1. Introduction
Aughton & Ormskirk u3a (we) treat your privacy seriously. This Privacy Policy sets out the basis on which we collect and use personal data about you for membership purposes, and what your rights are. It is in line with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025 (DUAA.
It describes:
- who is responsible for the personal data that we collect about you;
- the personal data we collect about you;
- how we will use it;
- who we may disclose it to; and
- your rights and choices in relation to your personal data.
This is to make sure you have a full picture of how we collect and use your personal data.
Terminology:
personal data - information that is about you and which identifies you
Trust - Third Age Trust (charity number 288007)
TATTL - Third Age Trust Trading Limited (company number 11899419)
Beacon - the membership data system operated by TATTL
It is recommended that this Privacy Policy is read in conjunction with the following:
- Data Protection Policy
- Communications Policy
- Website Terms of Use (a link to this can be found at the foot of each web page)
2. Who is responsible for the personal data that we collect?
The Beacon Administrator, on behalf of the Trustees, is the data controller for the purposes of data protection law, in respect of your personal data collected and used by us for membership purposes.
3. What personal data do we hold about you?
The personal data we hold includes:
| Type of Personal Data | Examples |
| General | |
| Contact information Financial information | When you express an interest in becoming a member of Aughton & Ormskirk u3a you will be asked to provide certain information. This includes: your name, home address, email address, telephone number. Once you become a member we store information relating to the date and method of your payments.We do not store bank details. |
| Marketing | |
| Subscription Preferences | Details of any marketing preferences that you express including any opt outs you provide. |
| Other | |
| Online activity information (to the extent that it constitutes personal data) | Technical information, through your internet browser or electronic device: Certain information is collected by most websites or automatically through your electronic device, such as your IP address (i.e. your computer’s address on the internet), screen resolution, operating system type (Windows or Mac) and version, internet browser type and version, electronic device manufacturer and model, language, time of the visit and pages visited. Technical information, using cookies and online tracking: Cookies are pieces of information stored directly on the device you are using to access our website. Cookies allow us to recognise your device and to collect information such as IP address, internet browser type, time spent using the website and the pages visited. |
Note: Information may be provided in the course of communications between you and us (including by phone, email or otherwise).
4. Information about third parties
In the course of us communicating with you, you may provide us with personal data relating to third parties.
We will use this personal data in accordance with this Privacy Policy. If you are providing personal data to us relating to a third party, you confirm that you have the consent of the third party to share such personal data with us and that you have made the information in this Privacy Policy available to the third party.
5. How do we use the personal data we collect about you?
Purposes
We use your personal data for a variety of purposes during the course of us providing services to you, as set out below:
- To provide you with u3a activities, services and events;
- To be able to administer, plan, and manage our u3a;
- To communicate with you about your group activities;
- To monitor, develop, and improve the provision of our u3a activities.
The majority of those able to access membership data are Trustees and group leaders. Every person is required to sign a confidentiality agreement before access to Beacon (our membership system) is granted. No one is given access to data or records that they don’t need.
Under data protection law, we can only use your personal data if we have a legal basis to do so. Examples of where we have a legal basis to process your personal data, include when:
- we have your consent;
- it is necessary to enter into or perform a contract we have with you (or to take steps at your request prior to entering into that contract);
- it is necessary to comply with a legal obligation; or
- it is in our legitimate interests to process your personal data.
Legal Basis
We have set out our reasons for using your personal data in the table below under the heading Legal Bases. Where we rely on our legitimate interests, we have set out those interests in the table below.
| Purpose | Legal Bases |
| To set up and manage your membership | Contract, Legitimate interests |
| To manage membership information on the Beacon system | Contract, Legitimate interests |
| To share with the Trust and TATTL to manage, develop and make improvements to the Beacon system | Legitimate interests |
| To administer, plan and manage our u3a | Legitimate interests |
| To monitor, develop and improve the provision of our u3a activity | Legitimate interests |
| To communicate with you about our u3a products, services, activities and events | Contract, Legitimate interests |
| To communicate with you about Trust products, services, activities and events | Contract, Legitimate interests |
| To deliver Trust publications including u3a Matters | Contract, Legitimate interests |
| To comply with any legal or regulatory obligations (including in connection with a court order) | Legal obligation |
| To enforce or apply the agreements concerning you (including agreements between you and us). | Contract, Legitimate interests |
| To manage any issues, complaints, feedback and enquiries. | Consent, Contract, Legitimate interests |
6. Automated processing
We do not use your personal data to make any automated decisions that might affect you.
7. Who may we disclose your personal data to?
We may share your personal data with:
- our service providers and business partners;
- our professional advisers;
- legal and regulatory bodies.
For more information please refer to Schedule 1 at the end of this document.
We may also disclose your personal data to other third parties, for example:
If we or substantially all our assets are acquired by a third party (or are subject to a reorganisation within our corporate group), personal data held by us will be one of the transferred assets.
8. Where will we transfer your personal data?
If we transfer personal data outside the UK or the European Economic Area (EEA), we will implement appropriate and suitable safeguards to ensure that such personal data will be protected as required by applicable data protection law.
