The Royal Air Force, as part of the Ministry of Defence, is committed to protecting your privacy. When you contact us, visit our websites or share information with us, your personal information is stored securely and processed fairly as required by the Data Protection Act 2018, General Data Protection Regulation and Privacy and Electronic Communication Regulations.
This privacy policy explains
• What information the Royal Air Force may collect about you.
• How the Royal Air Force uses this information – confirming both the purpose and legal basis for processing your personal data.
• Your legal rights and our responsibilities as data controller.
• Who will have access to your information.
• How long your information may be held on our systems
• The rights to access personal data or request the correction of inaccurate data.
• Who to contact in the Royal Air Force if you have any questions about this policy or the information we hold about you.
• The right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner.
• How cookies are used on our websites and the options available to reject these.
Changes to our Privacy Policy
We may update our privacy policy from time to time, so you may want to check the latest version before providing personal data to the Royal Air Force. This version was last updated on 31 March 2023.
How we collect information
We collect personal information when you
• Register online, request information or submit an application through our websites
• Provide information requested through the Candidate Portal in support of your application
• Complete a printed form or questionnaire
• Contact us by phone, post, email or text message
• Use web chat to talk to a recruiter
• Participate in any assessment activity during the recruiting and selecting process, whether it is conducted via video, telephone or face to face.
In addition, information is automatically captured each time you visit our websites. We use cookies (as described above) and collect IP addresses (that can uniquely identify a specific computer or network device on the internet) to track visitors to our websites and prepare management reports.
What we do with this information
We use the personal information you provide to answer your requests for information, to process your applications to join the Royal Air Force, and to make improvements to our websites and recruitment practices.
What are my rights?
Your legal rights, and our responsibilities as data controller, are dependent on the legal basis used to process your personal data.
If you register online or contact us to express an interest in any part of the UK Armed Forces, or you submit an application to join the UK Armed Forces, your personal data will be processed using the following legal basis: Public task - processing is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority vested in the data controller. In this case it is necessary for the MOD to perform its official duties in relation to recruitment to the Armed Forces, including answering your requests for information, processing your application to join the UK Armed Forces, making improvements to our websites and conducting data analytics studies to enable equal opportunities monitoring and the improvement of recruiting strategy and process.
You may still object to direct marketing, or processing where it can be demonstrated that your rights and interests outweigh those of the MOD, but there is no absolute right to request the removal of your personal data.
Regardless of your level of involvement and the legal basis used to process your personal data, you have a right to be informed about how your information will be used. You also have a right to access your personal data, to request the rectification of any inaccuracies, and to be told about the use of automated decision making and profiling. These rights are described in more detail below.
Who will have access to your information
Your personal information may be handled by the companies we use as data processors to provide marketing services and process your applications.
These companies must comply strictly with our privacy policies that prohibit the use of personal data for their own business purposes.
We will in some circumstances have to share your data with third parties, including third-party service providers. We require third parties to respect the security of your data and to treat it in accordance with the law. We will in some circumstances transfer your personal information outside the UK. If we do, you can expect a similar degree of protection in respect of your personal information.
If you apply to join the Royal Air Force, your personal data may be shared across the Royal Navy, Army and RAF (a) if you also apply to join these Services, (b) for the purpose of improving our recruitment practises on an aggregated and/or anonymised basis, and/or (c) in the event of an organisational, structural or administrative change within the Ministry of Defence.
If you agree, the information contained in targeting cookies may be shared with other websites so the advertising displayed on these sites is more relevant to you. No personal data will be shared with other websites – only IP addresses, which identify a specific computer or network device.
How long do we keep your information?
Your information will be held on our systems for as long as is necessary to answer your requests and maintain a dialogue with those individuals who remain interested in the Royal Air Force and Royal Air Force careers.
If you register an interest, but do not apply to join the Royal Air Force, we will keep your personal data for no more than 3 years. This period starts on the day you last made contact with the Royal Air Force and is reset each time you logon to our website or contact us to request further information.
