University of Birmingham Guild of Students Privacy Notice

Latest Update: 11th June 2025

1. Introduction

The University of Birmingham Guild of Students (‘the Guild’) is fully committed to compliance with the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA) and the UK General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

The Guild will therefore follow procedures to ensure that all members, elected officers, employees, contractors, agents, consultants, volunteers and other partners of the Guild who have access to any personal data held by or on behalf of the Guild, are fully aware of and comply with their duties under the DPA and GDPR.

In order to operate efficiently, the Guild has to collect and use information about its service users and its business partners. These may include Guild members, volunteers, trustees, customers and suppliers. The Guild has a separate policy in relation to employees, workers and consultants. It may also be required by law to collect and use information in order to comply with central government requirements.

The Guild regards the lawful and correct treatment of personal information as very important to its successful operations and maintaining confidence with its business partners. The Guild will manage personal information lawfully and correctly whether in paper, electronic or any other form.

The Guild therefore fully endorses and adheres to the six principles of Data Protection as set out in the DPA. These are that data will:

be processed fairly, lawfully and transparently;
be collected and processed only for specified, explicit and legitimate purposes;
be adequate, relevant and limited to what is necessary for the purposes for which it is processed;
be accurate and kept up to date. Any inaccurate data must be deleted or rectified without delay;
not be kept for longer than necessary for the purposes for which it is processed; and
be processed securely.

We are accountable for these principles and must be able to show that we are compliant.

The DPA makes a distinction between personal data and “special” personal data. ‘Personal data’ means information which relates to a living person who can be identified from that data (a ‘data subject’). It includes both facts and any expression of opinion about the person. It does not include anonymised data.

‘Special categories of personal data’ consist of information as to your:

racial or ethnic origin;
political opinions;
religious or philosophical beliefs;
trade union membership;
genetic or biometric data;
health; or
sex life and sexual orientation.

The DPA is about processing personal data. ‘Processing’ means any action you take with someone’s data. This includes:

making a record on someone;
organising data and restructuring data;
making changes to and updating data;
sharing data and passing it on to others;
destroying data when you no longer need it.

The Guild will, through good management and using strict criteria and controls, comply fully with the Data Protection Principles in processing all personal and special information.

Lawful Bases for Processing Personal Data

If we process your personal data, we must have one of the following “lawful bases” for processing:

Your consent;
Processing is necessary for the performance of a contract with you or to take steps to enter into a contract;
Processing is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation;
Processing is necessary to protect your vital interests or those of another person;
Processing is necessary in the public interest or in the Data Controller’s official authority; or
Processing is necessary because it is in our legitimate interests, or those of a third party, unless these interests are overridden by yours.

Lawful Bases for Processing Special Data

We are also required by law to tell you if we want to process your special personal data (see list above), and we need to have one of the following lawful bases for processing special data:

Your explicit consent;
Processing is necessary for carrying out obligations under employment, social security or social protection law, or a collective agreement;
Processing is necessary to protect your vital interests or those of another individual if you are physically or legally incapable of giving consent;
Processing is carried out by a not-for-profit body with a political, philosophical, religious or trade union aim provided the processing relates only to members or former members (or those who have regular contact with it in connection with those purposes) and provided there is no disclosure to a third party without consent;
Processing relates to personal data which you have manifestly made public;
Processing is necessary for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims or where courts are acting in their judicial capacity;
Processing is necessary for the purposes of preventative or occupational medicine, for assessing the working capacity of the employee, medical diagnosis, the provision of health or social care or treatment or management of health or social care systems and services on the basis of Union or Member State law or a contract with a health professional;
Processing is necessary for reasons of substantial public interest on the basis of UK law which is proportionate and contains appropriate safeguards;
Processing is necessary for the public interest in the area of public health; and
Processing is necessary for archiving in the public interest, or scientific and historical research purposes or statistical purposes.

In this Privacy Notice we tell you on which Lawful Basis we are relying to process your data. It is often in our legitimate interests as a membership organisation to process your personal data and if we have not specified it, this is usually the lawful basis on which we rely. Sometimes, we ask for your consent to process your data, particularly when we are processing your special personal data. Sometimes we may rely on a contract with you, for example if you are purchasing tickets to attend one of our events. Further information is in the sections below.

