Privacy Policy

1. What we collect

• Enquiries and callback requests: your name, email, phone number, the course you're interested in, when you'd like to start and the best time to call. We also record the page you sent the form from and any advertising campaign tags in the link you followed, so we know which adverts work.
• Student accounts: your name, email, phone number, student ID and an encrypted (hashed) password. We never see or store your actual password.
• Your learning: which lectures you've watched and how far, quiz results, assignments you upload, our marking and feedback, requests you make (such as upgrades or certificates) and certificates issued to you.
• Recruitment support (Live plan): the CV you upload, the refreshed CV we prepare, your target roles and location, mock interview notes and ratings, and job opportunities and offers we track with you.
• Security and technical data: a session cookie that keeps you logged in, and your IP address, which we use briefly to limit repeated failed log-in attempts and form submissions.

2. Why we use it and our lawful basis

• To reply to your enquiry and call you back, because you asked us to and gave consent on the form.
• To provide your course, track progress, mark work, issue certificates and give recruitment support, because this is necessary for our contract with you.
• To keep the portal secure and prevent misuse, under our legitimate interests.
• To keep financial and training records, where the law requires it.

We don't sell your data and we don't use it for automated decisions about you.

3. Certificate verification

Every certificate has a unique code and QR code. Anyone who has that code, such as an employer you show your certificate to, can confirm it's genuine on our verification page, which shows your name, student ID, the course, CPD hours and dates. Without the code, nobody can search for your certificate.

4. Who we share it with

Only the service providers we need to run Career Axis, under contracts that require them to protect your data:

• Hostinger, which hosts this website.
• MongoDB Atlas, which stores the portal's database and uploaded files.
• Our email provider, which delivers account and password emails.
• YouTube, which streams lecture videos in privacy-enhanced mode, so it doesn't set tracking cookies until you play a video.

With recruitment support, we share your CV with employers or recruiters only for roles you've agreed to be put forward for. Some providers may process data outside the UK; where they do, we rely on UK adequacy regulations or approved contract clauses.

5. Cookies

We use one essential cookie, ca_session, to keep you logged in to the student portal. It's strictly necessary, so it doesn't need consent. We don't use advertising or analytics cookies. If we add any, we'll ask for your consent first and update this policy.

6. How long we keep it

• Enquiries that don't lead to enrolment: up to 24 months, then deleted.
• Student accounts and learning records: for the length of your course and up to 6 years afterwards, for our legal and accounting obligations.
• Certificate records: kept so employers can keep verifying them, unless you ask us to withdraw verification.
• CVs and recruitment records: until your recruitment support ends, plus 12 months.

7. Keeping it safe

The portal uses encrypted connections (HTTPS), hashed passwords, sessions that end when you change your password, limits on repeated log-in attempts, and access controls so students only see their own work and only our staff can see student records.

8. Your rights

You can ask us to give you a copy of your data, correct it, delete it, restrict or object to how we use it, or transfer it to you in a portable format. You can withdraw consent for us to contact you at any time. Email support@catraining.co.uk and we'll reply within one month.

If you're unhappy with how we've handled your data, you can complain to the Information Commissioner's Office at ico.org.uk or on 0303 123 1113. We'd appreciate the chance to put things right first.

9. Changes

We'll update this page if how we use your data changes, and tell enrolled students about significant changes by email.