9. How long will we keep your personal data?
Retention periods
We will keep your personal data for different periods depending on the nature of the information, the purpose for which it was collected, any legal obligation and/or business reason to retain. Our current policy is to retain your data for 6 years plus the current year.
Extensions
Please note that the above retention period may be extended where we need to preserve and use personal data for the purposes of bringing or defending a legal claim. In such cases, we will continue to hold and process your personal data for as long as is necessary to deal with the legal proceedings.
10. Your rights
You have certain rights with respect to your personal data. The rights will only apply in certain circumstances and are subject to certain exemptions. Please see below for a summary of your rights. Details of who to contact to exercise these rights can be found in paragraph 12.
Summary of your rights
| Right of access to your personal data | You have the right to receive a copy of your personal data that we hold about you and information about how we use it, subject to certain exemptions. 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.Should you wish to view the information that the u3a holds about you, you can make this request by contacting the Membership Secretary. |
| Right to rectify your personal data | You have the right to ask us to correct your personal data that we hold where it is incorrect or incomplete. To ensure the information we hold is accurate and up to date, members need to inform us of any changes to their personal information. You can do this via the members’ portal or by contacting the Membership Secretary. Additionally, on an annual basis you will have the opportunity to update your information, as required, via the membership renewal process. |
| Right to erasure of your personal data | You have the right to ask that your personal data be deleted in certain circumstances. For example: where your personal data is no longer necessary in relation to the purposes for which it was collected or otherwise used; if you withdraw your consent and there is no other legal ground for which we rely on for the continued use of your personal data; if you object to the use of your personal data (as set out below); if we have used your personal data unlawfully; or if your personal data needs to be erased to comply with a legal obligation. |
| Right to restrict the use of your personal data | You have the right to suspend our use of your personal data in certain circumstances. For example: where you think your personal data is inaccurate but only for so long as is required for us to verify the accuracy of your personal data; the use of your personal data is unlawful and you oppose the erasure of your personal data and request that it is suspended instead; we no longer need your personal data, but your personal data is required by you for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims; or you have objected to the use of your personal data and we are verifying whether our grounds for the use of your personal data override your objection. |
| Right to data portability | You have the right to obtain your personal data in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format and for it to be transferred to another organisation, where it is technically feasible. The right only applies:to personal data you provided to us;where we rely on the following legal bases:consent; or for the performance of a contract; and when the use of your personal data is carried out by automated (i.e. electronic) means. |
| Right to object to the use of your personal data | You have the right to object to the use of your personal data in certain circumstances and subject to certain exemptions. For example: if you object to the use of your personal data for direct marketing purposes; where we use your personal data to take a decision which is based solely on automated processing where that decision produces a legal effect or otherwise significantly affects you. |
| Right to withdraw consent | You have the right to withdraw your consent at any time where we rely on consent to use your personal data. |
| Right to complain to the relevant data protection authority | You have the right to complain to us (via Chair) if you think we have not used your personal data in accordance with data protection law. If a satisfactory resolution can not be found (or sooner, if you prefer), the matter can be raised with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO): Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF. |
11. Changes to our privacy policy
This policy may change from time to time. Members will be informed via enews when any material changes are made to our u3a’s policies and procedures.
12. Queries
If you have any questions regarding this Privacy Policy or the way we use your personal data, please contact us by:
- telephone on 01695 424459 (This is an answer phone in the Scout & Guide HQ. It is not checked on a regular basis, so there may be a delay in responses.)
- email Beacon Administrator
13. Adoption and Review
This policy was adopted on: 27th May 2025
Last review date: July 2026
Next review date: July 2027
Changes since last version (between May 2025 and July 2026):
- Reference to the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025 (DUAA) added to the introduction.
- Reference to Social Media Policy amended to Communications Policy in the introduction.
- Section 10 amended to show that data protection complaints could be handled internally in the first instance (according to new DUAA law).
Schedule 1
WHO IS PERSONAL DATA SHARED WITH?
| Type of third party | Examples |
| General | |
| Our service providers and business partners:Third Age Trust; Third Age Trust Trading Limited | Our business partners, suppliers, and sub-contractors for the performance of any contract we enter into with you. |
| Our professional advisers | Including accountants, lawyers and other professional advisers that assist us in carrying out our business activities. |
| Government authorities and third parties involved in court action | External agencies and organisations (including the police and other law enforcement agencies) for the purpose of complying with applicable legal and regulatory obligations. |
| Law Enforcement and Regulation | |
| Police and law enforcement agencies | We may share personal data with the police and other law enforcement agencies in connection with the prevention and detection of crime. |
| Regulatory bodies | We may share personal data with third parties if we are under a duty to disclose or share your personal data in order to comply with any legal obligation or instructions of a regulatory body (including in connection with a court order), or in order to enforce or apply the terms of any agreements we have with or otherwise concerning you (including agreements between you and us) or to protect our rights, property or safety of our clients, employees or other third parties. |