The Guild processes your personal information to enable us to provide a range of services to our members (students) at the University of Birmingham (UoB) which may include: administering membership records; providing and organising activities for Guild members; promoting our services; and maintaining accounts and records; and supporting and managing our volunteers.

This privacy notice explains how and when Guild processes personal information. It applies to information we collect and process about:

Members (students)
Guest account holders (non-students)
External members (non-students)
Enquirers, complainants
Volunteers
Trustees
Survey respondents
Suppliers and service providers
Individuals captured by video surveillance systems images

2. Personal Information We Collect

If you are a student at the UoB, when you register as a student (on completion of the University Registration process which includes giving data processing consent including sharing data with the Guild), you will automatically become a member of the Guild. You can view the Code of Practice pursuant to the requirements of the Education Act 1994 for more information about the University’s relationship with the Guild. The University then provides the Guild with your personal data about you - name, gender, date of birth, nationality, residency for fees (home or overseas), student ID number, term-time addresses, home addresses, programme title and whether undergraduate or postgraduate, mode of study (full-time, part-time, distance learning etc), School, year, University email contact details and whether you have dependents. It is in the Guild’s legitimate interests as a membership organisation to process this personal data on you.

When you register with the University, the personal information above is automatically shared with the Guild and your data is registered with the Guild. The Guild will use this information to contact you and so that you can participate in a range of activities as a member of the Guild including: voting in elections and referenda, attending Guild meetings, joining student groups and societies and purchasing Guild products such as event tickets.

The Guild would also like to use your personal data to send you information about activities and events that may be of interest to you. The Guild will contact you separately to ask for your consent in relation to this and to enable you to update your communication preferences.

If you do not wish to be a member of the Guild, you should contact the President of the Guild via (president@guild.bham.ac.uk), in which case your data will be removed, and you will cease to be a member of the Guild. This means that you will no longer be able to participate in activities associated with your membership such as those outlined above.

Your details will be held by the Guild in its membership database/data management system, unless you have opted out of Guild membership (via the process outlined above). The details held are the details provided to the UoB within the registration process.

The Guild cannot be held responsible for any inaccurate personal details provided to the UoB. Please let the UoB and the Guild know if your personal details change and these will be updated within our systems.

If you are not a UoB student, then we shall process your personal information that you provide to us directly, for example when registering for a ‘guest’ account on our website, making a purchase, completing a survey or joining the Guild as an external member.

As you then interact and take part in Guild activities, for example, by voting in elections (UoB students only), joining student groups (Guild members only), attending events, buying tickets, completing surveys and completing polls (all other individuals) a record of your activity is held within the data management system (www.guildofstudents.com).

Some Guild services and activities collect personal information about you in other ways and require your consent to do so, and these are also outlined within this privacy notice.

The Guild may need to process some special data about you. We will generally ask you for consent to do this unless the law allows us to process this data without your consent, for example if the processing is necessary to protect your vital interests and you are incapable of giving consent, or if the processing is necessary for us to defend a legal claim. This special data includes data about your ethnicity, sexual orientation, religious beliefs or health/disability data. We use special data to allow participation in elections (UoB Students only), where self-definition is required (e.g. to vote in the Women’s Officer election, we would ask for you to self-define within this category), to deliver support services to you, to ensure safety taking part in some Student Group activities and to provide help or put in place reasonable adjustments.

Your personal data is created, stored and transmitted securely in a variety of paper and electronic formats, including databases. Only those Guild staff who need access for the purpose of delivering the relevant services will be able to access your personal data. Our use of your personal data will not be excessive.

3. Why do we collect and process your personal information?

Guildofstudents.com acts as a data management system to allow student members, external members and non-students to participate in a range of activities. The activities you are able to participate in will vary depending on whether you are a member of the Guild and what type of membership you have (see our membership page for more information).

These activities include voting in elections and referenda (student members only), joining student groups and societies (student and external members only), purchasing Guild products such as event tickets, and attending Guild meetings.

