Privacy Policy for Your Private Tutor Online (YPTO)

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1. Introduction

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Welcome to Your Private Tutor Online (YPTO). Your Private Tutor Online is a company based in England, UK,

herein referred to as “YPTO” or “we” have created this privacy statement (“Statement”) to demonstrate our firm commitment to the privacy of the details that you provide to us when using this website, as the data controller for the purposes of the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulations EU 2016/679) and related UK legislation.

Unless otherwise indicated, all definitions in the Client Policy (Terms and Conditions) and the Tutor Policy (Terms and Conditions) shall apply to this Statement. In this Statement, references to “you” and “your” are references to the User of i.e. www.yourprivatetutoronline.com (the “Site”) regardless of whether you are a Client, a Tutor, or another user. It applies to information we collect about Users of our Site, and among other things, this Statement describes what personally identifiable information (“Personal Information”) we collect from you, how and when it is used, how we protect it, and who has access to it. This Statement incorporates our Cookie Policy, the Terms of Service, and the Tutor Policy and/or the Client Policy (where applicable) by this reference.

Privacy Policy outlines how we collect, use, disclose, and protect your personal information when you use our platform to deliver and receive online teaching and learning services, primarily via Zoom, for ESOL, EFL, and Functional Skills English classes.

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2. Information We Collect

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a. Information You Provide to Us

• Account Information: To create an account, we may collect your name, email, telephone number, postal address, and date of birth, depending on whether you register as a student or tutor.

• Tutor Application Details: When you apply to become a tutor, we may collect information about your educational background, qualifications, tutoring subjects, profile picture, video resume, resume, prices you charge, availability, and gender.

• Communication History: We store details of your communication history, including messages between users and interactions with the YPTO team.

• Booking History: We collect information about your booking requests, status, subjects, levels, test results, and recordings of your bookings (including tutor interviews, meetings, lessons, and written sessions).

• Promotions: We record details of redeemed referral codes and other promotions to apply rewards to your account.

• Identity Verification: For tutor applications, we may ask for proof of university affiliation, a valid ID card, a clean DBS check (if applicable), and right-to-work information.

b. Information We Collect Automatically

We collect information from all users, whether registered or not, to fulfil our contract and provide our services. This includes:

• Cookies and Tracking: Information about your IP address, device, pages visited, actions taken, times and dates of actions, email interactions, source of visit, and page response times.

• Tutor Capacity Information: For tutors, we track on-site behaviour, capacity, and interactions to show relevant requests and match customers with appropriate tutors.

c. Information from Third Parties​

• User Reviews: Reviews and ratings from other YPTO users.

• Identity Verification: Outcome of DBS checks from our partner if YPTO sponsors your check.

• Other Sources: We may collect additional information from third-party providers as permitted by law.

d. Financial Information

We may require financial information to authorise or process payments, including bank account details, invoices, and payment history. For payments and billing, we share necessary information with third parties such as credit card companies and banks. This processing is necessary for contract performance and legal compliance (GDPR).

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3. How We Use Your Information

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The Site requests that you provide various types of Personal Information to enhance the quality of the Services we can offer you. The more accurate the information you provide, the better we can respond to your needs.

Any Personal Information held by YPTO will be retained in accordance with the GDPR. YPTO is the data controller concerning all the Personal Information collected and received about you when you use the YPTO Services.

a. To Provide and Improve YPTO Services

• Enabling access to the site and account creation.

• Allowing tutors to create and promote their profiles.

• Matching customers with tutors and personalizing experiences.

• Facilitating communication between users.

• Managing bookings and payments.

• Providing support and ensuring service quality.

• Enhancing user experience with photos and videos.

b. For Marketing Purposes

• Promoting services to registered users via personalized emails, social media, and other channels.

• Notifying users about promotions, discounts, and surveys.

• Conducting research to understand user interests and improve marketing efficiency.

c. Direct Marketing

We may contact you via email with information or offers related to our services. You can opt-out of marketing emails at any time except for the initial welcome email. Unsubscribe options are included in every marketing email.

d. Third-Party Marketing

With your consent, we may share your information with third parties for their marketing purposes. You can withdraw your consent by following the unsubscribe link in the email or contacting us directly.

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4. Legal Grounds under GDPR for Processing Your Data

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To fulfil the terms of a contract you are part of, or to take steps before entering into a contract with you, we must provide you with our products and services. When we need information from you for these purposes, we have specified the necessary information above. Without this information, we cannot deliver our services to you. We process information for our legitimate interests, including fraud prevention, child protection, service quality maintenance, error detection, and cybersecurity, unless our interests are outweighed by the interests, rights, or freedoms of individuals (such as you). To make this determination, we consider factors such as what you were informed at the time of providing your data, your expectations regarding data processing, the nature of the data, and the processing's impact on you.

You have provided us with explicit opt-in consent to process your personal data for specific purposes, particularly for receiving electronic Direct Marketing from us and/or third parties as outlined in this notice. We also process your data when it is necessary to comply with a legal obligation, or in rare instances:

To protect your interests (or someone else’s interests); and/or

When required for the public interest or for official purposes.

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5. Who Has Access to Your Information?

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a. Other YPTO Users

Your Personal Information may be accessed by Tutors (if you are a Client) or by a Client or Tutor (if you are a Tutor) solely for enabling Tutors to provide their tutoring Services directly to you, to inform you about their Tutoring Services, and to grant access to the Tutoring Services.

