Privacy and Cookie Policy

v2- updated February 2024

UPDATES TO THIS POLICY

This Privacy and Cookie Policy may be updated from time to time for operational, legal or regulatory reasons.  This Policy was last updated on 14 February 2024.

PART A. PRIVACY POLICY

This is Self-Study Site UK Ltd.’s privacy policy. 

Self-Study Site UK Ltd. is committed to protecting your personal data. This privacy policy will inform you as to how we look after your personal data when you visit our website (regardless of where you visit it from) and tell you about your privacy rights and how the law protects you. 

You may wish to download a pdf version of this privacy policy.

Please also use the GLOSSARY (in Section 10) to understand the meaning of some of the terms used in this privacy policy. 

1. IMPORTANT INFORMATION AND WHO WE ARE 

PURPOSE OF THIS PRIVACY POLICY 

This privacy policy aims to give you information on how Self-Study Site UK Ltd. collects and processes your personal data through your use of this website, including any data you may provide through this website when you comment on one of our articles, sign up to our newsletter or purchase a product or service. 

This website is not intended for children and we do not knowingly collect data relating to children. 

It is important that you read this privacy policy together with any other privacy policy or fair processing policy we may provide on specific occasions when we are collecting or processing personal data about you so that you are fully aware of how and why we are using your data. This privacy policy supplements other notices and privacy policies and is not intended to override them.

CONTROLLER 

Self-Study Site UK Ltd. (referred to as “we”, “us” or “our” in this privacy policy) is the controller and responsible for your personal data. 

If you have any questions about this privacy policy, including any requests to exercise your legal rights, please contact our data privacy manager using the details set out below. 

CONTACT DETAILS 

If you have any questions about this privacy policy, or our privacy practices, you may contact our data privacy manager in the following ways: 

Post: Self-Study Site UK Ltd.

71-75 Shelton Street

Covent Garden

London, UK

WC2H 9JQ

Email: [email protected]

You have the right to make a complaint at any time to the Information Commissioner’s Office (“ICO”), the UK regulator for data protection issues (www.ico.org.uk). We would, however, appreciate the chance to deal with your concerns before you approach the ICO so please contact us in the first instance. 

THIRD-PARTY LINKS 

This website may include links to third-party websites, plug-ins and/or applications. Clicking on those links or enabling those connections may allow third-parties to collect or share data about you. We do not control these third-party websites and are not responsible for their privacy statements. When you leave our website, we encourage you to read the privacy policy of every website you visit. 

2. THE DATA WE COLLECT ABOUT YOU 

Personal data, or personal information, means any information about an individual from which that person can be identified. It does not include data where the identity has been removed (ie. anonymous data). 

We may collect, use, store and transfer different kinds of personal data about you which we have grouped together as follows: 

• Identity Data (includes, for example, first name, middle name, last name, username or similar identifier, title). 
• Contact Data (includes, for example, billing address, delivery address, email address and telephone numbers). 
• Financial Data (includes, for example, bank account and payment card details). 
• Transaction Data (includes, for example, details about payments to and from you and other details of products and/or services you have purchased from us). 
• Technical Data (includes, for example, internet protocol (IP) address, your login data, browser type and version, time zone setting and location, browser plug-in types and versions, operating system and platform, and other technology on the devices you use to access this website). 
• Profile Data (includes, for example, your username and password, purchases or orders made by you, your interests, preferences, feedback and survey responses). 
• Usage Data (includes, for example, information about how you use our website, products and/or services).
• Marketing and Communications Data (includes, for example, your preferences in receiving marketing from us and our third-parties and your communication preferences).

We may also collect, use and share “Aggregated Data”, such as statistical or demographic data, for any purpose. Aggregated Data could be derived from your personal data but is not considered personal data in law as this data will not directly or indirectly reveal your identity. For example, we may aggregate your Usage Data to calculate the percentage of users accessing a specific website feature. However, if we combine or connect Aggregated Data with your personal data so that it can directly or indirectly identify you, we treat the combined data as personal data which will be used in accordance with this privacy policy. 

We do not collect any “Special Categories of Personal Data” about you (this includes details about your race or ethnicity, religious or philosophical beliefs, sex life, sexual orientation, political opinions, trade union membership, information about your health, and genetic and biometric data). Nor do we collect any information about criminal convictions and offences. 