By using guildofstudents.com, you agree to the information practices as set out in this Privacy Statement. A copy of the Cookie Policy for guildofstudents.com can be found here.

We gather personal information and anonymous information from you when you visit guildofstudents.com. Personal information collected may include your first and last name, email address, and address.

If you are not a UoB student, or if you are a UoB student but have not completed the University Registration process or have chosen not to join the Guild, then if you purchase goods and services from us we shall process your personal information on the basis of the contract that you form with us through such purchase, rather than your consent.

Personal Information is collected whilst using the site from you at the following points:

If you are not a UoB student and register to the Site as a ‘guest’ to purchase goods or services, we will record your contact information, username and password.
If you are a registered student at the UoB, you will use your University log credentials to access the site. Your password is not stored on the site/guildofstudents.com or by Guild in any form.
If you are due to become a registered University Student in the next academic year but have not completed the University Registration process, you can register to the site as a ‘Guest’ to purchase goods and services, we will record your contact details and some personal information, your username and password. When you officially become a UoB student and complete the registration process, your Guest account will cease to exist, and your purchasing history data will migrate to your registered student account. Your temporary password and username will be removed at this point, and you will use your University log credentials to access the site.
If you are not a UoB student, you can register to the site as a ‘Guest’ to purchase goods and services, we will record your contact details and some personal information, including your name, date of birth, contact details and password.

If you make any purchases through the Site, the site will record your billing address. However, it will not record your payment card details. This information is collected through Stripe, our online payment provider. No card payment details are stored through or on the Site directly.

Cookies:

As you navigate the site, certain information will be collected automatically. This data helps us to improve the content of the Site and to customise the content or layout of the Site for you.

A cookie is an element of data that a website sends to your computer's hard drive while you are viewing a website. You can set your browser to notify you when you receive a cookie, giving you the chance to decide whether to accept it. You can also set your browser to turn off cookies. If you do so, however, some areas of the site may not function properly. For further information on our use of cookies please see our Cookie Policy.

How else we might use your personal information (via guildofstudents.com):

We collect personal information from you in order to fulfil your requests. For example, we may use your personal information to process an online purchase or interact with a service or feature on the site. We may also use your personal information to send you information that you requested, or to confirm registrations, purchases, or to respond to your feedback.

We may use your email address to notify you of products or services that may interest you, such as events or activities - subject to your communications opt-in preferences. In addition, we may notify you of recent updates to the site, or to provide you with latest news on the Guild.

b. Support Services

The Guild delivers support services (Guild Advice, Residence Life and Community Engagement) where your consent or if you have one, then your contract with us or the UoB, is the lawful basis for the Guild to process your personal data. A summary of how each of these services use and process your personal data is provided below. Further details and information is available from the services directly.

i. Residence Life Wellbeing Team (previously Student Mentors)

If you live in University Student Accommodation you agree to share your data with Residence Life and UoB when you sign your accommodation contract with the UoB. Residence Life is delivered by the Guild in partnership with UoB.

When you use the Residence Life Wellbeing Team (either directly or if you are referred from another service) and meet with a member of the team for the first time you will be asked for consent to process your personal and in some cases special data.

If you contact the Residence Life Wellbeing Team via email, your email will be used to create a ’case’ and the correspondence recorded within MSL Student Case Manager. If you contact the Residence Life Wellbeing Team by telephone, you will be asked for consent to process your data, and notes taken from your conversation, which are then used to create a case on MSL Student Case Manager.

Your data within the MSL Student Case Manager system is only accessible by relevant Guild staff or technical support staff.

Your data may be shared with the UoB under your accommodation contract in order to help progress your case and/or issues you may be experiencing, and if you are deemed to be at risk to yourself or others. On the rare occasion that a student is unable to provide consent, action may be taken to protect vital interests. Please see section 5 of Data Sharing Agreement with the UoB.

ii. Guild Advice

When you visit, contact or access Guild Advice services, you will be asked for consent to process your personal and special data so that Guild Advice can provide advice and deliver support services to you. This information will also be used to inform anonymous statistical analysis and improve the Guild Advice service to students.

In order to provide you with the best service and support, Guild Advice may request your further written consent to share your personal information with a third party, for example, a UoB support service or an external service to provide additional advice and support.

