Overview
This privacy policy is designed to give further clarification on:
- Who we are
- The types of information we collect and process
- How we process and store your information
- The security procedures in place used to protect your information
- Who we share your information with
- Your rights
- Who you can contact if you have an issue.
About Us
The Swimming Teachers’ Association (STA), founded in 1932, is a registered charity (number 1051631 in England and Wales and SC041988 in Scotland) whose objective is The preservation of human life by the teaching of swimming, lifesaving and survival techniques.
This privacy policy covers the following systems/services offered by STA as well as its subsidiary companies, as detailed below:
STA Online
STA Online is STA’s online environment available to all customers, free of charge, which provides a platform to access all of STA’s services, digitally. The Swimming Teachers’ Association is responsible for the data processing for this system.
Safety Training Awards
Safety Training Awards is the awarding organisation of The Swimming Teachers’ Association, regulated by Ofqual, Qualifications Wales, CCEA in Northern Ireland and accredited by SQA Accreditation in Scotland.
STA Excel
STA Excel is a wholly owned trading subsidiary of STA and is dedicated to supporting the training requirements of its clients.
i-tus
i-tus is a system offered by STA which is aimed at leisure operators, providing a user-friendly way of managing their sites and services ensuring compliance against the latest regulations.
STA shares the information that you provide to us when you register for a qualification and the information relating to your qualifications (the Learner Data) with leisure operators who have subscribed to i-tus and employ individuals who have undertaken STA qualifications (Employers). We only share the Learner Data with Employers in accordance with this privacy policy and STA will notify you by email when we share any of your data with Employers. STA takes reasonable measures to ensure that such data is secure. This includes verifying the identity of each Employer, requiring each Employer to protect any data they receive from STA to the required standards of the Data Protection Act 2018, and requiring an Employer to delete such data within [6] months of an you ceasing to be an employee of the Employers’ organisation.
About the Information Commissioners’ Office (ICO)
By law, any organisation acting as a data controller who is processing personal information must be registered with the ICO, unless they are exempt.
The Swimming Teachers’ Association is registered as a data controller with the Information Commissioner’s Office under registration number Z576199X. Further details on its registration can be found here from the ICO’s Register of Data Controllers.
Safety Training Awards is registered as a data controller with the Information Commissioner’s Office under registration number ZA331639. Further details on its registration can be found here from the ICO’s Register of Data Controllers.
STA Excel is registered as a data controller with the Information Commissioner’s Office under registration number ZA331603. Further details on its registration can be found here from the ICO’s Register of Data Controllers.
Types of Data Processed
The types of data STA collects, stores and processes are detailed below.
| Data Type | Data Collected | Legal Basis | Retention Period |
|---|---|---|---|
| Membership administration |
|
Contract | One year after subscription lapses |
|
Contract | Not kept on STA systems | |
| Association donations |
|
Legitimate interest | Not kept on STA systems |
| Contract agreements |
|
Contract | Five years after expiry |
| STA Search facility |
|
Legitimate interest | Forever |
| Queries and complaints |
|
Legitimate interest | Forever |
| Event bookings |
|
Contract | One year |
|
Contract | Not kept on STA systems | |
| Web and marketing communications |
|
Legitimate interest | As long as subscription is active |
| Data Type | Data Collected | Legal Basis | Retention Period |
|---|---|---|---|
| Account registration |
|
Legitimate interest | As long as account is active |
| STA Swim-Shop/STA Store/e-learning programme purchases |
|
Contract | Seven years |
|
Contract | Not kept on STA systems | |
| Course acceptance/history |
|
Contract | For lifetime of qualification |
| Find a Tutor search facility |
|
Contract | As long as tutor status is active |
| Data Type | Data Collected | Legal Basis | Retention Period |
|---|---|---|---|
| Centre agreements |
|
Contract | As long as approved training centre is active |
| Course registration data |
|
Contract | For lifetime of qualification |
| Learner registration/certification administration |
|
Contract | For lifetime of qualification |
| Queries and complaints |
|
Legitimate interest | Forever |
| Web and marketing communications |
|
Legitimate interest | As long as subscription is active |
| Certificate validity checker |
|
Legitimate interest | No retention period |
| Data Type | Data Collected | Legal Basis | Retention Period |
|---|---|---|---|
| Client information |
|
Contract | For length of qualification being delivered |
| Training requirements |
|
Contract | For length of qualification being delivered |
| Queries and complaints |
|
Legitimate interest | Forever |
| Data Type | Data Collected | Legal Basis | Retention Period |
|---|---|---|---|
| Client information |
|
Contract | As long as account is active |
| User programme data entered into system by clients | Various | Legitimate interest | As long as account is active |
| Queries and complaints |
|
Legitimate interest | Forever |
Data Sharing and Storage
The organisations STA shares data with and where it is stored are details below.
