OUR PRIVACY POLICY
The Royal Air Force, as part of the Ministry of Defence, is committed to protecting your privacy. When you contact us or visit our websites, your personal information is stored securely and processed fairly as required by the Data Protection Act 2018.
This Privacy Policy explains the following
- What information the Royal Air Force may collect about you
- How the Royal Air Force will use your information and ensure this is not shared with organisations outside the Ministry of Defence
- How long your information may be held on our systems
- Your choices regarding the personal information you provide to us
- 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 24 May 2018.
HOW WE COLLECT INFORMATION
We collect personal information when you
- Register online, request information or submit an application through our websites
- Complete a printed form, questionnaire or coupon
- Contact us by phone, post, email or text message
- Use web chat to talk to a recruiter
In addition, information is automatically captured each time you visit our websites. We use cookies (as described here) 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.
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 not share your information with other organisations outside the Ministry of Defence (unless we are required to do so by law).
If you apply to join the RAF, your personal data may be shared with the Army or Navy if you also apply to join these Services.
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 RAF 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 for no more than 10 years. Any sensitive personal data will be removed after 1 year. This period only starts if and when all your applications to join the UK Armed Forces have become inactive, and is reset each time you logon to our website or contact us to request further information.
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.
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 can ask us to delete an individual application and remove the personal data entered on your application form at any point before it is submitted.
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 permission to do so.
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 13 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 all the information we hold about you by writing to the address below.
WHAT TO DO IF YOU DON'T WANT US TO CONTACT YOU IN THE FUTURE
Write to the address below asking us not to contact you again.
WHAT TO DO IF YOU WANT US TO REMOVE YOUR DETAILS FROM OUR RECORD
Write to the address below asking us to delete your details from our records.
You need to tell us which records 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).
Further advice on the “right to prevent processing” is provided on the Information Commission’s website.
DATA PROTECTION
More information about the Data Protection Act 2018 and your rights can be found on the Information Commissioner's Office website.
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