IPSEA Privacy Notice 

This Privacy Notice explains what we do with the personal data belonging to:

  1. Parents and carers
  2. Donors, subscribers and customers, and
  3. Volunteers. 

1. Parents and carers

What is IPSEA? 

Independent Provider of Special Education Advice (known as IPSEA) is a registered company (number 2198066) and charity (number 327691) operating in England. IPSEA offers free and independent legally based information, advice and support to the families of children and young people with all kinds of special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). We also provide training on the SEND legal framework to parents and carers, professionals and other organisations. 

Why we have a privacy notice 

Parents and carers using our information services, advice lines and tribunal support services receive legally based information and next step advice on educational issues that relate to their child or young person's SEND.  In order to give accurate information and advice, IPSEA needs to collect information about you and the child or young person you contact us about. This is ‘personal data’ under the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA). Under this legislation, IPSEA is a controller and/or processor of your data and we must tell you what your rights are as well as how we collect, store and use your data.

This privacy notice may be amended from time to time. Updated versions of this privacy notice will be available on our website. 

Whose personal data do we collect? 

IPSEA collects personal data about you and the child or young person you contact us about. Where relevant, or where provided by you, we may also collect data about other family members such as your partner or your child/young person’s siblings. 

Where the information provided does not relate to you, we shall presume that you have the consent of the person whom you are supplying the data about, to provide that information to us.  

What kind of personal data do we collect? 

The personal data we collect includes:

  • your name and the child/young person’s name
  • your/the child/young person’s home and email addresses
  • the child or young person’s date of birth
  • information relating to the child/young person’s disability or special educational needs
  • your household income
  • ethnicity, and
  • additional information when you fill in a request form for an IPSEA service or when being advised by IPSEA. This will include details of the platform and browser you are using and your IP address. 

How do we collect your personal data? 

We collect your personal data when you fill in a request form for an IPSEA service, when you are being advised by IPSEA and when you provide data to IPSEA in correspondence.

If you are referred to us by a third party, or an IPSEA partner, we will store and use the data provided to us at the time of referral together with any additional information provided by you. 

With your consent, we may also collect testimonials from you detailing your experiences of using our services. 

How do we use your personal data? 

IPSEA collects and uses your personal data:

  • to pursue our (or, where you are referred to IPSEA’s services by a third party or an IPSEA partner, our partner’s) legitimate interests such as:
    • to ensure correct delivery of authorisation codes
    • ensuring that you can access our services to receive relevant advice on SEND law
    • to record, manage, supervise and quality assure the advice given
    • to provide anonymised data for reporting and statistical purposes in support of funding applications to support IPSEA’s future
    • for policy purposes, for example, to address unlawful local authority policies, and
    • to assess your financial means to see whether you or your child or young person are eligible for legal aid.
  • when you visit our website and when you engage with us on social media
  • to request a donation towards the services you have received, and  
  • to comply with our legal obligations, such as meeting reporting or safeguarding requirements. 

Some categories of personal data, such as information about your child or young person’s medical conditions, are called “special categories of personal data” under the UK GDPR and DPA. We will always get your express consent to collect and use this type of personal data in the ways set out in this privacy notice. 

IPSEA will retain the personal data, for the purposes set out in this privacy notice, until you ask us to delete it or until seven years after the child or young person reaches 25 years old. 

What happens if you don’t provide us with the requested personal data? 

In order to provide accurate information and advice IPSEA will need to collect certain personal data. It may not be possible to provide you with access to some of IPSEA’s services without using your personal data and IPSEA will advise you (either when you request one of our services or correspond with us) if you are obliged to provide that personal data. If you do not allow IPSEA to collect your personal data, you will still be able to access information from our website. 

Who does IPSEA share the personal data with and why? 

If you were referred to IPSEA’s services by a third party or an IPSEA partner, then IPSEA may be obliged to share your personal data with that third party or IPSEA partner for the purposes set out in this privacy notice: 

  • to pursue our (or, where you are referred to IPSEA’s services by a third party or an IPSEA partner, our partner’s) legitimate interests such as:
    • ensuring that you can access our services to receive relevant advice on SEND law
    • to record the advice given
    • for policy purposes to address, for example, unlawful local authority policies
  • to comply with our legal obligations such as:
    • meeting safeguarding requirements, and
    • complying with any contractual obligations with the third party or IPSEA partner (such as reporting obligations). 

