Privacy policy

What is RSPCA Assured?

RSPCA Assured is a not-for-profit farm animal welfare assurance scheme. We are a wholly-owned subsidiary of the RSPCA (company number 219099) and a charity in our own right, in both England and Wales (1059879) and Scotland (SCO38199). As a registered company (number 2723670), we are governed by eight trustees, a chairperson, a vice-chairperson and four non-executives. The RSPCA is legally a separate entity and has its own privacy policy.

What data do we collect on our website?

Whenever you interact with us or third parties we work with, we may collect some personal information. We do this to improve the interaction you have with us and to try and resolve your request as quickly and as efficiently as possible. In some cases, we may also supplement the information we hold about you with information that is available to the public.

We may collect your data when you:

• submit product artwork for approval via our email inbox (supply chain members only)
• contact one of our departments via email
• contact our Membership Services Team to enquire about RSPCA Assured membership
• apply for a job with us
• engage with our social media platforms such as Facebook, LinkedIn, X or Instagram (depending on your settings or the privacy policies of those social media services)

• via cookies when you visit our website. Cookies enable us to measure and improve our website's functionality. You can read more about our use of cookies.

How do we gather data, and what are our legal grounds for doing so

The UK GDPR outlines six lawful bases for which a company can collect, maintain and process data. These are consent, contract, legal obligation, vital interests, public task, and legitimate interests. In keeping with UK GDPR outlines, we always consider if it is fair and balanced to use your personal information and whether doing so is within your reasonable expectations.

• Cookies - by clicking on the banner and accepting cookies, you give consent for us to process your data regarding your browser behaviour. Our cookies policy can be found here.
• Contacting us - by sending us an email, you give us permission via contract to process your data.
• RSPCA Assured members - your membership contract gives us permission to store and manage your data.
• Submitting artwork approvals - by submitting your artwork, you give us consent via contract to hold and process your data.
• Applying to work with RSPCA Assured - we will only hold your personal information for the duration of your application.

Sharing your information with third parties

Visitors to our website

Our website may contain links to other websites. They will have their own privacy policies, and RSPCA Assured cannot accept any responsibility or liability for these policies. We advise you to read the policies of these third-party websites before you submit any personal data to them.

We use the following services to help us better understand user behaviour on our website. This includes:

• a device's IP address (processed during your session and stored in a de-identified form),
• device screen size,
• device type (unique device identifiers),
• browser information,
• geographic location (country only), and
• the preferred language used to display our website.

These technologies collect information on our behalf.

Google Analytics

Collects information about how visitors use our website, how they found our website, and which pages they visit, etc.

• Google privacy information
• Opt-out of Google Analytics tracking

Hotjar

Allows us to analyse user behaviour on specific pages, how much time they spend on which pages, which links they click, what users do and don’t like, etc. Hotjar stores this information in a pseudonymised user profile and is contractually forbidden to sell any of the data collected on our behalf. Further details can be found on Hotjar’s support site.

RSPCA Assured members

We collect personal data from our members, including information about their business and the people associated with it. We use this information to:

• Manage your membership and certification
• Conduct research into farm animal welfare
• Work with other organisations to improve animal welfare standards
• Respond to complaints about animal welfare
• Comply with legal obligations
• Data Sharing

This information may be shared with:

• Universities for research purposes
• Accreditation bodies
• Other RSPCA Assured members
• Regulatory authorities, such as Trading Standards, and the Food Standards Agency
• The RSPCA
• Other third parties, when required by law

Data security

Any data we store is only accessible by designated members of the RSPCA Assured staff and is held securely behind encrypted logins. Stringent security protocols and our expert IT team ensure your information is secure, accurate and up to date.

Data retention

We will keep your data for a period of two years after your issue has been resolved. During this time, you can be sure that your data will be securely held and then permanently deleted. We may keep anonymised data for future analysis so we can understand our supporters better. We hold data for any active member or site; we shall continue to hold this data for two years after your membership is cancelled or withdrawn.

Your rights regarding data

You have various rights regarding the data we collect. These are

1. The right of access - you can request a copy of any personal data we hold, as well as information about how it is being processed.
2. The right to restrict processing - you can limit how your data is used. For example, if the data is inaccurate.
3. The right to erasure or 'right to be forgotten' - if you prefer us to delete all personal data we hold on you.
4. The right to object - in some circumstances, you can object to RSPCA Assured processing your information.
5. The right to data portability - you can request to move your data between different services.
6. The right to be informed - you have the right to know what is being done with your data, such as why it is being processed, and who the recipients of the data are.

Contact us

For further information regarding your data and any data requests, please contact our data protection team. If you would prefer to write to us, please use this address.

The Data Protection Compliance Officer,
RSPCA Assured,
4th-floor Parkside,
Chart Way,
Horsham,
West Sussex,
RH12 1GY