Introduction
The Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA) and the General Data Protection Regulation 2018 (GDPR) protect the rights of individuals, detailing what organisations can and cannot do with information. A key element to this is the principle to process individuals’ data lawfully and fairly. In order to meet the fairness part of this we need to provide information on how we process personal data.
Achievement Training Limited (ATL) will ensure that personal data is collected, handled, stored and shared in a secure manner. ATL is the data controller of your personal data and is subject to the Data Protection Act 1998 and the General Data Protection Regulation 2018.
Use of Personal Data
ATL processes the personal data of individuals, including those applying for training courses, those following vocational training courses, staff and other individuals accessing its services for the provision of skills and knowledge development.
Individual information is processed for the purposes of:
- Recruitment and enrolment
- Learning and study matters – off the job training; workplace assessment; registration; attendance; tracking progress; certification; learner records
- Administering learner-related services from application to course completion
- Compliance with contractual requirements for relevant external agencies, including the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) and awarding certification bodies
- Production of statistical information for use of services, including enrolments, progression, achievement and destination
- Supporting communication with applicants and learners
- Completion of assessments, verification of qualifications
- Monitoring of complaints, disciplinary cases and appeals
- Provision of support services, including additional learning support, pastoral and learning resources
- Compliance with immigration checks in relation to right to work and access public funding
- Monitoring equality and diversity objectives within the business
- Safeguarding and learner welfare
- Safety and security, including that of the learning environment
- Administering finance, including learner charges and employer incentives
- Dealing with complaints, grievances and disciplinary actions.
We may process your personal data because it is necessary for the performance of a contract with you or in order to take steps at your request prior to entering into a contract. In this respect, we use your personal data for the following to:
- Interact with you before you are enrolled, as part of the admissions process (e.g. to send you information or answer enquiries about our courses)
- Once you have enrolled, to provide you with the services as set out in your enrolment guide
- Deal with any concerns or feedback you may have
- For any other purpose for which you provide us with your personal data.
ATL also processes personal data in relation to staff, both teaching and non-teaching. This is undertaken as part of recruitment activity and to comply with the requirements of UK employment law. In addition, it is used to facilitate operational activity within the relevant department.
Personal Data Collection
ATL collects personal data from individuals at various stages. The volume and nature of the personal data collected is outlined below:
Initial email/telephone enquiry:
- Name and address
- Contact details (telephone number, email address)
- Subject / area of interest
Details from application forms:
- Name and address
- Contact details (telephone number, email address)
- Age / date of birth
- Gender
- Nationality and country of residence
- Educational records to date
- Disability declaration
Further data collected at enrolment or updated during an individual’s time in learning:
- Home address
- Entry and other qualifications, courses completed, dates of study and examination results
- Employment history
- Demographic information
- Funding and fee related information
- Information needed to provide services in relation to disability, wellbeing or any other type of pastoral support
- Course details
- Attendance, progress and current status
- Assessment results – assessments of your work, details of examinations taken, qualifications awarded and other information in your student record
- Eligibility (to receive Government funding) information
- National insurance number
- Passport number
- Information about your family or personal circumstances as required by the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA)
- Information concerning your health and medical conditions eg. disability or learning difficulty
- Certain criminal convictions (for learners on adult social care and child care courses)
Data collected for statutory monitoring and reporting purposes:
- Ethnic origin
- Attendance on course of study
Additional personal data may be collected where relevant in relation to employer placements, professional body requirements, appeals/ complaints /disciplinary cases. We will allocate you a unique learner reference number.
We may also process your personal data because it is necessary for the performance of our tasks carried out in the public interest or because it is necessary for our or a third party’s legitimate interests. In this respect, we may use your personal data for the following to:
- Monitor and evaluate the performance and effectiveness of ATL, including by training our staff or monitoring their performance
- Maintain and improve the standard of service delivery
- Promote equality and diversity
- Seek advice on our rights and obligations, such as where we require our own legal advice
- Recover money owed to us.
We may also process your personal data for our compliance with our legal obligations. In this respect, we may use your personal data for the following to:
- Meet our compliance and regulatory obligations, such as compliance with anti-money laundering laws and safeguarding requirements
- Prevent and detect of crime
- Assist with investigations (including criminal investigations) carried out by the police and other competent authorities.
We may also process your personal data where:
- It is necessary for medical purposes (e.g. medical diagnosis, provision of health or social care or treatment, or a contract with a health professional)
- It is necessary to protect your or another person’s vital interests; or
- We have your specific or, where necessary, explicit consent to do so.
ATL collects the following information from staff:
During the initial application and interview process:
- Name and address
- National insurance number
- Contact details (telephone number, email address)
- Self-declaration of permission to work in the UK
- Relevant qualifications or indication of highest qualification held
- Professional development / training and membership of any professional body
- Employment history
- Supporting statement
- Referee details
- Criminal record disclosure
- Declaration about any disability as defined under the Equality Act 2010
Once a candidate has been made an offer of employment:
- Bank details
- Emergency contact details
- Beneficiary declaration
- Qualification information required to be shared with awarding bodies
- Health information
- DBS compliance check
- Right to Work in the UK evidence (as prescribed by the Home Office)
Further personal data captured about an employee is likely to relate to any performance or appraisal process and any information needed to maintain sickness/absence records.
