This Privacy Policy explains how the Institute of Professional Development (“IoPD”, “we”, “us” or “our”) collects, uses, shares and protects your personal data when you visit institutepd.org.uk (the “Website”), enquire about or apply for our services, become a member, or otherwise interact with us.
We are committed to protecting your privacy and handling your personal data in an open, transparent and lawful manner, in accordance with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR), the Data Protection Act 2018, and the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR).
Please read this policy together with our Cookie Policy, which provides more details about the cookies and similar technologies we use.
Who we are
For the purposes of data protection law, the data controller is:
Full registered legal entity name: The Institute of Professional Development
Registered company number: 15929852 (registered in England & Wales)
Registered/correspondence address: Onward Chambers, 34 Market Street, Hyde, England, SK14 1AH, United Kingdom.
Email: enquiries@institutepd.org.uk
The personal data we collect
Depending on how you interact with us, we may collect and process the following categories of personal data.
Information you provide to us
Enquiry and contact details — when you complete our contact form or email us: your name, email address, and the contents of your message.
Newsletter and marketing sign-up — when you subscribe to our thought leadership updates: your email address (and any other details you choose to provide).
Membership applications — when you apply for Member (MIoPD) or Fellow (FMIoPD) status: your name, contact details, professional and career history, qualifications, experience and any supporting information you submit in support of your application.
Certification and accreditation enquiries — when an organisation, training provider or event organiser applies for IoPD recognition: the name, role and contact details of the individuals we deal with, together with information about your organisation and the programmes or events submitted for review.
Brochure and resource downloads — where a download is gated, the contact details you provide to access it.
Comments — if you leave a comment on our blog or thought leadership articles: your name, email address, optional website, and the content of your comment.
Correspondence — any information you share with us by email, telephone, post or social media.
Information we collect automatically
Technical and usage data — including your IP address, browser type and version, device information, operating system, referring website, the pages you visit, and the dates and times of your visits.
Cookies and similar technologies — see Section 8 and our Cookie Policy.
Information from third parties
We may receive limited information from third-party platforms you use to interact with us (for example, social media networks such as LinkedIn or YouTube), and from publicly available professional sources where relevant to a membership or certification application.
We do not intentionally collect special category data (such as health, ethnicity or political opinions). Please do not include such information in enquiry forms or applications unless we specifically request it.
How and why we use your personal data (purposes and lawful bases)
Under the UK GDPR we must have a lawful basis for processing your personal data. The table below sets out what we do, and why.
Where we rely on legitimate interests, we have considered the impact on you and do not use your data where your rights override our interests. You can ask us for more information about this assessment at any time.
Where we rely on consent (for example, marketing emails or non-essential cookies), you can withdraw it at any time without affecting the lawfulness of processing carried out before withdrawal — see Section 9.
| Purpose | Lawful basis |
|---|---|
| Responding to your enquiries and corresponding with you | Legitimate interests (to respond to and manage enquiries); or steps prior to a contract where you are asking about our services |
| Assessing, granting and administering membership (MIoPD / FMIoPD) | Contract (to provide membership you have applied for); legitimate interests (to assess eligibility against our standards) |
| Providing certification and accreditation services to organisations | Contract (to deliver the services); legitimate interests (to administer the client relationship) |
| Sending you our newsletter and thought leadership marketing | Consent (which you can withdraw at any time) |
| Publishing and moderating comments you submit | Consent and legitimate interests (to operate the Website and prevent spam/abuse) |
| Operating, securing and improving the Website and analytics | Consent (for non-essential cookies and analytics); legitimate interests (for site security and core functionality) |
| Processing payments for membership or certification fees | Contract; and legal obligation for retaining financial records |
| Complying with our legal and regulatory obligations | Legal obligation |
| Establishing, exercising or defending legal claims | Legitimate interests |
Marketing communications
If you sign up to receive our thought leadership updates, we will send you relevant content and news by email. We use HubSpot to manage our contacts and send these communications.
You can opt out at any time by clicking the “unsubscribe” link in any marketing email, or by emailing enquiries@institutepd.org.uk. We will always honour your choice. We do not sell your personal data to third parties for their own marketing.
Who we share your personal data
We do not sell your personal data. We share it only where necessary, and with appropriate safeguards in place. Recipients may include:
Successors in title — if we reorganise our business or transfer assets, in which case personal data may be disclosed to a prospective buyer under appropriate confidentiality terms.
Service providers (processors) who process data on our behalf and under our instructions, including:
HubSpot — our customer relationship management (CRM) and email marketing platform, used to store enquiries and contacts and to send marketing communications. (HubSpot, Inc.)
