The College of Optometrists is committed to protecting your personal information when you are using our services and resources. We want all interactions with the College to be safe environments for our members, non-members, as well as for other organisations and members of the public that interact with us. This Privacy and Cookies Policy relates to our use of any personal information we collect from you via The College of Optometrists’ websites.
This policy also applies to our use of any personal information you provide to the College, including by phone, SMS, email, in letters and other correspondence, and in person.
In order to provide you with our full range of services and benefits, we sometimes need to collect information about you.
This Privacy Policy, and accompanying Cookies Policy, explains the following:
The College of Optometrists is committed to safeguarding your personal information. Whenever you provide such information, we are legally obliged to use your information in line with all applicable laws concerning the protection of personal information, including the Data Protection Act 1998 and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) May 2018. These laws are referred to collectively in this Privacy and Cookies Policy as the "data protection laws". Our website companies take measures to secure personal data and provide resilience against online malicious attacks that can occur.
The College of Optometrists’ websites contain hyperlinks to websites owned and operated by third parties, including Wiley, the publisher of OPO, the General Optical Council, a range of sector and academic journals, BSI, Optometry Wales, Optometry Scotland and Optometry Northern Ireland and Docet. These third party websites have their own privacy policies, and are also likely to use cookies, and we therefore urge you to review them. They will govern the use of personal information you submit when visiting these websites, which may also be collected by cookies. The College of Optometrists does not accept any responsibility or liability for the privacy practices of such third party websites and your use of such websites is at your own risk.
The College of Optometrists is the professional body for optometrists. It qualifies the profession and delivers the guidance, development and training to ensure optometrists provide the best possible care. We recognise excellence through the College’s affixes, by building the evidence base for optometry, and by raising awareness of the profession with the public, commissioners, and health care professionals.
Our websites are hosted externally. Names of third party hosts have been withheld to protect system and data. If you would like to request this information, please apply to data.protection@college-optometrists.org giving your reasons for requesting the data.
| PURPOSE FOR COLLECTING DATA | CONTACT INFORMATION | EDUCATION HISTORY | PROFESSIONAL INTERESTS | PAYMENT DETAILS | SENSITIVE/OTHER | CPD INFORMATION |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Membership application and registering for a log in | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | No |
| Membership Processing and managing: a. Membership renewals b. Communicating College benefits and information c. Website login d. Patient resource ordering e. Window sticker ordering f. Public member directory | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| Scheme for Registration Processing and managing: a. enrolment b. assessments c. OSCE d. exceptional circumstances e. reasonable adjustments f. appeals | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes. We collect ethnic origin information for anonymised statistical purposes only. | No |
| Events Processing and managing event bookings | Yes | No | No | No | Yes. We will collect dietary information We will not pass your name and dietary requirements together outside of the College. We keep delegate photos taken at events. | No |
| Member Directory a. In order to provide the member service of a Member Directory, giving work addresses and work contact details. | Yes | No | No | No | No | No |
| IP Logbook and Exam a. To enable the College to run the logbook, get the sessions signed off by your mentor and for the College to approve the logbook entry. b. To enable entry to the final examination. | Yes | No | No | No | Yes. Includes the contact information for your ophthalmology mentor. | No |
| College and Docet CPD quiz information a. In order to comply with GOC regulations for auditing purposes. | Yes | No | No | No | No | Yes |
| Library photocopier requests a. The College collects this data to enable us to provide this services for members. | Yes | No | No | No | No | No |
| Pre-registration vacancy form a. To enable supervisors to advertise their placements on the College website. | Yes | No | No | No | No | No |
| University student representative application a. To enable us to appoint representatives in each University. | Yes | No | No | No | No | No |
| Museum visit a. To allow the Curator to manage visits to the College museum and office. | Yes | No | No | No | No | No |
| Contact us a. In order to provide College members and members of the public with an efficient service. | Yes | No | No | No | No | No |
The College of Optometrists will use your personal information for a number of purposes, including the following:
To advise you of new resources and services offered by the College which we believe you should be made aware of, as a member of the profession. From May 2018, at the point you either resign your College membership, or fail to renew it, we will ask you if and how you want to be kept in touch with the College as your professional body. Unless you opt out of receiving these communications, we will only continue to communicate with you if there is a legitimate interest for our doing so.
