Privacy Notice

Our Approach to Information Stewardship

When someone reaches out to learn about self-development programmes or registers interest in overcoming obstacles through our courses, certain details flow into our systems. This document explains what happens to those details from the moment they arrive until they're eventually removed.

We've organised this by the natural lifecycle of information rather than artificial categories. Think of it as following a journey — from entry through our doors, through the ways it gets employed, into storage, and finally to deletion when no longer needed.

Entry Points: When Information Arrives

Details reach us through several channels. Someone might fill out an enquiry form on our website. They could ring our office in Stoke-on-Trent. Perhaps they attend a workshop or information session where they hand over a business card or write their name on an attendance sheet.

Direct Submissions

When you submit an enquiry through our contact forms, we receive whatever you choose to provide — typically a name, email address, phone number, and whatever details you've written about your situation or goals. These arrive directly into our client relationship system.

Programme registrations capture more extensive details: educational background, current employment situation, specific obstacles you're working to overcome, preferred learning formats. This helps us recommend appropriate course pathways.

Conversation Records

Phone calls with our advisers generate notes in our system. These notes capture the substance of conversations — what programmes interest you, what questions came up, what next steps were agreed. We don't record actual call audio, but the adviser documents key points for continuity.

Email exchanges with staff members become part of your enquiry or enrolment record. This creates a coherent thread so you don't have to repeat yourself when speaking with different team members.

Participation Data

Once enrolled in a programme, activity records accumulate naturally. Which modules you've accessed. Assignment submissions. Feedback exchanges with instructors. These elements build your learning record and help instructors provide relevant guidance.

Active Employment: What Happens During Use

Once information sits in our systems, different activities draw upon it depending on where you are in your relationship with us.

Enquiry Stage

Details you provide through initial contact get examined by programme advisers. They review what you've shared about your background and goals, then determine which programmes might address your needs. This might prompt an email response, a phone call, or posting of information materials.

During this stage, your contact details might also enter our enquiry management system which tracks follow-up activities. If you attended an open day, for instance, you might receive an email a week later asking if you have additional questions.

Enrolment Processing

Accepting a place on a programme triggers administrative workflows. Your details flow into our student information system. Finance teams access billing information. Academic staff receive class rosters with names and contact details. Technical teams set up your learning platform access.

Payment processing involves brief interaction with external payment handlers. When you submit card details, these pass directly to our payment processor (not through our servers). We receive confirmation of successful payment along with transaction references, but we don't see or store full card numbers.

Learning Experience

Throughout programme delivery, instructors access your profile to view submitted work, record assessment results, provide feedback. Technical systems track which learning materials you've accessed, which helps identify if someone's falling behind and might need additional support.

Some programmes involve peer collaboration. In those contexts, your name and perhaps some biographical details become visible to fellow learners in your cohort through discussion forums or group project spaces.

Activity Type	Information Accessed	Who Accesses It
Initial Enquiry Response	Name, contact details, expressed interests	Programme advisers, administrative staff
Enrolment Administration	Full application details, payment information, identification	Admissions team, finance department, academic coordinators
Course Delivery	Learning records, submitted work, attendance, assessment results	Assigned instructors, programme directors, technical support
Student Support	Academic performance, expressed concerns, support needs	Student services team, assigned tutors
Quality Assurance	Aggregated performance data, feedback responses	Quality assurance staff, senior academic leadership

Information Flows Beyond Our Organization

Certain operational necessities mean information occasionally moves to external parties. These movements happen under specific circumstances with defined boundaries.

Essential Service Providers

Our learning management platform operates on infrastructure provided by a hosting company. Student records, course materials, discussion posts — all this resides on servers that company maintains. They provide the technical environment, but contractual terms prohibit them from examining or utilizing the actual content.

Email communications route through a business email service. When we send you programme updates or respond to enquiries, those messages pass through their systems. Again, they provide delivery infrastructure under strict confidentiality terms.

Payment processing involves a specialized financial services company. Transaction details flow to them when you pay course fees. They handle the actual card processing while we receive only confirmation and basic transaction records.

Professional Advisers

Occasionally our legal or accountancy advisers might need to examine records as part of their professional services to us. An accountant conducting a financial audit might review a sample of enrolment records. A solicitor advising on a dispute might need to see relevant correspondence. These professionals operate under their own strict confidentiality obligations.

Legal Requirements

Regulatory authorities occasionally request information. Educational regulators might ask for student records as part of quality reviews. Tax authorities could require financial documentation. Law enforcement might seek specific records pursuant to lawful investigation. We respond to such requests only when we've verified their legal basis and limited them to genuinely necessary information.

What We Don't Do

We don't sell or rent student information to third parties. We don't provide contact lists to other educational institutions or commercial entities. We don't share learning records with prospective employers unless you've explicitly requested we do so. We don't participate in data brokerage of any kind.

Protection Measures

Systems holding your information sit behind multiple defensive layers. Access requires authentication — staff members can't simply browse student records out of curiosity. Each user account has defined permissions limiting which information they can view based on their role.

Network security includes firewalls, intrusion detection systems, and regular security assessments. We encrypt sensitive data both when it's moving between systems and when it's resting in storage. Backup copies exist in case of system failures, but these receive the same protection as primary systems.

