This policy explains how The Society of Law Accountants in Scotland (SOLAS) collects, uses, stores, and protects personal information. It covers website users, members, students, event attendees, applicants, advertisers, sponsors, speakers, committee members, and others who interact with SOLAS services.

Who we are

The Society of Law Accountants in Scotland (“SOLAS”) is committed to protecting your privacy.

Our website address is https://solas.org.uk.

This policy explains how we collect, use, store, and protect your personal information when you visit our website, interact with us, or attend our events.

Where we rely on consent, you can withdraw it at any time. Other processing may be carried out where we have a contractual, legal, or legitimate basis to do so.

Comments

When visitors leave comments on our site, we may collect:

• An anonymised string (hash) of your email for services to display your profile picture
• The data shown in the comment form (name, email, website)
• IP address and browser user agent for spam detection

Media

If you upload images to our website, avoid including embedded location data (EXIF GPS). Other visitors may be able to download and extract this data.

Website users

For registered users, we store the information provided in their profile. Administrators may also view and edit this data.

Passwordless sign-in and account access

Where passwordless sign-in is used, we may process your email address or username, sign-in token records, request and expiry times, IP address, redirect destination, and audit outcomes such as requested, used, expired, failed, or rate-limited links.

We use this information to provide secure account access, prevent misuse, troubleshoot login issues, and maintain an audit trail of account access activity.

Public member, committee, and speaker directories

Some website areas display limited public profile information, such as member directory details, committee roles, branch information, contact links, and Friends of SOLAS speaker profiles.

Where directory visibility settings are available, we use those settings to decide what appears publicly. Public speaker profiles only appear where the speaker has opted in and SOLAS has approved the profile.

Directory information may include name, role, branch, employer, professional contact details, topics, regions, speaking formats, profile photo, biography, and social/profile links where supplied.

Friends of SOLAS speakers and contributors

If you apply to become, or act as, a Friend of SOLAS speaker or contributor, we may collect your name, contact details, profile photo, employer, job title, biography, topics of expertise, speaking regions, preferred speaking formats, availability notes, contact preferences, consent choices, and profile links such as LinkedIn, Facebook, X/Twitter, YouTube, podcast, or website links.

We use this information to review speaker profiles, maintain speaker records, display approved public profiles where you have opted in, manage availability, and connect speakers with suitable SOLAS events or learning opportunities.

New or updated speaker profiles may be reviewed by SOLAS before they are accepted or shown publicly.

Event attendees, tickets, and speaking opportunities

For event bookings, tickets, attendance records, and speaker opportunities, we may process attendee names, contact details, ticket/order information, menu choices, dietary requirements, accessibility needs, attendance status, CPD eligibility, and related communications.

Dietary requirements and accessibility needs may reveal special category data. We use this information only where needed to arrange attendance, support access needs, meet health or safety requirements, or provide the requested event service.

Job, advert, and event submissions

Where users submit job listings, job applications, adverts, sponsorship enquiries, commercial events, or member event suggestions, we may collect account details, contact details, organisation details, submitted content, uploaded files, payment/order links, publication status, review notes, and related workflow history.

We use this information to review, publish, administer, charge for, and support these services.

Committee expenses and supporting evidence

Where committee expense claims are submitted, we may process claimant details, committee or branch role, journey or expense details, mileage, receipts, supporting documents, approval notes, payment status, and administrator or treasurer review actions.

We use this information to review, approve, pay, audit, and retain expense records for financial administration.

How we use your information

We may use your information to:

• Administer our website, events, and membership services
• Notify members about renewal information, meetings, rule changes, seminars, and newsletters
• Contact you to gather feedback on our services or notify you about updates to the website

Lawful basis for processing

Depending on the activity, we may rely on:

Contract: to provide membership, education, events, orders, subscriptions, account access, and related services.

Legal obligation: to keep accounting, tax, financial, regulatory, or governance records.

Legitimate interests: to administer SOLAS, manage members and committees, maintain website security, prevent misuse, improve services, handle support requests, and communicate relevant service information.

Consent: where you opt in to specific uses, such as certain public profile visibility choices, marketing preferences, or optional directory/social profile information.

Special category condition: where you provide dietary, health, or accessibility information for an event, we use it only for arranging the service and supporting your needs.