IF YOU FAIL TO PROVIDE PERSONAL DATA 

Where we need to collect personal data by law, or under the terms of a contract we have with you, and you fail to provide that data when requested, we may not be able to perform the contract we have or are trying to enter into with you (for example, to provide you with products and/or services). In this case, we may have to cancel a product or service you have with us but we will notify you if this is the case at the time. 

3. HOW IS YOUR PERSONAL DATA COLLECTED? 

We use different methods to collect data from and about you including through:

• Direct interactions. You may give us your Identity, Contact and Financial Data by filling in forms or by corresponding with us by post, email or otherwise. This includes personal data you may provide when you: apply for our products or services; subscribe to our email list or newsletter; request marketing to be sent to you; participate in a promotion or survey; and/or give us feedback or contact us. 
• Automated technologies or interactions. As you interact with our website, we will automatically collect Technical Data about your equipment, browsing actions and patterns. We collect this personal data by using cookies, server logs and other similar technologies. Please see our cookie policy (in Part B, below) for further details. 
• Third-parties or publicly available sources. We will receive personal data about you from certain third-parties, and public sources, as set out below: 
  • Technical Data from analytics providers, advertising networks and search information providers such as Google (based outside the UK); 
  • Contact, Financial and Transaction Data from providers of technical, payment and delivery services such as: National Westminster Bank plc  (based inside the UK) and others (based outside the UK); and 
  • Identity and Contact Data from publicly available sources such as Companies House (based inside the UK). 

4. HOW WE USE YOUR PERSONAL DATA

We will only use your personal data when the law allows us to. Most commonly, we will use your personal data in the following circumstances:

• Where we need to perform the contract we are about to enter into or have entered into with you;
• Where it is necessary for our legitimate interests (or those of a third-party) and your interests and fundamental rights do not override those interests; and/or
• Where we need to comply with a legal obligation. 

See section 10 (GLOSSARY, LAWFUL BASIS) to find out more about the lawful bases that we will rely on to process your personal data. 

Generally, we do not rely on consent as a legal basis for processing your personal data although we will get your consent before sending-third party direct marketing communications to you via email or text message. You have the right to withdraw consent to marketing at any time by contacting us. 

PURPOSES FOR WHICH WE WILL USE YOUR PERSONAL DATA 

We have set out below, in a table format, a description of all the ways we plan to use your personal data, and which of the legal bases we rely on to do so. We have also identified what our legitimate interests are where appropriate. 

Note that we may process your personal data for more than one lawful ground depending on the specific purpose for which we are using your data. Please contact us if you need details about the specific legal ground we are relying on to process your personal data where more than one ground has been set out in the table below. 

PURPOSE/ACTIVITY	TYPE OF DATA	LAWFUL BASIS FOR PROCESSING INCLUDING BASIS OF LEGITIMATE INTEREST
To register you as a new customer	(a) Identity (b) Contact	Performance of a contract with you
To process and deliver your order including: (a) Manage payments, fees and charges (b) Collect and recover money owed to us	(a) Identity (b) Contact (c) Financial (d) Transaction (e) Marketing and Communications	(a) Performance of a contract with you (b) Necessary for our legitimate interests (to recover debts owed to us)
To manage our relationship with you which will include: (a) Notifying you about changes to our terms or privacy policy (b) Asking you to leave a review or take a survey	(a) Identity (b) Contact (c) Profile (d) Marketing and Communications	(a) Performance of a contract with you (b) Necessary to comply with a legal obligation (c) Necessary for our legitimate interests (to keep our records updated and to study how customers use our products/services)
To enable you to partake in a prize draw, competition or complete a survey	(a) Identity (b) Contact	(a) Performance of a contract with you (b) Necessary to comply with a legal obligation
To deliver relevant website content and advertisements to you and measure or understand the effectiveness of the advertising we serve you	(a) Identity (b) Contact (c) Usage(d) Technical(e) Marketing and Communications	Necessary for our legitimate interests (to study how customers use our products/services, to develop them, to grow our business and to inform our marketing strategy)
To use data analytics to improve our website, products/services, marketing, customer relationships and experiences	(a) Technical (b) Usage	Necessary for our legitimate interests (to define types of customers for our products and services, to keep our website updated and relevant, to develop our business and to inform our marketing strategy)
To make suggestions and recommendations to you about goods or services that may be of interest to you	(a) Identity (b) Contact (c) Technical (d) Usage (e) Profile (f) Marketing and Communications	Necessary for our legitimate interests (to develop our products/services and grow our business)

PROMOTIONAL OFFERS FROM US 

We may use your Identity, Contact, Technical, Usage and Profile Data to form a view on what we think you may want or need, or what may be of interest to you. This is how we decide which products, services and offers may be relevant for you (we call this marketing). 

