Privacy

At IFS, we are committed to protecting and respecting your privacy.

At the IFS, we are committed to protecting and respecting your privacy. This policy explains when and why we collect personal information about people who use our services, for example through attending our events, visiting our website or signing up to our mailings lists or joining as a member; how we use this data; the conditions under which we may disclose it to others; and how we keep it secure.

We may change this policy from time to time so please check this page occasionally to ensure that you’re happy with any changes. By using our website, you’re agreeing to be bound by this policy.

Any questions regarding this policy and our privacy practices should be sent by email to @email.

As part of our research activity, we also work with datasets originating in the UK and overseas, some of which contain personal data. For information about how we deal with these datasets, you can contact our Data Protection Officer (see below).

Who we are

The Institute for Fiscal Studies was founded in 1969. Established as an independent research institute, IFS was launched with the principal aim of better informing public debate on economics in order to promote the development of effective fiscal policy.

The Institute for Fiscal Studies is a registered charity (no. 258815) and a company limited by guarantee, registered in England (no. 954616). The registered address is 7 Ridgmount Street, London WC1E 7AE.

The Institute for Fiscal Studies is registered with the ICO under the Data Protection Act. Our registration number is Z5758698.

Research data

At the IFS, we use a range of data sources to help us answer research questions. Some of that data contains information on individual people who have either taken part in a survey or who are part of an administrative dataset. Data are made available to us from outside organisations via data sharing agreements and we have to follow strict procedures in order to gain access. We only ever receive data in de-identified or anonymised formats. However, due to the detailed nature of some of the data we receive, there is small chance that respondents could be identified although great care is taken to minimise this risk. Nevertheless, because of this small risk, your data are protected by data protection law.

If you take part in a survey, the data collector will have provided you with a privacy notice that informs you how your data will be used but because we do not know who you are, we are not able to directly provide you with a privacy notice ourselves. If we hold data on you as part of an administrative dataset, we also cannot provide you with a privacy notice directly.

More information about specific datasets and how we use the data can be found by following these links:

Events and mailing list

What information we collect

When you sign up on our website to attend an event or to receive news from us, we will collect and process your data to allow us to carry out your request.

This information will typically include your name, email address, research interests, billing address and company and/or sector (optional). For paid-for events, financial data will also be collected and processed by a third-party processor.

For events, we may also ask for any special dietary and disability requirements that will help us make your attendance at the event as comfortable as possible. Providing this information will always be optional.

We collect and collate press and media contacts of those working in relevant fields in the media. This can be email address or phone details. We use this information, gathered through direct request from users and through legitimate interest, to provide updates about our work. Users can request removal from our lists at any time by emailing us. Information about this is included in the messages that we send.

Why we collect and process this information and how we will use it

When you sign up to attend an event, we will use your information to process this request. This may include:

Contacting you before the event with important information, and in some cases immediately afterwards to share any presentations or reports associated with the event.

Making a name badge for you, which will contain your full name and organisation (if shared with us).

Producing a delegate list with your full name and company (if shared with us), to be handed out to all attendees of the event.

We will also store your information in order to help report to our funders and to help us analyse past event performance (for example, which types of events are popular with which types of people). We will not pass on any identifiable data to funders when we do this, and any analysis produced internally will be for our own purposes only.

When you sign up to receive news from us, either via the mailing list form or when you sign up to attend an event and express an interest in hearing more from us in future, we will use your data to send you regular emails about upcoming events or research which we think you might be interested in.

We collect and store information on mailing list engagement, including open rates, click rates, and how long you have been a subscriber. We sometimes use this data to gauge your interest in particular services or promotional activities.

In the course of doing all of the above, we will sometimes use third party software to help us process your data, all of which will either be registered with the EU-US Privacy Shield programme or will have entered into model EU clauses with any sub-processor it uses and based outside the EEA or has established a set of binding corporate rules with its foreign subsidiaries who are based outside the EEA or the Information Commissioner has made a positive finding of adequacy in relation to the territory in which the sub-processor is based and to which your Data may be transferred.

We will not share your personal data with any other third-party, unless we have expressly asked permission from you to do so (for example, if we are running a joint event with another organisation, we may ask for your permission to share your details with them).

Lawful basis for processing this information

The lawful basis for processing this information is Legitimate Interests (Article 6(1)(f)).

For people who have signed up to attend an event, we have a legitimate interest in processing their data in order to facilitate the running of the event. You have a legitimate interest in us processing the data in this way, as it allows you to attend the event.

