8 July 2026

We have updated our Privacy and cookies policy

The College has updated its Privacy and cookies policy to reflect recent changes in data protection legislation. This includes the UK General Data Protection Regulation, the Data Protection Act 2018, and the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025, which came into force earlier this year.

The updated policy sets out clearly the lawful basis on which we process personal data for each category of use, as required under UK GDPR. Members will also find a full statement of their rights as data subjects, including the right to object to certain types of processing, the right to erasure, and the right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office.

The cookies section has been revised to reflect the DUAA 2025, which removed the requirement for prior consent for analytics cookies. We still provide details of all cookies in use on our website and how to opt out of them.

We have updated our list of third-party processors to reflect the organisations we currently work with, and added a brief section on our philanthropic fundraising activity, including members' right to opt out of any related data use.

Find out more

Related further reading

Chris Steele FCOptom, Clinical Editor of Acuity, looks at the brink of a major medical shift.

We speak to Ruth Bennett MCOptom, the College’s Deputy Lead Assessor on the Scheme for Registration, about her “portfolio” career in optometry.

If passed, the measures mooted in the government’s consultation to extend medicines for optometrists and contact lens opticians could be the biggest change to scope of practice in decades. What could practice look like if the proposals are enacted?