If you apply to join the Royal Air Force, but do not enter Service in the UK Armed Forces, we will keep your personal data in line with the data retention policy. For more information please contact [email protected]
This will enable us to check the status and outcome of any previous application to join the UK Armed Forces.
Any special category personal data will be removed after 1 year, unless stated differently in the data retention policy. This period only starts when all your applications to join the Royal Air Force have become inactive and will be reset each time you log on to our website or contact us to request further information.
Footnote: As per the ICOs definition, Special category data is personal data that needs more protection because it is sensitive.
At the end of this period, we will remove your personal information from our systems or treat the data to remove any personal identifiers that could be used to identify you as an individual.
If you enter Service in the UK Armed Forces, some of your personal data will be retained for 100 years as required under the Public Record Acts.
Can I remove the information held in my online account?
Your online account is required to manage your current applications across the UK Armed Forces – including the Army, Royal Navy and RAF.
You can ask us to remove your account but we can only do this if you have no active applications to join any Service in the UK Armed Forces.
You may contact us to withdraw a submitted application at any time but your personal data will continue to be held on our systems (as described above).
Will I be contacted by the Royal Air Force for marketing purposes?
We will only contact or send information about the Royal Air Force and RAF careers to those people who have given us explicit permission to do so.
We will only provide information that is relevant to you.
If you choose to receive marketing communications, you can tell us whether you want to be contacted by post, phone, email or text messages.
You can change these preferences whenever you contact us or at any time by logging on to your account (if you have registered online).
If you submit an application to join the Royal Air Force, we will contact you by the most appropriate means to follow-up and process your application.
Will the information be used to make automated decisions that affect me?
We may use the personal data you provide to make automated decisions that affect you – for example, to decide if you are eligible to join the Royal Air Force or suitable for a particular role.
We will inform you whenever we use personal data processed solely by automated means to make a decision that has a significant effect on you as an individual. In these cases, we will take reasonable steps to safeguard your legitimate rights and give you the opportunity to challenge any decision taken by automated means.
Advice for parents and young people
Many young people are interested in information about the Royal Air Force. The privacy and security of their personal data is very important to us.
We encourage all parents to supervise their children’s use of the internet and for young people to always seek permission from a parent/guardian before entering any personal data in any website.
We will not process or store personal data about children under 14 years and will not accept registrations or applications to join the Royal Air Force from individuals under 14 years.
We ask everyone under 18 years to confirm that they have spoken to a parent/guardian about their interest in the Royal Air Force and obtained their permission before registering or applying to join the Royal Air Force.
We require anyone under 18 to provide a signed consent form from a parent/guardian before they attend a recruitment event – including meetings, briefings, information days and visits.
What information do we hold about you?
You can request a report detailing the personal information we hold about you. You may also ask us to rectify your personal data if this is incorrect.
What to do if you don't want us to contact you in the future
You can ask us not to contact you again.
What to do if you object to processing and want us to remove your personal data
Write to the address below asking us to delete your details from our records.
You need to tell us what personal data you want us to remove, if you have registered an interest or applied to join more than one Service in the UK Armed Forces (British Army, Royal Navy or Royal Air Force).
Complaints related to the processing of personal data
You have a right to lodge a complaint with MOD information Rights Team or the Information Commissioner if you have a concern about how we are handling your information and your rights under the Data Protection Act and General Data Protection Regulation.
MOD Information Rights Team
Ground floor, zone D
Main Building
Whitehall
London SW1A 2HB
Email: [email protected]
Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Tel: 0303 123 1113 (local rate) or 01625 545 745 if you prefer to use a national rate number
Information Commissioner's Office website. ico.org.uk
Data Protection
More information about data protection and your rights can be found on the Information Commissioner's Office website. ico.org.uk
Freedom of Information
More information about the Freedom of Information Act 2000, and the information made available to the public by the Ministry of Defence, can be found on the MOD pages on the GOV.UK website
Contacting the Royal Air Force about personal information
If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or the information we hold about you, please write to
MOD Data Protection Officer,
Ministry of Defence, Main Building,
Ground floor, Zone D,
Whitehall
London SW1A 2HB
Email address: [email protected]
The MoD’s Personal Information Charter is available here
When we provide services, we want to make them easy, useful and reliable. Where services are delivered on the internet, this sometimes involves placing small amounts of information on your device, for example, computer or mobile phone. These include small files known as cookies. They cannot be used to identify you personally.