Cookies

If you leave a comment on our site you may opt-in to saving your name, email address and website in cookies. These are for your convenience so that you do not have to fill in your details again when you leave another comment. These cookies will last for one year.

If you visit our login page, we will set a temporary cookie to determine if your browser accepts cookies. This cookie contains no personal data and is discarded when you close your browser.

When you log in, we will also set up several cookies to save your login information and your screen display choices. Login cookies last for two days, and screen options cookies last for a year. If you select “Remember Me”, your login will persist for two weeks. If you log out of your account, the login cookies will be removed.

If you edit or publish an article, an additional cookie will be saved in your browser. This cookie includes no personal data and simply indicates the post ID of the article you just edited. It expires after 1 day.

Please refer to our Cookie policy for further information.

Embedded content from other websites

Articles on this site may include embedded content (e.g. videos, images, articles, etc.). Embedded content from other websites behaves in the exact same way as if the visitor has visited the other website.

These websites may collect data about you, use cookies, embed additional third-party tracking, and monitor your interaction with that embedded content, including tracking your interaction with the embedded content if you have an account and are logged in to that website.

Who we share your data with

We do not sell your personal information. Your data may be shared with:

• Local SOLAS branches for membership administration
• Third-party service providers for specific functions (e.g., spam detection)
• Embedded content from other websites may collect data according to their own privacy policies

If you request a password reset, your IP address will be included in the reset email.

How long we retain your data

If you leave a comment, the comment and its metadata are retained indefinitely. This is so we can recognise and approve any follow-up comments automatically instead of holding them in a moderation queue.

For users that register on our website (if any), we also store the personal information they provide in their user profile. All users can see, edit, or delete their personal information at any time (except they cannot change their username). Website administrators can also see and edit that information.

Member and event data is retained for the duration of membership and five years after.

Retention of newer portal records:

Passwordless sign-in records are retained for security, troubleshooting, and audit purposes for a limited period.

Speaker and Friends of SOLAS profile records are retained while the profile is active, pending review, or needed for event administration, and may be removed or anonymised on request unless SOLAS has a lawful reason to retain them.

Expense records and financial evidence are retained for accounting, audit, and governance purposes.

Directory visibility settings are retained while your account or profile remains active.

Where a record is linked to financial, legal, governance, or safeguarding obligations, SOLAS may need to retain some information even after an erasure request.

Profile, account & job application data deletion

When a member deletes their profile, or when SOLAS deletes a profile on their behalf (for example due to inactivity, user request, or policy reasons), all personal information associated with that profile will be permanently removed. This includes profile details, membership data, uploaded content, user settings, and any associated account history. Once deleted, this information cannot be restored.

Users may also request a formal Account Erasure Request under UK GDPR. When such a request is made, we will delete all personal information held about the user unless we are legally required to retain specific records (for example, for financial, contractual, or regulatory purposes). Any information that must be retained will be securely stored and removed once the retention period has expired.

Job application data

For members who submit job applications through our website:

• When a job listing is deleted, all associated applications and applicant data are deleted automatically.
• When a user deletes their account or submits an erasure request, all job applications linked to that account are permanently deleted.
• If an employer deletes an application, that application will be removed from our systems and cannot be restored.

We do not retain job application data beyond the life of the job listing or the user’s account, unless required by law.

Subscriptions, orders & download data

We collect information during the checkout process on our store.

What we collect and store

While you visit our site, we may track:

• Products you’ve viewed
• Location, IP address and browser type
• Shipping address for order estimation
• Cart contents (via cookies)

When you purchase from us, we may request:

• Name
• Billing and shipping address
• Email address and phone number
• Payment details
• Optional account information

We use this information to:

• Send updates about your account and order
• Respond to requests, refunds, and complaints
• Process payments and prevent fraud
• Comply with legal and tax obligations
• Improve our store offerings
• Send marketing if you opt in

We store order information for as long as legally required (for example, for tax or accounting compliance).

Invoices, payment records, and financial administration:

We may generate and store invoice numbers, order records, payment method information, billing and shipping addresses, refunds, subscriptions, renewal records, and payment-routing information such as bank-transfer instructions.