Personal Data Sharing
ATL is required to share personal data with certain other organisations in order to meet statutory requirements or to provide services to its learners. Sharing will be undertaken in line with the requirements of data protection law, either through the consent of the individual, or another relevant legal channel. The personal data that is shared will be limited precisely to what the other organisation needs to meet its requirements or deliver its services.
The information below outlines the key partners with whom ATL shares personal data with on a periodic basis. You have the opportunity to opt out of some of these data sharing arrangements when you register with us, but you should carefully consider the possible impact of doing this. Unless an opt-out is in place, we may disclose limited personal data to a variety of recipients including:
Our employees, agents and contractors where there is a legitimate reason for their receiving the information, including:
- third parties who work with us to provide specialist training services
- third parties who work with us to provide support services
- third parties who are contracted to provide IT services for us
- internal and external auditors.
Those with an interest in tracking progress and attendance, including:
- current or potential employers
- Professional and regulatory bodies
- Government departments and agencies where we have a statutory obligation to provide information (e.g. the Education and Skills Funding Agency)
- National/Local Government Departments and other public bodies eg.Ofsted
- Crime prevention or detection agencies (e.g. the police, the Department for Work and Pensions)
- Parents, guardians and next-of-kin (where there is a legitimate reason for disclosure)
- Awarding bodies for validation of registrations and awards
- Student Loans Company in connection with fees and loans
- External examiners for examination, assessment and moderation purposes
- ATL’s insurers and legal advisers for the purpose of providing insurance cover or in the event of a claim.
Employers who request a reference from ATL will need written or email permission from the Data Subject for ATL to release their information.
Data Retention
ATL takes its obligations of not holding personal data for any longer than is necessary very seriously. ATL has a retention schedule in place for the different categories of data it holds.
In some cases, there are good reasons as to why ATL needs to retain data about learners and other individuals for a significant period of time. The most important reasons are outlined below:
- In order that awards can be verified in the long-term
- For alumni services and ongoing relations with ATL
- For careers and employability services
- To deal with complaints, appeals and disciplinary cases
- For statutory reporting purposes
- For compliance with ESF match funding rules
- To produce references on request from previous employees.
Data Corrections
If you believe ATL holds information about you that is factually incorrect please email the MIS team if you are a learner or the HR team if you are a member of staff providing the correct information, and ATL should update it without delay.
Personal Data Rights
Under DPA, you have the following rights to:
- Obtain access to, and copies of, the personal data that we hold about you
- Require that we cease processing your personal data if the processing is causing you damage or distress
- Require us not to send you marketing communications
Under GDPR, you have the following additional rights to:
- Require us to correct the personal data we hold about you if it is incorrect
- Require us to erase your personal data
- Require us to restrict our data processing activities (and, where our processing is based on your consent, you may withdraw that consent, without affecting the lawfulness of our processing based on consent before its withdrawal)
- Receive from us the personal data we hold about you which you have provided to us, in a reasonable format specified by you, including for the purpose of you transmitting that personal data to another data controller
- Object, on grounds relating to your particular situation, to any of our particular processing activities where you feel this has a disproportionate impact on your rights.
Please note that the above rights are not absolute, and we may be entitled to refuse requests where exceptions apply.
If you have given your consent and you wish to withdraw it, please contact our Data Protection Officer using the details set out below. Please note that where our processing of your personal data relies on your consent and where you then withdraw that consent, we may not be able to provide all or some aspects of our services to you and/or it may affect the provision of those services.
An individual has the right to ask ATL what personal data we hold about them, and to ask for a copy of that information. Any request should be submitted by email to the Data Protection Officer or in writing to the postal address provided. ATL reserves the right to ask for proof of identification and for further clarification of the request if it is unclear in the first instance. You will receive a reply no longer than 30 calendar days from the date you make the request in writing.
If you are unhappy with the initial response you can ask ATL to undertake a further search if there is specific information you have good reason to believe exists but that hasn’t been provided.
You also have the right to complain to the UK Regulator the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO’s) if you believe you request has not been dealt with properly or you have a complaint to raise against ATL for any other data protection related issue. A complaint can be raised via the ICO’s website. You also have the right to withdraw consent from the processing of your personal data by ATL at any time, if your consent was sought initially to use your personal data.
Access Rights
If you have any queries about this privacy notice or how we process your personal data, you can contact our Data Protection Officer by email: mydata@achievementtraining.com; by telephone on 01752 202266 or by post to Achievement Training Ltd., Norwich Union House, 2 St Andrew’s Cross, Plymouth, PL1 1DN.
If you are not satisfied with how we are processing your personal data, you have the right to make a complaint to the Information Commissioner. You can find out more about your rights under data protection legislation from the Information Commissioner’s Office website available at: www.ico.org.uk.
Your acceptance of these terms
By using ATL’s website and services, you signify your acceptance of this policy and terms of service. If you do not agree to this policy, please do not use our website. Your continued use of the website following the posting of changes to this policy will be deemed your acceptance of those changes.
Contacting us
If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, the practices of this site, or your dealings with this site, please contact us at:
Achievement Training Ltd
Norwich Union House
2 St Andrew’s Cross
Plymouth
PL1 1DN
T : 01752 202266
E : mailto:mydata@achievementtraining.com
This document was last updated on 19th March 2021