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Privacy Policy

Privacy protection/ Data protection

Protecting the privacy and personal data of our visitors is of utmost importance to us. Protecting your privacy and your personal data is an important aspect of the way we create, organise and implement our activities on-line and off-line.

A copy of this policy can be downloaded (PDF)

Introduction 

AIM Qualifications and Assessment Group is committed to data security and the fair and transparent processing of personal data. This policy sets out how we will treat the personal data which you provide to us in compliance with applicable data protection law and in particular the General Data Protection Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (GDPR). 
 
Please carefully review this policy as it contains important information about how and why we collect, store, use and share personal data, your rights in relation to your personal data, how to contact us and supervisory authorities in the event that you would like to report a concern about the way in which we process your data. 
 
For the purposes of the GDPR, AIM Group is a ‘controller’ of the personal data you provide to us. 
 
If you have any queries about this policy or the way in which AIM Group processes your personal data or about exercising any of your rights, please send an email to enquiries@aimgroup.org.uk.  
 
This policy, together with our website terms of use and any other documents referred to in them, sets out the basis on which AIM Group processes personal data. 

What personal data might AIM collect and process?

Information you provide to us if you: 

  • complete a form on our website or sent to you by email/post 
  • complete a survey 
  • correspond with us by phone, email, or in writing 
  • report a problem via email, letter or telephone or any other on-line device 
  • sign up to receive our communications 
  • create an account with us 
  • enter into a contract with us to receive products and/or services 

We may collect your name, e-mail address, postal address, telephone number and job role. 

Information we collect about you

If you visit our website, we may automatically collect the following information: 

  • Technical information, including the internet protocol (IP) address used to connect your computer to the Internet, login information, browser type and version, time zone setting, browser plug-in types and versions, operating system and platform. 
  • Information about your visit to our website such as the products and/or services you searched for and view, page response times, download errors, length of visits to certain pages, page interaction information (such as scrolling, clicks, and mouse-overs), and methods used to browse away from the page.

 Information we receive from other sources 

We may also receive information about you if you use any of the other websites we operate or the other services we provide. 

If you are a tutor, apprentice, or learner, we may also receive information about you from your centre, training provider, or employer when they register to receive products and/or services form us. 

Information about other people 

If you provide information to us about any person other than yourself, such as your relatives, next of kin, students/apprentices, your advisers or your suppliers, you must ensure that they understand how their information will be used, and that they have given their permission for you to disclose it to us and for you to allow us, and our outsourced service providers, to use it.

Sensitive personal data 

In certain limited cases, we may collect certain sensitive personal data from you (that is, information about your racial or ethnic origin, physical or mental health and criminal offences). This may also include data which would help us to monitor reasons for withdrawal on a particular course.). However, we will only do so on the basis of your explicit consent. 

How do we use your personal data? 

When we ask you to supply us with personal data, we will make it clear whether the personal data we are asking for must be supplied so that we can provide the products and services to you, or whether the supply of any personal data we ask for is optional. 

1.    Contract performance

We may use your personal data to fulfil a contract, or take steps linked to a contract: 

  • to provide the products and/or services to you 
  • to communicate with you in relation to the provision of the contracted products and services 
  • to provide you with administrative support such as account creation, security, and responding to issues 
  • provide you with industry information, surveys, information about our awards and events, offers and promotions, related to the products and/or services  

2.    Legitimate interests

Where this is necessary for purposes which are in our, or third parties, legitimate interests. These interests are: 

  • providing you with newsletters, surveys, information about our awards and events, offers, and promotions, related to products and services offered by AIM Group which may be of interest to you 
  • communicating with you in relation to any issues, complaints, or disputes 
  • improving the quality of experience when you interact with our products and/or services, including testing the performance and customer experience of our website 
  • performing analytics on sales/marketing data, determining the effectiveness of promotional campaigns 

NOTE: you have the right to object to the processing of your personal data on the basis of legitimate interests as set out below, under the heading Your rights.  

3.    Consent

Where you have given your express consent to receive marketing communications, we may use your personal data to: 

  • send you newsletters, surveys, information about our products/services and events, offers, and promotions, related to products and services offered by AIM Group which may be of interest to you 
  • developing, improving, and delivering marketing and advertising for products and services offered AIM Group 

4.    Where required by law

We may also process your personal data if required by law, including responding to requests by government or law enforcement authorities, or for the prevention of crime or fraud. 

Who do we share your personal data with? 

We take all reasonable steps to ensure that our staff protect your personal data and are aware of their information security obligations.  We limit access to your personal data to those who have a genuine business need to know it. 
 
We may also share your personal data with trusted third parties including: 

  • examination, secure storage, database, backup and certificate printing providers 
  • legal and other professional advisers, regulators (eg Ofqual), consultants, and professional experts 
  • service providers contracted to us in connection with provision of the products and services such as providers of IT services and customer relationship management services 
  • analytics and search engine providers that assist us in the improvement and optimisation of our website 

We will ensure there is a contract in place with the categories of recipients listed above which include obligations in relation to the confidentiality, security, and lawful processing of any personal data shared with them. 
 
