Privacy Policy for Guildmark Learning

At Guildmark Learning, we are committed to protecting your privacy and handling your personal data with transparency and care. This Privacy Policy outlines how we collect, use, disclose, and protect your information when you interact with our online platform, engage in our services, or communicate with us. We adhere to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and other applicable data protection laws in the UK.

1. Information We Collect

We collect various types of information to provide and improve our educational and vocational training services. This information may include:

• Personal Identification Information: Your name, email address, postal address, phone number, date of birth, and gender. This is collected when you register for a course, sign up for a newsletter, create an account on our digital learning platforms, or participate in an apprentice scheme.
• Educational and Professional Information: Academic qualifications, professional certifications, employment history (for apprentice schemes or corporate training), course progress, assessment results, and feedback.
• Payment Information: If you make a purchase through our site, we collect transaction details, though we do not store sensitive payment card details ourselves. These are processed by secure third-party payment processors.
• Technical Data: IP address, browser type and version, time zone setting, browser plug-in types and versions, operating system and platform, and other technology on the devices you use to access our site.
• Usage Data: Information about how you use our site, products, and services, such as pages viewed, courses accessed, duration of visits, and navigation paths.
• Marketing and Communications Data: Your preferences in receiving marketing from us and our third parties and your communication preferences.

2. How We Use Your Information

We use the information we collect for various purposes, primarily based on the legal bases of contractual necessity, legitimate interests, or your consent:

• To Provide Services: Delivering accredited vocational courses, coordinating apprentice schemes, providing bespoke corporate training, conducting artisan skill preservation workshops, and offering digital learning platforms and professional certification programs. This includes managing your account, course enrollments, and progress.
• For Communication: Sending you important updates, notifications, course-related information, and responding to your inquiries.
• For Personalization: Tailoring your learning experience on our digital platforms and suggesting relevant courses or content.
• For Improvement: Analyzing usage data to understand how our site and services are used, to identify popular courses, and to improve our offerings and digital learning platforms.
• For Marketing: With your consent, sending you promotional materials about new courses, workshops, or other services we believe may be of interest to you. You can opt-out of these communications at any time.
• For Legal Compliance: Fulfilling our legal and regulatory obligations, such as maintaining records for accreditation purposes or responding to lawful requests from public authorities.

3. Sharing Your Information

We may share your personal data with third parties in certain circumstances:

• Service Providers: We engage trusted third-party service providers who assist us in operating our site, conducting our business, or providing services to you (e.g., payment processors, hosting providers, analytics services). These providers are contractually bound to protect your data and only use it for the purposes we specify.
• Accreditation Bodies: For professional certification programs and accredited courses, we may share necessary information with relevant accreditation bodies to verify your enrollment and achievements.
• Apprentice Scheme Partners: When coordinating apprentice schemes, we may share relevant information with employers and other educational partners involved in the scheme.
• Corporate Clients: For bespoke corporate training, we may share progress reports and attendance records with the contracting corporate entity, as agreed upon.
• Legal Requirements: We may disclose your information if required to do so by law or in response to valid requests by public authorities (e.g., a court order or government agency).
• Business Transfers: In the event of a merger, acquisition, or asset sale, your personal data may be transferred as part of the transaction. We will notify you of any such change in ownership or control of your personal data.

We do not sell, rent, or trade your personal information to third parties for their marketing purposes.

4. Data Security

We implement appropriate technical and organisational measures to safeguard your personal data from unauthorised access, disclosure, alteration, and destruction. These measures include encryption, access controls, secure servers, and regular security audits. However, no method of transmission over the internet or electronic storage is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.

5. Data Retention

We retain your personal data only for as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes for which it was collected, including for the purposes of satisfying any legal, accounting, or reporting requirements. The precise retention period will vary depending on the type of data and the purpose of processing. For example, records related to accredited courses or professional certifications may be kept longer for verification purposes.

6. Your Data Protection Rights (GDPR)

Under GDPR, you have the following rights regarding your personal data:

• The Right to Access: You have the right to request copies of your personal data.
• The Right to Rectification: You have the right to request that we correct any information you believe is inaccurate or incomplete.
• The Right to Erasure: You have the right to request that we erase your personal data, under certain conditions.
• The Right to Restrict Processing: You have the right to request that we restrict the processing of your personal data, under certain conditions.
• The Right to Object to Processing: You have the right to object to our processing of your personal data, under certain conditions.
• The Right to Data Portability: You have the right to request that we transfer the data that we have collected to another organization, or directly to you, under certain conditions.

To exercise any of these rights, please contact us using the details provided below.

7. Cookies and Tracking Technologies

Our site uses cookies and similar tracking technologies to enhance your browsing experience, analyze site usage, and support our marketing efforts. You can manage your cookie preferences through your browser settings or via our cookie consent banner. Please refer to our Cookie Policy for more detailed information.

8. Links to Other Websites

Our site may contain links to external websites that are not operated by us. We have no control over the content and practices of these sites and cannot accept responsibility or liability for their respective privacy policies. We encourage you to review the privacy policy of every site you visit.

9. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update our Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you of any changes by posting the new Privacy Policy on this page and updating the "last updated" date. We encourage you to review this Privacy Policy periodically for any changes.

10. Contact Us

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or our data practices, please contact us:

Guildmark Learning

14 Regent's Row,

The Ark Building, Suite 305,

London, Greater London, SW1A 2DD, UK

You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the UK supervisory authority for data protection issues.

This Privacy Policy was last updated on 25 May 2024.