Introduction
Teach Wessex Limited (“we”, “us”, “our” or “Teach Wessex”) is committed to protecting your privacy and personal data. This privacy policy explains what data we collect about you and why. What we do with the data and under what circumstances we disclose it.
It also explains your legal rights the actions you can take to address any concerns you may have and our legal obligations in accordance with the Data Protection Act 2018 and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) 2018 (collectively, the “GPDR Regulations EU 2016/679”). Please read it carefully.
We reserve the right to modify this policy without notice by posting any changes on our website.
Who are we?
Teach Wessex Ltd (website at https://www.teachwessex.co.uk), registered in England and Wales under company number 12463714, registered office: 43 Poole Road, Bournemouth, BH4 9DN.
We are a private tuition company operating as an Employment Business (EB) who recruits tutors to provide tuition services as an independent, self-employed subcontractor.
Teach Wessex has a designated data privacy manager who assumes the responsibility for overseeing questions in relation to this privacy policy. If you have any questions about this privacy policy, including any requests to exercise your legal rights, please contact Katie Childerhouse at contact@teachwessex.co.uk.
Your responsibilities
By giving your details to us through our social media pages or providing your data via email or telephone, you consent to us using the data you provide in the ways set out in this policy.
If you sign up to one of our services or events, you consent to receiving emails while you are using our services. These emails are important for current customers to stay up to date with our latest information and events. Please notify us if you would prefer not to receive such emails/updates.
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 goods or tuition 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.
It is important that the personal data we hold about you is accurate and current. Please keep us informed if your personal data changes during your relationship with us.
If you do not agree to this policy, please do not contact us through our social media pages or sign up to our services.
What is personal data?
Personal data is any information that can be used to identify a person. This includes information such as a person’s name, address, phone number or email address.
What data do we collect about you?
We will only collect the personal data we need about students, their parents, legal guardians or other persons that arrange tuition on their behalf (i.e., clients), employees of Teach Wessex Ltd and self-employed sub-contracting tutors that wish to provide tuition services on our behalf.
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, phone, email or otherwise. This includes personal data you provide when you:
- Apply for our products or services
- Subscribe to our service or publications
- Request marketing to be sent to you
- Give us feedback or contact us
If you apply for a job with us or represent us as a self-employed subcontracted tutor, we will require detailed information about you in order to make sure that you are suitable for the role and to comply with our Child Protection and Safeguarding Policy. Information will be gathered by way of face-to-face or virtual interview, provided by you, and, with your permission, provided by third parties.
Online tracking – When you visit our website, we use Google Analytics to analyse traffic, see what content is popular and where readers come from. Google utilises data collected to track and examine the use of this Application, to prepare reports on its activities and share them with other Google services. Google may use the Data collected to contextualise and personalise the ads of its own advertising network.
Further information and the applicable data protection provisions of Google may be retrieved under https://www.google.com/intl/en/policies/privacy/ and under https://www.google.com/analytics/terms/us.html.
Please refer to our separate Cookie Policy for further information.
How we use your data
We use some of your data to perform our legitimate interest in organising tuition sessions between tutors and students. In the first instance, we never share surnames or personal contact details.
Your personal data will also enable us to bill you for the tuition sessions you have completed, collect any debt that is owed to us or to contact you where necessary concerning our services including any changes to our service that will affect you
We might use your personal data for internal analysis to identify trends in our business. This data is anonymous and will not be traceable back to you.
Our emails and SMS/WhatsApp messaging history will allow us to provide you access to your communication history with us, and help us to settle any disputes that may arise.
We may also from time to time, survey you, or ask you questions in an email. Your responses are held securely and not shared with others. We may use a comment you have made about our service in our marketing material or social media posts, but we will never use your name, without specifically asking you if we can.
Where you have indicated accordingly, you agree that we may use your information to let you know about our other products and services that may be of interest to you including services that may be the subject of direct marketing and we may contact you to do so by post, telephone, SMS, e-mail, social media or direct mail.