Where a third party recipient is located outside the European Economic Area, we will ensure that the transfer of personal data will be protected by appropriate safeguards, namely the use of standard data protection clauses adopted or approved by the European Commission where the data protection authority does not believe that the third country has adequate data protection laws. 
 
We will share personal data with law enforcement or other authorities if required by applicable law.  

How long will we keep your personal data? 

Where there is a contract between us, we will retain your personal data for the duration of the contract, and for a period of six years following its termination or expiry, to ensure we are able to comply with any contractual, legal, audit and other regulatory requirements, or any orders from competent courts or authorities.

We keep registration and certification data indefinitely or until the data is in an unusable format. At present we have data dating back to 1997. We keep the data for as long as possible to keep accurate records of achievement to enable learners to return to us for a replacement certificate or confirmation of achievements. 
 
If a learner does not want us to hold their data, they can submit a ‘right to be forgotten request’ and we will remove their information. However, we still need to keep an anonymous record of the achievement for regulatory reporting purposes. 

Where you have consented to marketing communications, you may change your preferences or unsubscribe from marketing communications at any time by clicking the unsubscribe link in an email from us. 

Where do we store your personal data and how is it protected? 

We take reasonable steps to protect your personal data from loss or destruction. We also have procedures in place to deal with any suspected data security breach. We will notify you and any applicable regulator of a suspected data security breach where we are legally required to do so. 
 
Where you have a username or password (or other identification information) which enables you to access certain services or parts of our website or services, you are responsible for keeping this password confidential. We ask you not to share a password with anyone. 
 
Unfortunately, the transmission of information via the internet is not completely secure. Although we will do our best to protect your personal data, we cannot guarantee the security of your personal data transmitted to our website; any transmission is at your own risk. Once we have received your personal data, we will use strict procedures and security features to try to prevent unauthorised access.  

Your rights 

Under the GDPR, you have various rights with respect to our use of your personal data: 

1.    Right to access 

You have the right to request a copy of the personal data that we hold about you by contacting us at enquiries@aimgroup.org.uk. Please include with your request information that will enable us to verify your identity. We will respond with 30 days of request. Please note that there are exceptions to this right. We may be unable to make all information available to you if, for example, making the information available to you would reveal personal data about another person, if we are legally prevented from disclosing such information. Or if your request is manifestly unfounded or excessive. 

2.    Right to rectification 

We aim to keep your personal data accurate and complete. We encourage you to contact us using enquiries@aimgroup.org.uk to let us know if any of your personal data is not accurate or changes, so that we can keep your personal data up-to-date. 

3.    Right to erasure 

You have the right to request the deletion of your personal data where, for example, the personal data are no longer necessary for the purposes for which they were collected, where you withdraw your consent to processing, where there is no overriding legitimate interest for us to continue to process your personal data, or your personal data has been unlawfully processed. If you would like to request that your personal data is erased, please contact us using the contact details provided below. 

 4.    Right to object 

In certain circumstances, you have the right to object to the processing of your personal data where, for example, your personal data is being processed on the basis of legitimate interests and there is no overriding legitimate interest for us to continue to process your personal data, or if your data is being processed for direct marketing purposes. If you would like to object to the pressing of your personal data, please contact us using the contact details provided below. 

5.    Right to restrict processing 

In certain circumstances, you have the right to request that we restrict the further processing of your personal data. This right arises where, for example, you have contested the accuracy of the personal data we hold about you and we are verifying the information, you have objected to processing based on legitimate interests and we are considering whether there are any overriding legitimate interests, or the processing is unlawful and you elect that processing is restricted rather than deleted. Please contact at enquiries@aimgroup.org.uk

6.    Right to data portability 

In certain circumstances, you have the right to request that some of your personal data is provided to you, or to another data controller, in a commonly used, machine-readable format. This right arises where you have provided your personal data to us, the processing is based on consent or the performance of a contract, and processing is carried out by automated means. If you would like to request that your personal data is ported to you, please contact us at enquiries@aimgroup.org.uk

Please note that the GDPR sets out exceptions to these rights. If we are unable to comply with your request due to an exception, we will explain this to you in our response. 

Contact 

If you have any queries about this policy or the way in which AIM Group processes your personal data, or about exercising any of your rights, please email enquiries@aimgroup.org.uk

Complaints 

If you believe that your data protection rights may have been breached, and we have been unable to resolve your concern, you may lodge a complaint the applicable supervisory authority or to seek a remedy through the courts. Please visit ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint for more information on how to report a concern to the UK Information Commissioner’s Office. 

Changes to our policy 

Any changes we may make to our policy in the future will be posted on this page and, where appropriate, notified to you by e-mail. Please check back frequently to see any updates or changes to our policy.