Privacy Notice and OTA Policy
In addition, the OTA constantly seeks to raise the professional standing of the association. Therefore we ask that members read our equality and diversity, grievance and complaints, disciplinary and educational governance policies. These policies were agreed with the OTA membership at the OTA Annual General Meeting 2017.
OTA members are expected to adhere to these policies in their dealings with the association for the benefit of all involved.
British Orthodontic Society Privacy Policy
The Orthodontic Technician Association (UK) employs the British Orthodontic Society (BOS) to process some of its data (such as direct debits for membership payments). When this processing takes place it does so under the BOS’s own privacy policy.
A copy of the BOS’s privacy policy can be found on their website by clicking this link:
Orthodontic Technicians Association (UK) Privacy Notice.
1. INTRODUCTION
This privacy notice provides you with details of how we collect and process your personal data through paper membership application forms and your use of our site https://ota-uk.org
By providing us with your data, you warrant to us that you are over 16 years of age.
The Orthodontic Technicians Association (UK) is the data controller and we are responsible for your personal data (referred to as “we”, “us” or “our” in this privacy notice).
It is very important that the information we hold about you is accurate and up to date. Please let us know if at any time your personal information changes by emailing us at [email protected]
2. WHAT DATA DO WE COLLECT ABOUT YOU, FOR WHAT PURPOSE AND ON WHAT GROUND WE PROCESS IT
Personal data means any information capable of identifying an individual. It does not include anonymised data.
We may process the following categories of personal data about you:
· Communication Data that includes any communication that you send to us whether that be through the contact form on our website, through email, text, social media messaging, social media posting or any other communication that you send us. We process this data for the purposes of communicating with you, for record keeping and for the establishment, pursuance or defence of legal claims. Our lawful ground for this processing is our legitimate interests which in this case are to reply to communications sent to us, to keep records and to establish, pursue or defend legal claims.
· Customer Data that includes data relating to any purchases of goods and/or services such as your name, title, billing address, delivery address email address, phone number, contact details, purchase details and your card details. We process this data to supply the goods and/or services you have purchased and to keep records of such transactions. Our lawful ground for this processing is the performance of a contract between you and us and/or taking steps at your request to enter into such a contract.
· User Data that includes data about how you use our website and any online services together with any data that you post for publication on our website or through other online services. We process this data to operate our website and ensure relevant content is provided to you, to ensure the security of our website, to maintain back- ups of our website and/or databases and to enable publication and administration of our website, other online services and business. Our lawful ground for this processing is our legitimate interests which in this case are to enable us to properly administer our website and our business.
· Technical Data that includes data about your use of our website and online services such as your IP address, your login data, details about your browser, length of visit to pages on our website, page views and navigation paths, details about the number of times you use our website, time zone settings and other technology on the devices you use to access our website. The source of this data is from our analytics tracking system. We process this data to analyse your use of our website and other online services, to administer and protect our business and website, to deliver relevant website content and advertisements to you and to understand the effectiveness of our advertising. Our lawful ground for this processing is our legitimate interests which in this case are to enable us to properly administer our website and our business and to grow our business and to decide our marketing strategy.
· Marketing Data that includes data about your preferences in receiving marketing from us and our third parties and your communication preferences. We process this data to enable you to partake in our promotions such as competitions, prize draws and free give-aways, to deliver relevant website content and advertisements to you and measure or understand the effectiveness of this advertising. Our lawful ground for this processing is our legitimate interests which in this case are to study how customers use our products/services, to develop them, to grow our business and to decide our marketing strategy.
· We may use Customer Data, User Data, Technical Data and Marketing Data to deliver relevant website content and advertisements to you (including Facebook adverts or other display advertisements) and to measure or understand the effectiveness of the advertising we serve you. Our lawful ground for this processing is legitimate interests which is to grow our business. We may also use such data to send other marketing communications to you. Our lawful ground for this processing is either consent or legitimate interests (namely to grow our association).
Sensitive Data
We do not collect any Sensitive Data about you. Sensitive data refers to data that includes details about your race or ethnicity, religious or philosophical beliefs, sex life, sexual orientation, political opinions, trade union membership, information about your health and genetic and biometric data. We do not collect any information about criminal convictions and offences.
We do not carry out automated decision making or any type of automated profiling.
3. HOW WE COLLECT YOUR PERSONAL DATA
We may collect data about you by you providing the data directly to us (for example by filling in forms on paper, on our site or by sending us emails). We may automatically collect certain data from you as you use our website by using cookies and similar technologies. Please see our cookie policy for more details about this [https://ota-uk.org/cookies/].
