Data protection

People have the right to see what the hall holds about them, and the hall should not keep personal details longer than it needs to. HallPro helps with both.

What you hold about someone. On a hirer’s page on the Hirers screen, Download their data gives everything in one file: their record, bookings, invoices, deposits, insurance, feedback, end-of-hire reports, faults they reported, waiting list, texts sent, and any tickets and donations under their email. For anyone else — a ticket buyer, a donor — use WordPress’s own Export Personal Data tool with their email address: HallPro’s records are included.

Letting go. Anonymise turns a hirer into “Former hirer 123”: name, email, phone, address, notes, listings and phones are removed. Bookings and invoices stay, because the accounts need them, but no longer say who. It is refused while there is anything to settle: a booking to come, an unpaid invoice, a deposit held or a refund owed. WordPress’s Erase Personal Data tool does the same by email address.

On Data protection (under Settings), choose how many years without a booking makes a former hirer (six is usual, matching the accounts), and optionally let HallPro anonymise them each night. It also removes old ticket buyers after a year, and donors once HMRC’s six years after a Gift Aid claim have passed.

A privacy notice paragraph describing what HallPro keeps is offered in WordPress’s privacy policy guide, and the booking form links to your privacy policy page.

For example: A former Pilates teacher asks the hall to delete her details. The secretary opens her on the Hirers screen: nothing is owed and nothing is booked, so she presses Anonymise. Her four years of bookings stay in the accounts as “Former hirer 58”.

Questions people ask

Is this legal advice?
No. It gives you the tools; the Information Commissioner’s Office (ico.org.uk) has guidance for small charities on what to keep and for how long.