You will receive marketing communications from us if you have requested information from us or purchased products or services from us and you have not opted out of receiving that marketing. 

THIRD-PARTY MARKETING 

We will get your express opt-in consent before we share your personal data with any third-party for marketing purposes. 

OPTING OUT 

You can ask us or third-parties to stop sending you marketing messages at any time by following the opt-out links on any marketing message sent to you OR by contacting us at any time. 

Where you opt out of receiving these marketing messages, this will not apply to personal data provided to us as a result of a product/service purchase or other transactions. 

You can set your browser to refuse all or some browser cookies, or to alert you when websites set or access cookies.  If you disable or refuse cookies, please note that some parts of this website may become inaccessible or not function properly.  For more information about the cookies we use, please see our cookie policy (in Part B, below) for further details. 

CHANGE OF PURPOSE 

We will only use your personal data for the purposes for which we collected it, unless we reasonably consider that we need to use it for another reason and that reason is compatible with the original purpose. If you wish to get an explanation as to how the processing for the new purpose is compatible with the original purpose, please contact us. 

If we need to use your personal data for an unrelated purpose, we will notify you and we will explain the legal basis which allows us to do so. 

Please note that we may process your personal data without your knowledge or consent, in compliance with the above rules, where this is required or permitted by law. 

5. DISCLOSURES OF YOUR PERSONAL DATA 

We may share your personal data with the parties set out below for the purposes set out in the table above (PURPOSES FOR WHICH WE WILL USE YOUR PERSONAL DATA):

• External third-parties such as:

1. Professional advisers acting as processors including lawyers, bankers, auditors and/or insurers based in the UK who provide consultancy, banking, legal, insurance and/or accounting services; 
2. HM Revenue & Customs, regulators and other authorities acting as processors based in the UK who require reporting of processing activities in certain circumstances;
3. Service providers, based in the US, who provide email services; business communication and video communication services; web content management and web-building platform services; customer relationship management and project management software services; payment services and online word processing services; 
4. Service providers, based in the EU, who provide email marketing services; and
5. Service providers, based in Canada who provide service review services.

• Other third-parties to whom we may choose to sell, transfer or merge parts of our business or our assets. Alternatively, we may seek to acquire other businesses or merge with them. If a change happens to our business, then the new owners may use your personal data in the same way as set out in this privacy policy. 

We require all third-parties to respect the security of your personal data and to treat it in accordance with the law. 

6. INTERNATIONAL TRANSFERS 

Several of our external third-parties are based outside the UK so their processing of your personal data will involve a transfer of data outside the UK.  Whenever we transfer your personal data out of the UK, we ensure a similar degree of protection is afforded to it by ensuring at least one of the following safeguards is implemented:

• the country is covered by UK adequacy regulations, meaning that it has been deemed to provide an adequate level of protection for UK personal data; 
• we may use specific contracts which give personal data the same protection it has in the UK; or
• the external third-party has been certified to the “UK Extension to the EU-US Data Privacy Framework” meaning that the company is publicly placed onto the Data Privacy Framework (DPF) List on the DPF website and they can receive UK personal data through a UK-US data bridge.

7. DATA SECURITY 

We have put in place appropriate security measures to prevent your personal data from being accidentally lost, used or accessed in an unauthorised way, altered or disclosed. In addition, we limit access to your personal data to those employees, agents, contractors and other third-parties who have a business need to know. They will only process your personal data on our instructions and they are subject to a duty of confidentiality. 

We have put in place procedures to deal with any suspected personal data breach and will notify you and any applicable regulator of a breach where we are legally required to do so.

8. DATA RETENTION 

HOW LONG WILL YOU USE MY PERSONAL DATA FOR? 