We may receive data from third parties such as analytics providers such as Google based outside the EU, advertising networks such as Facebook based outside the EU, such as search information providers such as Google based outside the EU, providers of technical, payment and delivery services, such as data brokers or aggregators.
We may also receive data from publicly available sources such as Companies House and the Electoral Register based inside the EU.
4. MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS
Our lawful ground of processing your personal data to send you marketing communications is either your consent or our legitimate interests (namely to grow our association).
Under the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations, we may send you marketing communications from us if (i) you made a purchase or asked for information from us about our goods or services or (ii) you agreed to receive marketing communications and in each case you have not opted out of receiving such communications since. Under these regulations, if you are a limited company, we may send you marketing emails without your consent. However, you can still opt out of receiving marketing emails from us at any time.
We do not share your personal data with any third party for their own marketing purposes.
You can ask us to stop sending you marketing messages at any time by emailing us at [email protected] at any time.
If you opt out of receiving marketing communications this opt-out does not apply to personal data provided as a result of other transactions, such as purchases, warranty registrations etc.
5. DISCLOSURES OF YOUR PERSONAL DATA
We may have to share your personal data with the parties set out below:
• Service providers who provide IT and system administration services.
• Professional advisers including lawyers, bankers, auditors and insurers
• Government bodies that require us to report processing activities.
• Third parties to whom we transfer, or merge parts of our association or our assets.
We require all third parties to whom we transfer your data to respect the security of your personal data and to treat it in accordance with the law. We only allow such third parties to process your personal data for specified purposes and in accordance with our instructions.
6. INTERNATIONAL TRANSFERS
We do not transfer your personal data outside the European Economic Area (EEA).
7. DATA SECURITY
We have put in place security measures to prevent your personal data from being accidentally lost, used, altered, disclosed, or accessed without authorisation. We also allow access to your personal data only to those members and partners who have a business need to know such data. They will only process your personal data on our instructions and they must keep it confidential.
We have procedures in place to deal with any suspected personal data breach and will notify you and any applicable regulator of a breach if we are legally required to.
8. DATA RETENTION
We will only retain your personal data for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes we collected it for, including for the purposes of satisfying any legal, accounting, or reporting requirements.
When deciding what the correct time is to keep the data for we look at its amount, nature and sensitivity, potential risk of harm from unauthorised use or disclosure, the processing purposes, if these can be achieved by other means and legal requirements.
For tax purposes the law requires us to keep basic information about our customers (including Contact, Identity, Financial and Transaction Data) for six years after they stop being customers.
In some circumstances we may anonymise your personal data for research or statistical purposes in which case we may use this information indefinitely without further notice to you.
9. YOUR LEGAL RIGHTS
Under data protection laws you have rights in relation to your personal data that include the right to request access, correction, erasure, restriction, transfer, to object to processing, to portability of data and (where the lawful ground of processing is consent) to withdraw consent.
You can see more about these rights at:
https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/guide-to-the-general-data-protection-regulation-gdpr/individual-rights/
If you wish to exercise any of the rights set out above, please email us at [email protected]
You will not have to pay a fee to access your personal data (or to exercise any of the other rights). However, we may charge a reasonable fee if your request is clearly unfounded, repetitive or excessive or refuse to comply with your request in these circumstances.
We may need to request specific information from you to help us confirm your identity and ensure your right to access your personal data (or to exercise any of your other rights). This is a security measure to ensure that personal data is not disclosed to any person who has no right to receive it. We may also contact you to ask you for further information in relation to your request to speed up our response.
We try to respond to all legitimate requests within one month. Occasionally it may take us longer than a month if your request is particularly complex or you have made a number of requests. In this case, we will notify you.
If you are not happy with any aspect of how we collect and use your data, you have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the UK supervisory authority for data protection issues (www.ico.org.uk). We should be grateful if you would contact us first if you do have a complaint so that we can try to resolve it for you.
10. THIRD-PARTY LINKS
This website may include links to third-party websites, plug-ins and applications. Clicking on those links or enabling those connections may allow third parties to collect or share data about you. We do not control these third-party websites and are not responsible for their privacy statements. When you leave our website, we encourage you to read the privacy notice of every website you visit.
11. COOKIES
You can set your browser to refuse all or some browser cookies, or to alert you when websites set or access cookies. If you disable or refuse cookies, please note that some parts of this website may become inaccessible or not function properly. For more information about the cookies we use, please see [https://ota-uk.org/cookies/].
Equality and Diversity Policy 2017-2022.
1: Definition.
At the OTA we define:
‘Equality’ as fair and individual treatment for all – an environment where everyone can participate and has the same opportunities to fulfil their potential.