The College of Optometrists will contact you about your membership renewal annually, by post. We may also contact you by email, post, text and phone to remind you if you have not paid.
The College of Optometrists will contact you by email, with College news, CPD opportunities and updates for the profession.
The College of Optometrists will send you the quarterly journal, Acuity, by post.
The College of Optometrists will contact trainees, supervisors and assessors with regards to your Scheme for Registration Assessments and with information regarding requirements for the Scheme for Registration, your roles and responsibilities.
The College of Optometrists will contact facilitators regarding requirements and training regarding your role and for help with events in your area.
The College manages and administers Docet. The College and Docet use the same database.
If you make a Docet communication preference request this will be added to the shared database and used for Docet communications only.
If you are a member of the College, and update your details through either the College or Docet, this will be updated on your database record and will be used by both organisations.
If you are a not a member of the College and update your details via Docet, this will be recorded on the shared database and used by Docet. The College may contact you about appropriate events and other relevant services where we consider there is a legitimate interest.
The College of Optometrists will contact you about new resources and services produced by the College.
The College of Optometrists will also contact you about the opportunity to re-join at membership renewal time.
Yes, by The College of Optometrists in relation to College member resources and services only and, if provided, in accordance with your stated preferences. We will never pass your personal and contact details to third parties for marketing purposes unless you have specifically opted-in as a delegate to receive information from the sponsors of College conferences and regional events.
We will keep your information within the College, except when we require third party providers of College services to have it to fulfil member services, so for example:
| COMPANY NAME | PURPOSE |
|---|---|
| Barclays | Membership fees. Trustee confirmation. |
| BCLA Focus | For the management of Optometry Tomorrow 2024 now incorporating BCLA Focus. |
| Bottomline Technologies, Sagepay, DMC Software | Process Membership fees/expenses. |
| CAF Bank | Trustee confirmation. |
| Cantarus | Access to the College's member app. |
| CAPITA | To allow CAPITA to pay supervisor grant. To notify CAPITA of changes to trainee/supervisor details. |
| Chord UK Ltd | Membership renewal contact |
| Cloud based email, SMS, election and survey marketing platforms | To send College emails, questionnaires, and SMS messages, and to run Council elections. |
| Employers | To confirm the Scheme for Registration fees payable for trainees and to share Scheme for Registration progression data. |
| Event sponsors | To College event sponsors when delegates proactively opt in to receive further information from them. |
| Filter Agency | Display Member Directory information on www.lookafteryoureyes.org |
| GOC | To process GOC registration and to contact those who pre-registered before the OCSE but then failed. To alert GOC that trainee is no longer able to practice. Cc'd into off-scheme email with attached letter which states end date on the Scheme for Registration. Receive affix information. |
| GoToWebinar | To run webinars that members sign up for. |
| Heritage | Record all library transactions. |
| Learning Pool College CPD | To populate database in learning management system for College members to access online learning. |
| Learning Pool Docet CPD | To populate database in learning management system for Docet users to access online learning. |
| Links courier | To organise exam documentation/equipment to arrive at our exams. |
| Mailing houses | Produce membership and qualification certificates. Mailing of patient leaflets. Mailing of Scheme for Registration handbooks. Mailing of enrolment letters. Original subscription mailing. Various member mailings such as Guidance/Acuity/Ad hoc projects. |
| Market research companies | Commissioned from time to time by the College to ask members views on College services, resources and the broader profession. |
| Marston | To manage bookings, gown hire and photography for the Diploma Ceremony. |
| MOO | Business cards. |
| NES Scotland | To allow NES Scotland to pay supervisor grant in N.I and notify them of changes in trainee/supervisor details. |
| NHS Northern Ireland Central Services | To allow NHS Northern Ireland to pay the supervisor grant in N.I and to notify NHS Northern Ireland of changes in trainee/supervisor details. |
| NHS Scotland | To allow NHS Scotland to pay the supervisor grant in Scotland and to notify NHS Scotland of changes in trainee/supervisor details. |
