Terms & Conditions & Privacy Policy

Welcome to the terms & conditions and privacy policy of www.theaimgroup.co.uk

Introduction

The AIM Group respects your privacy and 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. 

Important information and who we are

Purpose of this privacy policy 

This privacy policy aims to give you information on how the AIM Group collects and processes your personal data through your use of this website, including any data you may provide through this website when you sign up to our services.  

 

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 

The AIM Group is made up of the following legal entities: 

 

  1. AIM Information Matters CIO (Registered in England and Wales under Registered Charity number 1178244), whose registered office is 6 Hoffmanns Way, Chelmsford, Essex CM1 1GU; and 
  2. AIM Apprenticeships Limited (Registered in England and Wales under Company number 9125397), whose registered office is 6 Hoffmanns Way, Chelmsford, Essex CM1 1GU. 

 

This privacy policy is issued on behalf of the AIM Group so when we mention “we”, “us” or “our” in this privacy policy, we are referring to the relevant company in the AIM Group responsible for processing your data.  

 

AIM Apprenticeships Limited are responsible for this website. The AIM Group and the relevant education or training provider are the joint controllers of personal data collected and processed in accordance with this privacy policy.  

 

We have appointed a data protection officer (DPO) who is responsible 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 the DPO using the details set out below. 

 

Contact details 

If you have any questions about this privacy policy or our privacy practices, please contact our DPO in the following ways: 

 

Name: DPO Officer   

Email address: dpo@aimgroupfoundation.co.uk 

Postal address: Floor 1, 31 Springfield Road, Chelmsford, CM2 6JE 

Telephone number: 0203 900 3091  

 

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. You can find further information about our complaints handling procedure at complaints@theaimgroup.co.uk 

 

Changes to the privacy policy and your duty to inform us of changes 

We keep our privacy policy under regular review. This version was last updated on 25th August 2022.  

 

We may update this privacy notice from time to time as necessary. The terms that apply to you are those posted here on our website on the day you use our website. We advise you to print a copy for your records. If you have any question regarding our privacy policy, please contact our DPO.  

  

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. 

 

Children  

 

Where an online information service is offered to someone under the age of fourteen (14) years of age, the service provider must obtain consent from the parent or guardian to provide that service. You are prohibited from using the AIM Group services without obtaining consent from a parent or guardian. Once you have obtained permission you may use the services of the AIM Group. 

 

Our website is designed for use by children over the age of fourteen (14) years of age. These areas include job descriptions, job vacancies or training courses designed for children, young people and adults. We collect data about all users of and visitors to these areas regardless of age, and we anticipate that some of those users and visitors will be children. Such child users and visitors will inevitably visit other parts of the site and will be subject to whatever on-site marketing they find, wherever they visit. None of the on-site marketing will ever be of an adult content nature. 

 

Third-party links 

Third parties may advertise on our website and this website may include links to third-party websites, plug-ins and 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. 

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 (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 first name, last name, username or similar identifier, marital status, title, date of birth, gender and in relation to education or training providers, name of school/college or training provider.  
  • Contact Data includes home, business, education or training provider address, email address and telephone numbers. 
  • Educational Data includes previous schools, colleges, universities attended, dates of attendance, qualifications or predicted grades and courses or subjects studied.  
  • Employment Data includes current and previous places of work, details of any voluntary work or work experience placements.  
  • Health Data includes details about illnesses, medical conditions and disabilities, medication and treatments.  
  • Transaction Data includes details about payments to and from you and other details of products and services you have purchased from us. 
  • Technical Data includes 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 your username and password, purchases or orders made by you, your interests, preferences, feedback and survey responses. 
  • Usage Data includes information about how you use our website, products and services. 
  • Marketing and Communications Data includes your preferences in receiving marketing from us and our third parties and your communication preferences. 

We 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 monitor our performance with respect to a particular service we provide. 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. 

Where necessary and with your explicit consent, we may collect 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). We may also collect information about criminal convictions and offences. 

You may submit or it may be a requirement of, for example, an application for an apprenticeship that you supply, Special Categories of Personal Data and/or information about criminal convictions and offences. You are not obliged to submit these types of information, but some opportunities may not be available to you if this information is requested but not provided.  
 
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 our 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. 

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, Educational and Employment Data by filling in forms or by corresponding with us by post, phone, email or otherwise. This includes personal data you provide when you  
  • create an account on our website;  
  • register your interest for training courses or any services offered by us, including through school liaisons;  
  • create a CV using our website;  
  • apply for a vacancy, training course or apprenticeship; 
  • request marketing to be sent to you; 
  • enrolling onto a course through an enrolment form on the AIM System 
  • enter a competition, promotion or survey; 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 and other similar technologies. Please see our cookie policy at www.theaimgroup.co.uk/termsofuse for further details. 
  • Third parties or publicly available sources. We will receive personal data about you from various third parties and public sources as set out below: 

Technical Data from the following parties: 

analytics providers such as Google based outside the UK; 

advertising networks; and 

search information providers. 

