Privacy Policy

Support Inform is the trading name of Martin John Ferguson, a sole trader ("we", "our", "us"). Our contact address is 3 Langdale Crescent, Grantham, Lincolnshire, NG31 8DF. You can contact us via the contact form on our website.

We are committed to ensuring that your privacy is protected and we strictly adhere to the provisions of the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR), the Data Protection Act 2018, any national implementing laws, regulations and secondary legislation as amended or updated from time to time in the UK, and the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003 (Data Protection Legislation).

In order for us to provide our products and services we need to process a certain amount of data, some of which is personally identifiable.

Our Privacy Policy sets out the different kinds of personal data we process, how we collect it, what processing is carried out, who personal data is shared with, how long we keep personal data and how we safeguard it along with details of your rights relating to data protection and how to contact the ICO, the UK's data protection regulator.

We process data on the following categories of individuals:

• Learners / system users
• Customers & prospective customers
• Website visitors & online customers
• People who contact us
• Suppliers, sub-contractors & freelancers

Learners / System users

In order to access the Support Inform learning area and complete training and other associated activities, users require a learner account. Having an account means we store the personal data you provide, and we further process this to determine training outcomes and retain certification records as well as analyse content and system usage, improve our products and services and respond to support queries and evaluation comments. Where a learner has accessed or is allocated a Support Inform course, directly from Support Inform, Support Inform is the data controller.

If your login details or training has been provided by a 3rd party (e.g. your employer) then they will be joint data controller, along with Support Inform where applicable, and they will also have access to and will be processing your personal data. Should you require any further information you should contact them directly. If you are unsure who to contact Support Inform may be able to assist; contact us by our contact form.

Support Inform retains learning records for a period of 7 years to enable us to provide factual information on what a learner has studied and achieved. Such records include your name, email address, courses studied, progress, test results and certification date.

Our website, learner accounts and database are hosted through Lovable (including its cloud infrastructure providers) and our domain is registered with Namecheap. We also work with Simple Plan Media, who assist us in creating, testing and maintaining our website and learning system.

If your organisation has opted to utilise our online courses within their own learning management system, they will be the data processor and data controller. Support Inform will not obtain, store or share any personal information with the exception of the lead contact(s) of the organisation.

If your organisation has opted to use Support Inform's database, your data will not be shared with any third party, unless you have expressly authorised us to be able to do so.

Customers & prospective customers (purchasing external to our website via our team)

All customers and prospective customers have a record with our database. Along with details about the organisation and products purchased, we also store contact information for those people we know at the organisation.

For customers we process this data in order for us to meet our contractual obligations; for prospective customers our condition for processing is legitimate interest.

Website visitors & online customers

When you create an account or place an order with us on our website, we will ask you to provide certain personal information, for example:

• your name; and
• your email address.

Please note that we require this information to be able to process your order and fulfil our contractual obligations (our condition for processing under UK GDPR). We may be unable to fulfil the contract without your personal data.

If you purchase services, our third party payment provider Stripe will require additional personal information in order to process such payment (e.g. your card details and billing address). Please note that this information is collected and stored by Stripe, not by us. Stripe's privacy policy is available at https://stripe.com/gb/privacy.

Your personal information will then be used by us to provide you with the services you ordered and to communicate with you regarding the provision of those services. We also monitor website usage to improve and develop our website and the services we provide via our website. Any statistics we share with third parties will be made on a confidential basis and will not include information that can be used to identify any individual.

People who contact us

When you send us a message through our contact form or message centre, we store your name, email address, any organisation details you provide and the content of your message so that we can respond. We will email you a copy of your message and notify you by email when we reply. Our condition for processing is legitimate interest (responding to your enquiry), or performance of a contract where your message relates to a purchase.

Our use of cookies and similar technologies

A cookie is a small piece of information which is automatically created by our website on your computer. Websites can also store similar information in your browser's local storage. Please note that these are harmless to your computer, and are a useful way of remembering the choices you have previously made while visiting our website.

If you don't want us to use cookies or local storage when you use our website, you can adjust your internet browser settings not to accept them. Your web browser's help function should tell you how to do this. Alternatively, you can find information about how to do this for all the commonly used internet browsers at https://www.aboutcookies.org. This website will also explain how you can delete cookies which are already stored on your device.

Please note that if you set your computer to not accept cookies or local storage, there may be certain features/areas on our website that you may not be able to use. It is necessary to have them enabled in order to sign in, purchase or access online courses and materials.

Our website currently uses the following:

• Sign-in session (strictly necessary): keeps you signed in to your learner account. It is stored in your browser until you sign out.
• Course progress and rewards (strictly necessary): remembers your place in the course, points, streaks and badges on your device. It remains until you clear your browser data.
• Visitor statistics (analytics): a random anonymous identifier stored in your browser so we can count visits and see which pages are popular. It does not identify you personally and the data is kept on our own systems only.
• Payment (strictly necessary): when you pay, Stripe may set its own cookies to process your payment securely and prevent fraud.

We do not use advertising cookies and we do not use Google Analytics.

Suppliers, sub-contractors & freelancers

Personal data provided by suppliers is only used for purposes related to the supply of goods or services for which we have contracted.

