may collect information directly from you when you:

Create an app account
Complete a profile, consent form or registration form
Check in at an apiary session
Ask another volunteer to add your attendance
Submit hive, honey, queen or colony records
Upload a photo
Contact us or make an enquiry
Attend one of our activities

We may also receive information from a parent, carer, guardian, site lead, volunteer, partner organisation or staff member where this is necessary for attendance, safeguarding, safety, or volunteer coordination.

5. Why we use personal information

We use personal information for the following purposes:

To create and manage app accounts
To manage volunteers and community apiary sessions
To record attendance and volunteer hours
To keep accurate records for funders and grant reporting
To coordinate apiary visits, training, workshops and events
To manage hive records and colony health data
To review and approve hive inspection submissions
To manage honey extraction, queen and colony records
To contact volunteers about relevant sessions or activities
To respond to enquiries and requests for help
To support safeguarding, health, safety and emergency response
To make reasonable adjustments where needed
To protect our organisation, systems, volunteers, attendees and apiary sites
To comply with legal, regulatory, insurance and funder requirements

6. Our lawful basis for using personal information

Under UK data protection law, we must have a lawful basis for using personal information. The lawful basis we rely on depends on the situation.

Purpose	Likely lawful basis
Managing app accounts, volunteer profiles, attendance and sessions	Legitimate interests, and where relevant, performance of an agreement with you
Keeping emergency contacts and safety information	Legitimate interests, vital interests in an emergency, and legal obligations where relevant
Using limited health or accessibility information to keep people safe or provide support	Explicit consent where appropriate, vital interests in an emergency, legal obligations, and substantial public interest where safeguarding applies
Photos or videos for marketing, public updates or social media	Consent
Profile photos uploaded by users inside the app	Consent and legitimate interests in operating the app
Grant, funder and impact reporting	Legitimate interests, usually using anonymised or summarised information where possible
Legal, insurance, safeguarding or regulatory records	Legal obligation, legitimate interests, and substantial public interest where relevant

7. Special category information

Some information, such as health information, disability information, allergy information or safeguarding information, may be special category data under UK data protection law. We only collect and use this where it is necessary and proportionate.

We may use this information to:

Keep volunteers and attendees safe around bees and outdoor sites
Respond to medical incidents or emergencies
Make reasonable adjustments
Meet safeguarding responsibilities
Manage risk assessments and insurance requirements

General medical, accessibility or safeguarding notes are not shown to ordinary volunteers. Emergency visible notes may be shown only through the app’s emergency access process where someone at a session needs information for a genuine emergency or safeguarding concern.

8. Emergency contact access in the app

The Project Apis Hive Manager app includes an emergency contact access feature. Emergency contact information is normally hidden. A logged in user may access emergency information for people checked in to the current session only if there is a genuine emergency, medical issue, safeguarding concern or welfare concern.

Before emergency information is shown, the user must confirm they understand that the information is private and must select a reason for access. Access is logged and Project Apis CIC admin is alerted.

The access log may include:

Who accessed the information
The apiary and session date
The date and time of access
The reason selected
Which attendee records were viewed

9. How we use app data

The Project Apis Hive Manager app is used to manage community apiaries and volunteer activity. App users may be able to check in to sessions, add attendance, submit hive inspections, add honey extraction records, upload photos, submit queen or colony updates, and view approved hive information.

Normal volunteers can only see limited information. They cannot see other volunteers’ private contact details, medical notes, emergency contacts during normal use, admin reports, private admin notes, or approval tools.

Hive inspection, honey extraction, queen and colony updates submitted by volunteers may require admin approval before becoming official records.

10. Attendance at sessions, workshops and events

We may record attendance at community apiaries, workshops, training sessions, talks, visits and events. This helps us manage sessions safely, understand who attended, record volunteer hours, and report our impact to funders.

Where we report to funders, we normally use totals, summaries or anonymised information, such as total volunteer hours, number of sessions delivered, age bracket breakdown, or number of unique volunteers.

11. Children and young people

Some Project Apis CIC activities may involve children or young people. Where children attend, we may need information from a parent, guardian, school, community organisation or responsible adult.

We only collect information about children where it is needed for attendance, safeguarding, safety, consent, emergency contact, accessibility or activity management.

Children’s information is handled carefully and is not made public. Photos of children are only used where appropriate permission has been given.

12. Photos and media

We may take photos or videos at sessions, workshops or events. We will seek permission before using identifiable images for marketing, public updates, social media or publicity.