We have a legitimate interest in informing members of the public who have expressed an interest in our work (either by directly signing up on our website, or by attending an event and opting in to hearing more about similar events or research) about these topics. You benefit as well through hearing more about our research where it relates to your work.

In the case of paid-for events, the lawful basis for processing your information is Contract (Article 6(1)(b)), as we have an obligation to provide the service you paid for.  

How long we keep your information

We will only hold your personal information on our systems for as long as is necessary to carry out the above uses. For example:

If you sign up to an event, we will store your data for up to seven years after the event. After this period, we will anonymise all data on attendees and keep only attendance numbers and a broad breakdown by sector.

If you sign up to our mailing list, we will store your data either until you unsubscribe (there will always be an option to opt-out on every email we send) or you have not opened an email from us in the past year.

Recruitment

What information we may collect

The IFS will collect data from job applicants, such as is required to allow us to assess their suitability for the role and to compare applicants’ skills and experience. This will include data from application forms/CVs, as well as data acquired during interviews, from referees and other third parties (for example, as part of security background checks).

The following methods will be used for recruitment purposes:
1.    Directly by email
2.    Applied recruitment platform
3.    Econ Job Market recruitment platform
4.    Recruitment agency

Applicants applying through any of these ways can voluntarily provide information about any disability so that we can make appropriate adjustments to the application process. Applicants applying through recruitment platforms or agencies may also be asked to voluntarily provide special category information about their health, sexual orientation, religion and ethnicity. However, IFS is not the data controller of that information and it is only shared with us in aggregate, anonymous form. 

IFS has a separate privacy policy relating to employees, which applies to job applicants who have accepted a job offer (see below).

Why we collect and process this information and how we will use it

Processing data from job applicants allows the organisation to manage the recruitment process, assess and confirm a candidate's suitability for employment and decide to whom to offer a job. The organisation may also need to process data from job applicants to respond to and defend against legal claims. It may also use the data to inform future decisions about where and when to recruit.

The organisation needs to process data to take steps at your request prior to entering into a contract with you. It may also need to process your data to enter into a contract with you.

In some cases, the organisation needs to process data to ensure that it is complying with its legal obligations. For example, it is required to check a successful applicant's eligibility to work in the UK before employment starts. IFS may also collect information about whether or not applicants are disabled to make reasonable adjustments for candidates who have a disability.

The organisation may also process special categories of data, such as information about ethnic origin, sexual orientation or religion or belief, to monitor recruitment statistics. This information is not used as part of the selection process and cannot be viewed by those shortlisting for jobs. The data are only used in aggregate. The organisation processes such information to carry out its obligations and exercise specific rights in relation to employment.

For some roles, the organisation is obliged to seek information about criminal convictions and offences. Where the organisation seeks this information, it does so because it is necessary for it to carry out its obligations and exercise specific rights in relation to employment. The IFS will only seek this information for applicants who have been offered a job or, in most cases, have been appointed. A staff privacy notice will be provided which covers the collection of such data.

Access to the data about job applicants is given to the recruitment team and administrators and IT staff as needed for the completion of the task.

In the course of managing job applications, we may use third party software to help us process your data, all of which will either be registered with the EU-US Privacy Shield programme or will have entered into model EU clauses with any sub-processor it uses and based outside the EEA or has established a set of binding corporate rules with its foreign subsidiaries who are based outside the EEA or the Information Commissioner has made a positive finding of adequacy in relation to the territory in which the sub-processor is based and to which your Data may be transferred.

Some data may be shared with the candidate’s nominated referees. In the case of academic referees, they will be contacted for all shortlisted candidates. In the case of employment referees, they will only be contacted once a job offer has been made, and the candidate will first be informed.

Lawful basis for processing this information

The lawful basis for processing personal information from a job application is article 6(1)(b) of the UK GDPR, which relates to processing necessary to perform a contract or to take steps at your request, before entering a contract.

Where information is required to comply with legal obligations (e.g. it is required to check a successful applicant's eligibility to work in the UK before employment starts or if you provide us with information about reasonable adjustments you require under the Equality Act 2010) the lawful basis for processing some information is Legal 6(1)(c) to comply with our legal obligations under the Act.

Information about any disability that you may voluntarily provide is classed as special category data and to allow us to process this we also need to meet an additional condition. The condition that that is met that allows us to process your special category data is article 9(2)(b) (Employment, social security and social protection (if authorised by law)) of the UK GDPR. Schedule 1 part 1(1) of the Data Protection Act 2018 gives the specific legal basis in UK law that is required by this condition. 