How we protect your data 

We implement various technical and organisational security measures to ensure your data is kept secure.  

How long we keep your data for 

We may retain the data we collect for seven years after the child/young person reaches 25 years of age. 

What are your rights in relation to the personal data we collect and use? 

You and/or the child/young person can ask us to see a copy of the personal data we hold about you or the child or young person. You can ask us to correct any errors in your personal data or to delete it. You can complain about the way we have used your personal data if you think that we have not complied with this privacy notice or the relevant data protection legislation. To do this, you should first contact us at the address below. To protect your security we may ask for proof of identity before we process any request. 

Further information on your data protection rights, and your right to complain, can be found at the Information Commissioner’s Office website at https://ico.org.uk/ 

To contact us: 

By post: write to the Chief Executive, IPSEA, 2A Stansted Courtyard, Parsonage Road, Takeley, Bishop’s Stortford CM22 6PU 

By email: [email protected]  

2. Donors, subscribers and customers 

What is IPSEA? 

Independent Provider of Special Education Advice (known as IPSEA) is a registered company (number 2198066) and charity (number 327691) operating in England. IPSEA offers free and independent legally based information, advice and support to the families of children and young people with all kinds of special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). We also provide training on the SEND legal framework to parents and carers, professionals and other organisations. 

Why we have a privacy notice 

When you contact IPSEA to make a donation, subscribe or purchase one of IPSEA’s services, IPSEA will need to collect information about you.  This may be ‘personal data’ under the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA). Under this legislation, IPSEA is a controller and/or processor of your data and we must tell you what your rights are as well as how we collect, store and use your data.

This privacy notice may be amended from time to time. Updated versions of this privacy notice will be available on our website. 

Whose personal data do we collect? 

IPSEA collects personal data about you. 

What kind of personal data do we collect? 

The personal data we collect may include:

  • your name
  • your home and email address
  • financial details, and
  • additional information provided by you when you fill in a request form for an IPSEA service, when making a donation or subscribing to a service, when using our website or engaging with us on social media. 

How do we collect your personal data? 

We will collect your personal data when you use our website, engage with us on social media, make a donation, subscribe or purchase one of IPSEA’s services. This may be through our web pages, third party sites or in person.

When you use our website, or interact with us online, we may also collect personal data (such as IP addresses) automatically from your computer or device.  

If you are referred to us by a third party, or an IPSEA partner, we will store and use the data provided to us at the time of referral together with any additional information provided by you. 

How do we use your personal data?

 The reasons why IPSEA collects and uses your personal data include:

  • to facilitate attendance on training courses
  • to quality assure our products and services including analysing feedback forms
  • to raise funds
  • to thank donors and to advise them what their donations have been used for
  • to claim gift aid
  • to collect payment and process invoices
  • to comply with contractual arrangements with partners
  • for statistics for funding applications
  • to map demographics, and
  • to develop new products. 

With your consent we may also use your personal data:

  • to market new courses, and
  • to provide updates on SEND law. 

How long we keep your data for 

For financial transactions we may retain your data for seven years from the date of your last donation or the end of the accounting period in which Gift Aid is claimed.  

If you provided your consent to us processing your data, we may keep your data until you ask us to delete it. 

What happens if you don’t provide us with the requested personal data? 

In order to provide accurate information and advice IPSEA may need to collect certain personal data. It may not be possible to provide you with access to some of IPSEA’s services without your personal data and IPSEA will advise you (either when you request one of our services or correspond with us) if you are obliged to provide that personal data.  

Who does IPSEA share the personal data with and why? 

If you were referred to IPSEA’s services by a third party or an IPSEA partner, then IPSEA may be obliged to share your personal data with that third party or IPSEA partner for the purposes set out in this privacy notice:

  • to pursue our (or, where you are referred to IPSEA’s services by a third party or an IPSEA partner, our partner’s) legitimate interests such as:
    • ensuring that you can access our services to receive relevant advice or training on SEND law
  • to comply with our legal obligations such as:
    • complying with any contractual obligations with the third party or IPSEA partner (such as reporting obligations)

complying with financial and regulatory obligations which may include sharing information with our bankers and accountants for audit purposes. 