‘Diversity’ as recognising that we are all different, celebrating and valuing these differences. Each person is an individual with visible and non-visible differences, and by respecting this, everyone can feel valued for their contributions.
2: Our commitment.
The Orthodontic Technicians Association UK (OTA) is fully committed to eliminating discrimination and encouraging diversity amongst its membership. It is our aim is that the OTA membership is truly representative of all sections of society and that each member feels respected in whatever position they occupy within the association.
To that end, the purpose of this policy is to provide equality and fairness for all our members and not to discriminate on grounds of gender, gender reassignment, marital status (including civil partnerships), race, ethnic origin, colour, nationality, national origin, disability, sexual orientation, religion, or age.
We oppose all forms of unlawful and unfair discrimination. All members will be treated fairly and with respect. All members will be helped and encouraged to develop their full potential. The talents and resources of the membership will be fully utilised to maximise the effectiveness of the association and its activities.
3: Aims.
Our equality and diversity aims:
- To create environments in which the individual differences and contributions of all members are recognised and valued.
- To ensure members have access to environments that promote dignity and respect to all. No form of intimidation, bullying or harassment will be tolerated.
- To provide training and development opportunities for all our members.
- To regularly review our practices and procedures to ensure fairness.
- To monitor and review this policy when necessary.
4: How we implement this policy.
The OTA Council are committed to this policy and it has been agreed with the membership. We acknowledge equality legislation, specifically the UK Equality Act 2010, and will act within this legislation at all times.
We take seriously complaints of bullying, harassment, victimisation and unlawful discrimination by members, visitors, the public and any others during the association’s activities. Acts of this nature will be dealt with following the OTA’s disciplinary procedure.
If members wish to report a violation of this policy, they may do so by following the OTA grievance and complaints procedures.
Members may comment on the development of our equality and diversity policies via written letter, the association’s website, council members emails or, if arranged with the OTA chairman in advance, in person at OTA Council meetings.
We review our practices and procedures when necessary to ensure fairness and update them.
OTA Grievance and Complaints Procedure 2017-2022.
If a grievance or complaint cannot be resolved informally you should put your grievance and the basis for it in writing while providing as much detail as possible, including the outcome you seek and send it to the chairman of the OTA.
If the grievance is not resolved to your satisfaction, you may be invited to attend a formal OTA council meeting to discuss the grievance and will have the right to be accompanied.
The meeting will take place once the OTA council has had a reasonable opportunity to consider its response to your grievance and if necessary investigate the matter. You should take all reasonable steps to attend the meeting.
After the meeting, the OTA council will respond to the grievance in writing and notify you of your right to appeal if you are not satisfied with the decision.
You must inform the OTA chairman in writing if you wish to appeal the outcome of the grievance within 10 working days of the decision. Your letter of appeal should set out the grounds upon which the appeal is made.
If you appeal, you will be invited to attend a further formal OTA council meeting and must take all reasonable steps to attend that meeting.
After the appeal meeting, OTA council will consider the appeal and may make further enquiries if it considers it necessary. It will then inform you of its final decision. There is no further right of appeal after this.
All OTA council members are committed to this procedure and it has been agreed with the membership.
Disciplinary Procedure 2017-2022.
In the first instance, the OTA council will seek to resolve matters relating to misconduct informally where appropriate.
If the matter is not resolved, a written letter will be sent to the member detailing why their actions have been viewed as misconduct and suggest steps the member might take to resolve the matter.
If the matter remains unresolved it will be raised at the next OTA council meeting and a course of action decided upon. Actions may include further investigations or the member may be invited to attend a formal meeting and should take all reasonable steps to attend that meeting.
If the matter continues to remain unresolved the member will be expelled from the association and a written letter will be sent detailing why the OTA council has taken this course of action.
In serious circumstances, the OTA Council reserves the right to expel the member from the association with immediate effect. A written letter will be sent to the member detailing why the OTA council has taken this course of action. Serious misconduct may also be reported to the General Dental Council. Further, incidents that are criminal in nature will be reported to the appropriate authorities.
The member may appeal against any decision but must inform the OTA chairman in writing within 10 working days of the decision. The letter of appeal should set out the grounds upon which the appeal is made.
If the member appeals they will be invited to attend a further formal meeting and must take all reasonable steps to attend that meeting.
After the appeal meeting, OTA council will consider the appeal and may make further enquiries if it considers it necessary. The OTA council will then inform the member of its final decision by letter. There is no further right of appeal after this.
The OTA will keep written records of all disciplinary actions taken, the reasons for these actions, details of any appeal and key dates.
All OTA council members are committed to this procedure and it has been agreed with the membership.