Why we collect personal details

Everything we do is about helping everyone with cancer to live life as fully as they can, whatever their situation. By sharing some of your personal details with us we are more able to give you information that’s useful to you, and at the time you need it.

We want to be open about what personal details we ask for, and why.  This includes not asking for more information than we need in order to help you. Find out more about what information we collect, and why, below.

Your name is the one we will use when we contact you in the future. You may decide after you have created an account or signed up to receive communications from us that you want to join the Macmillan Online Community. If you do, you can pick a different name to protect your identity.

Knowing your email address helps us to:

• Create your Macmillan account and keep in touch with information that will be useful to you
• Reset your password so you can continue to keep your personal details secure
• Get in touch if we need to tell you about something new, like a change to our terms of use. 

Creating a password helps to keep your account and personal details safe. Your password must contain:

• At least 8 characters
• An upper and lowercase letter
• A number
• And have no special characters like @, #, $, %, &

Remember to change your password regularly to keep your account secure, and to never share your password with anyone. 

Knowing your phone number helps us to tell you about services and support in your area. We will only send you information by text or SMS if you’ve told us that you want us to do this.

Knowing your address helps us to tell you about services and support in your area. For example:

• Macmillan information and support centres
• Mobile information and support service
• Local support groups
• Events and activities happening near you, if that’s what you’ve told us you’d like to hear about. 

We will only send you information by post if that’s what you have opted in to receive. 

There are two reasons why it’s helpful for us to know your age group:

• If you are aged 16 or under, you must have permission from your parent or guardian if you want to share any personal details on our websites. 

If you're a young person living with cancer, we have cancer information for teens and young adults that you may find helpful.

• Knowing your age group helps us to give you information that’s more likely to be useful to you. For example, if you are of working age or if you have retired. 

You can change how you want to hear from us at any time by:

• Updating your preferences
• Emailing contact@macmillan.org.uk
• Calling us on 0300 1000 200

We are committed to protecting your personal information and being transparent about how we use it. We promise to keep your details secure, and we never share data with other organisations. Read our privacy policy to see how we keep this promise.