All personal data and subsequent case notes are recorded in hard copy and then uploaded on to our ‘MSL Student Case Manager’ case management software. Any supporting evidence you provide will also be uploaded on to MSL Student Case Manager. All your interactions with Guild Advice will be recorded on to the MSL Student Case Manager. Your data is generally only accessible by Guild Advice and technical support staff. However, sometimes, your data is accessible to Guild Managers and Officers, for example, where representation is required (for example, within a University hearing).

On the rare occasion that a service user visiting Guild Advice is unable to provide consent, action may be taken to protect vital interests.

Historic cases from the 2022/23 and older will remain on the Guild’s previous system called ‘Advice Pro’ in line with our retention periods (see section 5).

You have the right to withdraw your consent to share your data at any point. Please contact your appointed Advisor or the Community, Advice and Support Manager for further information.

iii. Community Engagement (previously Community Wardens)

Community Engagement is delivered by the Guild in partnership with the UoB. Community Engagement works within the local community to promote and support community cohesion, improve and deliver environmental and crime prevention initiatives. For more information on Community Engagement, click here.

Students and non-student local residents can report community issues to the scheme via phone, email, online form or in person. When you report an issue, you will be asked for consent to process your personal data and the information you provide. When you report an issue a ‘case’ will be created and a summary of the issue recorded, and action required; a contact log will also be created and will summarise discussions and issues raised. This allows us to progress your case, so you don’t have to repeat your concerns each time you interact with the scheme. This information may be shared with members of Community Engagement staff, in hard copy or electronic format, with any hard copies destroyed after use.

Community Engagement staff may also record activity which is identified on visits (following up reported incidents outlined above) and from patrols. This data may include, for example, an address and a summary of the issue – for example, bulky waste; and is recorded as a ‘case’ and shared with Community Warden Staff team members.

In some cases, personal data will be shared with third parties such as the UoB (should further support be required to resolve the case) and West Midlands Police (if your query needs additional support to resolve or if action is required for law enforcement purposes). See Section 4 on sharing data.

c. Award Schemes

We may use your personal data to nominate, enrol or enter you in any relevant competitions or award schemes and publicise your name in such scheme. You will always be informed of your nomination or entry and have the right to withdraw and have your name removed from publication.

d. Student Group AGMs/EGMs

If you attend an Annual General or Emergency General Meeting (AGM/EGM) of a Guild affiliated Student Group, your attendance will be recorded at the meeting and may be recorded on the Guild website by a member of the Committee for the purposes of ensuring quoracy. If you are elected as a Committee member at an AGM/EGM, then a member of the Committee will also inform the Guild’s Student Activities Department of your email address so they can send you relevant communications to your new committee position.

e. Events

If you attend our events, we may record your attendance and use this information to help us to market and promote our future events and services, unless you opt out of this marketing (see section 3k below).

f. Enhanced Transcript

If you are a UoB student, we may share your personal information with the UoB to be included on your University enhanced transcript. This may include activities you have taken part in with the Guild, for example Student Group Committee Membership or Student Staff. For more information on enhanced transcripts, click here. If you do not want information about your participation in Guild activities you will be able to tell us, and we will not share this.

g. Video Surveillance Systems (VSS)

VSS (CCTV) and Body Worn Video (BWV)) is used in the Guild for maintaining the security of property and premises and for preventing and investigating crime.

The University operate and manage CCTV at the Guild. For further information, please see the University's Privacy Pages.

The Guild operate and manage BWV at the Guild. For further information about how and why your images are processed, please see the Guild’s Video Surveillance Systems Policy.

If you use the Guild’s venues (for example on a club night such as Fab ‘N’ Fresh) and are involved in an incident or removed from the premises for licencing purposes, an ‘incident form’ will be produced. You may be asked to produce your University ID card or alternative form of ID, and to provide additional personal data such as your contact details. Data recorded may outline the details of the incident and contain further personal or special data.

Incident forms are processed by the People & Administration department and only shared with those staff and Guild Officers who need to have access to the information. Incident forms are in hard copy, scanned into an electronic format and then destroyed. If you are a member of the Guild, this information may then result in a membership (or student group) disciplinary, and sanctions imposed. If you are not a member of the Guild, we reserve the right to refuse entry to future Guild activity.