We will only retain your personal data for as long as reasonably necessary to fulfil the purposes we collected it for, including for the purposes of satisfying any legal, regulatory, tax, accounting or reporting requirements. We may retain your personal data for a longer period in the event of a complaint or if we reasonably believe there is a prospect of litigation in respect to our relationship with you. 

To determine the appropriate retention period for personal data, we consider the amount, nature and sensitivity of the personal data, the potential risk of harm from unauthorised use or disclosure of your personal data, the purposes for which we process your personal data and whether we can achieve those purposes through other means, and the applicable legal, regulatory, tax, accounting or other requirements. 

By law we have to keep basic information about our customers (including Contact, Identity, Financial and Transaction Data) for six years after they cease being customers for tax purposes. 

In some circumstances you can ask us to delete your data: see section 9 (YOUR LEGAL RIGHTS) below for further information. 

In some circumstances we will anonymise your personal data (so that it can no longer be associated with you) for research or statistical purposes, in which case we may use this information indefinitely without further notice to you.

9. YOUR LEGAL RIGHTS 

Under certain circumstances, you have rights under data protection laws in relation to your personal data. These may include the right to:

• Request access to your personal data;
• Request correction of your personal data;
• Request erasure of your personal data;
• Object to processing of your personal data;
• Request restriction of processing your personal data;
• Request transfer of your personal data; and/or
• Withdraw consent.

See section 10 below (GLOSSARY, YOUR LEGAL RIGHTS) to find out more about each of the rights listed above. 

If you wish to exercise any of the rights set out above, please contact us. 

NO FEE USUALLY REQUIRED 

You will not have to pay a fee to access your personal data (or to exercise any of the other rights). However, we may charge a reasonable fee if your request is clearly unfounded, repetitive or excessive. Alternatively, we could refuse to comply with your request in these circumstances. 

WHAT WE MAY NEED FROM YOU 

We may need to request specific information from you to help us confirm your identity and ensure your right to access your personal data (or to exercise any of your other rights). This is a security measure to ensure that personal data is not disclosed to any person who has no right to receive it. We may also contact you to ask you for further information in relation to your request to speed up our response. 

TIME LIMIT TO RESPOND 

We try to respond to all legitimate requests within one month. Occasionally it could take us longer than a month if your request is particularly complex or you have made a number of requests. In this case, we will notify you and keep you updated.

10. GLOSSARY

LAWFUL BASIS:

• Legitimate Interest means the interest of our business in conducting and managing our business to enable us to give you the best service (and/or product) and the best and most secure experience. We make sure we consider and balance any potential impact on you (both positive and negative) and your rights before we process your personal data for our legitimate interests. We do not use your personal data for activities where our interests are overridden by the impact on you (unless we have your consent or are otherwise required or permitted to by law). You can obtain further information about how we assess our legitimate interests against any potential impact on you in respect of specific activities by contacting us.
• Performance of Contract means processing your data where it is necessary for the performance of a contract to which you are a party or to take steps at your request before entering into such a contract. 
• Comply with a legal obligation means processing your personal data where it is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation that we are subject to. 

YOUR LEGAL RIGHTS:

• Request access to your personal data (commonly known as a “data subject access request”). This enables you to give a copy of the personal data we  hold about you and to check that we are lawfully processing it. 
• Request correction of the personal data that we hold about you. This enables you to have any incomplete or inaccurate data we hold about you corrected, though we may need to verify the accuracy of the new data you provide to us. 
• Request erasure of your personal data. This enables you to ask us to delete or remove personal data where there is no good reason for us continuing to process it. You also have the right to ask us to delete or remove your personal data where you have successfully exercised your right to object to processing (see below), where we may have processed your information unlawfully or where we are required to erase your personal data to comply with local law. Note, however, that we may not always be able to comply with your request of erasure for specific legal reasons which will be notified to you, if applicable, at the time of your request. 
• Object to processing of your personal data where we are relying on a legitimate interest (or those of a third party) and there is something about your particular situation which makes you want to object to processing on this ground as you feel it impacts on your fundamental rights and freedoms. You also have the right to object where we are processing your personal data for direct marketing purposes. In some cases, we may demonstrate that we have compelling legitimate grounds to process your information which override your rights and freedoms.
• Request the transfer of your personal data to you or to a third party. We will provide to you, or a third party you have chosen, your personal data in a structured, commonly used, machine-readable format. Note that this right only applies to automated information which you initially provided consent for us to use or where we used the information to perform a contract with you. 
• Withdraw consent at any time where we are relying on consent to process your personal data. However, this will not affect the lawfulness of any processing carried out before you withdraw your consent. If you withdraw your consent, we may not be able to provide certain products or services to you. We will advise you if this is the case at the time you withdraw your consent. 
• Request restriction of processing of your personal data. This enables you to ask us to suspend the processing of your personal data in the following scenarios:

