Introduction
1. The Queen Alexandra’s Royal Army Nursing Corps (QARANC) Association is committed to maintaining the trust and confidence of our Members, volunteers, staff and visitors. The QARANC Association takes your privacy seriously. We will always keep your personnel information safe and secure and will never sell your details.
2. Personal data relates to information about a living individual who can be identified from that information. As of May 2018 the processing of data protection is governed by the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The QARANC Association has updated its Data Protection Policy and Privacy Statement in line with these regulations. The Data Protection Policy and this Privacy Statement only applies to the QARANC Association (head-office/headquarters branch), as registered with the Charity Commission (1163821) and Information Commissioner’s Office (under registration reference (ZB742990).
3. In line with the QARANC Association’s charitable status, and for the purposes of GDPR, the ‘Association’ includes head-office; it does not include individual QARANC branches. With your consent only we share your contact details information to the branch you choose to belong to. Be assured that we do NOT share your information with any third-party individual or organisation.
4. This Privacy Statement explains more about what data we hold, why and how we hold it, how you can access the data we hold on you and how you can get data amended or deleted.
How we collect personal data
5. We collect your personal information when:
a. You provide it to us directly, by phone, email, live chat, text, or other messaging service, by post, or in person.
b. You permit us to share limited personnel data to your chosen branch for the purpose of communication to you on wider and local Association matters, including events.
c. You permit a third party to share your information with us. For example, if you consent to another organisation making a welfare referral to us on your behalf.
d. We collect it as you use our websites, or third-party digital platforms, such as websites and social media platforms.
We hold your data in order
6. We hold your data in order to:
a. To run an efficient and effective Membership organisation that “supports members who served” by encouraging “comradeship, esprit de corps, benevolence and preserving traditions” (i.e. friendship, community and support).
b. To enable QARANC Association Branch secretaries to act as a vital link between head office, individual Members and Branches to encourage “comradeship, esprit de corps, benevolence and preserving traditions” and ‘support of /for members who served / serve’ (i.e. friendship, community and support).
c. To edit and distribute the QARANC Magazine – The Gazette.
d. To update Members on our own and associated organisations’ news and activities.
e. To organise Members events and to promote others events to which Members are invited.
f. To administer our Members, volunteers and staff records so they can all be supported appropriately.
g. To manage our own finances and records.
h. To manage the QARANC Benevolence Fund – all information relating to beneficiaries is provided by approved case-worker organisations (e.g. Royal British Legion, SSAFA, Army Benevolent Fund, Officers Association); stored on a dedicated ‘contact management system’ that holds information in encrypted files and accessible by only Army Medical Services (AMS) Benevolence Manager.
i. The legal basis upon which the organisation holds data is to carry out its ‘legitimate business activities’.
The use of ‘cookies’
7. The QARANC Association uses Google Analytics to collect information on use of its website by visitors e.g. pages accessed, and files downloaded. This helps us determine how many people use our website and how popular various elements of it are so that we can improve the content we share. This information does not identify anyone or where they live.
How we contact you
8. Upon becoming a QARANC Association Member, and paying your subscription, you provide us with your contact details, so we (the QARANC Association) can contact you with news, events, etc, in order that we can encourage “comradeship, esprit de corps, benevolence and preserving traditions” (i.e. friendship, community and support). We will also ask you to confirm your preferred method(s) of contact we can use (all or one of: post/hard-copy, email, telephone).
9. Occasionally we use our central emailing Hubb system to let you know of forthcoming events, news updates and to gather opinions for a piece of possible QARANC Association work.
Sharing data
10. We do NOT share or sell Members data with/to any outside organisation and/or individual(s).
11. We share with membership payment collection and processing organisations, (Moore Pay is our chosen approved company), including providers of contactless card payment equipment, cheque processing, web-based secure payment gateway providers, payment processing intermediaries, and banking and other financial service providers. These data processors are limited to only using the personal data we share with them for the purposes that we decide and instruct them to perform.
12. We share staff employment information only with statutory and regulatory bodies as required by law and to ensure appropriate staff management.
