Data Retention Policy
Last updated: 18.10.2026. Version: 1.1.
1. Why we have this policy
We keep personal information only as long as it is needed. This policy says how long each kind of information is kept on Pastors Network, and what happens at the end.
Two kinds of information are covered:
- your own account, which Concentric IT Ltd is responsible for;
- your church’s records about its people, which your church is responsible for. We keep them for the church, on its instructions. The church decides how long most of them are kept, and can delete them at any time.
2. The 30-day trash
In most tools, when you delete something it goes to a trash first. You can restore it for 30 days. After 30 days it is deleted for good, automatically, each night.
This applies to: members, notes, prayer points, documents, pulpit dates, processes and their steps and details, library books, compliance records, and serving jobs with the answers people gave to them. It also applies to people removed from Compliance, who are cleared together with their records.
When a member is deleted for good, their pastoral visits, prayer points, wedding or funeral details and compliance records go with them.
3. How long things are kept
Your own account
| Information | How long |
|---|---|
| Your account and profile | Until you delete your account |
| If you do not sign in for 12 months | If you have not signed in for 11 months, we email you. If you still have not signed in by the 12-month mark (at least 30 days after the email), your personal details are removed from the account and replaced, so you can no longer be identified. Lay preachers are not affected. If you are the only active pastor, elder or administrator of an approved church, we review the account by hand instead. |
| When you delete your account | Nothing happens for 7 days, so you can change your mind. Then your details, login, notes, “Just me” prayers and personal library go. Records that belong to your church stay with it. Records that involve other people stay, with your name replaced by “Former member”. |
| When you agreed to the Privacy Policy and Terms, and which version | While your account exists |
| Your usage record (which parts of the platform you used, and when) | 180 days. Removed at once if you delete your account. |
| Activity log (sign-ins, and sensitive actions such as downloads) | 12 months |
| Reports and concerns sent to us (“Report a fault or suggestion”, “Report a concern”) | The email goes to our support inbox, where it is kept for 12 months. The activity log keeps the subject, the category and the sender’s name and email for 12 months; if the email cannot be sent, the whole report is kept there instead, for 12 months |
| Bell notices | 90 days |
| Your data download | The link works for 24 hours. The file is deleted as soon as you have downloaded it, or after 24 hours. |
| A registration not yet approved | The password you chose is held only scrambled, and only until approval. Unused sign-up links are cleared after 7 days. |
| A registration that is turned down | The password is deleted at once and the email address is removed from the record. The name is deleted after 30 days. Our activity log keeps the email address for 12 months. |
Things you share with other churches
| Information | How long |
|---|---|
| Pulpit dates and swaps | While your church’s account is active. Deleted dates go to the trash for 30 days. |
| Calendar events | While your church’s account is active, or until you delete them |
| Ask for Help requests and offers | Deleted 3 months after the request is sorted or withdrawn. A reopened request is kept. |
| BookBuy lists | While the account is active, or until deleted |
| Library loans | The book’s owner keeps the loan history while the book is on their shelf. The activity log notes that a loan happened, but not the borrower’s name. |
People who have been invited
| Information | How long |
|---|---|
| A guest speaker invitation nobody answered | Deleted 30 days after it expires. An invitation lasts 14 days. |
| A guest speaker a church has added but not yet invited (“Ready to invite”) | Until the church removes them, or 12 months after the church last changed them |
| Recommendations of a guest speaker | Until the speaker deletes their account, or either church closes |
| Team and church invitations | Deleted 30 days after they expire |
Your church’s records (the church decides)
| Information | How long |
|---|---|
| Members list | Until the church deletes the person (then the 30-day trash). Your church is asked to review its records once a year (section 6). |
| Pastoral visits and prayer points | While the member is on the list, unless deleted sooner. They go with the member. |
| Compliance records, including DBS details | Until the church deletes them (then the 30-day trash). The church should remove records it no longer needs, in line with its own safeguarding policy. DBS certificate images are not accepted. |
| Processes, including wedding and funeral details | Until the church deletes the process run (then the 30-day trash), or deletes the member |
| Documents and building records | Until the church deletes them (then the 30-day trash) |
| Everything, when a church’s account is closed | The church has 30 days to download its records or ask us for a copy. At the end of those 30 days, everything is deleted, with its files. Its nightly copies are deleted at the same time. |
Behind the scenes
| Information | How long |
|---|---|
| Nightly copies of each church’s records | 30 days, then deleted. Locked (encrypted) with a key kept offline. Used only to put a church back after an accident. If a copy is ever used, anyone erased since is erased again at once. |
| Our host’s own backups of the whole site | Can be restored for 30 days. Our host, 20i, takes a daily backup of the whole site and its database. 20i deletes older ones when it needs the space, so some may be kept for longer. They are used only to restore the site after a failure. If one is ever used, anyone erased since is erased again at once. |
| Error records | Email addresses are shortened in them. Monthly files; the six most recent old files are kept. |
| Record of emails our email service refused | The 20 most recent, for 30 days |
| Emails sent through Postmark | Postmark keeps a copy of each email for 45 days, then deletes it. |
| Web server access logs (internet addresses) | 3 months. This is set by our host, 20i, for all its customers. |
4. What “deleted” means
When something is deleted for good, it is removed from the database. A copy may stay in the nightly copies for up to 30 days, and then it is gone. A copy may also stay in our host’s backups for 30 days, or sometimes longer (section 3).
Some records are “anonymised” instead of deleted: we replace the person’s name and details, so the record still makes sense but nobody can be identified from it.
5. Asking us to delete your information
You can delete your own account yourself (My Profile, Privacy). Or email dp@pastorsnetwork.co.uk. We will act within one month.
If your church holds your details, ask your church. If you cannot reach it, email us and we will help.
6. Keeping only what is needed
Please review what you keep on Pastors Network from time to time and delete what you no longer need. Church leaders should review their members list, pastoral visits and compliance records at least once a year.
Once every 12 months, your Dashboard asks your church to review all its records on Pastors Network and delete anything it no longer needs.
7. Review
We review this policy every year, and whenever the law or the platform changes.