Who we are.
Ascent Training Wales ("we", "us", "our") is the data controller for personal data collected through this website and our training services. Our registered office is Llynfi Enterprise Centre, Heol Ty Gwyn Industrial Estate, Maesteg, Bridgend, CF34 0BQ. If you have any questions about this policy or about how we handle your data, please email hello@ascenttrainingwales.co.uk.
This policy is written to comply with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR), the Data Protection Act 2018 and the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR).
What information we collect.
We only collect personal data that is necessary to deliver our training services and to communicate with people who contact us. The information we collect falls into the following categories:
Contact and enquiry information
When you complete a contact, booking or in-house enquiry form on this site, we collect your name, email address, phone number (if provided), organisation name, and the content of your message. We also record the page you were on when you submitted the form, the time of submission, and your IP address.
Booking and delegate information
When you book onto a course, we collect the information necessary to deliver that course — your name, contact details, organisation, any accessibility requirements, dietary requirements where lunch is provided, and the course and date you're booking onto.
Billing information
Where you pay for a course, we collect billing information — billing contact, address, purchase order number where applicable. We do not store payment card details; card payments are processed by our payment provider directly.
Website analytics
We use Google Analytics to understand how visitors use our website. This collects anonymised usage data — pages viewed, time on site, device type, approximate location at country/region level. See our cookies policy for the full detail.
How we use it.
We use your personal data for the following purposes, on the following lawful bases:
- To respond to your enquiry or booking — lawful basis: legitimate interest (you've contacted us asking for a response).
- To deliver a course you've booked — lawful basis: performance of a contract.
- To send you joining instructions, certificates and post-course materials — lawful basis: performance of a contract.
- To send invoices and process payment — lawful basis: performance of a contract; legal obligation (for accounting records).
- To improve our website — lawful basis: legitimate interest (running an effective business website).
- To comply with our legal obligations — lawful basis: legal obligation (accounting records, HMRC requirements, etc.).
We do not use your personal data for marketing unless you have specifically opted in.
Who we share it with.
We do not sell your personal data, and we don't share it with third parties for their own marketing. We do share it with the following service providers, who process it on our behalf and under our instructions:
- Our hosting and email providers, to deliver our website and send emails to you.
- Our payment processor, to take payment for course bookings.
- Google Analytics, for website analytics in aggregated form.
- HMRC and our accountants, where required for tax and accounting purposes.
We may also share information if we are required to do so by law, or to protect the safety of any person.
How long we keep it.
We keep personal data only as long as we need it for the purposes set out above. In practice:
- Enquiry forms that don't lead to a booking — deleted within 12 months unless we're still in active conversation.
- Booking and delegate records — kept for 7 years (the standard HMRC retention period for financial records).
- Marketing-consent records — kept for as long as you remain opted in, plus a record of consent withdrawal.
- Website analytics — anonymised, retained per Google Analytics defaults (typically 14 months).
Your rights.
Under UK GDPR you have the following rights in relation to your personal data:
- Right of access — ask us for a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
- Right to rectification — ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete data.
- Right to erasure — ask us to delete your data, subject to legal retention requirements (e.g. accounting records).
- Right to restriction — ask us to limit how we process your data.
- Right to data portability — receive a copy of your data in a machine-readable format.
- Right to object — object to certain types of processing, including direct marketing.
- Right to withdraw consent — where we rely on consent (e.g. marketing emails), withdraw it at any time.
To exercise any of these rights, email hello@ascenttrainingwales.co.uk. We'll respond within one month, as required by UK GDPR.
Cookies and tracking.
This site uses cookies for analytics and to remember your cookie preference. We don't use cookies for advertising or behavioural tracking. See our cookies policy for the detail and how to manage them.
Security.
We take reasonable steps to protect your personal data — including HTTPS encryption on the website, access controls on our systems, and the principle of only collecting what we need. No system is perfectly secure; if you become aware of a vulnerability or potential breach, please let us know at hello@ascenttrainingwales.co.uk.
Children's privacy.
Our courses and services are designed for adults — we don't knowingly collect personal data from anyone under 18. If you believe we have collected information from a child, please contact us and we will delete it.
Complaints.
If you have a concern about how we handle your personal data, please contact us first — we'll do our best to resolve it. You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), the UK supervisory authority for data-protection matters. You can reach the ICO at ico.org.uk.
Changes to this policy.
We review this policy at least once a year and whenever we make material changes to how we handle personal data. The date at the top of this page shows when it was last reviewed. We'll let you know about significant changes via email if you're an active customer.
Get in touch.
Questions about this policy or how we handle your information? Email hello@ascenttrainingwales.co.uk — we reply same working day, Monday to Friday.