1. If you want us to establish the data’s accuracy. 
2. Where our use of the data is unlawful but you do not want us to erase it. 
3. Where you need us to hold the data even if we no longer require it as you need it to establish, exercise or defend legal claims. 
4. You have objected to our use of your data but we need to verify whether we have overriding legitimate grounds to use it. 

PART B. COOKIE POLICY

This is Self-Study Site UK Ltd.’s cookie policy.

Our website uses cookies to provide you with a good experience when you browse our website and also allows us to improve our site.

1. WHAT ARE COOKIES?

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that is placed on your device by websites you visit. Cookies enable website systems to recognise your device and to operate efficiently.  The information stored in a cookie may relate to your browsing habits on a site page, or enable the website to “remember” you on a return visit.

2. TYPES OF COOKIES ON THIS WEBSITE

The cookies placed on your device fall into the following categories:

• Strictly Necessary (or Essential) Cookies – These cookies are necessary for the website to function.  They could include, for example, cookies that enable you to log into secure areas of a site, use a shopping card or make use of e-billing services.
• Performance (or Analytics) Cookies –  These cookies measure and report information on how you use the site.  For example, the cookies indicate which pages are the most and least popular and illustrate how visitors move around the site.  
• Functional Cookies – These cookies enable the website to provide enhanced functionality and personalisation.  They are used to recognise you when you return to the website (for example, remembering you and your choice of language or region). If you do not allow these cookies then some or all of these services may not function properly.
• Targeting Cookies –  These cookies record your visit to the website, the pages you have visited and the links you have followed.  These cookies may be set through a site by its advertising partners (for example, Google AdSense). They may be used by these partner companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other websites. They are based on uniquely identifying your browser and device.  If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

You can find more information about the individual cookies we use and the purposes for which we use them in the table below:

COOKIE TITLE / NAME	PURPOSE	MORE INFORMATION
Strictly Necessary (or Essential) cookies	These cookies are required for the operation of our site	You cannot “opt-out” of receiving these cookies. You can set your browser to block (or alert you about) these cookies, but this may affect how the website functions.
Google Analytics cookies	These cookies help improve the website by, for example, estimating our audience size and usage patterns	For a privacy overview regarding Google Analytics cookies please visit: https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/6004245.
Google Advertising cookies	These cookies are used for advertising, including serving and personalising ads (depending on your settings)	For a privacy overview regarding Google Advertising cookies please visit: https://policies.google.com/technologies/ads

3.a. MANAGING YOUR COOKIE PREFERENCES

If you are in the European Union, or the United Kingdom, your consent will be obtained before any non-essential cookies are stored on your device.  A pop-up will appear when you visit the website, and you may choose to “opt-in” to the use of some or all cookies. 

You may also customise your browser settings to reject/disable some or all cookies – and to alert you when new cookies are sent to your device.  To disable cookies through your browser, follow the instructions, usually located within the “Help,” “Tools” or “Edit” menus in your browser.  Please note that if you reject/disable cookies, some parts of this website may become inaccessible or may not function properly.

3.b. THIRD-PARTY COOKIES

Certain third parties may also use cookies, over which we have no control.  These third parties may include, for example, advertising networks and providers of external services like web traffic analysis services.  These third party cookies are likely to be analytical cookies (or performance cookies) or targeting cookies.

To deactivate the use of third party advertising cookies use the pop-up screen that  appears when you first visit the website, and you may choose to “opt-out” of the use of some or all of these cookies. 

4. THIRD-PARTY WEBSITE COOKIES

When using this website, you may be directed to other websites to view content hosted on those sites –  such as an article or embedded video.  These websites may use their own cookies.  We do not have control over the placement of cookies by other websites you visit, even if you are directed to them from this site.