Privacy Policy

1. Introduction

Ridgeline Professional Development Ltd (“we,” “us,” or “our”) is committed to protecting the privacy and security of your personal data. We are the data controller for the purposes of the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018.

Our registered address is 4th Floor, St. James’s Buildings, 79 Oxford Street, Manchester M1 6FQ, United Kingdom. Our company registration number is 09418273 and our VAT number is GB 284 731 509.

This policy explains what personal data we collect through our website and services, the purposes for which we process it, the legal bases we rely on, how long we keep it, and what rights you have. If you have any questions about this policy or our data practices, please contact us at privacy@ridgelinepd.co.uk.

2. What Data We Collect

We collect the following categories of personal data:

Information you provide directly:

• Full name
• Company or organisation name
• Email address
• Telephone number
• Industry sector
• Description of your current challenges or training requirements
• Meeting preference (virtual or on-site)

Information collected automatically:

• IP address (anonymised where analytics are active)
• Browser type and version
• Device type and operating system
• Pages visited, time spent on each page, and referral source
• Cookie identifiers (see Section 6 below)

3. Why We Collect Data (Legal Basis)

We process your personal data only where we have a lawful basis to do so under UK GDPR. The legal bases we rely on are:

• Consent: When you submit our consultation enquiry form, you consent to us processing your personal data for the purpose of responding to your request. You may withdraw this consent at any time by contacting us.
• Legitimate interest: We rely on legitimate interest for website analytics, which helps us understand how visitors use our site so that we can improve its content and structure. We have assessed that this processing does not override your rights and freedoms.
• Consent (cookies): Analytics and marketing cookies are only placed on your device after you have given your explicit consent through our cookie consent banner.
• Legal obligation: We may process your data where we are required to do so by law, for example to comply with tax or accounting regulations.

4. How We Use Your Data

We use your personal data for the following purposes:

• Responding to consultation enquiries: When you submit an enquiry through our contact form, we use your name, email, phone number, and the details you provide to contact you and discuss your training needs. Your industry selection and challenge description help us assign the most suitable member of our team.
• Service provision: If you proceed to enrol in one of our programmes, we use your data to deliver the training, issue invoices, and maintain records of attendance and completion.
• Website analytics: We use anonymised analytics data to understand traffic patterns, popular pages, and user journeys so we can improve the experience for future visitors.
• Advertising measurement: With your consent, we use conversion tracking to measure whether our advertising leads to consultation enquiries. No personally identifiable information is shared with advertising platforms through this mechanism.

We do not sell, rent, or trade your personal data to any third party for their own marketing purposes.

5. Third-Party Services

We use the following third-party services that may process your data:

• Google Analytics: We use Google Analytics with IP anonymisation enabled to understand website traffic and usage patterns. Google Analytics sets cookies to distinguish unique users and sessions. Data processed by Google Analytics may be transferred to servers outside the United Kingdom; where this occurs, appropriate safeguards are in place, including standard contractual clauses approved by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).
• Google Ads conversion tracking: If you arrived at our site through an advertisement, a conversion tracking cookie may be set (only after you consent) to help us measure the effectiveness of our advertising campaigns. No personally identifiable information is shared with the advertising platform through this mechanism.

Analytics and advertising scripts are loaded only after you click “Accept All” on our cookie consent banner. If you choose “Decline,” no analytics or advertising cookies are set and no third-party tracking scripts are loaded.

6. Cookies

Our website uses cookies, which are small text files stored on your device. We use the following categories:

Essential cookies (always active):

• cookie_consent — Stores your cookie preference so we can remember your choice. Expires after 365 days. This cookie is set regardless of your consent decision because it is necessary to record that decision.
• Session identifiers — Used to maintain your browsing session while you navigate the site. These expire when you close your browser.

Analytics cookies (set only after consent):

• _ga, _ga_* — Google Analytics cookies used to distinguish unique users and sessions. Expire after up to 2 years.