Please note, the Guild is a membership organisation and you may therefore be asked to provide proof of membership at any point before entry and while within the Guild building. Failure to comply may result in your removal from the building or refusal of entrance.

h. Research

Sometimes we may commission a specialist company or consultants to carry out research to help us improve our services to you. In this case we may share your personal data so the company or consultants can contact you to ask if you wish to take part. If you do not, then your details are deleted from their database. Your personal data is not used by them for any other purpose. We enter into data processor agreements with our data sharing partners (data processors) to make sure they comply with their data protection obligations to us and to you.

i. Complaints

When you contact the Guild to make a complaint, the Guild will collect and process your personal and any special data to investigate and respond to your complaint. You have the right to withdraw your consent at any point. Please contact Complaints for further information.

The Guild will record and process your personal (and in some cases special) data in accordance with your consent. We will store your personal data, subsequent case notes, any supporting evidence you provide and any interactions with you. Your data is only accessible by relevant Guild staff.

To advise and support you with your case, the Guild may request your consent to share your personal information with a third party(ies), for example, a UoB Department or an external service or organisation.

j. Online Forms & Surveys

The Guild may collect and process personal data through the use of online forms and surveys, including via guildofstudents.com and Microsoft Forms, which the Guild uses to gather information, for example:

Gathering feedback about the Guild’s services
Conducting surveys and questionnaires
Application forms for various volunteer positions and funding

When you interact with an online form or survey provided by the Guild, we may collect the following types of personal data, depending on the specific form and the questions asked:

Contact Information: such as your name, email address, phone number, and mailing address.
Demographic Information: such as your age, gender, and location.
Responses to Questions: information provided in response to questions or surveys.
Other Information: any additional information you voluntarily provide in the forms

Your data is generally only accessible by relevant and technical support staff in the Guild. However, in some cases, your responses may also be shared with a relevant third party or parties, including the UoB – please see sections 4 and 5 on sharing information.

k. Polls

Polls are a widget on the Guild website (guildofstudents.com) that are used by the Guild, including Guild student groups, to gauge your opinion on a variety of topics.

Polls displayed on the Guild website will record your personal data and what option you selected in the poll. Your data is only viewable by Guild staff but may also be shared with committee of the student group who ran the poll.

l. Job applicants, Trustees and Volunteers of the Guild and Guild Services Limited

If you apply to work or be a trustee or volunteer at the Guild, or Guild Services Limited, we will only use the information you supply to us to process your application and to monitor recruitment statistics. We will collect this information because of our legitimate interests and also (if you are applying to be an employee) because if your application is successful, we may enter into an employment contract with you. We may also be collecting your special data (for example your health data) if you consent to this and (if you are applying to be an employee) in order to carry out our obligations under employment law.

Where we want to disclose information to a third-party, for example, where we want to take up a reference or carry out a Disclosure and Barring Service Check, we will not do so without informing applicants beforehand.

Personal Information about unsuccessful candidates will be held for 6 months after the recruitment exercise has been completed and then destroyed or deleted. We retain de-personalised statistical information about applicants to help inform our recruitment activities.

We will keep information on volunteers while they are volunteering for us and for a period of 7 years after this ends.

Information on Trustees and Directors will be retained for the life of the company, as required by Companies House and Charity Commission records.

j. Communications & Marketing

If you are a UoB student with a website account associated with your UoB login details, the Guild will only send you information directly to your UoB email address. If you create a guest account on guildofstudents.com, we will send you information to the contact details you provide to us.

When first contacted by the Guild (following completion of UoB online registration) you can update your communication and marketing preferences. If you wish to opt out of marketing, go to profile area and modify your preferences.

You may also opt-out of receiving promotional or marketing emails by notifying us at the address or URL specified at the bottom of any unwanted email. If so, you may still receive other emails from the Guild or its societies, clubs or other student groups affiliated to the Guild (if you have joined a group and are therefore a member of that group).