Data storage
13. Our data management is with an MOD approved and accredited provider. We store your data as follows:
a. All data is stored on encrypted IT packages.
b. Hard-copy data is transferred to the computerised system and destroyed after six months.
c. We only keep hold of personal data for as long as we need to, related to the purposes for which it was collected, or for other purposes that are compatible with those purposes (such as to meet our legal obligations). We record how long we need to keep personal data in our data retention schedule. When we no longer need personal data, it is securely deleted or destroyed. Where practical, we inform you how long we will retain your data, at the time you provide it to us.
d. Data is kept for as long as Membership is up to date (i.e. subscriptions are current). If your Membership lapses, your data is transferred to a ‘expired’ category for two years (during which time you will not receive The Gazette magazine or other contact), and thereafter archived. If you renew your subscription, and thereby Membership, within this time your record will be transferred back to ‘active’.
e. Personal data on those applying for jobs or trustee positions (including CV’s, accompanying notes, in whatever form) will be retained securely for six months from the date of interview; after which it will be securely destroyed.
f. Data on employed staff (including staff management records) is kept for as long as the individual is employed by the Association and for six years after termination (i.e. in line with regulatory requirements); at which point it will be destroyed.
g. Data on trustees is kept for as long as the individual is a trustee with the Association and for six years after leaving (i.e. in line with regulatory requirements); at which point it will be destroyed.
Access to your personal data
14. All data we hold for you will be as supplied by you. The QARANC Association will not undertake any research in connection with your own data (i.e. it will not research to check the current validity of any such data or permission to use information supplied to The Gazette for publication). However, you have the right to request:
a. Your right of access - You have the right to ask us for copies of your personal information. You can request other information such as details about where we get personal information from and who we share personal information with. There are some exemptions which means you may not receive all the information you ask for. You can read more about this right here.
b. Your right to rectification - You have the right to ask us to correct or delete personal information you think is inaccurate or incomplete. You can read more about this right here.
c. Your right to erasure - You have the right to ask us to delete your personal information. You can read more about this right here.
d. Your right to restriction of processing - You have the right to ask us to limit how we can use your personal information. You can read more about this right here.
e. Your right to object to processing - You have the right to object to the processing of your personal data. You can read more about this right here.
f. Your right to data portability - You have the right to ask that we transfer the personal information you gave us to another organisation, or to you. You can read more about this right here.
g. Your right to withdraw consent – When we use consent as our lawful basis you have the right to withdraw your consent at any time. You can read more about this right here.
15. As such, requests must be made in writing (by hard-copy letter or email) to the QARANC Association, generalsecretary@qarancassociation.org.uk. All such amendments will be made as soon as possible, and within one month at the latest
Protection of personal data
16. We are committed to making sure the personal data we hold is always appropriately protected. We do this by implementing and maintaining a range of technical and organisational measures.
17. We make sure our systems are appropriately configured to prevent unauthorised access or disclosure, and we apply relevant technical controls to keep our systems secure. These include applying security updates, software patches, bug fixes, malware and virus scans, and vulnerability testing. We routinely review who has access to our systems, to ensure the information we hold is only accessible to those we authorise, and who need to use it.
18. We apply appropriate security at points where data is collected and shared, such as by ensuring our online data capture forms are encrypted, and online payments and donations are made via secure payment gateways. We apply data transfer security measures, such as industry-standard email encryption, to help keep data secure. Where the data we share is sensitive, we may apply additional security.
19. Our policies and procedures reflect our commitment to keeping data secure, and they are reviewed as necessary. Our staff, volunteers, and contractors who may access your personal data are provided with appropriate data protection training when they first join us, and this is regularly refreshed to ensure they maintain a good awareness and understanding of their data protection responsibilities.
Review
20. We will keep this privacy notice under review. Where we need to make changes to our privacy information, we will update as soon as possible. Any significant changes that we make, we may contact individuals who may potentially affected by changes.
If you have any queries about this policy, then please contact us at: generalsecretary@qarancassociation.org.uk
Email is our preferred way of communicating as it is quicker, more convenient, cost effective. If you need to write to us, you can contact us at:
QARANC Association
General Secretary
Room 22, Robertson House
Slim Road
Camberley
GU15 4NP
Last updated 22 April 2025