| NHS Wales | To allow NHS Wales to pay the supervisor grant in Scotland and to notify NHS Wales of changes in trainee/supervisor details. |
| NTT | To make phone calls and send emails to existing members who have not paid their membership subscription |
| OSCE venues (RCGP and RCP Liverpool) | To provide venue with information ahead of our exams. |
| OpenAthens | Create online account for resource access. |
| QRS | Barcode scanning at College events. |
| Ripley | To run our e-marking system in order to build the OSCE and create electronic marksheets. |
| Smart Impact | Functioning websites |
| Tern Consultancy | Stage 2 Assessment |
| TestReach | To facilitate the TCFA Independent Prescribing (IP) exam |
| The GOC and legal authorities | If required by law, we may need to pass on personal details to a legal authority. |
| UKVI | To qualify for GAE Visa. |
We will hold your personal information on our systems for as long as is necessary for the relevant activity, or as long as is set out in individual privacy statements that are made available to members at the point of every interaction with the College when members are required to give your details. The College also applies a Data Retention policy that details the purposes the data held is used for, the security arrangements under which it is held, and the period the data is retained. For a copy of the College’s Data Retention policy email: data.protection@college-optometrists.org.
If you ask us to delete your information, then that is done as quickly as possible, within normal working hours. All other information retained, would be demographic and, for analysis purposes and from which an individual would not be personally identifiable.
You can receive a copy of the College’s data retention policy by emailing: data.protection@college-optometrists.org.
You can always ask us to delete your data held by the College by emailing the same address.
To have your data deleted by Docet, email enquiries@docet.info.
Under the Data Protection Act you have the right to request a copy of the personal information The College of Optometrists holds about you and to have any inaccuracies corrected. (We require you to prove your identity with two pieces of approved identification). We will use reasonable efforts consistent with our legal duty to supply, correct or delete personal information about you on our files. Please address requests and questions about this or any other question about this Privacy and Cookies Policy via data.protection@college-optometrists.org or call 020 7766 4350.
For any other questions regarding the College’s use of your personal data, please email data.protection@college-optometrists.org or call 020 7766 4350.
A cookie is a small amount of data, which often includes a unique identifier that is sent to your computer, tablet or mobile phone (all referred to here as a "device") web browser from a website's computer and is stored on your device's hard drive. Each website can send its own cookie to your web browser if your browser's preferences allow it. Many websites do this whenever a user visits their website in order to track online traffic flows. Similar technologies are also often used within emails to understand whether the email has been read or if any links have been clicked. If you continue without changing your settings, we’ll assume that you are happy to receive all cookies on The College of Optometrists’ websites. However, you can change your cookie settings at any time.
On The College of Optometrists’ websites, cookies record information about your online preferences and allow us to tailor our websites to your interests. During the course of any visit to a College of Optometrists’ website, the pages you see, along with a cookie, are downloaded to your device. Many websites do this, because cookies enable website publishers to do useful things like finding out whether the device (and probably its user) has visited the website before. This is done on a repeat visit by checking to see, and finding, the cookie left there on the last visit.
Information supplied by cookies can help us to understand the profile of our visitors and help us to provide you with a better user experience. It also helps us to provide a more personalised experience. For example, if on a previous visit you went to our education pages, we might find this out from your cookie and highlight educational information on your second and subsequent visits. The College of Optometrists uses this type of information to help improve the services it provides to its users.
Cookies used on The College of Optometrists’ website are listed below.
Most web browsers allow some control of most cookies through the browser settings. To find out more about cookies, including how to see what cookies have been set and how to manage and delete them, visit http://www.aboutcookies.org which gives step-by-step guidance on how to control and delete cookies for your browser type. You can then adjust your browser settings to your preferred level of protection. www.allaboutcookies.org is also a useful website.