Google Analytics 4 (GA4) — website analytics. (Google LLC)
Automattic / WordPress.com (Jetpack & Akismet) — the Website is built on WordPress and uses Jetpack for performance (image delivery/CDN), comments and anti-spam filtering. (Automattic Inc.)
YouTube / Google — we embed videos hosted on YouTube; when you play an embedded video, Google may set cookies and receive data. (Google LLC)
Our web hosting provider — 123 Reg.
Professional advisers — such as accountants, auditors and legal advisers, where necessary.
Regulators and authorities — where we are required to disclose data by law, regulation or court order.
International transfers
Some of our service providers (including HubSpot and Google) are based outside the UK, primarily in the United States. Where your personal data is transferred outside the UK, we ensure an appropriate level of protection by relying on one or more of the following safeguards:
transfers to countries with UK ‘adequacy’ regulations;
the UK International Data Transfer Agreement (IDTA), or the EU Standard Contractual Clauses together with the UK Addendum; and/or
the UK Extension to the EU–US Data Privacy Framework, where the recipient is certified under it.
You can request more information about these safeguards by emailing enquiries@institutepd.org.uk.
Cookies and similar technologies
Our Website uses cookies and similar technologies to function correctly, to remember your preferences, to measure how the Website is used (via Google Analytics 4), and to support embedded content such as YouTube videos.
Non-essential cookies (including analytics and embedded media cookies) are only set where you have given your consent. You can manage or withdraw your consent at any time through our cookie banner or your browser settings.
Full details of the cookies we use, their purpose and duration are set out in our Cookie Policy.
Your rights
Under UK data protection law you have the following rights, which you can exercise free of charge:
Right to be informed — about how we use your personal data (this policy).
Right of access — to request a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
Right to rectification — to have inaccurate or incomplete data corrected.
Right to erasure — to ask us to delete your data in certain circumstances.
Right to restrict processing — to ask us to limit how we use your data in certain circumstances.
Right to data portability — to receive certain data in a structured, commonly used, machine-readable format.
Right to object — to processing based on legitimate interests, and to direct marketing at any time.
Right to withdraw consent — where we rely on consent, at any time.
Rights relating to automated decision-making — we do not carry out automated decision-making or profiling that produces legal or similarly significant effects.
To exercise any of these rights, please email enquiries@institutepd.org.uk. We will respond within one month, although we may extend this by up to two further months for complex requests (and will tell you if so). We may need to verify your identity before acting on a request.
How long we keep your personal data
We keep personal data only for as long as necessary for the purposes set out in this policy, after which it is securely deleted or anonymised. Typical retention periods are:
Enquiries and general correspondence — up to 24 months after our last contact, unless an ongoing relationship requires otherwise.
Marketing contacts — until you unsubscribe or withdraw consent, after which we retain a minimal suppression record to ensure we honour your opt-out.
Membership records — for the duration of your membership and for 6 years afterwards.
Certification and client records — for the duration of the engagement and for 6 years afterwards.
Financial and transaction records — for 6 years following the end of the relevant tax year, to meet HMRC and accounting obligations.
Website comments — retained while published; you may request removal at any time.
Analytics data — retained in line with our Google Analytics configuration (GA4 default retention is 14 months).
Where any of these periods need to differ for your organisation, we will confirm and update them accordingly.
How we protect your personal data
We have appropriate technical and organisational measures in place to protect personal data against unauthorised access, loss, misuse or alteration, including secure hosting, access controls and the use of reputable processors who are themselves contractually bound to protect your data. No transmission over the internet can be guaranteed as completely secure, but we take all reasonable steps to safeguard your information.
Children’s privacy
Our Website and services are intended for professionals and organisations and are not directed at children. We do not knowingly collect personal data from individuals under the age of 16. If you believe a child has provided us with personal data, please contact us so we can remove it.
Third-party websites
Our Website contains links to third-party websites and platforms (including LinkedIn and YouTube). This policy does not apply to those sites, and we are not responsible for their privacy practices. We encourage you to read the privacy policy of any website you visit.
Changes to this policy
We may update this policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices or legal requirements. The “Last updated” date at the top shows when it was last revised. Where changes are significant, we will take reasonable steps to bring them to your attention.
How to contact us and complain
If you have any questions about this policy or how we handle your personal data, or wish to exercise your rights, please contact us at:
Institute of Professional Development
Email: enquiries@institutepd.org.uk
Address: Onward Chambers, 34 Market Street, Hyde, England, SK14 1AH, United Kingdom
You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the UK supervisory authority, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), if you are unhappy with how we have handled your personal data:
Website: ico.org.uk.
Helpline: 0303 123 1113
We would, however, appreciate the chance to address your concerns before you approach the ICO, so please do contact us first.