Sub-processors and other 3rd parties

Support Inform utilises a number of sub-processors and other 3rd parties to support and enhance the delivery of our services. These are listed below.

• Stripe – payment processing
• Lovable – website hosting, learner accounts, database and email delivery
• Google – optional "Continue with Google" sign-in (only if you choose to use it)
• Namecheap – domain registration
• Simple Plan Media – website development and maintenance

Some of these providers may process data outside the UK. Where this happens, we rely on appropriate safeguards such as UK adequacy regulations or the International Data Transfer Agreement / standard contractual clauses.

How do we safeguard your personal data?

Protecting your security and privacy is extremely important to us and we make every effort to secure your information and maintain your confidentiality in accordance with all relevant Data Protection Legislation. Our systems are protected by various levels of security technology, which are designed to protect your information from any unauthorised or unlawful access, processing, accidental loss, destruction and damage.

Please note that we may need to disclose your personal information where we:

• are under a legal duty to comply with any legal obligation or in order to enforce or apply our terms and conditions; or
• need to disclose it to protect our rights, property or safety of our customers or others, including the exchange of information with other companies, organisations and/or governmental bodies for the purposes of fraud protection and credit risk reduction.

Your rights

UK GDPR provides you with the following rights:

The right of access

You can ask us to confirm that we process your personal data and provide access to and copies of the information we hold about you by contacting us via the contact form. We will process your request to access your information and provide this information to you free of charge unless your request is manifestly unfounded or excessive or repetitive, in which case we are entitled to charge a reasonable fee. We may also charge if you request more than one copy of the same information.

We will provide the information you request as soon as possible and in any event within one month of receiving your request, unless there are extenuating circumstances. If we need more information to comply with your request, we'll let you know.

The right to rectification

If you believe personal data we hold about you is inaccurate or incomplete, or any of the information you provide to us changes, please let us know as soon as possible so that we can make the necessary changes to the information we hold for you on our database. If you wish to make any changes to your information, please contact us via the contact form.

We will comply with your request within one month of receiving it, unless we don't feel it's appropriate for us to do so in which case we'll let you know why. We'll also let you know if we need more time to comply with your request.

The right to erasure

In some circumstances, you have the right to ask us to delete personal data we hold about you. This right is available to you:

• where we no longer need your personal data for the purpose for which we collected it;
• where we have collected your personal data on the grounds of consent and you withdraw that consent;
• where you object to the processing and we don't have any overriding legitimate interests to continuing processing the data;
• where we have unlawfully processed your personal data (i.e. we have failed to comply with UK GDPR);
• where the personal data has to be deleted to comply with a legal obligation; and
• where the personal data we process relates to the offer of online services to a child.

There are certain scenarios in which we are entitled to refuse to comply with a request. If any of those apply, we'll let you know.

To request that your information is deleted, please contact us via the contact form.

The right to restrict / object to processing

In some circumstances you are entitled to ask us to suppress processing of your personal data. This means we will stop actively processing your personal data but we don't have to delete it. This right is available to you:

• if you believe the personal data we hold isn't accurate – we'll cease processing it until we can verify its accuracy;
• if you have objected to us processing the data (see below) – we'll cease processing it until we have determined whether our legitimate interests override your objection;
• if the processing is unlawful; or
• if we no longer need the data but you would like us to keep it because you need it to establish, exercise or defend a legal claim.

You are entitled to object to us processing your personal data:

• if the processing is based on legitimate interests or performance of a task in the public interest or exercise of official authority;
• for direct marketing purposes (including profiling); and/or
• for the purposes of scientific or historical research and statistics.

In order to object, you must have grounds for doing so based on your particular situation.

We will stop processing your data unless we can demonstrate that there are compelling legitimate grounds which override your interests, rights and freedoms or the processing is for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims.

If you wish to restrict or object to the processing of your information, please contact us via the contact form.

The right to data portability

You have the right to ask us to provide your personal data in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format so that you are able to transmit the personal data to another data controller. This right only applies:

• to personal data you provide to us;
• where processing is based on your consent or for performance of a contract (i.e. the right does not apply if we process your personal data on the grounds of legitimate interests); and
• where we carry out the processing by automated means.

We'll respond to your request as soon as possible and in any event within one month from the date we receive it. If we need more time, we'll let you know.

Rights in relation to automated decision making and profiling

Automated decision making means making a decision solely by automated means without any human involvement.

The only automated decision we make is marking your final exam: your answers are scored automatically to decide whether you have passed and can receive your certificate. You can retake the exam, and if you have any concerns about your result you can ask for a human review via the contact form. We do not carry out profiling.

For further information on these rights you can contact the ICO via one of the options on their website https://ico.org.uk/global/contact-us/.

Other information

Our website may contain links to other websites. Please be aware that we are not responsible for the privacy practices of such other websites. This privacy policy applies solely to information collected on our website.

Please note that we may change our Privacy Policy from time to time. If we make any changes, these will be shown on our website and will immediately supersede any previously posted information.

If you have any further queries or comments on our Privacy Policy, please contact us via the contact form.

For whatever reason, should you wish to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner's Office, as is your right, you can do so by contacting the ICO directly via one of the options on their website https://ico.org.uk/global/contact-us/.