In order to facilitate sound information security practices our technical solution providers record interactions with this website in the form of Website server logs, this records your remote IP Address, the resources accessed on our website, date/time and your browser information. This information will be retained for up to 12 months to support our efforts in auditing and to safeguard our website.
| NAME | PURPOSE | CONTENT | EXPIRY | CLASSIFICATION |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| owin.authentication | To store currently logged in user account | Session | ||
| __RequestVerificationToken | Used on forms to provide security protection on the site. | Session | ||
| ApplicationGatewayAffinity | Cookie used by web hosting setup to route users current session to the correct web server. | Session | ||
| ApplicationGatewayAffinityCORS | Cookie used by web hosting setup to route users current session to the correct web server. | Session |
| NAME | PURPOSE | CONTENT | EXPIRY | CLASSIFICATION |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Session | LP LMS uses a cookie to track the users session. This cookie is created for every user who browses any page on the site.
| Contains a hash which is the session identifier. | Session. | Performance. |
| Remember username | LP LMS uses a cookie to remember the users username if the equivalent option is checked on the login page. This cookie is created by the login page after the user logs in if the remember username functionality is set to On, or if the functionality is set to optional and the user has checked the remember username box on the login screen. The remember username functionality can be disabled by browsing to Site administration > Security > Site policies and setting Remember username (rememberusername) to No.
| User’s login username as an rc4 encrypted value. | 60 days. | Performance. |
| NAME | PURPOSE | CONTENT | EXPIRY | CLASSIFICATION |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| _ga | This cookie name is associated with Google Universal Analytics - which is a significant update to Google's more commonly used analytics service. This cookie is used to distinguish unique users by assigning a randomly generated number as a client identifier. It is included in each page request in a site and used to calculate visitor, session and campaign data for the sites analytics reports. By default it is set to expire after 2 years, although this is customisable by website owners. | Random number and text | Two years | Performance |
| _gat | This cookie name is associated with Google Universal Analytics, according to documentation it is used to throttle the request rate - limiting the collection of data on high traffic sites. It expires after 10 minutes. | Random number and text | 10 minutes | Performance |
| _gid | This cookie name is asssociated with Google Universal Analytics. This appears to be a new cookie and as of Spring 2017 no information is available from Google. It appears to store and update a unique value for each page visited. | Random number and text | One day | Performance |
| NAME | PURPOSE | CONTENT | EXPIRY | CLASSIFICATION |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| loc | Random number and text | One year | ||
| ssc | Allows user to share webpage with many social sites | Random number and text | One year | Performance |
| uvc | Allows user to share webpage with many social sites | Random number and text. | One year | Performance |
| Relating to the user | |
| Cookie name | Description |
| _hjSessionUser_{site_id} |
|
| _hjid |
|
| _hjFirstSeen |
|
| _hjUserAttributesHash |
|
| _hjCachedUserAttributes |
|
| _hjViewportId |
|
| Relating to the session | |
| Cookie name | Description |
| _hjSession_{site_id} |
|
| _hjSessionTooLarge |
|
| _hjSessionRejected |
|
| _hjSessionResumed |
|
| _hjLocalStorageTest |
|
| _hjIncludedInPageviewSample |
|
| _hjIncludedInSessionSample |
|
| _hjAbsoluteSessionInProgress |
|
| _hjTLDTest |
|
| Relating to Recordings | |
| Cookie name | Description |
| _hjRecordingEnabled |
|
| _hjRecordingLastActivity |
|
| Relating to Feedback and Survey tools | |
| Cookie name | Description |
| _hjClosedSurveyInvites |
|
| _hjDonePolls |
|
| _hjMinimizedPolls |
|
| _hjShownFeedbackMessage |
|
This Privacy and Cookies Policy may be updated from time to time so you may wish to check it each time you submit personal information to The College of Optometrists. The date of the most recent revisions will appear on this page. If you do not agree to these changes, please do not continue to use The College of Optometrists’ websites to submit personal information to The College of Optometrists.
If you any questions or comments about this privacy policy, please contact Bill Scott, Director of Finance at bill.scott@college-optometrists.org or 0207 839 6000.
The College of Optometrists, 42 Craven Street, London, WC2N 5NG.
Last updated: 6 May 2025