Terms & Conditions

Members of ERC are permitted to use the relevant logo as part of a statement by that member in a letter (or electronic equivalent) or promotional material subject to the following conditions.

The regulatory mark is reproduced adjacent to the logo

The logo is reproduced at no greater size than the one at which it is registered

The logo is not redrawn in any way or matched by a typesetter

If the logo is reproduced electronically, no hyperlink is incorporated

The letter or other material should not:
Imply that ERC is endorsing the member or its products, services or communications beyond the statement that SHIP standards and the statement of principles are being adhered to.

Misrepresent the member’s relationship with the ERC or present false information about ERC.

Contain content that could be construed as distasteful, offensive or controversial.

Infringe any intellectual property rights or other rights of any person or otherwise not comply with any relevant law or regulation.

The ERC may alter or revoke this permission at any time [by giving a minimum two months’ notice on the ERC’s website]

This permission is governed by and interpreted in the light of English law.  The courts of any jurisdiction in the United Kingdom have the exclusive jurisdiction to settle any dispute in connection with this permission.

This website and its content is copyright of equity Release Council- © Equity Release Council 2012. All rights reserved.
Any redistribution or reproduction of part or all of the contents in any form is prohibited other than the following:
you may print or download to a local hard disk extracts for your personal and non-commercial use only.

you may copy the content to individual third parties for their personal use, but only if you acknowledge the website as the source of the material.

You may not, except with our express written permission, distribute or commercially exploit the content. Nor may you transmit it or store it in any other website or other form of electronic retrieval system.

Welcome to our website. If you continue to browse and use this website, you are agreeing to comply with and be bound by the following terms and conditions of use, which together with our privacy policy govern the ERC’s relationship with you in relation to this website. If you disagree with any part of these terms and conditions, please do not use our website.

The term ‘ERC’ or ‘us’ or ‘we’ refers to the owner of the website whose registered office is 22-28 Willow Street, Accrington, Lancashire, BB5 1LP. Our company registration number is 02884568 and we are a company limited by guarantee registered in England and Wales. The term ‘you’ refers to the user or viewer of our website.

The use of this website is subject to the following terms of use:
The content of the pages of this website is for your general information and use only. It is subject to change without notice.

This website uses cookies to monitor browsing preferences. If you do allow cookies to be used, the following personal information may be stored by us for use by third parties: [insert list of information].

Neither we nor any third parties provide any warranty or guarantee as to the accuracy, timeliness, performance, completeness or suitability of the information and materials found or offered on this website for any particular purpose. You acknowledge that such information and materials may contain inaccuracies or errors and we expressly exclude liability for any such inaccuracies or errors to the fullest extent permitted by law.

Your use of any information or materials on this website is entirely at your own risk, for which we shall not be liable. It shall be your own responsibility to ensure that any products, services or information available through this website meet your specific requirements.

This website contains material which is owned by or licensed to us. This material includes, but is not limited to, the design, layout, look, appearance and graphics. Reproduction is prohibited other than in accordance with the copyright notice, which forms part of these terms and conditions.

All trademarks reproduced in this website, which are not the property of, or licensed to the operator, are acknowledged on the website.

Unauthorised use of this website may give rise to a claim for damages and/or be a criminal offence
[From time to time, this website may also include links to other websites. These links are provided for your convenience to provide further information. They do not signify that we endorse the website(s). We have no responsibility for the content of the linked website(s).]

Your use of this website and any dispute arising out of such use of the website is subject to the laws of England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

The information contained in this website is for general information purposes only. The information is provided by the ERC and while we endeavour to keep the information up to date and correct, we make no representations or warranties of any kind, express or implied, about the completeness, accuracy, reliability, suitability or availability with respect to the website or the information, products, services, or related graphics contained on the website for any purpose. Any reliance you place on such information is therefore strictly at your own risk.

In no event will we be liable for any loss or damage including without limitation, indirect or consequential loss or damage, or any loss or damage whatsoever arising from loss of data or profits arising out of, or in connection with, the use of this website.

[Through this website you are able to link to other websites which are not under the control of the ERC. We have no control over the nature, content and availability of those sites. The inclusion of any links does not necessarily imply a recommendation or endorse the views expressed within them.]

Every effort is made to keep the website up and running smoothly. However, the ERC takes no responsibility for, and will not be liable for, the website being temporarily unavailable due to technical issues beyond our control.

Your privacy is important to ERC and we are committed to respect and protect your privacy and your personal information.  The following describes our policies for collecting, protecting, and disclosing your personal information and how we comply with relevant legislation including the Data Protection Act 2018 and the EU General Data Protection Regulation.

Who we are

The Equity Release Council (ERC/the Council), a not-for-profit organisation, is the industry body for the equity release sector.  We are classed as a Data Controller which means we are responsible for deciding how your personal data will be processed.

What we collect

We may collect the following information:

• name and job title
• contact information including: postal address, email address and telephone number
• demographic information such as postcode, preferences and interests
• other information relevant to surveys
• if you are an applicant for membership detailed information about you including name, date of birth, contact details, financial information and special categories of data (sensitive) such as criminal record information.

What we do with the information we gather

We require this information to understand your needs and provide you with a better service, and in particular for the following reasons:

• To process, administer and renew your membership with ERC which will include posting details on our public register;
• Internal record keeping;
• To provide you with information which we think you may find useful including: relevant market, regulatory and industry information;
• Promotional information from selected third parties such as conference organisers and training partners; and
• From time to time we may also use your information to contact you for market research purposes; This information may be used to customise the website according to your interests.

Security

We are committed to ensuring that your information is secure. In order to prevent unauthorised access or disclosure, we have put in place suitable physical, electronic and managerial procedures to safeguard and secure the information we collect online.

If you contact us by email you should be aware that emails are not secure unless they have been encrypted. We cannot accept any responsibility for the unauthorised access to your data that is beyond our control.

How we use cookies

A cookie is a small file which asks permission to be placed on your computer’s hard drive. Once you agree, the file is added and the cookie helps analyse web traffic or lets you know when you visit a particular site. Cookies allow web applications to respond to you as an individual. The web application can tailor its operations to your needs, likes and dislikes by gathering and remembering information about your preferences.

We use traffic log cookies to identify which pages are being used. This helps us analyse data about web page traffic and improve our website in order to tailor it to customer needs. We only use this information for statistical analysis purposes and then the data is removed from the system.

Overall, cookies help us provide you with a better website, by enabling us to monitor which pages you find useful and which you do not. A cookie in no way gives us access to your computer or any information about you, other than the data you choose to share with us.

You can choose to accept or decline cookies. Most web browsers automatically accept cookies, but you can usually modify your browser setting to decline cookies if you prefer. This may prevent you from taking full advantage of the website.

Links to other websites

Our website may contain links to other websites of interest. However, once you have used these links to leave our site, you should note that we do not have any control over that other website. Therefore, we cannot be responsible for the protection and privacy of any information which you provide whilst visiting such sites and such sites are not governed by this privacy statement. You should exercise caution and look at the privacy statement applicable to the website in question.

Your rights

You have the following rights in respect of your personal information:-

• To know how we will process your personal data (this notice);
• To have a copy of your data that we hold (normally free of charge);
• To have the data corrected if it is inaccurate or incomplete;
• To have data the deleted if there is no compelling reason for us to continue to process it;
• To ask us to stop processing your data in certain circumstances;
• To ask us to provide your personal information in a portable format so that you can reuse your data across different services (this is subject to certain conditions); and
• To ask us to provide information on automated decision making and profiling.

Controlling your personal information

Except for the purposes of processing, administering or renewing your membership with us you may choose to restrict the collection or use of your personal information in the following ways:

• whenever you are asked to fill in a form on the website, look for the box that you can click to indicate that you do not want the information to be used by anybody for direct marketing purposes
• you can ask us to stop sending email communications at any time by emailing us at [email protected]. Additionally, all email communications from us will have the option to unsubscribe from future communications.

Information we share?

We will only share your information with third parties that ERC use to service your membership with us which includes our third party administrator, marketing company and accountants or where we are required to by law.

Complaints

If you have a complaint about how we use your personal information please contact us at the address below. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s office at any time.

Retention Policy

We will only retain data for as long is necessary and in line with our data retention policy.  In most cases this will be a maximum of 7 years from the expiry of your membership with us.

Your privacy is important to Equity Release Council and we are committed to respect and protect your privacy and your personal information.  The following describes our policies for collecting, protecting, and disclosing your personal information and how we comply with relevant legislation including Data Protection Act 2018 and EU Data Protection Regulation.

Who we are

The Equity Release Council (ERC/the Council), a not-for-profit organisation, is the industry body for the equity release sector.  We are classed as a Data Controller which means we are responsible for deciding how your personal data will be processed.

Information we collect

We will collect personal information from you to enable us to deal with your enquiry and or complaint.  The information that we will collect may include the following:-

• Name;
• Date of Birth;
• Contact details including telephone number, email address and postal address;
• Details about your Equity Release Plan;
• For complaints we may request;
  • Financial Information;
  • Any other third parties involved; and
  • Firm/advisor that arranged the plan for you.

We will only retain your data for as long as is necessary and in line with our data retention policy.  For general enquiries this will normally be until that query has been resolved and for complaints this will normally be for 7 years following resolution of the complaint in line with our legal obligations.

Information we share

So that we can investigate your compliant we may share your details with members of the Equity Release Board and Standards Board and with the firm that you used to advise and arrange your Equity Release Plan.

Your rights

You have the following rights in respect of your personal information:-

1. To know how we will process your personal data (this notice);
2. To have a copy of your data that we hold (normally free of charge);
3. To have the data corrected if it is inaccurate or incomplete;
4. To have data the deleted if there is no compelling reason for us to continue to process it;
5. To ask us to stop processing your data in certain circumstances; and
6. To make a complaint about how we use your personal information to the Information Commissioner’s Office at any time.

A cookie is a small file which asks permission to be placed on your computer’s hard drive. Once you agree, the file is added and the cookie helps analyse web traffic or lets you know when you visit a particular site. Cookies allow web applications to respond to you as an individual. The web application can tailor its operations to your needs, likes and dislikes by gathering and remembering information about your preferences.

We use traffic log cookies to identify which pages are being used. This helps us analyse data about web page traffic and improve our website in order to tailor it to customer needs. We only use this information for statistical analysis purposes and then the data is removed from the system.

Overall, cookies help us provide you with a better website, by enabling us to monitor which pages you find useful and which you do not. A cookie in no way gives us access to your computer or any information about you, other than the data you choose to share with us.

You can choose to accept or decline cookies. Most web browsers automatically accept cookies, but you can usually modify your browser setting to decline cookies if you prefer. This may prevent you from taking full advantage of the website.