| Name | Purpose | Location | Security |
|---|---|---|---|
| The International Federation of Swimming Teachers’ Associations (IFSTA) | To provide anonymous statistical information supporting the federation with its mission statement | STA head office | Servers protected to GDPR required standards |
| STA regional offices | To provide anonymous statistical information to support future decision-making and direction | Secure data centres located across the UK | Servers protected to GDPR required standards |
| Name | Purpose | Location | Security |
|---|---|---|---|
| Internal database systems | STA’s data hub for customer records | STA head office | Servers protected to GDPR required standards |
| Amazon Web Services | Hosts data for STA’s digital service platforms | Secure data centres located across Europe | Servers protected to GDPR required standards |
Profiling
STA occasionally uses data to provide statistical information which is used to improve the products and services it offers. This includes analytics data on your interactions with STA’s products and services.
Security
STA take your data security very seriously. All servers which host your data comply with GDPR and BSI requirements. They are either hosted in secure data centres located across Europe or are located within STA’s head office which are protected by internal server infrastructures which are backed by all relevant resilience, contingency and data disaster recovery procedures.
STA holds the Cyber Essentials kitemark, which is a UK government scheme that encourages organisations to adopt good practice in information security.
Sub-Contract Processing
STA use the following organisations, who process your personal data, in order to provide its products and services to you. All organisations which STA works with comply to the relevant legislation, including the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR), and are monitored and audited frequently.
- Lab66
- For the ongoing management and maintenance of STA’s digital site security and management of cloud hosting, including the functionality it provides.
- Technologies and Solutions
- For the ongoing management and maintenance of STA’s internal server infrastructure.
- Dataflair
- For the ongoing management and maintenance of internal databases.
- Amazon Web Services
- For hosting of data for STA digital service platforms.
- For statistical analysis of your interactions with STA’s products and services.
- Sage
- Operate, host and provide the functionality required for our customers to make secure online credit/debit card payments.
- Bottomline Technologies
- Provide the functionality required for our customers to set up direct debit instructions.
- MailChimp
- Operate, host and provide the functionality enabling STA to send marketing and transactional email communications to customers.
- SurveyMonkey
- Operate, host and provide the functionality enabling STA to send surveys to customers.
- LiveChat
- Provide customer service software enabling STA to provide support via web-based functionality.
- Eventbrite
- Provide an event management and ticketing system allowing customers to sign up to STA events using a user-friendly web-based system.
Your Rights
The Right to Be Informed
You have the right to be informed about the collection and use of your personal data. This information is communicated via this privacy policy and you will be notified whenever any changes are made to it.
The Right of Access
You have the right to access your personal data and supplementary information. STA provides this facility via STA Online, allowing you to view the information we hold and enabling you to check its validity and the ability to alter it as necessary. For information which is not shown via STA Online, you may be charged a fee if your request is manifestly unfounded or excessive.
The Right to Rectification
You have the right to have inaccurate personal data rectified or completed if it is incomplete. As detailed above, STA provides this facility via STA Online for personal information we hold however you may contact us verbally or in writing.
The Right to Erasure
The GDPR introduces a right for you to have your personal data erased if, for instance, the personal data we hold for you is no longer necessary for the purpose for which it was originally collected or processed. The right to erasure is also known as ‘the right to be forgotten’. The right is not absolute and only applies in certain circumstances where applicable.
