Privacy Policy

In light of the introduction of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) on 25 May 2018, the Ghar Parau Foundation (GPF) has been reviewing its data protection and privacy policies. The Foundation recognises its obligations under the GDPR and the enhanced requirements in respect of personal data held. A synopsis of GPF’s position and procedures is noted below.

Our website

Our website address is: https://gharparau.org.uk. This Privacy Policy also covers webpages found on our subdomains https://apps.gharparau.org.uk (the application portal) and https://admin.gharparau.org.uk (the Committee portal).

Personal Data

In the course of GPF’s grant aid processes, there is a requirement to hold personal data on both grant applicants and expedition members. This will include names, addresses, telephone and email contact details and in some cases bank account details. This data is required in order that GPF may consider applications and fulfil its legitimate purpose of the distribution of financial assistance to expeditions.

How we use your personal information

We promise:

  • Only ask for data that is needed.
  • To keep your data safe and private.
  • Restrict access to personal data.
  • Not make any personal data available for commercial use.
  • To give you ways to manage and review the data we hold about you at any time.
The GPF does not collect or store personal data, or track your usage in any way other than information that you voluntarily provide through our application system or contact form.

We do publish grants awards and expedition information and pass information to the press about the expeditions we support and grants we make. We do publish the names of expedition leaders and referees but we do not pass on personal details to any organisation outside the British Cave Research Association or British Caving Association unless requested to do so under the Law of the United Kingdom.

We use Forminator to create and embed a contact form. When visitors or users submit a form, we capture the IP Address for spam protection. Other personal data collected include your name and email address.

We use Google reCAPTCHA for spam protection on the contact form and various login pages. Their privacy policy can be found here: https://policies.google.com/privacy?hl=en. We also use Maspik for further spam protection on the contact form. Maspik does not store any personal user data or transmit sensitive data to external servers.

How the Foundation and its Trustees, Officers and Committee Members may use your personal information

The personal information of the Trustees, Officers and Committee members, which is limited to contact details, is used to facilitate communication in the operations of the Foundation. The personal information of grant applicants, as entered on their grant application forms, may be used to contact applicants in the course of reviewing these applications. This information will only be used for these stated purposes, and will not be passed on to third parties. Grant applicants requesting payment by bank transfer will provide their bank details, and these will be used solely for this purpose. Bank details will not be retained once the specific transaction has been completed.

Media

If you upload images to the website, for example as attachments to application or feedback forms, you should avoid uploading images with embedded location data (EXIF GPS) included. Visitors to the website can download and extract any location data from images on the website.

Links to Other Websites

Our site contains links that lead to other websites. If you click on these links, the GPF is not held responsible for your data and privacy protection. Visiting those websites is not governed by this privacy policy agreement. Make sure to read the privacy policy documentation of the website you go to from our website.

Email Subscriptions & Cookies

We use Noptin, a WordPress email marketing plugin, to manage email subscriptions on our website. By default, Expedition leaders will be subscribed to the mailing list after submitting an application for expedition funding, and will be emailed news that we believe will be of interest to them. List members can opt-out of such emails at any time by following the unsubscribe link at the bottom of each email.

We gather statistics around email opening and clicks using industry-standard technologies, including UTM parameters, to help us monitor and improve our e-news items. If you subscribe to our mailing list, we may store a cookie in your browser to prevent duplicate subscriptions and improve user experience.

Cookies

A cookie (noptin_email_subscribed) may be used to track whether you have subscribed to our Expedition Leader newsletter.

This cookie helps us prevent the subscription form from displaying repeatedly if you have already subscribed. This cookie does not store any personally identifiable information (PII) and is used solely to enhance your interaction with our site.

If you visit our WordPress 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 to WordPress, 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 on WordPress, 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.

Your Rights & Control

You have the right to:

  • Opt out of optional email communications by clicking the “unsubscribe” link in any email we send.
  • Delete or block cookies through your browser settings.
  • Request the removal of your personal data by contacting us.

The GPF tries to be as open as it can be in terms of giving people access to their personal information. Individuals can find out if we hold any personal information by asking us. This is formally known as a ‘subject access request’ under the Data Protection Act 1998. If we do hold information about you we will:

  • give you a description of it
  • tell you why we are holding it
  • tell you who it could be disclosed to
  • let you have a copy of the information in an intelligible form

To make a request to the GPF for any personal information we may hold, you need to put the request in writing via our online contact form.

If you agree, we will try to deal with your request informally, for example by providing you with the specific information you need by email. If we do hold information about you, you can ask us to correct any mistakes or delete your data. You can find out more about the rights you have at https://ico.org.uk/for-the-public/.

How to contact us

Please let us know if you have any questions or concerns by contacting the Ghar Parau Foundation using our online contact form.

Last updated: 31 March 2026.