Marketing cookies (set only after consent):

• _gcl_au — Google Ads conversion linker cookie used to measure advertising effectiveness. Expires after 90 days.

How to disable cookies:

You can delete cookies at any time through your browser settings. Most browsers allow you to block cookies entirely or block only third-party cookies. Please note that blocking essential cookies may affect site functionality. You can also revoke your consent at any time by clearing your browser’s local storage for this site, which will cause the cookie consent banner to reappear on your next visit.

7. Data Retention

We retain personal data only for as long as is necessary to fulfil the purposes for which it was collected. Our standard retention periods are:

• Consultation form submissions: 24 months from the date of submission, unless we enter into an active business relationship, in which case data is retained for the duration of the relationship plus 24 months.
• Analytics data: 26 months from the date of collection.
• Business correspondence and contractual records: Retained for 7 years following the end of the business relationship, in line with HMRC requirements.

When data is no longer required, it is securely deleted or anonymised.

8. Your Rights Under UK GDPR

Under the UK General Data Protection Regulation, you have the following rights in respect of your personal data:

• Right of access: You may request a copy of the personal data we hold about you. We will provide this within one calendar month of receiving your request.
• Right to rectification: You may ask us to correct any inaccurate or incomplete personal data we hold about you.
• Right to erasure: You may request that we delete your personal data where there is no longer a lawful reason for us to continue processing it, subject to any legal retention obligations.
• Right to restrict processing: You may ask us to limit how we use your data in certain circumstances, for example while we investigate a complaint you have raised about accuracy.
• Right to data portability: You may request that we transfer your personal data to another organisation, or directly to you, in a structured, commonly used, and machine-readable format.
• Right to object: You may object to our processing of your personal data where we rely on legitimate interest as the lawful basis. We will cease processing unless we can demonstrate compelling legitimate grounds that override your interests.
• Right to withdraw consent: Where processing is based on your consent, you may withdraw it at any time without affecting the lawfulness of processing carried out before the withdrawal.
• Right to complain to the ICO: If you are dissatisfied with how we have handled your personal data, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). You can contact the ICO at ico.org.uk, by telephone on 0303 123 1113, or by post at Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF. We would appreciate the opportunity to address your concern before you approach the ICO, so please contact us first if possible.

9. How to Exercise Your Rights

To make a data access, correction, deletion, or any other rights request, please email us at privacy@ridgelinepd.co.uk with the subject line “Data Rights Request.”

We will acknowledge your request within 5 working days and provide a substantive response within one calendar month. In exceptional circumstances, where requests are particularly complex or numerous, we may extend this period by a further two months, but we will inform you of this within the initial one-month period and explain why the extension is necessary.

We may ask you to verify your identity before processing your request to ensure that personal data is not disclosed to any person who has no right to receive it.

10. Data Security

We take the security of your personal data seriously and have implemented appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect it against unauthorised access, loss, destruction, or alteration. These measures include:

• TLS (Transport Layer Security) encryption for all data transmitted between your browser and our servers.
• Access controls that limit who within our organisation can view personal data, on a need-to-know basis.
• Regular security reviews of our systems, processes, and third-party integrations.
• Secure storage with encrypted backups.

No method of electronic transmission or storage is entirely secure. Whilst we take all reasonable precautions, we cannot guarantee absolute security of your data. In the event of a personal data breach that poses a high risk to your rights and freedoms, we will notify you and the ICO without undue delay in accordance with our obligations under UK GDPR.

11. Changes to This Policy

We may update this privacy policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices, legal requirements, or regulatory guidance. When we make changes, we will update the “Last updated” date at the top of this page.

Where changes are material, we will make reasonable efforts to notify you by email or through a prominent notice on our website. We encourage you to review this policy periodically. Your continued use of our website after the updated policy is published constitutes your acknowledgement of the changes.

12. Contact

For any privacy-related questions, concerns, or requests: