Terms and conditions

All users are required to agree the terms and conditions of use of data.

This is described in our End User Licence (EUL) and agreed to when registering with the UK Data Service.

EUL data: Access to the majority of our data collections only requires user and project registration and agreement to the EUL. These data are fully anonymised.

Special Conditions: Some data collections are subject to additional conditions of access and require users to agree to special conditions during the download process.

Special Licence: Other data collections contain more detailed information but require users to complete a set of Special Licence forms. 

Secure access: In the case of secure access data collections, additional conditions of access such as undertaking additional training also apply.

Full details on the terms and conditions for each type of access are available in How to access.

Registration with the UK Data Service requires that cookies are accepted on your computer.

The most common reason for not being able to log on or download data is that cookies are being blocked on your computer.

The UK Data Service website uses cookies that do not contain any personal information. We do not use any cookies for targeting or advertising.

What are cookies?

Cookies are small text files that are placed on your computer by websites that you visit. They are widely used in order to make websites work, or work more efficiently, as well as to provide statistical information to the owners of the site.

How cookies are used on this site

The UK Data Service website uses cookies that do not contain any personal information in order to allow you to move from one resource to another and for the reasons below.

* These categories are defined by the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) to assess intrusiveness:

1. Strictly necessary
2. Performance
3. Functionality
4. Targeting or advertising

For more information, see the ICC UK Cookie Guide

How to change cookie settings

You can check whether your computer is set up to accept cookies or change the settings for your browser to disallow all cookies through the help pages on the browser you are using.

Further information is available at www.allaboutcookies.org

Under the Data Protection Act, we have a legal duty to protect any information we collect from users of the UK Data Service.

The UK Data Service privacy policy below relates to personal data collected in the course of registration for access to UK Data Service data and during user consultations.

Personally provided information

The personal data supplied at registration are held in a database owned by the UK Data Archive, University of Essex, a service provider for the UK Data Service, and are only ever processed for purposes described in the End User Licence and purposes explicitly agreed to by the end user, in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998.

Personal data are:

• full name
• contact address
• email address
• fax and telephone numbers
• institution and department
• academic discipline
• user status
• date of registration
• agreement to any end user or special conditions
• details of any usage(s) registered
• details of any data accessed/downloaded
• any username and id required for user authentication and validation
• internal user database unique id

The personal data are used for authentication and statistical purposes, and for the purposes of the management of the service (including registration and access to data). They are also used for other lawful purposes notified to the user where user(s) have been given the opportunity to withdraw consent.

Personal data relating to access to a particular data collection (e.g. in the form of a data usage report) may only ever be passed to:

• the depositors and distributors of the data collection
• the University of Essex registrar
• copyright and other intellectual property rights owners of the data collection
• the funders of the data collection
• the funders of the data service provider (e.g. the funders of the UK Data Archive and the UK Data Service)
• in exceptional circumstances, the user’s own institution or organisation

For full details, refer to the End User Licence.

The UK Data Archive may also wish to contact registered users about wider aspects of the service and to give them the opportunity to contribute to debate and developments. Users may opt to receive these communications either during registration or by logging in to their account.

To ensure effective management of the service, personal data are retained for 50 years from the date of first registration (subject to the continuation of the UK Data Archive). At the end of that period and subject to the individual no longer being registered, data which could identify that individual user will be removed from the database, though anonymised data are retained to facilitate reporting and statistical analysis. The anonymised data which are retained are:

• institution and department
• academic discipline
• user status
• dates of registration
• agreement to any end user or special conditions
• details of any usage(s) registered
• details of any data accessed/downloaded
• any username and id required for user authentication and validation
• internal user database unique id

Users may at any time request withdrawal of registration. At this point, contact details will be removed, ensuring that no further communication will be received. However, for contractual reasons, remaining personal data are subject to the same retention policy stated above.

Registered users may access their personal data online at any time by logging in to their account.

Information automatically collected and stored

When browsing through any website, certain information about a visitor can be collected.

The following information is automatically collected and stored about each visitor to the site:

• the IP address/domain name of the computer used to access the website
• the date and time of the visit
• the pages visited
• the address of the website the user came from
• the address of the website to which the user exited
• the operating system of the visitor's computer
• the version and type of web browser used

This information is used for statistical purposes and to help make the site more useful to visitors. Unless it is specifically stated otherwise, no additional information will be collected from visitors to the website.

For information, see details on the cookies used on the UK Data Service website.

Website security

The UK Data Archive and the UK Data Service are careful to guard the security of personal data and the details of any transactions over the internet.

This is done by putting in place and carefully administering a secure IT infrastructure in accordance with industry standards and good practice.

Users can help to protect themselves from internet fraud by:

• logging out
• closing their browser at the end of a session
• clearing any 'cache' so there is no record of any transaction left on screen - most standard browsers allow this

Unless stated to the contrary, all material on this website is copyright of the University of Essex and the University of Manchester.

Duplication or sale of all or any part of it is not permitted, except that material may be duplicated for personal research use or educational purposes in electronic or print form. Permission for any other use must be obtained from the UK Data Service. Electronic or print copies may not be offered, whether for sale or otherwise, to any third party.

Disclaimer
The UK Data Service makes all reasonable efforts to ensure that the content of its website is accurate and up to date, but can accept no responsibility for omissions, errors or subsequent changes.

The UK Data Service, the University of Essex and the University of Manchester accept no liability for any loss or damage resulting, directly or indirectly, from any use of the information or material contained on this website, or any site accessed from this site.

The UK Data Service is committed to following agreed best standards and good practice in web design and usability.

The underlying code of the UK Data Service website achieves compliance with level 3(AAA) W3C guidelines for HTML5 and Cascading Style Sheets, conforms to Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, and is compliant with the Special Educational Needs and Disability Act 2001 (SENDA). Where this is not feasible or practical, an alternative method is provided for users to obtain the assistance they need from user support staff.

Web Accessibility Standards

• HyperText Markup Language 5 (HTML5)

• Cascading Style Sheets Version 3 (CSS v3)

• Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 (WCAG 2.0): conformance level AAA where possible and at least to level AA.

 Help for users

The UK Data Service will provide help and support to any users having difficulties using the web site. Get in touch.

Feedback

We are keen to hear your experience of the site. Please get in touch with comments or suggestions about how to improve.