OAL is committed to protecting your privacy. At all times we aim to respect any personal information you share with us, or that we receive from others, and keep it safe. This Privacy Policy Notice (“Notice”) sets out our data processing practices and your rights and options regarding the ways in which your personal information is used and collected, including through our websites (www.oawards.co.uk).

This Notice contains important information about your personal rights to privacy. Please read it carefully to understand how we use your personal information.

The provision of your personal information to us is voluntary. However, without providing us with your personal information, your use of our services or your interaction with us may be impaired. For example, you will be unable to take an examination or receive a qualification.

Contents of this Privacy Policy Notice:

1. How we collect personal information about you
2. What personal information do we use?
3. How and why will we use your personal information?
4. Lawful bases
5. Supporter research
6. Communications for marketing/ fundraising
7. Donations
8. Children’s personal information
9. How long do we keep your personal information?
10. Will we share your personal information?
11. Security/ storage of and access to your personal information
12. International Data Transfers
13. Exercising your Rights
14. Changes to this Notice
15. Links and third parties
16. How to contact us

1. We collect personal information about you:

When you give it to us directly, for example, personal information that you give to us when you communicate with us by email, phone, or letter.

When we obtain it indirectly, for example, your personal information will be shared with us by training/learning providers after you enrol for a course or for End Point Assessment in relation to which we provide the relevant qualification/EPA assessment.

When it is available publicly. Your personal information may be available to us from external publicly available sources. For example, depending on your privacy settings for social media services, we may access information from those accounts or services.

When you visit our website, we automatically collect the following types of personal information:

(a) Technical information, including the internet protocol (IP) address used to connect your device to the internet, browser type and version, time zone setting, browser plug-in types and versions and operating systems and platforms.

(b) Information about your visit to the websites, including the uniform resource locator (URL) clickstream to, through and from the website (including date and time), services you viewed or searched for, page response times, download errors, length of visits to certain pages, referral sources, page interaction information (such as scrolling and clicks) and methods used to browse away from the page.

We collect and use your personal information by using cookies on our website – please see our Cookie Notice below.

When you visit our premises, for example, where CCTV is used on our premises.

In general, we may combine your personal information from these different sources set out above, for the purposes set out in this Privacy Notice.

2. What personal information do we use?

We may collect, store and otherwise process the following kinds of personal information:

1. your name and contact details including postal address, telephone number, email address and emergency contact details and, where applicable;
2. your date of birth and gender;
3. your financial information, such as bank details and/ or credit/ debit card details; for processing invoices for our services that have been provided
4. information about your computer/ mobile device and your visits to and use of this website, including, for example, your IP address and geographical location;
5. unique candidate identifiers/unique learner numbers;
6. details of your qualifications/ experience;
7. details of courses you have attended or delivered;
8. details of sickness or absence;

and/ or any other personal information which we obtain as per paragraph 1.

Do we process special categories of data?

The EU General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) recognises certain categories of personal information as sensitive and therefore requiring more protection, for example information about your health, ethnicity and religious beliefs.

In certain situations, OAL may collect and/or use these special categories of data (for example, information on learners’ medical conditions so that we can make arrangements for reasonable adjustments and/or special considerations). We will only process these special categories of data if there is a valid reason for doing so and where the GDPR allows us to do so.

3. How and why will we use your personal information?

Your personal information, however provided to us, will be used for the purposes specified in this Notice. In particular, we may use your personal information:

1. to register you as a learner/apprentice and allow you to sit examinations;
2. for examination and EPA assessment administration purposes;
3. to conduct examinations and assessments;
4. to issue examination and EPA results and certificates;
5. to carry out any reviews or appeals;
6. to otherwise provide you with services, products or information you have requested;
7. to communicate as necessary with training/learning providers;
8. to communicate as necessary with your employer
9. to provide further information about our work, services or activities (where necessary, only where you have provided your consent to receive such information);
10. to answer your questions/ requests and communicate with you in general;
11. to manage relationships with our partners and service providers;
12. to analyse and improve our work, services, activities, products or information (including our website), or for our internal records;
13. to keep our facilities safe and secure;
14. to run/administer the activities of OAL, including our website, and ensure that content is presented in the most effective manner for you and for your device;
15. to audit and/or administer our accounts;
16. to satisfy legal obligations which are binding on us, for example in relation to regulatory, government and/or law enforcement bodies with whom we may work (for example requirements relating to the payment of tax or anti-money laundering);
17. for the prevention of fraud or misuse of services;
18. for the establishment, defence and/ or enforcement of legal claims; and/or
19. to notify you about changes to our services;
20. to communicate with you for example, respond to queries and requests