We may contact you for internal market research purposes, to find out how we can improve our services to better meet the needs of our users.
We may retain personal data from closed accounts in order to comply with legal obligations, enforce our terms and conditions, prevent fraud, collect any fees owed, resolve disputes, and assist with any investigations and take other actions as permitted by law.
If you are a Tutor, your Identity documents will allow us to carry out ID checks to verify your identify.
If you are a Tutor we will screen your application to ensure that your qualifications and experience make you suitable to tutor with us, and to ensure that you have the right to work in the UK.
If you are a Tutor and have provided details of individuals you wish to provide a reference, we will contact those individuals and request feedback on your suitability to tutor with us.
If you are a Tutor who has registered details of any criminal convictions (including a DBS certificate or update service details) we will check these details against the Disclosure and Barring Service database.
If you do not want us to use your data in this way or change your mind about being contacted in the future, please let us know by contacting us on contact@teachwessex.co.uk.
We do not share your personal data with any external companies.
Purposes for which we will use your personal data
The table below details all the ways we plan to use your personal data, and which legal basis we rely on to do so.
|
Category of personal data: |
Purpose/activity |
Lawful basis for processing including basis of legitimate interest |
|
Personal details including full name, date of birth (DOB) billing address, address, email address and telephone number |
To enable us to register you as a new customer and to enable us to manage and process transactions and our relationship with you. We also use contact information to deliver notifications, updates and relevant marketing materials.
|
(a) Performance of a contract with you.
(b) Necessary for our legitimate interest (to develop and grow our business). |
|
Financial data including bank account information, payment card details and transactional data including details about payments to and from you and other details of products and services you have purchased from us. |
To facilitate transactions including billing clients for lessons and paying Tutors for lessons taught. |
(a) Performance of a contract with you.
(b) Necessary for our legitimate interests (to be able to take payments for services and recover debt due to us). |
|
Educational data including school attending, year group, subjects, expected grades, level working at, assessments, test results, mock results, SEN / EHCP |
To enable us to match the student with the most appropriate tutor and to aid the tutor in planning and teaching appropriate lessons to promote a positive learning environment. |
(a) Performance of a contract with you. (b) Necessary for our legitimate interest (to tailor tuition session to meet the needs of the student and adhere to national curriculum, where necessary).
|
|
Contractual details including the goods and services provided |
To enable us to facilitate transactions correctly and to fulfil our legal obligations to keep financial records. |
(a) Performance of a contract with you. (b) To meet our legal obligations.
|
|
Medical information whilst under our supervision/taking part in a face-to-face event i.e. mock exam. |
To ensure appropriate measures are in place if a student has a nut allergy or is diabetic.
|
(a) Performance of a contract with you.
|
|
Electronic identification data including IP address and information collected through cookies |
To enable us to analyse the use of the Website and help improve the Website’s usability. |
(a) Necessary for our legitimate interest (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).
|
|
Device and browser details |
To help us improve the Website’s usability. |
(a) Necessary for our legitimate interest (to enable us to keep our Website updated and relevant, and improve its usability). |
|
Recruitment data including CVs, cover letters, online forms, interview notes, references, academic certificates and DBS certificates |
To enable us to verify the identity of Tutors and comply with money laundering regulations. |
(a) Performance of a contract with you. (b) To meet our legal obligations. |
|
Tutor Personal details including full name, address, email address and telephone number |
To enable us to register you as a self-employed tutor working with us and enabling us to manage and process transactions and our relationship with you. We also use contact information to deliver updates / notifications on students. |
(a) Performance of a contract with you. (b) Necessary for our legitimate interests (to recover debts due to us). (c) Necessary for our legitimate interest (to develop and grow our business). |
We require our tutors to register for the DBS update service and provide us with permission to use the update service to check that their Enhanced DBS Certificates remain valid.
Security
We will take all steps reasonably necessary to protect your information from unauthorised access, accidental loss, destruction and damage.
All computer access is secured with strong password authentication, and access to shared network drives is limited to authorised personnel.