Staff members undergo training on information security and confidentiality. They understand their responsibilities and the consequences of unauthorized access or disclosure. We investigate any suspected security incidents and take corrective action when needed.

That said, no system is perfectly impervious. We implement reasonable protections appropriate to the sensitivity of information involved, but we can't guarantee absolute security against every conceivable threat. Determined attackers with sufficient resources might eventually find vulnerabilities. We work to make that extremely difficult and to detect such attempts quickly.

Retention and Eventual Deletion

We don't keep information indefinitely. Different categories have different lifespans based on operational necessity and legal requirements.

Enquiry Records

If you submit an enquiry but never enrol, we typically retain those details for two years. This allows us to respond if you return with renewed interest. After that period, the records get purged from active systems. You can request earlier deletion if you prefer — just let us know.

Student Records

Active student records remain readily accessible throughout your programme and for a reasonable period after completion. Once you finish a course, your core academic record (enrolment details, courses completed, assessment results) moves into long-term archival storage. We retain these permanently as we may need to issue replacement certificates, verify your credentials to third parties at your request, or respond to quality assurance reviews.

Detailed learning activity data — which specific materials you accessed when, discussion forum posts, draft assignment submissions — gets deleted three years after programme completion. We keep the permanent academic record but not the granular learning process details.

Financial Records

Payment records and financial transactions remain accessible for seven years to meet tax and accounting regulations. After that retention period, they're securely destroyed.

Communications

Email correspondence related to your studies gets retained as part of your student record following the schedules above. General administrative emails might be retained for shorter periods or deleted once the matter is resolved.

Your Available Actions

You have several options for interacting with the information we hold about you.

Viewing What We Have

You can request a copy of the personal details we hold about you. Submit this request to our data protection contact (details below). We'll provide the information in a structured, commonly used format within one month. There's no charge for reasonable requests, though we might ask for a fee if you make multiple requests or ask for something unusually extensive.

Correcting Inaccuracies

If you spot errors in your records, let us know. We'll investigate and make corrections where appropriate. This matters particularly for academic records where accuracy is essential.

Requesting Deletion

You can ask us to delete your information in certain circumstances. If you submitted an enquiry but never enrolled, we'll typically honor such requests immediately. For enrolled students, deletion becomes more complicated because we have legitimate needs to maintain academic records and comply with regulatory requirements. We'll explain what we can and cannot delete in response to your request.

Restricting Processing

You might ask us to stop using your information in certain ways while keeping it on file. This could apply if you're disputing the accuracy of records or have objected to how we're handling information. During such disputes, we'll limit our activities to storage and essential administrative functions until the matter is resolved.

Portability

For information you provided directly (application details, submitted work), you can request we transmit this to another education provider in a machine-readable format. This helps if you're transferring to another institution and want to carry your records with you.

Objecting to Processing

If we're handling your information based on legitimate interests rather than contract or consent, you can object. We'll assess whether our interests genuinely override yours. If not, we'll stop the contested processing.

Legal Foundations

Various legal bases justify our handling of your information depending on context and activity type.

When you enrol in a programme, we operate under contractual necessity. We need your information to deliver the educational services you've purchased. This covers enrolment administration, course delivery, assessment, certification, and related academic activities.

Some processing rests on legal obligations we face. Maintaining academic records for quality assurance compliance. Retaining financial records for tax purposes. Reporting certain information to regulatory authorities. These are things the law requires us to do.

Where we send marketing communications about new programmes to past enquirers, we rely on legitimate interests. We have a reasonable interest in informing people who've expressed interest in our work about relevant new opportunities, balanced against the minor intrusion of receiving such communications. You can opt out at any point.

Occasionally we seek explicit consent for specific activities — perhaps using a photo from a course event in promotional materials, or conducting research studies involving student data. In those cases, consent is freely given and you can withdraw it without affecting your relationship with us.

Special Considerations for Sensitive Information

Certain types of information receive extra protections because of their sensitive nature.

If you disclose health conditions or disabilities as part of requesting learning support adjustments, this information gets restricted to staff members who specifically need to know to provide appropriate support. We don't share it broadly even within the organization.

Financial hardship information related to fee assistance similarly gets limited circulation. Only financial aid administrators and necessary approvers access such details.

For any particularly sensitive disclosures — perhaps explaining personal circumstances affecting your studies — we follow additional protocols around access restriction and confidential handling. Staff members understand their heightened obligations regarding such information.

Changes to Our Handling Practices

This document reflects our current approach as of the effective date shown above. Things change — we might introduce new systems, adjust our processes, or respond to new legal requirements. When we make material changes to how we handle information, we'll update this notice and communicate significant modifications to enrolled students.

We mark versions with dates and version numbers so you can identify what's changed if you review the document periodically. Previous versions remain available on request if you want to see what applied during an earlier period.

Questions, Concerns, and Complaints

Reach out to us about anything in this notice that's unclear or if you have specific questions about your information. We'd rather address concerns through direct conversation than have you left wondering about our practices.

If you believe we've mishandled your information or violated applicable rules, first raise this with us. We'll investigate properly and work toward resolution. If you're not satisfied with our response, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner's Office, the UK's data protection authority. They investigate complaints and have enforcement powers.