Aim

Thameside (Wallingford)  U3A (hereafter ‘the U3A’) treats your privacy rights seriously. This privacy policy sets out how we will deal with your ‘personal information’, that is, information that could identify, or is related to the identity of, an individual.

What personal information do we collect?

When you become a member of the U3A you will be asked to provide certain information. This includes:

• Name.
• Home address.
• Email address.
• Telephone numbers
• Gift Aid preferences

How do we collect this personal information?

All the information collected is obtained directly from you. This is usually at the point of your initial registration. The information will be collected via membership forms or online application forms. At the point that you provide your personal information for membership purposes, we will also request that you provide consent for us to store and use your data. Your consent is required in order to ensure our compliance with data protection legislation.

How do we use your personal information?

We use your personal information:

• To provide information about our U3A activities and services to you.
• For administration, planning and management of our U3A.
• To communicate with you about your group activities.
• To monitor, develop and improve the provision of our U3A activities.
• To inform you of Thames Valley Network (TVN) information

We’ll send you messages by email, other digital methods, telephone or post to advise you of U3A activities.

Who do we share your personal information with?

We may disclose information about you, including your personal information:

• Internally – to committee members and group convenors – as required to facilitate your participation in our U3A activities.
• Externally – where we use an external membership management system and with your consent for products or services such as direct mailing for the Trust magazines (Third Age Matters and Sources). Where such systems are used, the committee has scrutinised the Terms and Conditions of each supplier and judged that their digital and physical systems and procedures are secure.
• If we have a statutory duty to disclose it for other legal and regulatory reasons.

Where we need to share your information outside of the U3A we will seek your permission and inform you as to who the information will be shared with and for what purpose.

How long do we keep your personal information?

We need to keep your information so that we can provide our services to you. In most instances information about your membership will not be stored for longer than 6 years after you leave the U3A. This length of time is a requirement of HMRC relevant to Gift Aid audits.

How your information can be updated or corrected

To ensure the information we hold is accurate and up to date, members need to inform the U3A as to any changes to their personal information. You can do this by contacting the membership secretary at any time:

Email: Membership Secretary

On an annual basis you will have the opportunity to update your information, as required, via the membership renewal form. Should you wish to view the information that the U3A holds on you, you can make this request by contacting the Membership Secretary– as detailed above. There may be certain circumstances where we are not able to comply with this request. This would include where the information may contain references to another individuals or for legal, investigative or security reasons. Otherwise we will usually respond within 14 days of the request being made.

How do we store your personal information?

We have in place a range of security safeguards to protect your personal information against loss or theft, as well as unauthorised access, disclosure, copying, use, or modification. Security measures include technological measures such as Secure Socket Layer (SSL) encryption, which creates a secure connection with your browser when you register and login into our online services.

Your membership information is held on a database membership management system and accessed by the Database Administrator.  Your information will also be available to committee members and the co-ordinator of any interest group with which you are involved.

Availability and changes to this policy

This policy may change from time to time. If we make any material changes we will make members aware of this via the newsletter and the monthly members’ meetings.

Contact

If you have any queries about this policy, need it in an alternative format, or have any complaints about our privacy practices, please contact us:

Email: Chairman