How long we keep your information

Data will be kept for two years for candidates who have been interviewed in case other vacancies arise for which previous applicants may be suitable. Information about candidates we interview who apply for jobs via recruitment agencies or platforms will be treated in the same way.

For successful candidates, data relating to their applications will be transferred to their HR files. A separate privacy policy will be made available to new employees about how their data is used and for long it is kept.

Membership

What information we may collect

When you sign up to become a member of the IFS, either on our website, or by email, or by post, we will collect personal information about you to help us process your membership. This information will typically include your name, email address, postal address, telephone number, billing address and company and/or sector (optional).

For corporate members, we will also collect information on relevant contacts at your business who wish to receive news from us in future.

Financial data will also be collected to process your membership subscription, but will only be stored by a third-party processor, such as Charities Aid Foundation. It will not be kept by the Institute.

Why we collect and process this information and how we will use it

As part of the service we provide to members, information is sent to members about research and events, based on the stated or assumed interests of those concerned.

We’ll primarily use your email address and occasionally your postal addresses to send you all membership materials. We may contact you for feedback on the membership scheme or the running of the IFS from time to time.

We publish the company name of our corporate members on our website.

In the course of your membership, we will sometimes use third party software to help us process your data; we use services such as Mailchimp to help us send out information and newsletters to members and Insightly to record activities to enable us to effectively service our members.  See below for more information about our use of third party processors.

Lawful basis for processing this information

The lawful basis for collecting information from members is Contract (Article 6(1)(b))

Keeping the information is also necessary for us to carry out services offered to members, such as inviting them to events and sending them publications.

How long we keep your information

We will hold your personal information for as long as you are a member. After your membership has expired, we will keep your information for up to seven years.

Website

What information we may collect

We collect data about traffic to our website and how people use our website using Google Analytics Hotjar and OptinMonster. The data available to us is aggregated and anonymised, so that we cannot access personal information, such as IP addresses, and cannot identify how any individual has used the website. We may collect information about your computer, including your operating system and browser type, for system administration and in order to create reports. This is statistical data about our users’ browsing actions and patterns, and does not identify any individual.

Google Analytics

Google Analytics is a web analytics tool that helps website owners understand how visitors engage with their website. Google Analytics customers can view a variety of reports about how visitors interact with their website so that they can improve it.

Like many services, Google Analytics uses first-party cookies to track visitor interactions as in our case, where they are used to collect information about how visitors use our site. We then use the information to compile reports and to help us improve our site.

Cookies contain information that is transferred to your computer’s hard drive. These cookies are used to store information, such as the time that the current visit occurred, whether the visitor has been to the site before and what site referred the visitor to the web page.

Google Analytics collects information anonymously. It reports website trends without identifying individual visitors. You can opt out of Google Analytics without affecting how you visit our site – for more information on opting out of being tracked by Google Analytics across all websites you use, visit this Google page.

Hotjar

Hotjar is a tool that allows us to better understand how visitors use and interact with our website. We use this tool to show us information, specifically ‘heatmaps’ for insight, for example how many users are clicking on links and how far they scroll on a page. To do this, Hotjar uses cookies and other technologies. This includes device type, device screen size, browser information and geographic location (country only). We do not collect any personal data and all data is anonymous. For further details, please see Hotjar’s privacy policy by clicking on this link. You can opt-out of Hotjar’s storing of data about your usage of our site and Hotjar’s use of tracking cookies on other websites by following this opt-out link.

OptInMonster

OptinMonster is a tool which allows us to serve users with information on products and services that we provide. This takes the form of a signposting prompt which directs users to a particular webpage with more information. To serve these, OptInMonster uses anonymous user insight, for example whether users are new or returning, how many pages a user has viewed or how far they have scrolled, to serve these prompts. We do not collect any personal data and all data is anonymous.

Where and how we store your information

The organisation takes the security of your data seriously. It has internal policies and controls in place to ensure that your data is not lost, accidentally destroyed, misused or disclosed, and is not accessed except by our employees in the proper performance of their duties.

Data that we collect is stored either on our internal network or on our web server, both located in our UK offices. The IFS is compliant with ISO27001:2013 and takes seriously its duty to preserve the confidentiality, integrity and availability of data, as appropriate. This means that all information is handled according to its classification (for example personal data, publicly available data) and that access to the data is restricted accordingly, both through electronic and physical means. Staff are trained to ensure awareness of the importance of data security and practical knowledge of how to keep data safe. In addition, back-ups of our data are stored offsite in a secure UK location, which is also compliant with ISO27001:2013.