The Right to Restrict Processing
You have the right to request the restriction or suppression of your personal data in order to limit the way that we use your data; this is an alternative to requesting the erasure of your data. This is not an absolute right and only applies in certain circumstances. You can make a request for restriction verbally or in writing.
The Right to Data Portability
The right to data portability gives you the right to receive your personal data you have provided to us in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format. It also gives you the right to request that we transmit this data directly to another data controller. This right only applies to data collected by us using automated means (i.e. excluding paper files).
The Right to Object
You have the right to object to your information being processing based on:
- Legitimate interests or the performance of a task in the public interest/exercise of official authority (including profiling)
- Direct marketing (including profiling)
- Processing for purposes of scientific/historical research and statistics.
Rights in Relation to Automated Decision-Making and Profiling
STA does not undergo automated decision-making on your personal data.
Further Information
Marketing
When you fill in a form or provide your details on our websites or online services, you may see one or more tick boxes allowing you to:
- Opt-in to receive marketing communication from us by email, telephone, text message or post
- Opt-in to receive marketing communication from our third party partners by email, telephone, text message or post.
If you have agreed that we can use your data for marketing purposes, you can change your mind easily, via one of these methods:
- Sign into STA’s online services and change your opt-in settings
- Send an email to marketing@sta.co.uk
- Write to us at:
The Swimming Teachers’ Association
Anchor House
Birch Street
Walsall
WS2 8HZ
United Kingdom
We will never lease, distribute or sell your personal data to third parties unless we have your permission, or the law requires us to so.
External Links
Our websites and online services may contain links to other websites.
Please note that we have no control of websites outside the following STA domains:
- sta.co.uk
- safetytrainingawards.co.uk
- i-tus.co.uk
- ifsta.co.uk
If you provide data to a website to which we link, we are not responsible for its protection and privacy.
Always be wary when submitting data to websites—read the site’s data protection and privacy statement fully.
Having an Issue?
STA has a dedicated data protection officer who is responsible for overseeing data protection strategy and implementation to ensure compliance with GDPR requirements. They can be contacted at:
FAO Data Protection OfficerThe Swimming Teachers’ Association
Anchor House
Birch Street
Walsall
WS2 8HZ
United Kingdom
Telephone: +44 (0)1922 645097
Email: dataprotection@sta.co.uk
Cookies
Understanding How and Why We Use Cookies
STA use cookies throughout all their sites and online environments to create the most secure and effective website possible for their customers. Among other things, cookies allow you to access our services and for these services to operate as advertised. This section explains what cookies are, how we use them and what benefits they bring.
What Are Cookies?
Cookies are small text files that are sent to and stored on your computer, smartphone or other devices for accessing the internet, whenever you visit a website. Cookies are useful because they allow a website to recognise a user’s device.
STA sites and online environments use cookies for a variety of reasons, such as to determine preferences, let users navigate between pages efficiently, verify data and carry out other essential checks that ensures the data you interact with is accurate and relevant to your account.
Some of the functions that cookies perform can also be achieved using similar technologies. This section refers to ‘cookies’ throughout, however it includes those alternate mechanisms.
More information about cookies can be found on www.allaboutcookies.org.
How Cookies Make Our Website Safer and Easier to Use
Cookies are used for a variety of reasons, such as to safeguard your privacy when browsing STA sites and online environments.
Cookies are essential—without them none of the services you subscribe to would function correctly.
We use analytics cookies to help us make our website better for those who visit it regularly. They help us work out what users like and don’t like and how we can improve things for you. These collect information anonymously.
How to Restrict Cookies
You can set your browser to accept or reject all specific cookies. You can also set your browser to alert you each time a cookie is presented to your computer. You can delete cookies that have been stored on your computer but remember, if you prevent us from placing cookies on your computer during your visit, or you subsequently delete a cookie that has been placed, it will not be possible for you to use our website effectively.
By disabling cookies from your browser settings, you will be restricting the cookies that STA use to manage its website and this will have an impact on how the website will function. This will apply to all websites once cookies are disabled via your browser settings and not only STA websites and online environments.
If you would like to restrict or block cookies that are set by us and other websites, you can do this through your web browser settings. Please refer to your browser’s help section for further information.