In some cases, the opt-out facility is not available unless you have opted out of Guild membership completely. These instances include: transactional or relationship messages, such as those that are necessary to provide you with confirmation of a completed transaction (such as a purchase, request, or change in your user profile at guildofstudent.com); emails providing notification of changes of terms of service; or those providing information related to your membership such as notice for General meetings, elections, or referenda.

l. Guest and External Membership

If you are not a UoB Student, you may apply for membership of the Guild, including guest or external membership. More information about memberships can be found on our memberships page.

As part of your external membership application, we may ask your consent to process additional personal data and possibly special data. This data is then processed and stored by relevant Guild staff.

Your application is then reviewed by the Guild. The Guild reserves the right to refuse any external membership application, and to revoke an individual’s External Membership at any time and for any reason in each case at its absolute discretion.

m. Honorary and Officer Life Membership

If you are an Honorary or Officer Life Member we will process your personal data, including your name, email address and nomination details, to contact you about your membership and any relevant events.

Types of personal information collected by the Guild

If you are a student at the UoB, when you register as a student (on completion of the University Registration process which includes giving data processing consent including sharing data with the Guild), you will automatically become a member of the Guild. You can view the Code of Practice pursuant to the requirements of the Education Act 1994 for more information about the University’s relationship with the Guild. The University then provides the Guild with your name, gender, date of birth, nationality, residency for fees (home or overseas), student ID number, term-time addresses, home addresses, programme title and whether undergraduate or postgraduate, mode of study (full-time, part-time, distance learning etc), School, year, University email contact details and whether you have dependents.

If you do not wish to be a member of the Guild, you should contact the President of the Guild via (president@guild.bham.ac.uk), in which case your data will be removed and you will cease to be a member of the Guild. This means that you will no longer be able to participate in activities associated with your membership such as those outlined above.

As you then interact and take part in activities associated with your membership with the Guild, for example, by attending events, buying tickets, voting in elections and joining student groups, a record of your activity is held within the membership management database (www.guildofstudents.com).

Some Guild services and activities collect personal information about you in other ways and require your consent to do so, and these are also outlined within this privacy notice.

The Guild may need to process some special data about you. We will generally ask you for consent to do this unless the law allows us to process this data without your consent, (for example if the processing is necessary to protect your vital interests and you are incapable of giving consent, or if the processing is necessary for us to defend a legal claim). This special data includes data about your ethnicity, sexual orientation, religious beliefs or health/disability data. We use special data to allow participation in elections, where self-definition is required (e.g. to vote in the Women’s Officer election, we would ask for you to self-define within this category), to deliver support services to you, to ensure safety taking part in some Student Group activities and to provide help or put in place reasonable adjustments.

4. Who will my personal information be shared with?

We will never sell your personal information. We sometimes need to share your personal information with other organisations, but we will always comply with the DPA and where necessary will ask for your consent.

We may share information with:

Current, past or prospective employers
UoB (see Section 4a below)
Suppliers and service providers
Employment and recruitment agencies
Family, associates and representatives of the person whose personal data we are processing
Educators and examining bodies
Financial organisations
Survey or research organisations
Business associates and professional advisors
Other voluntary and charitable organisations
Healthcare, social and welfare organisations
Pension providers
Law enforcement officials
Credit reference agencies
Debt collection agencies
Trade union and employer associations
Professional bodies
Our data processors, for example software systems such as Microsoft
Central government

GuildofStudents.com may sometimes need to share your personal information in order to charge your credit card or deliver specific services such as support services.

Data Sharing with the UoB

The Guild and UoB share personal data between them as necessary. The Guild has a data sharing agreement with the UoB which sets out what happens to the data at each stage, sets standards and provides clarity about roles and responsibilities. We may share your personal information with the UoB for the following reasons:

to facilitate access to University facilities;
for student wellbeing and security reasons;
in order to implement procedures, measures and sanctions relating to misconduct proceedings;
to promote student health and safety;
to facilitate Residence Life (formerly Student Mentors, Hall Reps), Community Engagement (formerly Community Wardens), and Student Reps;
in order to enable volunteers to carry out their roles;
ensuring that students who stand for election for Full-Time Officer positions within the Guild are eligible to do so, and compliance by the University with its obligations under sections 22(2)(d) and 22(2)(e) of the Education Action 1994 as regards elections to major offices within the Guild