These pieces of information are used to improve services for you through, for example:
- Enabling a service to recognise your device so you don't have to give the same information several times during one task
- Recognising that you may already have given a username and password so you don't need to do it for every web page requested
- Measuring how many people are using services, so they can be made easier to use and there's enough capacity to ensure they are fast
- Analysing anonymised data to help us understand how people interact with govt services so we can make them better
You can manage these small files and learn more about them from the article, Internet Browser cookies - what they are and how to manage them https://www.gov.uk/help/cookies
If you'd like to learn how to remove cookies set on your device, visit: the About Cookies site http://www.aboutcookies.org/Default.aspx?page=1
We use the following types of cookies:
Strictly necessary cookies. These are cookies that are required for the operation of our website and under our terms with you. They include, for example, cookies that enable you to log into secure areas of our website, use a shopping cart or make use of e-billing services.
Analytical/performance cookies. They allow us to recognise and count the number of visitors and to see how visitors move around our website when they are using it. This helps us for our legitimate purposes to improve the way our website works, for example, by ensuring that users are finding what they are looking for easily.
Functionality cookies. These are used to recognise you when you return to our website. This enables us, subject to your choices and preferences, to personalise our content for you, greet you by name and remember your preferences (for example, your choice of language or region).
Targeting cookies. These cookies record your visit to our website, the pages you have visited and the links you have followed. We will use this information subject to your choices and preferences to make our website and the advertising displayed on it more relevant to your interests. We may also share this information with third parties for this purpose.
This is a list of cookies that may be stored on your device when visiting sites within the raf.mod.uk domain.
'First-party' cookies
Server technology
The RAF use Umbraco, .Net Server technologies and various open-source libraries to underpin the recruitment.raf.mod.uk website, these technologies set cookies to keep track of session state.
Cookies as recruitment.raf.mod.uk
Name: CFID
Typical content: randomly generated number
Expires: when you close your browser
Name: CFTOKEN
Typical content: randomly generated number
Expires: when you close your browser
Name: JSESSIONID
Typical content: randomly generated number
Expires: when you close your browser
Name: JSESSIONID
Typical content: randomly generated number
Expires: when you close your browser
Name: ASP.NET_SessionID
Typical content: randomly generated number
Expires: when you close your browser
Name: ASPSESSIONIDSQARQAAT
Typical content: randomly generated number
Expires: when you close your browser
This cookie is specific to the RAF Engagement events directory
RAF site cookies
Some of the sites within the raf.mod.uk domain may set a cookie to record your current selection e.g. logging in to a site - this is so you do not need to repeatedly enter their details.
Cookies as recruitment.raf.mod.uk
Name: RAFCAREERSID Typical content: random 35 character ID
Expires: 1 year
This cookie is specific to raf.mod.uk/careers and is used to assign an ID to a user for site personalisation.
'Third-party' cookies
We use a number of suppliers who may also set cookies on their websites' on its behalf.
RAF klick2contact
Name: k2c_Launch; k2c_chat_a1; k2c_history.
Source: rafwebchat.klick2contact.com
Typical content: username as text and session management,
Expires on browser close
These cookies are specific to activated livechat sessions to enable a user to talk live with a careers advisor.
YouTube video sharing [http://www.youtube.com/]
YouTube embedded videos are used within the raf.mod.uk domain.
cookies as youtube.com
Name: VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE
Typical content: encoded text
Expires: 8 months
Name: use_hitbox
Typical content: encoded text
Expires: when you close your browser
Name: GEO
Typical content: encoded text
Expires: when you close your browser
For further information on YouTube privacy policy click here
Google web services
Google web services are used within the raf.mod.uk domain to add interactive elements e.g. Google maps are used to create an interactive map. Google Local is used to resolve postcode to latitude and longitude.
