W&WU3A 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 express an interest in becoming a member of W&WU3A you will be asked to provide certain information. This includes:

  • your name
  • home address
  • email address
  • telephone number
  • your subscription 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 through an electronic form. The lawful basis for collecting and storing your information is due to the legitimate interest that W&WU3A has in communicating with you as a member. In order to inform you about the groups, activities and events that you can access as a member, we need to store and process a certain amount of personal data.

How do we use your personal information?
We use your personal information:

  • To provide 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 activity
  • For delivery of the Trust publication – Third Age Matters

We’ll send you messages by email, post and telephone to advise you of U3A activities and membership renewal.

Who do we share your personal information with?
We may disclose information about you, including your personal information

  • Internally – to committee members, members such as membership champions who assist at renewal and group contacts – as required to facilitate your participation in our U3A activities;
  • Externally – for products or services such as direct mailing for the Trust magazine – Third Age Matters. The magazine is distributed by a third-party processor and your information is shared with the distribution company via a secure online portal. Should you not wish to receive the magazine please contact the Membership Secretary.
  • Externally to HMRC if you have ticked the Gift Aid box.
  • If we have a statutory duty to disclose it for legal and/or regulatory reasons. In this instance we will seek to obtain your consent, unless there was a legal requirement to withhold notification. Information would be shared without consent where there were serious safety concerns and it was felt to be in your or the U3As best interests to disclose information.

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 12 months, following the membership year when you cease to be a member. The exceptions to this are instances where there may be financial, legal or insurance circumstances that require information to be held for longer whilst the issues are investigated or resolved. Where this is the case member/s will be informed as to how long the information will be held for and when it is deleted.

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 using the contact details in the newsletter and on our website. On an annual basis you will have the opportunity to update your information, as required, via the membership renewal process. Should you wish to view the information that the U3A holds on you, you can access this by the membership portal or 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 other individuals or for legal, investigative or security reasons. Otherwise, we will usually respond within one month of the request being made.

How do we store your personal information
W&WU3A has 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 use of cloud storage, firewalls, audit trail, confidentially procedures and use of a management database system. Your membership information is held on a secure database and accessed by Committee Members, other members who assist in the operation of the U3A and Group Contacts, who have signed the confidentiality forms – as appropriate.

Availability and changes to this policy
This policy is available on our website. This policy may change from time to time. Members will be informed via the newsletter and the monthly meetings when any material changes are made to W&WU3A’s policies and procedures.

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 your committee.

 

November 2023