Introduction

Your privacy is important to us and we are committed to protecting and safeguarding your data.

Under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), effective 25 May 2018, we must comply with certain requirements which are designed to ensure that any data you provide to us is processed with due care and attention.

This privacy policy explains what personal data we collect and how we collect, use and process this data ensuring we comply with our legal obligations to you.

We may update our privacy policy from time to time. Please just visit this page if you want to stay up to date as we will post any changes here.

What personal data do we collect?

We collect and process Sensitive Personal Data only so far as is necessary to aid the training services we undertake and provide you with the best possible service.

A number of elements of the personal data we collect from you are required to enable us to fulfil our contractual duties to you or to others. Depending on the type of personal data in question and the grounds on which we may be processing it, should you decline to provide us with such data, we may not be able to fulfil our contractual requirements or, in extreme cases, may not be able to continue with our relationship.

For details of the legal bases that we rely on to be able to use and process your personal data, please refer to the legal basis section below.

Course Students

If you are looking to enquire about the courses we offer, the data that we collect is limited to your first and last name, your email address and telephone number. We will only collect payment information through a secure payment gateway once you have agreed to the course(s) you would like to enrol in.

Accessing our website

To the extent that you access our website we will also collect certain data from you. If you would like more information about this, please refer to our cookie policy section below.

Subscribers

When you request access to our free toolkits and/or newsletters, we collect your first and last name, and your email address (and any other details you voluntarily provide) in order to deliver the requested resource.

Website users

We collect a limited amount of data from our Website Users which we use to help us to improve your experience when using our website and to help us manage the services we provide. This includes information such as how you use our website, the frequency with which you access our website, and the times that our website is most popular.

If you would like to find out more information about what data we collect about you when you visit our website, please refer to our cookie policy section below.

How do we collect your personal data?

Course students and Subscribers

We collect data directly from you, either through information you submit through our online contact forms or if you contact us directly.

Website users

When you visit our website, there is certain information that we may automatically collect, whether or not you decide to use our services. Please refer to our cookie policy section below.

How do we use your personal data?

Course Students and Subscribers

Workshops

You can elect to sign up to one of our courses / workshops. Your data will then be used to send you information about the course, payment requests, or supporting resources.

Newsletters

You can elect to receive our newsletter. Your data will then be used to send you the newsletter.

You can choose to opt in to receive additional resources, updates, and relevant offers

If you are not happy about our approach to marketing, you have the right to withdraw your consent at any time and can find out more about how to do so here

Toolkits & Resources

You can elect to receive one of our free toolkits. Your data will then be used to send you the toolkits or other resources.

You can choose to opt in to receive additional resources, updates, and relevant offers

If you are not happy about our approach to marketing, you have the right to withdraw your consent at any time and can find out more about how to do so here

Marketing activities

We may periodically send you information that we think you may find interesting, or related to new courses.

We need your consent for some aspects of these activities which are not covered by our legitimate interests (in particular, the collection of data via cookies, and the delivery of direct marketing to you through digital channels) and, depending on the situation, we'll ask for this via an opt-in or soft-opt-in.

Soft opt-in consent is a specific type of consent which applies where you have previously engaged with us (for example by attending one of our courses), and we are marketing other courses. Under ‘soft opt-in’ consent, we will take your consent as given unless or until you opt out. For most people, this is beneficial as it allows us to suggest other courses to you alongside the specific one you have already attended for, significantly increasing the development of your skills. For other types of e-marketing, we are required to obtain your explicit consent.

If you want to know more about how we obtain consent, please click here. If you are not happy about our approach to marketing, you have the right to withdraw your consent at any time and can find out more about how to do so here.

We want to let you know that even if you have opted out from our marketing communications, it is possible that your details may be recaptured through public sources in an unconnected marketing campaign. We will try to make sure this doesn't happen, but we apologise if it does. In these circumstances, we ask that you opt out again.

Other

We may use your personal data for the above purposes if we deem it necessary to do so for our legitimate interests. If you want to know more about what this means, please click here.

If you are not happy about this, in certain circumstances you have the right to object and can find out more about how and when to do this here.

Website users

We collect a limited amount of data from our Website Users which we use to help us to improve your experience when using our website and to help us manage the services we provide.

Who do we share your personal data with?

Course Students

If you have signed up for a course and/or our newsletter, your information is not shared with any third parties. Your data is stored in a secure database only accessible by authorised people.

How do we safeguard your personal data?

The information provided when you consent to receive job alerts and/or our newsletter is stored via a third party Mailchimp. Please refer to the link https://mailchimp.com/legal/privacy/ for more information on their privacy policies. Your data is stored in a secure database only accessible by authorised people.

We are committed to taking all reasonable and appropriate steps to protect the personal information that we hold from misuse, loss, or unauthorised access. We do this by having in place a range of appropriate technical and organisational measures. These include measures to deal with any suspected data breach.

If you suspect any misuse or loss of or unauthorised access to your personal information, please let us know immediately by contacting jackie@excelled.academy.

How long do we keep your personal data for?

For course students who have consented to receive our newsletter, we will keep your data until such time as you delete the data.

Other data will be deleted from our system if we have not had contact (either directly or through our online forms) for two years.

How can you access, amend or take back the personal data that you have given to us?

Under GDPR, individuals have a right to be informed about the collection and use of their personal data. This means that you retain various rights in respect of your data, even once you have given it to us. These are described in more detail below. To get in touch about these rights, please contact us at jackie@excelled.academy. We will seek to deal with your request without undue delay, and in any event within one month (subject to any extensions to which we are lawfully entitled). Please note that we may keep a record of your communications to help us resolve any issues which you raise.

You may ask us to confirm what information we hold about you at any time, and request us to modify, update or delete such information. We may ask you to verify your identity and for more information about your request. If we provide you with access to the information we hold about you, we will not charge you for this unless your request is "manifestly unfounded or excessive". If you request further copies of this information from us, we may charge you a reasonable administrative cost where legally permissible. Where we are legally permitted to do so, we may refuse your request. If we refuse your request we will always tell you the reasons for doing so.

Right to access

You have the right to obtain confirmation that your data is being processed and access to the personal data that we currently have stored in our secure databases.

Right to rectification

You have the right to have inaccurate personal data rectified or completed if it is incomplete. You can make a request for rectification verbally or in writing and we will respond within one month from the date that we receive the request.

Right to erasure

You have the right to have their personal data erased if:
• the personal data is no longer necessary for the purpose which we originally collected or processed it for;
• if we are relying on legitimate interests as our basis for processing, you can object to the processing of your data if there is no overriding legitimate interest to continue this processing;
• if we are processing the personal data for direct marketing purposes and you object to that processing;
• if we have processed the personal data unlawfully;
• if we have to do it to comply with a legal obligation; or
• if we have processed the personal data to offer information society services to a child.

The right to erasure does not apply if processing is necessary for one of the following reasons:
• to exercise the right of freedom of expression and information;
• to comply with a legal obligation;
• for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority;
• for archiving purposes in the public interest, scientific research historical research or statistical purposes where erasure is likely to render impossible or seriously impair the achievement of that processing; or
• for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims.

You can make a request for erasure verbally or in writing and we will respond within one month from the date that we receive the request.

Right to restrict processing

You have the right to restrict the processing of your personal data in certain circumstances:
• if you contest the accuracy of your personal data and we are verifying the accuracy of the data;
• if the data has been unlawfully processed (ie in breach of the lawfulness requirement of the first principle of the GDPR) and you oppose erasure and requests restriction instead; or
• if we no longer need the personal data but you need us to keep it in order to establish, exercise or defend a legal claim

Right to data portability

If you wish, you have the right to transfer your personal data between data controllers. In effect, this means that you are able to transfer your Excelled Academy account details to another online platform. To allow you to do so, we will provide you with your data in a commonly used machine-readable format that is password-protected so that you can transfer the data to another online platform. Alternatively, we may directly transfer the data for you. This right of data portability applies to: (i) personal data that we process automatically (i.e. without any human intervention); (ii) personal data provided by you; and (iii) personal data that we process based on your consent or in order to fulfil a contract.

Right to object

You have the right to object the processing of data in the following situations:
• processing based on legitimate interests or the performance of a task in the public interest/exercise of official authority (including profiling);
• direct marketing (including profiling); and
• processing for purposes of scientific/historical research and statistics.

The "legitimate interests" and "direct marketing" categories above are the ones most likely to apply to our Website Users, and Course Students. If your objection relates to us processing your personal data because we deem it necessary for your legitimate interests, we must act on your objection by ceasing the activity in question unless:
• - we can show that we have compelling legitimate grounds for processing which overrides your interests; or
• - we are processing your data for the establishment, exercise or defence of a legal claim.

If your objection relates to direct marketing, we must act on your objection by ceasing this activity.

If you would like to exercise any of these rights, please contact us at jackie@excelled.academy. Please note that we may keep a record of your communications to help us resolve any issues which you raise.

Right to withdraw consent

Where we have obtained your consent to process your personal data for certain activities (for example, where you have consented to receive our newsletter), you may withdraw this consent at any time and we will cease to carry out the particular activity that you previously consented to unless we consider that there is an alternative reason to justify our continued processing of your data for this purpose in which case we will inform you of this condition.

If you would like to exercise your right to withdraw your consent to the processing of your personal data, there are two ways to do this. Either contact us at jackie@excelled.academy and let us know you want to unsubscribe your details or you can select the ‘manage preferences link’ or ‘unsubscribe link’ in the newsletter email that you receive from us and update your details accordingly.

