Privacy Notice

This notice explains how Step Ahead Social Enterprise CIC uses your personal information when you visit the Jackie Bedford or Get Hired Expert websites, sign up for resources or updates, or buy and take a course. It also covers enquiries, surveys and the affiliate programme. Step Ahead's other services are covered by the privacy notice on its own website.

Who is responsible for your information

Step Ahead Social Enterprise Community Interest Company operates Get Hired Expert under licence from Jackie Bedford and is the controller of the personal information described in this notice. Jackie Bedford is the public-facing brand; Get Hired Expert is the career education brand. References to "we", "us" and "our" mean Step Ahead Social Enterprise CIC.

For privacy questions or to exercise your rights, email [email protected]. You can also use the contact details on jackiebedford.com. When a third-party service, such as ChatGPT, collects information directly through your own account, that provider may act as a separate controller under its own privacy notice.

Information we collect

We collect only information relevant to the service or interaction concerned. This may include:

• Your name, email address, optional telephone number, country and any preferences or audience category you provide.
• Enquiries, messages, support requests and records of our correspondence.
• Purchase and transaction details, such as the course bought, price, currency, payment status, billing details, refunds and tax information. Our payment providers process card or account credentials; we do not receive your full card number.
• Your course enrolment and the technical records needed to create and maintain access. Depending on platform settings, this may also include progress and completion records.
• Responses to optional quizzes, surveys or feedback forms only where these send responses to us.
• Your marketing choices, newsletter subscriptions, unsubscribe requests, referral or affiliate activity and, if you agree, your testimonial, image or video.
• Technical information about your visit, such as your IP address, device, browser, pages visited, referral source and interactions with the site, subject to your cookie choices and our Cookie Policy.

The course does not ask you to upload a CV, application or completed worksheet. Please avoid including sensitive information in an enquiry or optional free-text form unless it is genuinely needed.

How and why we use information

For visitors in the UK or European Economic Area, we use the following lawful bases under the applicable data protection law. Other countries may frame consent and permitted uses differently; we also comply with local requirements where they apply.

We do not make decisions with legal or similarly significant effects about you solely by automated means. Quiz results and progress indicators support learning and course administration; they are not used to decide whether an employer hires you.

Online courses and learning material

To enrol, we collect your name, email address and telephone number. The course platform maintains the account and technical records needed to give you access. Depending on its settings, it may also record progress and completion. Authorised members of our course and support team can access information needed to run the course and answer your questions. We do not give employers access to your course account or tell them you have taken the course unless you ask us to do so or give separate permission.

You complete activities and downloadable worksheets privately. Nothing is uploaded as course work, and we do not receive a CV or your answers merely because you use the course materials. If a separate quiz, survey or feedback form sends responses to us, the form will make that clear.

If a university, employer or another organisation purchases access for you, we will explain at enrolment what information, if any, we share with that organisation. We will not assume that a purchaser is entitled to your private reflections or individual survey answers.

Optional AI tools

We do not automatically receive the content of your conversations with those ChatGPT tools. If you separately send an output to us in an enquiry, we will process that message to answer you. OpenAI's data practices may differ by account type and your settings; review them before uploading a CV or personal details. The tools are optional, and you can use the course without entering sensitive information into them.

Marketing and communications

We send messages needed to provide a purchase or requested service, such as receipts, access instructions, essential changes and replies to support enquiries. We keep promotional messages separate. A free download or course purchase does not, by itself, mean you have joined every mailing list.

You can unsubscribe from marketing through the link in an email or by contacting us. This will not stop essential service messages about an active purchase. We keep a limited suppression record so that we respect your choice. Marketing rules vary: UK and Irish existing-customer exceptions have specific conditions, Canadian commercial electronic messages are subject to CASL, and South African electronic direct marketing is subject to POPIA. We apply the rules relevant to the person and channel concerned.

If you provide a testimonial, photo or video, we will agree what may be published, whether your name appears, the channels where it may appear and any editing or anonymisation. We will not treat course participation or a general marketing sign-up as permission to publish your story.

Cookies, analytics and advertising

Our websites may use cookies and similar technologies for security, essential site functions, measurement and, where enabled, advertising. Our tools may include Google Analytics 4, Google Tag Manager and Microsoft Clarity. Analytics or session recordings can contain information about how you use a page, so we configure these tools to reduce unnecessary collection and review any forms or sensitive pages before enabling recordings. We only set or access non-essential technologies when the applicable law and your choice allow it. You can change your choice using the cookie controls. Our separate Cookie Policy describes the technologies, their purposes and durations.

Who receives information

We share information where needed with service providers that host and deliver our websites and courses, manage forms and customer relationships, send communications, process payments, provide analytics and support our operations. Depending on the service you use, these may include GoHighLevel, Google, Microsoft, OpenAI, Stripe, PayPal and our approved communications providers. A provider is mentioned here only where its service is actually enabled for the relevant website or course. Payment providers may also act as independent controllers for some fraud prevention and regulatory purposes; consult their own notices.

Authorised staff and contractors, including team members working outside the UK, may access information only for their assigned work. We also disclose information to professional advisers, regulators or authorities where required, or to another party at your request. We do not sell learner information to employers or data brokers.

International customers and transfers

We offer our services internationally. Information may be accessed or processed outside your country, including by staff and suppliers in the UK, India or the United States, depending on how a service is configured. When UK or EEA law requires a safeguard for an international transfer, we use an applicable adequacy arrangement or contractual and other safeguards appropriate to that transfer. You can contact us for information about the safeguards relevant to your information. Access to our service from another country does not mean every supplier stores data in that country.

We respect privacy rights under applicable law, including the UK GDPR, the EU GDPR where our activities are within its scope, Canada's applicable private-sector privacy laws and South Africa's Protection of Personal Information Act. The relevant law can depend on where you live, the nature of the activity and who provides the service.

How long we keep information

We keep information for as long as needed for the purposes described above, then delete or anonymise it unless a law or an unresolved claim requires us to keep it longer. In particular:

• We keep an active course account and its learning records while the course is available to you. After access ends, we retain records only for the period needed for support, evidence of completion, disputes and legal obligations, under our documented retention schedule.
• We keep transaction and accounting records for the period required by applicable tax and accounting law.
• We keep marketing contact details while you remain subscribed, and limited opt-out evidence afterwards.
• We retain enquiries, support records and any optional survey or feedback responses only for the documented periods appropriate to each purpose. You may ask us what period applies to your information.
• The retention settings of analytics and independent AI or payment providers may differ; see their notices where they act independently.

Your choices and rights

Depending on the law that applies to you, you may ask to see your information, correct it, delete it, restrict or object to certain uses, receive a portable copy, or withdraw consent. You can always object to direct marketing. Some rights have exceptions, including where we must keep transaction records by law. Email [email protected] and tell us what you need; we may ask for information to verify your identity before disclosing records. We will respond within the period required by the applicable law.

If you have a concern, please contact us first so we can investigate. You can also complain to the UK Information Commissioner's Office at ico.org.uk, the Irish Data Protection Commission at dataprotection.ie, the relevant Canadian privacy authority at priv.gc.ca or the South African Information Regulator at inforegulator.org.za, as appropriate to your circumstances.

Children

Our paid courses are intended for adults unless a particular course expressly says otherwise. If we introduce a service for under-18s, we will review its design, privacy information, marketing and any consent or parental requirements before offering it. Please contact us if you believe a child has supplied information through a service that is not intended for them.

Changes to this notice

We may update this notice when our services, suppliers or legal obligations change. The date above shows when it was last updated. Where a change materially affects how we use information already collected, we will give an appropriate additional notice.