Cookies as google.com
Name: PREF
Typical content: text with unique identifiers
Expires: 2 years
Name: NID
Typical content: text with unique identifiers
Expires: 1 day
For more information on Google privacy policies click here
Zmags viewer [http://www.zmags.com/]
raf.mod.uk/aircadets use a 3rd party magazine viewer to host the electronic version of their monthly magazine.
Cookies as viewer.zmags.com
Name: ARPT_SERVICES
Typical content: randomly generated text
Expires: when you close your browser
Cookies as stats.zmag.com
Typical content: randomly generated number
Expires: when you close your browser
Name: ARPT_STATS
Typical content: randomly generated text
Expires: when you close your browser
Name: zmagStatsLastVisitnnnnnn (where n is a number)
Typical content: number
Expires: 3 months
'Fourth-party' cookies
Facebook
Name: id
Typical Content: Unique serial number
Expires: 28 days
Privacy Policy: https://www.facebook.com/policies/cookies/
Link to opt-out: https://www.facebook.com/settings?tab=ads&view
Google adwords
Unique serial number
Expires: 30 days
Privacy Policy: https://policies.google.com/technologies/ads
Link to opt-out: https://www.google.com/settings/ads/onweb/
Media Iq
Name: id
Typical Content: User id
Expires: One year
Privacy Policy: https://wearemiq.com/privacy-policy/
Link to opt-out: https://wearemiq.com/privacy-policy/
Perform
Name: Lotame
Typical Content: Unique
Expires: 28 days
Privacy Policy: http://www.lotame.com/legal
Link to opt-out: http://www.youronlinechoices.eu/
Cookies for improving service
Google Analytics [http://www.google.com/analytics/]
sets cookies to help us accurately estimate the number of visitors to the website and volumes of usage. This to ensure that the service is available when you want it and fast.
Cookies as recruitment.raf.mod.uk
Name: _utma
Typical content: randomly generated number
Expires: 2 years
Name: _utmb
Typical content: randomly generated number
Expires: 30 minutes
Name: _utmc
Typical content: randomly generated number
Expires: when user exits browser
Name: _utmz
Typical content: randomly generated number + info on how the site was reached (e.g. directly or via a link, organic search or paid search)
Expires: 6 months
For further details on the cookies set by Google Analytics, please refer to the Google Code website
http://code.google.com/apis/analytics/docs/concepts/gaConceptsCookies.html#cookiesSet
ComScore iStats system (Nedstat / Sitestat) [http://www.comscore.com/]
Helps us to measure the usage of certain parts of the raf.mod.uk domain. This enables us to customise the site to user needs
.
Cookies as recruitment.raf.mod.uk
Name: ns_session
Typical content: Boolean value, either 'true' or 'false'
Expires: when you close your browser
Name: ns_cookietest
Typical content: Boolean value, either 'true' or 'false' - Used to confirm that your browser is able to accept cookies.
Expires: when you close your browser
Disclaimer:
The above list represents the known cookies that are used within the raf.mod.uk domain, however the domain is a large enterprise site that allows multiple organisations of the RAF to publish their own content into the domain, they may use a technique or technology that adds a cookie to your device. This cookie may not be listed here. If you find such a cookie please report it to us here and we will add it to the list.
How to control and delete cookies
We will not use cookies to collect personally identifiable information about you.
However, if you wish to restrict or block the cookies which are set by our websites, or indeed any other website, you can do this through your browser settings. The ‘Help’ function within your browser should tell you how.
Alternatively, you may wish to visit www.aboutcookies.org which contains comprehensive information on how to do this on a wide variety of browsers. You will also find details on how to delete cookies from your machine as well as more general information about cookies.
Please be aware that restricting cookies may impact on the functionality of our website.
If you wish to view your cookie code, just click on a cookie to open it. You'll see a short string of text and numbers. The numbers are your identification card, which can only be seen by the server that gave you the cookie.
For information on how to do this on the browser of your mobile phone you will need to refer to your handset manual.
To opt-out of third-parties collecting any data regarding your interaction on our website, please refer to their websites for further information.