This privacy notice tells you what to expect when the BCA collects personal information. We may change this notice by updating this page and you should check from time to time to ensure that you are happy with any changes.
Introduction
The BCA is committed to process any personal information it holds only in ways that are fair, transparent and meet its legal obligations.
We have broken this privacy policy down into sections relevant to different groups of people; Website Visitors, BCA Members, and Training Services Users.
Website Visitors
Comments
When visitors leave comments on the site we collect the data shown in the comments form, and also the visitor’s IP address and browser user agent string to help spam detection.
An anonymized string created from your email address (also called a hash) may be provided to the Gravatar service to see if you are using it. The Gravatar service privacy policy is available here: https://automattic.com/privacy/. After approval of your comment, your profile picture is visible to the public in the context of your comment.
Media
If you upload images to the website, you should avoid uploading images with embedded location data (EXIF GPS) included. Visitors to the website can download and extract any location data from images on the website.
Cookies
Cookies are small text files that are placed on your computer by websites that you visit. They are widely used in order to make websites work, or work more efficiently, as well as to provide information to the owners of the site.
Necessary cookies
Necessary cookies enable core functionality such as security, network management, and accessibility. You may disable these by changing your browser settings, but this may affect how the website functions. The table below explains the necessary cookies we use and why.
| Cookie | Name | Purpose | Expiry |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cookie Preferences | CookiePreferences-british-caving.org.uk | This cookie is used to remember a site visitors choice about cookies on british-caving.org.uk. | 1 year |
| PHP Session ID | PHPSESSID | The membership administration software that this site uses, CiviCRM, runs on PHP, which uses this cookie to process your requests. | When you leave the site |
You may also see other necessary cookies depending on how you interact with this website. These are:
| Cookie | Name | Purpose | Expiry |
|---|---|---|---|
| WordPress Admin Cookies | wp-settings-* wp-settings-time-* wordpress_logged_in_* wordpress_* | The content management system for this website, WordPress, uses these cookies to store the credentials of site administrators and to customise their admin interface. | 1 year |
| WordPress Commenter Cookies | comment_author_* comment_author_email_* comment_author_url_* | If you comment on this site then your information is stored in these cookies so that you don’t have to re-type them if you wish to comment again. | 1 year |
Optional cookies
Optional cookies allow us to serve embedded content from other websites that use cookies, and to analyse how users interact with our website in order to improve it.
We will only store these cookies if you give us permission to do so, and you can revoke this permission at any time by clicking the “Cookie Choices” link in the footer. These optional cookies are:
| Cookie | Name | Purpose | Expiry |
|---|---|---|---|
| Google Analytics Tag Cookie | _gat_* | This cookie is used by Google Analytics to throttle the request rate from our site to theirs. | 1 minute |
| Google Analytics Cookies | _gid/_ga | These cookies are used by Google Analytics to associate a users activity on the website across different pages. | 24 hours / 2 years |
Embedded content from other websites
Articles on this site may include embedded content (e.g. videos, images, articles, etc.). Embedded content from other websites behaves in the exact same way as if the visitor has visited the other website.
These websites may collect data about you, use cookies, embed additional third-party tracking, and monitor your interaction with that embedded content, including tracking your interaction with the embedded content if you have an account and are logged in to that website.
BCA Members
We collect contact and membership details in order to provide membership services.
That includes, but not limited to, the administration of joining and renewals, distribution of publications, organising event and training courses, access to the training qualifications service, insurance.
Email addresses
If an email address is provided we will use it for administrative purposes of membership (e.g. notification of membership renewal, notification of AGM or ballot, etc.).
Newsletter and E-news items
By default members will be emailed the Newsletter and items of news that we believe will be of interest to them. Members can opt-out of such emails at any time by following the unsubscribe link at the bottom of the email.
We gather statistics around email opening and clicks using industry standard technologies including clear gifs to help us monitor and improve our e-news items.
Caving Clubs, Regional Councils and BCRA
If you are member of a caving club(s), regional council(s) or BCRA as part of administering your membership we will share your membership details, contact details and insurance status with them and the other clubs that you are a member of.
Data Retention
Once a member lapses, we retain sufficient information to identify the previous member. This allows the previous membership number to be used again if the member re-joins.
Training Services Users
We collect and hold information to administer the taking of qualifications and issuing of certificates to successful candidates.
Data retention
Once a certificate lapses, we retain sufficient information to identify the previous member. This allows the previous membership number to be used again if the member re-joins.
How long do we retain your data?
If you leave a comment, the comment and its metadata are retained indefinitely. This is so we can recognize and approve any follow-up comments automatically instead of holding them in a moderation queue.
For members that register on our website (if any), we also store the personal information they provide in their user profile. All users can see, edit, or delete their personal information at any time (except they cannot change their username). Website administrators can also see and edit that information.
What rights do you have over your data?
The BCA tries to be as open as it can be in terms of giving people access to their personal information. Individuals can find out if we hold any personal information by asking us. This is formally known as a ‘subject access request’ under the Data Protection Act 1998. If we do hold information about you we will:
- give you a description of it
- tell you why we are holding it
- tell you who it could be disclosed to
- let you have a copy of the information in an intelligible form
To make a request to the BCA for any personal information we may hold you need to put the request in writing to the address provided below.
If you agree, we will try to deal with your request informally, for example by providing you with the specific information you need over the telephone.
If we do hold information about you, you can ask us to correct any mistakes or delete your data. You can find out more about the rights you have at https://ico.org.uk/for-the-public/.
We may make a charge of up to £10 for a request.