Privacy
This privacy policy sets out how The Royal College of Organists (‘The RCO’ or ‘The College’) uses and protects any information that you give the College when you use its websites at www.rco.org.uk and i.rco.org.uk, as well as our policy relating to the use of cookies.
The RCO is committed to ensuring that your privacy is protected. Should we ask you to provide certain information by which you can be identified when using this website, then you can be assured that it will only be used in accordance with this privacy statement.
The RCO may change this policy from time to time by updating this page. You should check this page from time to time to ensure that you are happy with any changes. This policy is effective from 1st January 2016.
What we collect
As part of our online services to Members, we may collect and record details relating to that Membership, such as Membership renewals, examination bookings and online shopping such as past examination papers and other paid-for downloads. These details will be recorded against your membership record online, which can be accessed, viewed and managed by you through the secure membership area on www.rco.org.uk.
We do not collect or store any personal information regarding non-Members who may visit www.rco.org.uk.
Beyond the basic details required to register a user account, we do not collect or store any additional personal information regarding visitors to iRCO.
For visits to both sites we may, however, place and track cookies in accordance with the policy detailed below.
What we do with the information we gather
When we do collect this information, it is generally to allow us to deliver the services being requested. We may also use the information to better understand Members needs and to improve the services we deliver over time.
We may also, from time to time, send iRCO users emails with information relating to the College and its activities. If you do not wish to continue receiving these you can opt out via the Unsubscribe link which can be found on each of these emails.
The College does not share this information with any third party organisation.
Security
We are committed to ensuring that your information is secure. In order to prevent unauthorised access or disclosure, we have put in place suitable physical, electronic and managerial procedures to safeguard and secure the information we collect online.
Cookies
The Royal College of Organists uses cookies and similar tools across this website to improve its performance and enhance your user experience. This policy explains how we do that.
What are cookies?
Cookies are small text files which a website may put on your computer or mobile device when you first visit a site or page. The cookie will help the website, or another website, to recognise your device the next time you visit. Web beacons or other similar files can also do the same thing. We use the term “cookies” in this policy to refer to all files that collect information in this way.
There are many functions cookies serve. For example, they can help us to remember your preferences, analyse how well our website is performing, or ensure that user functions such as examination bookings work properly.
Certain cookies relating to Member services necessarily contain personal information. However, most cookies don’t collect information that identifies you, and will instead collect more general information such as how users arrive at and use our websites, or a user’s general location.
What sort of cookies does the College use?
Generally, our cookies perform up to three different functions:
- Essential cookies
Some cookies are essential for the operation of our website. For example, some cookies allow us to identify Members and ensure they can access the Member only pages. If a Member opts to disable these cookies, the Member will not be able to access all of the content that their Membership entitles them to.
- Performance Cookies
We utilise other cookies to analyse how our visitors use our websites and to monitor website performance. This allows us to provide a high quality experience by customising our offering and quickly identifying and fixing any issues that arise. For example, we might use performance cookies to keep track of which pages are most popular, which method of linking between pages is most effective, and to determine why some pages are receiving error messages.
- Functionality Cookies
We use functionality cookies to allow us to remember your preferences and to enable the delivery of specific services. For example, cookies help you access the Member only area, and to carry out certain functions such as booking examinations, downloading past papers and so on.
Does anyone else use cookies on the RCO website?
We do not allow advertisers or other third parties to place cookies via the RCO website. The only exception is that like many companies, we use Google Analytics to help us monitor our website traffic and improve its performance over time so that we can improve the services it provides and its relevance for visitors.
Can a website user block cookies?
As we’ve explained above, cookies help you to get the most out of our websites. By continuing to access our site, you are consenting to our use of cookies.
However, if you do wish to disable our cookies then please follow the instructions for your browser at http://www.allaboutcookies.org/manage-cookies/
Please remember that if you do choose to disable cookies, you may find that certain sections of our website do not work properly
Do we track whether users open our emails?
Our emails, including our monthly e-newsletter e-News, may contain a single, campaign-unique “web beacon pixel” to tell us whether our emails are opened and verify any clicks through to links within the email. We may use this information for determining which of our emails are more interesting to users in order to improve the content of e-News and other emails over time. The pixel will be deleted when you delete the email.
More Information
More detail on how businesses use cookies is available at www.allaboutcookies.org.
If you have any queries regarding this Cookie Policy please contact the College on admin@rco.org.uk