If you, as a Client, request Tutoring Services with a Tutor through the Site, your Personal Information will be shared with the Tutor to facilitate the delivery of the Tutoring Services or to respond to any inquiries. This information may include your first name, the initial of your surname, the content of your message, and the subject and level you requested. If you, as a Tutor, submit Personal Information on the Site, for instance by creating a profile, personal Information in your profile may be visible to any User visiting the Site. The shared information may include your first name and the initial of your surname, university details, the resume you provided to YPTO, your profile picture and video, your grades, your tutoring subjects and price range, your tutoring record, and reviews. Sharing this Personal Data is essential for utilising the Site and the Services. If you, as a user, send a message to another user on the Site, you acknowledge that YPTO may monitor the content of your message to meet our safeguarding obligations and to protect our legitimate interests.

b. Third-Party Service Providers

We may share information with third-party providers, including:

• Analytics providers

• Sponsors of tutorials

• Payment providers

• Communications platforms for email, text and in-app communications

• Marketing platforms

• Business operations tools

• Identity verification tools

• Surveys and research providers

• Accounting and finance platforms

• Customer support platforms

c. Compliance with Laws

We may disclose your information to comply with legal requirements, assist law enforcement, enforce our terms, or protect rights and safety.

d. International Data Transfers

We may transfer personal data to entities outside the EEA, including the United States, where data protection laws may not be as strict as those in the EEA. When transferring your information outside the EEA, we will either assess the level of protection considering the circumstances of the transfer or:

• Only transfer it to a non-EEA country with privacy laws that offer the same protection as the EEA; or

• Ensure we have an agreement with the recipient that obligates them to protect your data to the same standards as those in the EEA; or

• Ensure that any transfers are not repetitive and are limited to the minimum amount of information necessary. In certain circumstances, we may need to seek your consent unless there is an overriding legal need to transfer the information.

In all cases where your information is transferred outside the EEA, you have the right to contact us for information on the measures we have implemented.

e. Other Sites/Third-Party Vendors and Their Privacy Policies and Cookie Policies

This Site may include links to other websites. YPTO is not responsible for the privacy practices, content, or the privacy and cookie policies of these websites or other third parties. Therefore, it is important for you to independently review and understand the policies of these websites.

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6. Data Protection

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The privacy and protection of your Personal Information are paramount to us at YPTO. It is important to acknowledge that email messages sent over the internet are not encrypted and therefore not secure. Despite our best efforts to safeguard your Personal Information, we cannot guarantee the security of any information transmitted to or from our online Services. You accept that YPTO cannot be held liable for any breaches of confidentiality that may occur as a result of using email. If you have sensitive or confidential information that you do not wish to communicate via email, please contact YPTO to arrange an alternative method of communication. You transmit all such information at your own risk. However, once we receive your transmission, we use our best efforts to ensure its security on our systems. The Site has robust security measures in place to protect against the loss, misuse, and alteration of the information under our control. We use 128-bit industry-standard Secure Server Software (SSL) for your transactions with us. This technology encrypts all your Personal Information, including credit card numbers, names, and addresses, so that it cannot be read as the information travels over the Internet.

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7. Cookies

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For information about cookies and how they are used on our site, please see our Cookie Policy.

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8. Complaints and queries

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YPTO strives to uphold the highest standards when collecting and using Personal Information. For this reason, we take any complaints we receive very seriously. We encourage individuals to bring to our attention if they believe our collection or use of information is unfair, misleading, or inappropriate. Additionally, we welcome any suggestions for improving our procedures.

This Statement does not provide exhaustive details of all aspects of YPTO’s collection and use of Personal Information. However, we are happy to provide any additional information or explanations needed. Any requests for this information should be sent to our e-mail address. If you are not satisfied with our response or believe that we are processing your personal data in a manner not compliant with the law, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the UK data protection regulator, the Information Commissioner’s Office. 

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8. Data Retention

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We retain personal data for different periods depending on the service and legal requirements.

By default, personal data is retained for four years after your last activity on the Site. This timeframe allows you to continue using your YPTO account for the typical lifecycle of a YPTO user. Upon the expiration of this period or upon your request to delete your data (whichever comes first), we will delete your personal data unless specific reasons necessitate its retention for a longer duration. Records that have been shared publicly or with another user, such as reviews, messages, and bookings, may persist on the Site after the deletion of your personal information. However, they will no longer be associated with identifying information linking them to you.

We may retain records as required to fulfil our regulatory or statutory obligations.

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9. Your Rights

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• Access and Rectification: You can request access to your personal data and correct any inaccuracies.

• Data Portability: You can request an electronic copy of your data.

• Deletion: You can request deletion of your data under certain conditions.

• Withdraw Consent: You can withdraw consent for processing your data at any time.

• Restrict Processing: You can request restriction or object to our processing of your data.

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10. Automated Decision-Making

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We use automated decision-making for tutor applications, message screening, and profile activity monitoring. You can request human intervention in these decisions.

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11. Contact Information

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For queries, complaints, or requests regarding your personal data, please contact us at contact@yourprivatetutoronline.com.

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12. Policy Updates

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We review our Privacy Policy regularly and will update it as necessary. The latest update was on May 20, 2024.

This Privacy Policy ensures transparency and compliance with GDPR, providing a clear understanding of how we handle your personal data. For further information or to exercise your rights, please contact us directly.