We retain financial records where required for accounting, tax, audit, contractual, or legal purposes.

We also store comments or reviews submitted through the store.

Who on our team has access

Access is limited to authorised SOLAS administrators, branch or committee officers, treasurers, event organisers, course or group leaders, employers, or service providers where their role requires it.

Administrators and Shop Managers may access:

• Order details
• Customer information
• Subscription information

We may use service providers for website hosting, email delivery, payment processing, learning management, analytics, spam/security protection, form processing, event administration, and file storage. These providers process information only as needed to provide their services to SOLAS.

This access enables us to fulfil orders, manage subscriptions, process refunds, and support users.

Subscriptions data

If you purchase a membership or recurring subscription, we collect and process personal information required to manage your subscription.

What we collect

• Name and contact details
• Subscription start/end dates
• Renewal status
• Payment and billing information
• Access permissions for subscription content

How we use subscription data

To:

• Create and manage your subscription
• Provide access to subscription-only areas
• Notify you about renewals or payment issues
• Comply with legal and accounting obligations

Erasing subscription data

During an account erasure request:

• Personal data within subscriptions is removed
• Subscription records may remain in anonymised form
• Subscription access is revoked
• The process is irreversible

Download access

If your subscription includes downloadable content:

• Access is revoked on erasure
• Download logs and permissions are deleted

Bulk personal data removal

Where required, administrators may remove personal data from orders or subscriptions in bulk. This cannot be undone.

CPD / LMS Data

Certain areas of the website provide Continuing Professional Development (CPD) or online learning services.

What we collect

When you enrol in CPD courses we may collect:

• Email address
• Account details
• Course enrolment history
• Progress, results, assignments
• Comments on course materials

We store CPD data for as long as your account exists.

How we use LMS data

To:

• Provide course access
• Track CPD progress
• Issue certificates
• Improve course content
• Support learners

Who has access

Administrators and authorised Group Leaders may access:

• Your enrolled courses
• Progress data
• Submissions and assessments

Who we share CPD data with

We may share data with:

• Payment processors
• Email communications services
• Analytics/reporting tools
• Course delivery tools

Only essential information is shared.

Event, Venue, and Organiser Information

Our website may store data relating to events, venues, organisers, imports, and ticket details.

What we collect

Venue Information

• Name, address, city, state, country, postal code
• Phone
• Website
• Latitude and longitude

Organiser Information

• Name
• Phone
• Email
• Website

Event Information

• Event description
• Date and time
• Website
• Cost
• Images
• Tickets (if applicable)

Imported Events

When using CSV/ICS or external URL imports, we may store:

• Data contained in the import file
• Source URL
• Ticket details (name, cost, quantity, type)

Community Event Submissions

If enabled, users may submit events either with an account or anonymously, depending on site settings. Submitted content is stored in our database.

API Keys

To enable features such as maps or ticketing, we may use third-party APIs including:

• Google Maps
• PayPal
• Zoom
• Facebook

These providers may process data in line with their own privacy policies.

How long we retain event data

Event, venue, organiser, and import data is stored indefinitely unless manually deleted or removed through an erasure request.

Some edge cases may require manual review to ensure all stored event data is removed.

Where we send event data

By default, event data is not transmitted externally.

If integrated services (Eventbrite, Google Maps, PayPal, Meetup, Zoom) are used, relevant information may be shared with those services, which may operate internationally.

Security

We employ measures to protect your information from unauthorized access, loss, destruction, or damage. While we strive to ensure security, no system is completely secure, and users are responsible for safeguarding their own devices.

What rights you have over your data

If you have an account on this site, or have left comments, you can request to receive an exported file of the personal data we hold about you, including any data you have provided to us. You can also request that we erase any personal data we hold about you. This does not include any data we are obliged to keep for administrative, legal, or security purposes.

For more information, visit the Information Commissioner’s Office: www.ico.org.uk

Accessing and Updating Your Information

You may request access to or correction of your personal data at any time by contacting us at:

Email: [email protected]
Address: The Society of Law Accountants in Scotland, Mayfield, Holme Farm, Lentran, Inverness, IV3 8RN

Changes to This Policy

We may update this privacy policy at any time. Updates will be posted on the website and, where appropriate, notified via email.