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Privacy Notice

This notice explains what personal information this website collects, why it is collected, and what a reader can ask SCCSI to do about it. It is written to be read rather than to be survived.

What is collected

Most of this website can be read without giving anything at all. Personal information is collected at the points where a reader asks for something that needs an account or a reply.

• Registration and account details, which means the name and email address used to open a membership account, and the membership level held.
• Candidature particulars, where someone applies for a paid tier: full name, email address, the address of their LinkedIn profile, and which tier was applied for. Nothing else is asked for, and no payment detail is taken at that stage.
• Enquiries, meaning the content of any message sent to SCCSI and the address it was sent from.
• Payment confirmation, meaning the record that a payment succeeded, its amount and its date. Full card numbers are handled by the payment provider and are not stored on this website.
• Progress records where a reader completes a knowledge check or a CPD lesson while signed in, so that the result can be shown back to them.
• Ordinary technical information that any web server receives, such as the pages requested and the browser used, which keeps the site working and secure.

Applications for membership

Both paid tiers are by candidature. Nothing can be bought on this website, and the application page asks for three particulars only: full name, email address and the address of a LinkedIn profile.

Those particulars are used to consider the candidature and to confirm that the person named controls the profile they have given. A candidate is asked to send a connection request to the course administrator on LinkedIn, because a request arrives from a profile and so demonstrates control of it, which a form cannot. SCCSI works this way because a LinkedIn profile was copied and used to apply in another person’s name.

A connection request travels through LinkedIn and is subject to LinkedIn’s own terms and privacy notice. SCCSI receives nothing from LinkedIn beyond what the profile itself displays and what the candidate chooses to send.

The particulars are seen by the course administrator, who considers candidatures. Where a candidature succeeds they become the membership account record and are then treated as account information. Where it does not, they are kept for twelve months, so that a repeat candidature can be recognised, and are then deleted.

Considering a candidature is a step taken at the candidate’s own request before any contract is made, and confirming the identity given is SCCSI’s own legitimate interest in not admitting anyone under another person’s name.

Why it is collected, and on what basis

SCCSI uses this information to run membership accounts, to give access to the material a member has paid for, to answer enquiries, to keep records of payments, and to keep the website working and secure.

Where a reader has an account or has bought access, the information is processed because it is needed to provide what was asked for, and where someone applies for a paid tier it is processed to take the steps they have asked for before any contract is made. Where SCCSI keeps records of payments and accounts, it is because the law requires those records to be kept. Where SCCSI improves the website by looking at how it is used, it is on the basis of its own legitimate interest in running a service that works. Anything that is optional, such as material sent for marketing purposes, is sent only to a reader who has asked for it, and can be stopped at any time.

Cookies

This website sets the cookies it needs to function. That means a cookie that keeps a signed-in member signed in as they move between pages, and cookies used by the caching and security layers that serve pages quickly and safely. A browser can be set to refuse cookies, and the public parts of the site will still be readable, but a member will not be able to stay signed in without them.

Who it is shared with

SCCSI does not sell personal information and does not pass it to anyone for their own marketing. Information reaches other parties only where it has to: the hosting provider that runs the servers, the payment provider that takes a payment, and the email provider that carries a reply. A candidature is seen by the course administrator who considers it, and a connection request a candidate sends travels through LinkedIn under LinkedIn’s own terms. Each of those receives only what its own task requires. Information is also disclosed where the law requires it.

How long it is kept

An unsuccessful candidature is kept for twelve months, then deleted. Account information is kept while the account is open, and for a period afterwards so that a lapsed member can return without starting again. Records of payments are kept for as long as tax and accounting rules require. Enquiries are kept while they are being dealt with and for a reasonable period afterwards, so that a later message about the same matter makes sense. Information that no longer has a purpose is deleted.

What a reader can ask for

A reader may ask what personal information SCCSI holds about them, ask for it to be corrected, ask for it to be deleted, ask for its use to be restricted, object to its use, or ask for a copy in a portable form. A request that is subject to a legal restriction, such as a record SCCSI is required to keep, will be answered with an explanation of the restriction rather than refused silently.

A reader who is not satisfied with how SCCSI has handled such a request may complain to the data protection authority in the country where they live.

Age

The material on this website is written for practising professionals and is not directed at children. Membership accounts are for individuals aged 16 or over.

Changes to this notice

This notice will be updated as the website develops, and in particular when membership payment opens. The date at the foot of the page is the date of the current version.

Last reviewed 17 August 2026