Third party tools

When we use third party processors to process personal data, appropriate agreements will be put in place. These agreements will either take the form of a data processing agreement or an established set of binding corporate rules that the third party has with its customers. If the processor is located in a territory where the Information Commissioner has not made a positive finding of adequacy, standard contractual clauses will be included in any data processing agreement.  The following services are used by IFS to process personal data.

Mailchimp

Mailchimp is an email collection and broadcasting tool. We allow users to submit their email addresses to allow us to provide event notifications, content and other IFS updates. We use Mailchimp for the collection of these details and also to segment them into specific lists which correspond to preferences expressed by the user. Users have the opportunity to unsubscribe on every email they receive from us.

Read more about Mailchimp’s Privacy Policy here.

Eventbrite

Eventbrite is an event ticketing platform. When registering for a ticketed event, users submit their contact details and (where necessary) payment details directly to Eventbrite. Eventbrite processes any necessary payments, and then shares your contact details with us so that we can process your attendance at an event. 

Read more about Eventbrite’s Privacy Policy here.

Insightly

Insightly is a customer relationship management tool that we use to store and process data relating to our individual and corporate members. When a member joins, resigns, or changes contact details, we amend the information stored in the Insightly database. We also use Insightly to send direct emails to key contacts at our corporate members from time to time and to send welcome and cancellation confirmation emails to individual members, as well as occasional ad hoc update emails. 

Read more about Insightly’s Privacy Policy here.

Charities Aid Foundation (CAF)

CAF is an organisation that provides tools to charities to help them collect donations. We use CAF Donate to process individual membership payments and other donations that come through our website. When users sign up for regular donations, they provide their contact and payment details to CAF, who use that data to process the payments. CAF pass on users’ contact details to us, as well as confirmation of their payments, which we store in line with our own privacy policy. CAF also collect the requisite information to claim Gift Aid from the government on our behalf. 

Read more about CAF’s Privacy Policy here.

Stripe

Stripe is a payment software that enables us to take donations through the IFS website. We use Stripe to take some single, ‘one-off’ donations from visitors to our website. Stripe collect personal information including billing and email addresses as well as financial information needed to process the donation. Stripe passes on the donor’s contact details to us, as well as confirmation of their donation amount, which we store in line with our own privacy policy. The Institute does not process or store the financial information from these donors. 

Read more about Stripe’s privacy policy here

Applied

Applied is a recruitment platform, which we use to manage job applications. Candidates’ details are stored and shortlisting is managed on the Applied platform, were access is given to IFS administrators and shortlisters as needed. We may also download data for internal use, which will be dealt with in line with this privacy policy.

Read more about Applied’s privacy policy here.

Your rights

As a data subject, you have a number of rights.

  • Your right of access: You have the right to ask us for copies of your personal information. This right always applies. There are some exemptions, which means you may not always receive all the information we process. You can read more about this right here.
  • Your right to rectification: You have the right to ask us to rectify information you think is inaccurate. You also have the right to ask us to complete information you think is incomplete. This right always applies. You can read more about this right here.
  • Your right to erasure:You have the right to ask us to erase your personal information in certain circumstances. You can read more about this right here
  • Your right to restriction of processing: You have the right to ask us to restrict the processing of your information in certain circumstances. You can read more about this right here.
  • Your right to object to processing: You have the right to object to processing if we are able to process your information because the process forms part of our legitimate interests. You can read more about this right here

If you would like to exercise any of these rights, please email [email protected]

If you believe that the IFS has not complied with your data protection rights, you can complain to the Information Commissioner.

To do any of the above, please email @email, with as much information as possible about your request, and we will respond within one calendar month. In some cases, this may mean that we cannot carry out the activity for which you originally provided your information: for example, if you applied for a job, we may not be able to process your application.

Cookies policy

This site uses cookies to collect non-personal information from online visitors to improve their online experience and facilitate their visit to the site. This information is collected for traffic analysis only. The cookie does not contain personal details. Cookie preferences can be changed depending on the browser that is used. If a visitor does not want information collected using cookies, most browsers allow the user to reject the cookie. Google provides an opt-out option for Google Analytics for Explorer, Chrome, Safari and Firefox. 

To amend your cookie preferences, please .

Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more. 

Changes to this policy

This is the latest version of our privacy policy (last updated in January 2023). Any changes we may make in future will be included here. If appropriate, we may send an email to you directly.

Contact us

If you have any question or comments about our privacy policy, you can email us at @email, or write to:

Data Protection Officer
Institute for Fiscal Studies
7 Ridgmount St
London
WC1E 7AE

You can also contact the Information Commissioner https://ico.org.uk/global/contact-us/