How we protect your data 

We implement various technical and organisational security measures to ensure your data is kept secure.  

What are your rights in relation to the personal data we collect and use? 

You can ask us to see a copy of the personal data we hold about you. You can ask us to correct any errors in your personal data or to delete it. You can complain about the way we have used your personal data if you think that we have not complied with this privacy notice or the relevant data protection legislation. To do this, you should first contact us at the address below. To protect your security we may ask for proof of identity before we process any request.  

Further information on your data protection rights, and your right to complain, can be found at the Information Commissioner’s Office website at https://ico.org.uk/ 

To contact us:

By post: write to the Chief Executive, IPSEA, 2A Stansted Courtyard, Parsonage Road, Takeley, Bishop’s Stortford CM22 6PU

By email: [email protected] 

3. Volunteers 

What is IPSEA? 

Independent Provider of Special Education Advice (known as IPSEA) is a registered company (number 2198066) and charity (number 327691) operating in England. IPSEA offers free and independent legally based information, advice and support to the families of children and young people with all kinds of special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). We also provide training on the SEND legal framework to parents and carers, professionals and other organisations. 

Why we have a privacy notice 

In order to recruit, retain, train, monitor and communicate with volunteers (including prospective volunteers), IPSEA will need to collect information about you and use it in the ways set out in this privacy notice.

This is ‘personal data’ under the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA). Under this legislation, IPSEA is a controller and/or processor of your data and we must tell you what your rights are as well as how we collect, store and use your data.

This privacy notice may be amended from time to time. Updated versions of this privacy notice will be available on our website. 

Whose personal data do we collect? 

We collect and process personal data about individuals who may be prospective, current and/or former volunteers. 

What kind of personal data do we collect? 

The personal data we collect includes: 

  • information such as your name, your home and email addresses and your date of birth
  • financial information such as your bank account details
  • information relating to a disability (if any), and
  • ethnicity. 

How do we use your personal data? 

IPSEA collects and uses your personal data to:

  • pursue our legitimate interests. These include recruiting you, complying with our equal opportunities obligations, ensuring geographical coverage of our services, communicating with you, training you, allocating cases, quality assuring cases, confirming your compliance with our volunteer agreement and reimbursing your expenses
  • to comply with our legal obligations. These include sharing information with regulatory bodies such as HMRC and the Charity Commission. 

Some categories of personal data, such as information about a disability or ethnicity, are called “special categories of personal data” under the GDPR. We will always obtain your express consent to collect and use this type of personal data. 

If you are an existing volunteer and you request us to delete your data you will not be able to continue to volunteer for us. 

How do we collect your personal data? 

We collect your personal data through your completed application form, the application process and/or upon your appointment as one of our volunteers. This data is stored in our volunteer management application based in Canada. 

We also collect data when you visit our website and engage with us on social media. 

Who does IPSEA share the personal data with and why? 

There may be some circumstances where some of your data is shared as explained above in the section ‘How do we use your personal data?’’ 

How we protect your data 

We implement various technical and organisational security measures to ensure your data is kept secure.  

How long we keep your data for 

Data relating to an application to volunteer shall be retained for six months after the closing date for applications unless you request us to retain it for future purposes. If your application is successful, we shall keep your personal data for a period of 12 months after you cease volunteering for us. 

What are your rights in relation to the personal data we collect and use? 

You can ask us to see a copy of the personal data we hold about you. You can ask us to correct any errors in your personal data or to delete it. You can complain about the way we have used your personal data if you think that we have not complied with this privacy notice or the relevant data protection legislation. To do this, you should first contact us at the address below. To protect your security we may ask for proof of identity before we process any request. 

Further information on your data protection rights, and your right to complain, can be found at the Information Commissioner’s Office website at https://ico.org.uk/ 

To contact us:

By post: write to the Chief Executive, IPSEA, 2A Stansted Courtyard, Parsonage Road, Takeley, Bishop’s Stortford CM22 6PU

By email: [email protected]