It’s a legal requirement for all charities to have consent to contact their supporters about their activities by email, and we invite supporters to renew this consent every three years.

Therefore, under e-privacy regulations, once a person’s opt-in to receive emails from us has expired, we have to remove their email data from our databases.

What will the process be?

In the next few weeks, we'll be getting in touch with our group members listed on the Portal to ask them for their consent to be contacted by email.

We’re delighted that more and more groups now feel able to resume the social gatherings which are such a lifeline to our service users. We know that a key element of these events can be offering refreshments to those who attend. But it’s important to clarify that group volunteers should not be preparing food.

This was our policy before any COVID-19 restrictions, and will remain so.

Every day, people fall prey to malicious emails and hacking scams. Data theft and online crime in the UK has increased by 47% since the beginning of the pandemic. Cyber-criminals are becoming more sophisticated and a password alone is no longer enough to keep information safe.

We therefore need to take action now to protect against personal information being stolen from our systems. Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) adds a second layer of security to online accounts because it relies on two forms of authentication:

We all have a role to play to keep people in our MS community safe. Data protection is all about keeping personal data safe and so protecting the rights and privacy of individuals.

Over the coming weeks, we’ll be launching a new GDPR – Keeping Data Safe online training (e-learning) for volunteers.

You’ll need to complete this if you’ve not done GDPR training in the last two years and you have access to personal data via MS Society systems in any way.

We know that every day, across the UK, our volunteers are doing all they can to improve the lives of those affected by MS. We simply couldn’t do what we do without you. So, we want to recognise the difference you make – and to show our appreciation in ways which make you feel valued and motivated.

We learnt from feedback that our current methods of recognition are failing to connect with some volunteers. The time was right to take a fresh look at how we acknowledge and highlight commitment, achievement and successes.

We want to ensure we’re keeping you better informed of changes to our printed resources so we now have a list of the latest versions on the Volunteer Website here. You can find this list in the Resource Library or by doing a quick search.

‘Information resources – latest versions’ is a simple list of the printed booklets available, and the dates of the latest versions.

Historically, most research into how genes influence the risk of MS has focussed on people of European ancestry. This has been tremendously successful. But we now know that MS affects people of all ancestral and ethnic backgrounds. It’s therefore essential that MS research reflects this diversity. What we learn from genetics today may shape the treatments and diagnostic tests of tomorrow, so our genetic understanding of MS needs to be representative of the whole population.

It might be a short month but there’s still time to fit in a big challenge this February! We’re calling on our MS Superstars to get involved with Challenge 28. If you missed it last time around, don’t worry. All you have to do is choose your activity, set yourself a target and complete your challenge in 28 days. It’s as simple as that!

Like all organisations, the MS Society regularly receives hacking attempts. At the end of last year, we told you about some simple steps we’ll be taking to reduce the risk of criminals accessing the personal data we hold on people's behalf. By the end of February, we’ll be introducing an extra layer of security to all MS Society email accounts, called Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA).

We know that for many people the start of the new year means setting new goals. And quite often this means becoming more active! To help you achieve this, we’ve been working on something exciting – a brand new series of physical activity videos made into a DVD called Make Your Move. And they’re completely free!