Privacy Policy

Positive Signs Ltd Privacy Policy

We take your privacy very seriously. Please read this privacy policy carefully as it contains important information on who we are and how and why we collect, store, use and share your personal data. It also explains your rights in relation to your personal data and how to contact us or supervisory authorities in the event you have a complaint.

We collect, use and are responsible for certain personal data about you.

When we do so we are subject to the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR).

We are Positive Signs Ltd a company registered in England and Wales.

Our company registration number is 05590456 and our address is 1a St Lawrence Road, Upminster Essex RM14 2UN

Personal data we collect about you

We may collect and use the following personal data about you:

• your name and contact information, including email address and

telephone number and company details

• information to check and verify your identity, e.g. your date of birth

• any disability

• medical information

• your gender

• location data

• your billing information, transaction and payment card information

• your personal or professional interests and qualifications

• your professional online presence, (e.g. LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter profiles)

• Information about how you use our website, IT, communication and other systems.

We collect and use this personal data to provide services to you or working with you.

If you do not provide personal data we ask for, it may delay or prevent us from providing services to you or using your services.

How your personal data is collected

We collect most of this personal data directly from you—in person, by telephone, text or email and/or via our website.

However, we may also collect information:

• from publicly accessible sources, (e.g. Companies House);

• from a third party with your consent (e.g. your bank)

• from cookies on our website—for more information on our use of cookies, please see our cookie policy.

• from door entry systems and reception logs;

• through automated monitoring of our websites and other technical systems, such as our computer networks and connections, CCTV and access control systems, communications systems, email and instant messaging systems;

• through our database, payment systems, document management and accounting software, CRM platforms, and booking systems;

• through our online learning portals.

How and why we use your personal data

Under data protection law, we can only use your personal data if we have a proper reason, e.g:

• where you have given consent;

• to comply with our legal and regulatory obligations;

• for the performance of a contract with you or to take steps at your request before entering into a contract; or

• for our legitimate interests or those of a third party.

A legitimate interest is when we have a business or commercial reason to use your information, so long as this is not overridden by your own rights and interests. We will carry out an assessment when relying on legitimate interests, to balance our interests against your own.

Special category of personal data

Where we process special category personal data, we will also ensure we are permitted to do so under data protection laws, e.g:

• we have your explicit consent;

• the processing is necessary to protect your (or someone else’s) vital interests where you are physically or legally incapable of giving consent; or

• the processing is necessary to establish, exercise or defend legal claims.

Marketing

We may use your personal data to send you updates (by email, text message or telephone) about our services, including exclusive offers, promotions or new services.

We have a legitimate interest in using your personal data for marketing purposes (see above ‘How and why we use your personal data’).

This means we do not usually need your consent to send you marketing information.

However, where consent is needed, we will ask for this separately and clearly.

You have the right to opt out of receiving marketing communications at any time by:

• contacting us at support@positivesigns.uk;

We may ask you to confirm or update your marketing preferences if you ask us to provide further services in the future, or if there are changes in the law, regulation, or the structure of our business.

We will always treat your personal data with the utmost respect and never sell or share it with other organisations for marketing purposes.

Who we share your personal data with

We routinely share personal data with:

• third parties we use to help deliver our services to you, (e.g. Signature, Student Finance England (SFE), Student Finance Wales, Disabled Students’ Allowance, Needs Assessors, Admin and More)

• other third parties we use to help us run our business, (e.g. website hosts, our Gurus, trainers, and interpreters, online learning platform, payment providers, software management systems)

• third parties approved by you, (e.g. your academic institutions; your employer);

• our bank and accountants;

• governmental bodies (e.g. Department of Education, Department of Work and Pension, NHS and local authorities)

We only allow our service providers to handle your personal data if we are satisfied they take appropriate measures to protect your personal data.

We also impose contractual obligations on service providers to ensure they can only use your personal data to provide services to us and to you.

We may also need to:

• share personal data with external auditors, e.g. in relation to accreditation and the audit of our accounts;

• disclose and exchange information with law enforcement agencies and regulatory bodies to comply with our legal and regulatory obligations;

• share some personal data with other parties, such as potential buyers of some or all of our business or during a restructuring—usually, information will be anonymised but this may not always be possible, however, the recipient of the information will be bound by confidentiality obligations.

If you would like more information about who we share our data with and why, please contact us (see ‘How to contact us’ below).

We will not share your personal data with any other third party.

Where your personal data is held

Personal data may be held at our offices and those of our third party agencies, service providers, representatives and agents as described above (see above: ‘Who we share your personal data with’).

Some of these third parties may be based outside the UK.

For more information, including on how we safeguard your personal data when this happens, see below: ‘Transferring your personal data out of the UK’.

How long your personal data will be kept

We will keep your personal data while you are working with us or we are providing services to you.

Thereafter, we will keep your personal data for as long as is necessary:

• to respond to any questions, complaints or claims made by you or on your behalf;

• to show that we treated you fairly;

• to keep records required by law.

We will not keep your personal data for longer than necessary.

Different retention periods apply for different types of personal data.

When it is no longer necessary to keep your personal data, we will delete or anonymise it.

Transferring your personal data out of the UK

To deliver services to you, it is sometimes necessary for us to share your personal data outside the UK, e.g:

• with your and our service providers located outside the UK;

• if you are based outside the UK;

• where there is a European and/or international dimension to the services we are providing to you.

Under data protection law, we can only transfer your personal data to a country or international organisation outside the UK where:

• the UK government or, where the EU GDPR applies, the European

Commission has decided the particular country or international organisation ensures an adequate level of protection of personal data (known as an ‘adequacy decision’);

• there are appropriate safeguards in place, together with enforceable rights and effective legal remedies for data subjects; or

• a specific exception applies under data protection law

These are explained below.

Adequacy decision

We may transfer your personal data to certain countries, on the basis of an adequacy decision. These include:

• all European Union countries, plus Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway (collectively known as the ‘EEA’);

• Gibraltar; and

• Andorra, Argentina, Canada, Faroe Islands, Guernsey, Israel, Isle of Man, Japan, Jersey, New Zealand, Switzerland and Uruguay.

The list of countries that benefit from adequacy decisions will change from time to time.

We will always seek to rely on an adequacy decision, where one exists.

Other countries or international organisations we are likely to transfer personal data to do not have the benefit of an adequacy decision.

This does not necessarily mean they provide poor protection for personal data, but we must look at alternative grounds for transferring the personal data, such as ensuring appropriate safeguards are in place or relying on an exception, as explained below.

Transfers with appropriate safeguards

Where there is no adequacy decision, we may transfer your personal data to another country or international organisation if we are satisfied the transfer complies with data protection law, appropriate safeguards are in place, and enforceable rights and effective legal remedies are available for data subjects.

Transfers under an exception

In the absence of an adequacy decision or appropriate safeguards, we may transfer personal data to a third country or international organisation where an exception applies under relevant data protection law, e.g:

• you have explicitly consented to the proposed transfer after having been informed of the possible risks;

• the transfer is necessary for the performance of a contract between us or to take pre-contract measures at your request;

• the transfer is necessary for a contract in your interests, between us and another person; or

• the transfer is necessary to establish, exercise or defend legal claims

We may also transfer information for the purpose of our compelling legitimate interests, so long as those interests are not overridden by your interests, rights and freedoms.

Specific conditions apply to such transfers, and we will provide relevant information if and when we seek to transfer your personal data on this ground.