  • Contact, Financial and Transaction Data from providers of technical, payment and delivery services 
  • Identity and Contact Data from data brokers or aggregators. 
  • Identity and Contact Data from publicly available sources such as Companies House and the Electoral Register based inside the UK. 
  • Identity and Contact Data of students provided from schools or colleges with a view to them seeking our advice and/or services.  

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. 
  • Where you provide your consent to process your personal data. 
  • Where we need to comply with a legal obligation. 

More information about the types of lawful basis that we will rely on to process your personal data is contained in the Glossary.  

 

Generally, we do not rely on consent as a legal basis for processing your personal data although we will get your explicit consent before we: 

 

  • Process personal data gathered through your use of our website, with such consent being given through the acceptance of our use of cookies.  

 

  • Send third party direct marketing communications to you via email or text message. 

 

  • Pass on your personal data to selected education or training providers so that they may enrol you on and provide a course to you, or employers who may be recruiting for employees of a certain skill set or associates we consider may provide services or products you might find useful in enhancing your career and educational progression. 

 

Where you contact us by any means, of which it is reasonable to expect us to reply, you implicitly provide your consent.  

 

We continue to process your information with your consent, until it is withdrawn or it can be reasonably assumed that your consent no longer exists. You may withdraw your consent at any time by contacting our DPO at dpo@aimgroupfoundation.co.uk.  

 
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. 

Recruiters  

If you are a recruiter or a business using our website for the purposes of the recruitment of candidates for specified job roles, we may collect data which allows us to find a candidate which most closely matches the job description you have provided to us. From time to time, we may use external job boards for the purposes of finding a broader pool of candidates to fulfil your advertised role.   

 

Candidates 

If you are a candidate using our website for the purposes of work experience opportunities, employment opportunities or further education needs, we may collect date from you which will enable us to find an employer which most closely matches your job search and qualifications.   

 

If you are a candidate under the age of fourteen (14) using our website for the purposes of work experience opportunities, employment opportunities or further education needs, you are strictly not permitted to use our website or services without the express authority and permission of a parent or guardian.  

 

Marketing  

We strive to provide you with choices regarding certain personal data uses, particularly around marketing and advertising.  


Promotional offers from us 

We may use your Identity, Contact, Educational, Employment, 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 used our 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. 
 
If you are a third party marketing partner using our website for the purposes of marketing to the users of our website or services, you warrant that any such users wishing to use your services will fall under the remit of the privacy policy of your business and no longer falls under the terms of this privacy policy.  
 

Opting out 
 
You can ask us or third parties to stop sending you marketing messages at any time.  If you wish to stop receiving marketing materials please click the unsubscribe link in any email, contact us by telephone on 0203 900 3091 or email us at dpo@aimgroupfoundation.co.uk  from your email address registered with us with STOP as the subject.  

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. 

 
Cookies 

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 www.theaimgroup.co.uk/termsofuse 
 
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. 

Disclosures of your personal data

By registering as a user of the website and submitting personal data, you consent to it being collected, held and processed by us and to it being passed to the following third parties. We may share your personal data with the parties set out below for the purposes set out in the table Purposes for which we will use your personal data above. 

 

  • External Third Parties as set out in the Glossary. 
  • Specific third parties such as: 
  • Persons operating or providing services to the website (including forum moderators). 
  • Course providers and employers offering apprenticeships and job vacancies through the website and/or agents acting on their behalf. Special Categories of Personal Data will only be passed to such course providers and employers where specifically requested by them as part of the application process.  

 

  • 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. We do not allow our third-party service providers to use your personal data for their own purposes and only permit them to process your personal data for specified purposes and in accordance with our instructions. 

We sometimes receive data that is indirectly made up from your personal information from third parties whose services we use.  No such information is personally identifiable to you.  

We ensure your personal data is protected by requiring all processors in the AIM Group to follow the same rules when processing your personal data. These rules are called “binding corporate rules”.  

International transfers

We do not transfer personal data outside of the UK. 

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. We use Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificates to verify our identity to your browser and to encrypt any data you give us. Whenever information is transferred between us, you can check that it is done so using SSL by looking for a closed padlock symbol or other trust mark in your browser’s URL bar or toolbar.  

 

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. 

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. Please 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. 

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/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. 

 

Consent

Means a clear affirmative act by a written statement (including by electronic means) or an oral statement which is freely given, demonstrating your permission for us to collect, store and process your personal data.  

 

THIRD PARTIES 

 
External Third Parties 

  • Service providers, including IT services.. 
  • Professional advisers, including solicitors. . 
  • Regulators and other authorities.. 
  • Educational institutions. 
  • Training providers. 


YOUR LEGAL RIGHTS 

You have the right to: 

 
Request access to your personal data (commonly known as a “subject access request”). This enables you to receive 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 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: 

  • If you want us to establish the data’s accuracy. 
  • Where our use of the data is unlawful but you do not want us to erase it. 
  • 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. 
  • You have objected to our use of your data but we need to verify whether we have overriding legitimate grounds to use it. 

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.