4. Lawful bases

The GDPR requires us to rely on one or more lawful bases to use your personal information. We consider the grounds listed below to be relevant:

1. Where necessary so that we can comply with a legal obligation to which we are subject (for example, where we are obliged to share your personal information with regulatory bodies which govern our work and services).
2. Where necessary for the performance of a contract to which you are a party or to take steps at your request prior to entering a contract (for example, to provide you with a certified award after sitting an examination or for an EPA assessment result).
3. Where there is a legitimate interest in us doing so.
4. Where the above reasons have not been satisfied and / or you have provided your consent for us to use your personal information in a certain way.

The GDPR allows us to collect and process your personal information if it is reasonably necessary to achieve our or others’ legitimate interests (as long as that processing is fair, balanced and does not unduly impact your rights as an individual).

In broad terms, our “legitimate interests” means the interests of running of the OAL as a commercial entity and ensuring that appropriate levels of certified awards are granted to candidates in line with our standards.

When we process your personal information to achieve such legitimate interests, we consider and balance any potential impact on you (both positive and negative), and on your rights under data protection laws. We will not use your personal information for activities where our interests are overridden by the impact on you, for example where use would be excessively intrusive (unless, for instance, we are otherwise required or permitted to by law).

5. Supporter research

We may also analyse your personal information to create a record of your interests and preferences. This allows us to ensure communications are relevant and timely, to contact you in the most appropriate and relevant way and in general to provide you with an improved user experience. It also helps us to understand the background of our supporters so that we can make appropriate requests to those who may be willing and able to give more than they already do, enabling us to raise funds and help beneficiaries sooner and more cost-effectively. If you would prefer us not to use your personal information for supporter research please let us know by using the contact details below.

6. Communications for marketing/promotional purposes

We may use your contact details to provide you with information about our work, events, services and/or activities which we consider may be of interest to you (for example, about other certified awards, qualifications, End Point Assessments or other products and services we provide).

Where we do this via email, SMS or telephone, we will not do so without your prior consent (unless allowed to do so via applicable law).

Where you have provided us with your consent previously but do not wish to be contacted by us about our work, events, services and/or activities in the future, please let us know by email at customerservice@oawards.co.uk. You can opt out of receiving emails from OAL at any time by emailing our customer service team. 

7. How long do we keep your personal information?

In general, unless still required in connection with the purpose(s) for which it was collected and/or processed, we remove your personal information from our records six years after the date it was collected. However, if before that date (i) your personal information is no longer required in connection with such purpose(s), (ii) we are no longer lawfully entitled to process it or (iii) you validly exercise your right of erasure (please see Section 13 below), we will remove it from our records at the relevant time.

If you request to receive no further contact from us, we may keep some basic information about you on our suppression list in order to comply with your request and avoid sending you unwanted materials in the future.

8. Will we share your personal information?

We do not share, sell or rent your personal information to third parties for marketing purposes. However, in general we may disclose your personal information to selected third parties in order to achieve the purposes set out in this Notice.

These parties may include (but are not limited to):

1. training/learning providers;
2. individual examiners/End Point Assessors
3. educational authorities such as Department for Education, Welsh Government, Department of Education Northern Ireland, HESA, UCAS, ESFA, IfATE, and the Learning Records Service;
4. local authorities and other public bodies responsible for education;
5. other educational establishments/prospective employers (for example if a reference is sought);
6. suppliers and sub-contractors for the performance of any contract we enter into with them, for example IT service providers such as website hosts or cloud storage providers;
7. professional service providers such as accountants and lawyers;
8. parties assisting us with research to monitor the impact/effectiveness of our work, events, services and activities;
9. the police, for example in sharing data in relation to malpractice cases linked to fraud;
10. regulatory bodies who govern our work, such as Ofqual, Qualifications Wales, CCEA Regulation, SQA or Ofsted; and/or

In particular, we reserve the right to disclose your personal information to third parties:

• in the event that we sell or buy any business or assets, in which case we will disclose your personal information to the (prospective) seller or buyer of such business or assets;
• if substantially all of our assets are acquired by a third party, personal information held by us may be one of the transferred assets;
• if we are under any legal or regulatory duty to do so; and/or
• to protect the rights, property or safety of OAL, its personnel, users, visitors or others.