Passwords are changed periodically.
All computers have anti-virus and anti-malware software installed which is updated continually.
Information is stored by us using Microsoft Office 365’s OneDrive for Business secure cloud-based server, with two-step verification required to access our server and protection provided by Microsoft’s stringent security measures, which includes advanced encryption of the data in transit and data at rest.
We may also store information in paper files and have security measures in place to attempt to protect against loss, misuse, and alteration of personal data.
Your personal data i.e., name and email address are stored using our secure cloud-based accounting software system, FreeAgent. FreeAgent’s data centres meet the strictest security standards, including ISO 27001, 27017 and 27018 certifications, and comply with the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and are located in Ireland.
Unfortunately, the sending of information via the internet is not completely secure and on occasion such information can be intercepted. Whilst we’ll do our best to protect your personal data, we cannot guarantee the security of your data transmitted to our site. Any transmission is at your own risk.
In the event of a breach that is likely to result in a high risk to the rights and freedoms of individuals, we will notify those affected directly and we will also notify the Data Controller.
Disclosure
We share certain personal data about the student with the tutor(s) and / or staff that we think would be suitable for your assignment. The tutors will only process your personal data on our instructions, and they must keep it confidential.
Where information is considered sensitive, for example, information shared with us from a student’s Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP), we will specifically seek your permission before sharing it with a tutor. In all other cases, we will share information that we feel is relevant to helping the tutor provide the tuition services, unless you request otherwise.
Each tutor signs a Contract for Tutoring Services with us which requires them to maintain the confidentiality and security of any personal data shared with them about the client and / or student and any information gathered by them while providing tuition.
Tutors agree not to disclose such information to a third party, other than as required by law, court order or any governmental or regulatory authority, or in terms of our Safeguarding and Child Protection Policy.
We will never sell, trade, or disclose any personal data to any third party (other than to any of our service providers, and only to the extent necessary to provide such service and in cases where we are satisfied with their privacy policies and procedures), other than as required by law, court order or any governmental or regulatory authority, or in terms of our Child Protection and Safeguarding Policy.
If you are a Tutor, we may disclose information about you to help match you to new Students. This includes your first name, overview of experience and any information you have authorised us to share.
If you are a Tutor and provide details of referees, we will contact those individuals, inform them of your desire to tutor with us and seek feedback on your suitability to do so.
We use third parties to process information such as bank account information. By giving us your personal data, you agree to this transfer, storing or processing by these third parties. We never give your details to third parties to use your data to enable them to provide you with information regarding unrelated goods or services.
We may use the information that you provide to us if we are under a duty to disclose or share your information in order to comply with (and/or where we believe we are under a duty to comply with) any legal obligation; and any other agreement, or to prevent fraud.
We confirm that we do not transfer personal data outside of the United Kingdom except for countries in the European Economic Area (EEA).
Data retention
We will only retain your personal data for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes we collected it for, including for the purposes of satisfying any legal, 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 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.
Your legal rights
Under data protection laws you have rights in relation to your personal data that includes the right to request access, correction, erasure, restriction, transfer, to object to processing, to portability of data (where the lawful ground of processing is consent) and to withdraw consent.
If you wish to exercise any of the rights set out above, please contact us via email at contact@teachwessex.co.uk or you may write to us at our registered office address: Teach Wessex Ltd, 43 Poole Road, Bournemouth, BH4 9DN.
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.
We try to respond to all legitimate requests within one month. Occasionally it may take us longer than a month if your request is particularly complex or you have made a number of requests.
Changes to our Privacy Policy
Any changes to our Privacy Policy will be posted to the Website and, where appropriate, via e-mail.
Queries or Complaints
If you are not happy with any aspect of how we collect and use your data please do not hesitate to email us at contact@teachwessex.co.uk. If you are not satisfied with our response or believe we are processing your personal data not in accordance with the law you have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the UK supervisory authority for data protection issues (https://ico.org.uk/concerns/).
This privacy policy was last updated in January 2025.