App users may upload a profile photo. This is separate from marketing photo permission. Uploading a profile photo means the user agrees for that profile photo to be shown inside the app to users who are allowed to see their basic profile display.

Users may also upload photos to support hive inspections, honey extraction records, equipment issues or apiary notes. These photos are used for record keeping, admin review and apiary management.

13. Who we may share information with

We do not sell personal information.

We may share information where necessary with:

Project Apis CIC directors, admins, staff and authorised volunteers
Site leads or partner sites where needed to run sessions safely
Parents, guardians, carers or emergency contacts where needed
Medical, emergency or safeguarding professionals where needed
Schools, churches, community organisations or venues involved in a session, where appropriate
Funders, using anonymised or summarised data wherever possible
Insurance providers, professional advisers or legal advisers where necessary
Technology providers that host or operate our website, app, email, forms, cloud storage or databases
Regulators, law enforcement or public authorities where legally required

Where we use technology providers, they may process information on our behalf. We expect service providers to protect personal information and only use it for the service they provide to us.

14. International transfers

Some technology providers may store or process data outside the UK. Where this happens, we rely on appropriate safeguards, such as adequacy arrangements, contractual protections, or the provider’s legally recognised transfer safeguards.

15. How we protect personal information

We use reasonable organisational and technical measures to protect personal information, including:

Role based access controls in the app
Admin only access for sensitive information
Emergency contact access logging
Approval workflows for hive and honey records
Keeping private volunteer information separate from public or general hive information
Using secure platforms and account access controls
Restricting access to people who need it
Reviewing and correcting inaccurate or duplicate data where identified

No system can be guaranteed completely secure, but we take data protection seriously and aim to keep information accurate, limited and protected.

16. How long we keep information

We keep personal information only for as long as needed for the purposes described in this policy, including volunteer management, safety, safeguarding, insurance, funder reporting, legal compliance and organisational records.

Type of information	Typical retention approach
App account and volunteer profile	Kept while the account is active, then deleted or anonymised when no longer needed, unless we need to keep limited records for legal, safeguarding, insurance or reporting reasons
Attendance and volunteer hours	Kept for organisational, funder and impact reporting records, usually in identifiable or pseudonymised form only while needed
Emergency contact details	Kept while someone is active with us and deleted or updated when no longer needed
Health, accessibility and emergency visible notes	Kept only while relevant to safe participation, unless required for safeguarding, incident, insurance or legal reasons
Safeguarding, incident or accident records	Kept in line with legal, safeguarding and insurance requirements
Hive, honey, queen and colony records	May be kept long term as project, environmental and apiary records. Personal identifiers may be removed where they are no longer needed
Photos and media	Kept while consent remains valid and the material is useful, unless removal is requested and we are able to remove it
Enquiries and general correspondence	Kept for as long as needed to respond and maintain appropriate records

17. Account deletion and data deletion

Users can request deletion of their app account and personal data through the Account section inside the Project Apis Hive Manager app.

If a user cannot access the app, they can also request deletion by emailing info@project-apis.co.uk.

When we delete an account, we will delete or anonymise personal data linked to that account unless we need to keep some information for legitimate reasons, such as safeguarding, legal claims, insurance, fraud prevention, security, funder audit records, or legal compliance.

18. Your data protection rights

Depending on the situation, you may have the right to:

Ask for a copy of your personal information
Ask us to correct inaccurate information
Ask us to delete your information
Ask us to restrict how we use your information
Object to certain uses of your information
Withdraw consent where we rely on consent
Ask for certain information in a portable format
Complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office

To make a request, contact us at info@project-apis.co.uk. We may need to confirm your identity before acting on a request.

19. Marketing and updates

We may send updates about Project Apis CIC, volunteering, apiary sessions, workshops, events or opportunities where you have asked to receive them or where we have a lawful basis to contact you.

You can ask us to stop sending non essential updates at any time. Important safety, session or account messages may still be sent where necessary.

20. Cookies and website data

Our website may use cookies or similar technologies to operate the website, understand website usage, improve pages, or support embedded services. If we use non essential cookies, we will provide appropriate information or choices where required.

21. Changes to this policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. The latest version will be published on our website at https://www.project-apis.co.uk/privacy-policy. If we make significant changes, we may also notify app users or volunteers where appropriate.

22. Contact us

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or how we use personal information, contact:

Project Apis CIC