5. How long will we keep your personal information for (data retention)?

a. UoB Student Membership data/personal information

Student membership data/personal information held within the Guild’s data management system (guildofstudents.com) will be held for 7 years from the leaving date of the student. This is the length of time that the University keep data on students and will enable us to respond to any queries during this time period.

b. Guest and External Member Data

Guest and external membership data/personal information held within the Guild’s data management system will be held for 7 years from the termination of that membership. This also applies to data provided as part of any application process, such as for external membership.

c. Honorary and Officer Life Member Data

Honorary or Officer Life membership personal data is held for the duration of your membership.

d. Support Service user data/personal information

Support Service user data will be retained for 7 years from the last time the service was used/accessed or contract ended so that we can deal with any complaints or claims raised.

e. Volunteer & Trustee personal information

Personal data on volunteers will be retained for 7 years after the individual stops volunteering for the Guild. Information on Trustees and Directors will be retained for the life of the company, as required by Companies House and Charity Commission records.

f. Body Worn images

Body worn images will be kept for one month, unless a request is made to keep images for longer with good reason (for example because a crime or complaint is still being investigated), and the DPO and/or the CEO agrees to such request. The is responsible for CCTV images – please see their Privacy Notice for information.

6. How do we protect your personal information (data security)?

We safeguard your personal information with physical, electronic, and managerial procedures within our systems. The Guild’s central IT infrastructure is managed by the UoB and is subject to related policies and procedures. We also store your personal information behind our firewall and utilise appropriate security measures in our physical facilities to prevent loss or unauthorised use of special information. We limit access to personal information in electronic databases to those persons, including Guild employees, in our organisation who have a need for such access.

While we make every effort to protect your personal information when it is in our care, we urge you also to take every precaution to protect your personal information when you are online. We suggest that you change your passwords often, use ‘strong’ passwords that include a combination of letters and numbers, and use a secure browser.

For any students who are committee members, or issued with a Guild email address, you will be subject to the Guild’s Data Security Policy and must regularly update your password.

7. Your rights

You have the right to request:

Access to the personal data we hold about you, free of charge in the majority of cases.
The correction of your personal data when incorrect, out of date or incomplete.
That we erase your personal data where we were not allowed to process it, or it is no longer necessary to process it for the purpose for which it was collected or once the purpose for which we hold the data has ended (such as the end of our student data retention period).
That we stop data processing where we are relying on a legitimate interest and you think that your rights and interests outweigh our own and you wish us to stop, for example, when you withdraw consent, or object and we have no legitimate overriding interest.
That we stop using your personal data for direct marketing (for example, via email).
While you are requesting that your personal data is corrected or erased or are contesting the lawfulness of our processing, you can apply for its use to be restricted while the application is made.
That we stop any consent-based processing of your personal data after you withdraw that consent.
A copy of any information about you that the Guild holds at any time, and also to have that information corrected if it is inaccurate.

If you request a copy of information about you which we hold, we will:

give you a description of it;
tell you why we are holding it;
tell you who it could be disclosed to; and
let you have a copy of the information in an intelligible form.

This information will be provided to you within one month.

To ask for your information and make a subject access request, please contact: Data Protection Officer, University of Birmingham Guild of Students, Edgbaston Park Road, Edgbaston, Birmingham, B15 2TU;

Or email: dpo@guild.bham.ac.uk

To ask for your information to be amended, please update your online account via guildofstudents.com, or email: dpo@guild.bham.ac.uk

If we decide not to or are unable to action your request, we will explain to you the reasons for our refusal.

8. Further Information and Complaints

We are committed to dealing with your data lawfully. If you have a query, question or would like to speak to our Data Protection Officer, please contact: dataprotectionofficer@guild.bham.ac.uk

If you have any questions or complaints about how we handle your personal data, please contact: complaints@guild.bham.ac.uk.

You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner if you think there is a problem with how we handle your data. For further guidance on matters relating to Data Protection and Privacy, please refer to Information Commissioner’s Office by calling 0303 123 1113 or online via the ICO website.