9. Security/storage of and access to your personal information

OAL is committed to keeping your personal information safe and secure and we have appropriate and proportionate security policies and organisational and technical measures in place to help protect your information.

Your personal information is only accessible by appropriately trained staff and contractors, and stored on secure servers which have features to prevent unauthorised access.

10. International Data Transfers

Given that we are a UK-based organisation we will normally only transfer your personal information within the European Economic Area (“EEA”), where all countries have the same level of data protection law as under the GDPR.  Currently all our data is stored in the UK and not share or saved on any server outside the UK.

Unfortunately, no transmission of your personal information over the internet can be guaranteed to be 100% secure. Once we have received your personal information, we use strict procedures and security features to try and prevent unauthorised access.

11. Exercising your Rights

Where we rely on your consent to use your personal information, you have the right to withdraw that consent at any time. This includes the right to ask us to stop using your personal information for marketing or fundraising purposes or to unsubscribe from our email list at any time. You also have the following rights:

1. Right of access – you can write to us to ask for confirmation of what personal information we hold on you and to request a copy of that personal information. Provided we are satisfied that you are entitled to see the personal information requested and we have successfully confirmed your identity, we will provide you with your personal information subject to any exemptions that apply.
2. Right of erasure – at your request we will delete your personal information from our records as far as we are required to do so. In many cases we would propose to suppress further communications with you, rather than delete it.
3. Right of rectification – if you believe our records of your personal information are inaccurate, you have the right to ask for those records to be updated. You can also ask us to check the personal information we hold about you if you are unsure whether it is accurate/up to date.
4. Right to restrict processing – you have the right to ask for processing of your personal information to be restricted if there is disagreement about its accuracy or legitimate usage.
5. Right to object – you have the right to object to processing where we are (i) processing your personal information on the basis of our legitimate interests (see section 4 above), (ii) using your personal information for direct marketing or (iii) using your information for statistical purposes.
6. Right to data portability – to the extent required by the GDPR, where we are processing your personal information (that you have provided to us) either (i) by relying on your consent or (ii) because such processing is necessary for the performance of a contract to which you are party or to take steps at your request prior to entering into a contract, and in either case we are processing using automated means (i.e. with no human involvement), you may ask us to provide the personal information to you – or another service provider – in a machine-readable format.
7. Rights related to automated decision-making – you have the right not to be subject to a decision based solely on automated processing of your personal information which produces legal or similarly significant effects on you, unless such a decision (i) is necessary to enter into/perform a contract between you and us/another organisation; (ii) is authorised by EU or Member State law to which OAL is subject (as long as that law offers you sufficient protection); or (iii) is based on your explicit consent.

Please note that some of these rights only apply in limited circumstances. For more information, we suggest that you contact us using the details below.

If you have any queries or concerns in relation to your personal data we hold or you wish to raise a subject access request, please contact us using the details provided below. You are further entitled to make a complaint to the Information Commissioner’s Office – www.ico.org.uk. For further information on how to exercise this right, please contact us using the details below.

12. Changes to this Notice

We may update this Notice from time to time. We will notify you of significant changes by contacting you directly where reasonably possible for us to do so and by placing an update notice on our website. This Notice was last updated in January 2021.

13. Links and third parties

We link our website directly to other sites. This Notice does not cover external websites and we are not responsible for the privacy practices or content of those sites. We encourage you to read the privacy policies of any external websites you visit via links on our website.

14. How to contact us

Please let us know if you have any questions or concerns about this Notice or about the way in which OAL processes your personal information by contacting us at the channels below. Please ask for / mark messages for the attention of the Quality and Compliance Team.

Email: customerservice@oawards.co.uk

Telephone: 01904 236483

Post: OAL, the Catalyst, Baird Lane, York.  YO10 5GA