It is important that the personal information we hold about you is accurate and current. Please keep us informed if your personal information changes during the period for which we hold your data.

Who is responsible for processing your personal data on this website?

You can contact us at jackie@excelled.academy for any queries, concerns or comments regarding your data and/or our privacy policy

Cookie policy

What are cookies and how do we use them?

A "cookie" is a piece of information that is stored on your computer's hard drive and which records your navigation of a website so that, when you revisit that website, it can present tailored options based on the information stored about your last visit. Cookies can also be used to analyse traffic and for advertising and marketing purposes.

Cookies are used by nearly all websites and do not harm your system. If you want to check or change what types of cookies you accept, this can usually be altered within your browser settings.

What cookies do we use?

We use the following cookies:

Site performance cookies

When you visit our website, a local cookie is stored in your browser to remember that you have visited our page.

Third party cookies

Google Analytics, a web analytics service provided by Google, Inc ("Google"). Google Analytics uses cookies (text files placed on your computer) to help the website operators analyse how users use our Site. The information generated by the cookie about your use of the Site (including your IP address) will be transmitted to and stored by Google on servers in the United States. Google will use this information for the purpose of evaluating your use of our Site, compiling reports on website activity for internet operators and providing other services relating to website activity and internet usage. Google may also transfer this information to third parties where required to do so by law, or where such third parties process the information on Google's behalf. Google will not associate your IP address with any other data held by Google. By using our Site, you consent to the processing of data about you by Google in the manner and for the purposes set out above. To opt out of Google Analytics please go to the following link: https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout

Facebook If you use a 'share' link on excelled.academy to share content on Facebook, Facebook sets a cookie to remember that you've already shared this information. To reject or delete these cookies: http://www.facebook.com/about/privacy/

Twitter If you use a 'Tweet' link on excelled.academy to share content on twitter, twitter sets a cookie to remember that you've already shared this information. To reject or delete these cookies: http://twitter.com/privacy.

Linked in If you use a ‘share’ link on excelled.academy to share content on Linked in, Linked in sets a cookie to remember that you've already shared this information. To reject or delete these cookies: https://www.linkedin.com/legal/cookie-policy

With most Internet browsers, you can erase or block cookies or ask to receive a warning before a cookie is stored. The “Help” function within your browser should tell you how. Alternatively, you may wish to visit www.youronlinechoices.eu which contains comprehensive information on how to do this on a wide variety of browsers or please refer to aboutcookies.org. You will also find details on how to delete cookies from your computer as well as more general information about cookies.

Please be aware that restricting cookies may have a negative impact on the functionality of our site.

Our legal bases for processing your data

We use consent and legitimate interest as the legal bases for processing your data.

Consent

In certain circumstances, we are required to obtain your consent to the processing of your personal data in relation to certain activities. Depending on exactly what we are doing with your information, this consent will be opt-in consent or soft opt-in consent.

When you sign up for our newsletter, use our platform to enquire about our services, you have provided opt-in consent for us to process your data.

Article 4(11) of the GDPR states that (opt-in) consent is "any freely given, specific, informed and unambiguous indication of the data subject's wishes by which he or she, by a statement or by a clear affirmative action, signifies agreement to the processing of personal data relating to him or her." In plain language, this means that:
• - you have to give us your consent freely, without us putting you under any type of pressure;
• - you have to know what you are consenting to – so we'll make sure we give you enough information;
• - you should have control over which processing activities you consent to and which you don’t. We provide these finer controls within our privacy preference centre; and
• - you need to take positive and affirmative action in giving us your consent – we're likely to provide a tick box for you to check so that this requirement is met in a clear and unambiguous fashion.

We will keep records of the consents that you have given in this way.

We have already mentioned that, in some cases, we will be able to rely on soft opt-in consent. We are allowed to market products or services to you which are related to the excel services we provide as long as you do not actively opt-out from these communications. You have the right to withdraw your consent to these activities. You can do so at any time, and details of how to do so can be found here.

Legitimate interest

Article 6(1)(f) of the GDPR says that we can process your data where it "is necessary for the purposes of the legitimate interests pursued by [us] or by a third party, except where such interests are overridden by the interests or fundamental rights or freedoms of [you] which require protection of personal data."

Our services are to provide excel training to qualified accountants so we don't think that any of the following activities prejudice individuals in any way. However, you do have the right to object to us processing your personal data on this basis. If you would like to know more about how to do so, please click here.

Course Student data

We think it's reasonable to expect that if you have attended one of our courses, we can process your data to send you relevant course updates to aid with your further development.

Glossary

Course Students – individuals who are looking to attend or have attended one of our courses

Website users - any individual who accesses this website

Excelled Academy