Privacy Policy
At Somerset Skills & Learning, we are committed to protecting and respecting your privacy.
Somerset Skills & Learning (‘SS&L’,’we’, ‘us’ or ‘our’) gather and process your personal information in accordance with this privacy notice and in compliance with the relevant data protection Regulation and law. This notice provides you with the necessary information regarding your rights and obligations, and explains how, why and when we collect and process your personal data.
Who We Are
Somerset Skills & Learning is an education and training organisation. Our registered office is at Churchill House, Robin’s Drive, Bridgwater TA6 4DL and we are a company registered in England and Wales under company number 08610815. We are registered on the Information Commissioner’s Office Register of Data Controllers under registration number ZA121760 , and act as both a data controller & data processor. Our designated Data Protection Officer/Appointed Person for the organisation is Kathryn Baker, who can be contacted via email at kbaker@sslcic.co.uk.
Information That We Collect
Somerset Skills & Learning processes your personal information to provide you with our products and services and to meet our legal, statutory and contractual obligations with government funding bodies. We will never collect any unnecessary personal data from you and do not process your information in any way, other than already specified in this notice.
The data that we collect & hold include: –
- Personal Information: e.g. Name, Date of Birth, Home Address, Email, Home Telephone Number, Mobile Telephone Number, National Insurance Number
- Special Category Data (i.e. health/medical information, gender etc.)
- Details of Previous Qualifications
- Attendance Information
We collect information in the following ways: –
- Online Enrolment & Application
- Online Enquiries and Log-Ins
- Paper-based Enrolment & Application
- Telephone
- Via Learner Record Service
- Via Apprenticeship Vacancy Service
How We Use Your Personal Data (Legal Basis for Processing)
Somerset Skills & Learning takes your privacy very seriously and will never disclose, share or sell your data without your consent, unless required to do so by law.
We only retain your data for as long as is necessary and for the purposes specified in this notice. Where you have consented to us providing you with promotional offers and marketing, you are free to withdraw consent at any time. The purposes and reasons for processing your personal data are detailed below: –
- We collect your personal data in the performance of a contract to ensure that your courses are funded
- We collect your personal data in order to provide a service and ensure that your courses are certificated
- We collect your personal data in order to provide a service and ensure that your course is the correct level for you
- If you have opted-in to receive marketing and promotional information, we will use your personal data to send you such information.
Your Rights
You have the right to access any personal information that Somerset Skills & Learning processes about you and to request information about: –
- What personal data we hold about you
- The purposes of the processing
- The categories of personal data concerned
- The recipients to whom the personal data has/will be disclosed
- How long we intend to store your personal data for
- If we did not collect the data directly from you, information about the source
If you believe that we hold any incomplete or inaccurate data about you, you have the right to ask us to correct and/or complete the information and we will strive to update/correct it as quickly as possible, unless there is a valid reason for not doing so, at which point you will be notified.
You also have the right to request erasure of your personal data or to restrict processing in accordance with data protection laws, as well as to object to any direct marketing from us and to be informed about any automated decision-making that we use.
If we receive a request from you to exercise any of the above rights, we may ask you to verify your identity before acting on the relevant request, this is to ensure that your data is protected and kept secure.
Sharing and Disclosing Your Personal Information
We do not share or disclose any of your personal information without your consent, other than for the purposes specified in this notice or where there is a legal requirement, these include:
Education & Skills Funding Agency (ESFA)
Where your course or programme is funded by the ESFA, we are required to collect and supply them with relevant data relating to yourself as an individual and details for the qualification(s) you are undertaking to enable the funding that pays for the course to be generated. The ESFA have their own Privacy Notice which can be found here: ESFA Privacy Notice.
Learner Record Service
Where your course or programme is funded by the ESFA, learners are required to have a Unique Learner Number (ULN). In some cases, this requires submission of some personal data to the LRS to generate this number. Without the ULN, SS&L cannot claim the funding that pays for your course.
Awarding Bodies
If you are on an accredited course, we are required to submit select personal information to the relevant Awarding Body to enable you to undertake your chosen qualification.
Marketing Facilitators
If you have opted-in to receive marketing and promotional information from SS&L about the products and services we offer, we may share some of your personal data, such as email addresses, with a third party (such as the HubSpot email platform). We will never share your data with third parties who do not adhere to data protection Regulations and laws in the EU.
Your personal details will never be sold to third parties for marketing purposes.
Safeguarding Measures
Somerset Skills & Learning takes your privacy seriously and we take every reasonable measure and precaution to protect and secure your personal data. We work hard to protect you and your information from unauthorised access, alteration, disclosure or destruction and have several layers of security measures in place.
Consequences of Not Providing Your Data
You are not obligated to provide your personal information to Somerset Skills & Learning, however, as this information is required for us to provide you with our services, we will not be able to offer our products or services without it.
How Long We Keep Your Data
Somerset Skills & Learning only ever retains personal information for as long as is necessary and we have strict review and retention policies in place to meet these obligations. We are required under UK tax law to keep your basic personal data (name, address, contact details) for a minimum of 6 years after which time it will be destroyed. For any ESF funded provision, we are required to keep details until December 2030.
Where you have consented to us using your details for direct or promotional marketing via an opt-in facility, we will keep such data until you notify us otherwise and/or withdraw your consent.
Special Categories Data
Owing to the products & services, that we offer, Somerset Skills & Learning sometimes need to request sensitive personal information from you. Where we collect sensitive personal data, we will only request the information required for the specified purpose and always ask for your explicit consent through a signature. You can modify or remove consent at any time, which we will act on immediately, unless there is a legitimate interest or legal reason for not doing so.
Lodging A Complaint
Somerset Skills & Learning only processes your personal information in compliance with this privacy notice and in accordance with the relevant data protection laws. If, however you wish to raise a complaint regarding the processing of your personal data or are unsatisfied with how we have handled your information, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the supervisory authority.
Somerset Skills & Learning
Kathryn Baker – CEO
Churchill House
Robin’s Drive
Bridgwater
TA6 4DL
kbaker@sslcic.co.uk
Information Commissioners Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
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Contact Us
If you have any questions or comments regarding this privacy policy, please feel free to contact us.