Student LoginPrivacy Policy
This policy explains how we collect, use, share and protect personal data when you use our website, buy or take a course with us, or contact us. It applies to customers, learners, and people who book courses for their staff.
Last updated: October 2026
1. Who we are
The Builders Academy is a trading name of Learning Spot Ltd, a company registered in England and Wales (Company No. 15736345). Our registered office is at 128 City Road, London, EC1V 2NX.
Learning Spot Ltd is the data controller for the personal data described in this policy. This covers our website www.thebuildersacademy.co.uk and our Learning Management System (LMS).
We are registered with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) under registration number ZB692500.
We comply with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR), the Data Protection Act 2018 and the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR).
2. Our commitments
3. The personal data we collect
Information you give us
- Identity and contact details: name, email address, phone number, postal address and date of birth.
- Account details: your LMS username and password.
- Order details: courses bought, amounts paid and billing address. Card payments are handled by our payment providers. We do not see or store your full card details.
- Identity documents: a copy of photographic ID (for example a driving licence or passport) where a course, qualification or card requires it.
- Partner course information (NVQ, SSSTS, SMSTS and Temporary Works): Skill Scan answers, current certificates and cards, CV and work history, and NVQ evidence.
- Course work: assignments and evidence you upload, and your assessment and exam results.
- Support needs: any accessibility, language or learning support you tell us about, so that reasonable adjustments can be made.
- Communications: emails, messages and recordings of phone calls with us.
- Marketing preferences: including any consent you have given us.
Information we collect automatically
- Course activity: LMS login times, course progress and completion.
- Website and device information: IP address, browser and device type, and how you use our website, collected through cookies and similar technologies (see section 10).
Information we receive from others
- Your employer or organisation, if it books a course for you: your name, contact details and the course.
- Course resellers and third-party platforms (such as reed.co.uk), if you bought through them: your name, contact details and the course bought.
- Our training partner and awarding bodies: your assessment outcomes, registration and certificate details.
Equality monitoring: for some qualifications, the Awarding Body asks equality questions, such as ethnicity. Answering is optional and won't affect your booking. Where these answers are collected through us, we only pass them to the Awarding Body and don't use them for anything else.
4. How we use your data and our lawful basis
The law requires us to have a lawful basis for each way we use personal data. These are:
| What we use it for | Lawful basis |
|---|---|
| Processing your order, creating your account and giving you access to your course | Contract |
| Registering you with awarding bodies and card schemes, assessment, and issuing certificates | Contract |
| Booking partner courses with our training partner, including Skill Scan and eligibility checks | Contract |
| Checking your identity where a course, qualification or card requires it | Contract, and our legitimate interest in meeting awarding body requirements |
| Enrolling learners booked by an employer, reseller or third-party platform | Legitimate interests (delivering the course that was bought for you) |
| Customer support, refunds and complaints | Contract and legitimate interests |
| Recording phone calls for training, quality and resolving disputes | Legitimate interests |
| Making reasonable adjustments for support needs you tell us about | Contract, and your explicit consent where the information relates to your health |
| Sending marketing emails and texts | Consent. Where you have bought from us, we may email you about similar courses unless you opt out (legitimate interests). |
| Analytics and advertising cookies | Consent |
| Keeping accounting and tax records | Legal obligation |
| Preventing fraud, protecting our systems and dealing with legal claims | Legitimate interests |
We do not make decisions about you based solely on automated processing that have legal or similarly significant effects.
6. Transfers outside the UK
Some of our service providers, such as email and advertising platforms, are based outside the UK, including in the United States. Where your data is transferred outside the UK, we make sure it is protected by one of these:
- UK adequacy regulations;
- the UK Extension to the EU–US Data Privacy Framework;
- the ICO's International Data Transfer Agreement or Addendum.
7. How long we keep your data
| Data | How long we keep it |
|---|---|
| Account, enrolment and course records, including certificate details | 6 years after your last course ends, so we can confirm certificates and deal with queries |
| NVQ evidence and assessment records | 3 years after certification by the Awarding Body |
| Copies of photographic ID | Kept securely with your learner record in our LMS for 6 years after your last course ends, then securely deleted |
| Order, booking and payment records | 6 years, as required by law |
| Emails and complaint records | Up to 6 years after the matter is closed |
| Phone call recordings | 6 months |
| Marketing preferences | Until you unsubscribe. After that, we keep your email address on a suppression list so that we don't contact you again. |
After these periods, we securely delete or anonymise your data.
8. How we keep your data safe
Your data is held on secure systems operated by us and our service providers, including our website and LMS. We use technical and organisational measures to protect it, such as access controls, encrypted connections and staff training. Only people who need your data to do their job can access it.
You are responsible for keeping your LMS password confidential.
9. Your rights
You have the right to:
- Access the personal data we hold about you and receive a copy;
- Correct data that is inaccurate or incomplete;
- Delete your data in certain circumstances;
- Restrict how we use your data in certain circumstances;
- Object to our use of your data based on legitimate interests, and to direct marketing at any time;
- Data portability: receive data you gave us in a commonly used format, or have it sent to another organisation;
- Withdraw your consent at any time, where we rely on consent. This doesn't affect anything we did before you withdrew it.
To use any of these rights, email [email protected]. There is no charge. We'll respond within one month. If your request is complex or you make several requests, we may extend this by up to two further months, and we'll tell you if we need to.
We may ask you to confirm your identity before we respond. If a request is clearly unfounded or excessive, we may charge a reasonable fee or refuse it, and we'll explain why.
Some rights don't apply in every situation. For example, we can't delete records we must keep by law, or certification records while an awarding body requires them.
10. Marketing and cookies
Marketing: we'll only send you marketing emails or texts about our courses if you have opted in, or if you have bought from us before and didn't opt out. We don't send marketing on behalf of other organisations, and we don't pass your details to other organisations for their marketing.
You can unsubscribe at any time using the link in any email, or by emailing [email protected].
Cookies: we use essential cookies to run our website and LMS. With your consent, we also use analytics and advertising cookies to understand how our website is used and to show you relevant adverts. You can change your choices at any time through our cookie banner. See our Cookie Policy for details.
11. Changes to this policy
We review this policy regularly and may update it. The date at the top shows when it was last changed. If we make a significant change, we'll let you know.
12. Contact us and complaints
If you have any questions about this policy or how we use your data, or want to make a complaint, please contact us:
Email: [email protected]
Phone: 0203 345 6575
Post: Learning Spot Ltd, 128 City Road, London, EC1V 2NX
We'll acknowledge a data protection complaint within 30 days and aim to resolve it as quickly as possible.
If you're not happy with our response, you have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) at ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint or on 0303 123 1113.
Website Terms of Use
W1. About these terms
These terms apply to anyone using our website and LMS. If you buy or take a course, our Terms and Conditions also apply. If the two differ, the Terms and Conditions apply to your course.
If you have any feedback or suggestions about our website, please get in touch via our Contact Us page.
W2. Website content
We take care to make sure the information on our website is accurate and up to date. However, it is provided for general information only. Some of it comes from other sources, and it may occasionally contain errors. If you spot an error, please let us know.
General information on our website is not professional advice for your specific situation. Please check entry requirements, card scheme rules and employer requirements before you book.
W3. Availability
We aim to keep our website and LMS available at all times, but we can't guarantee they will always be uninterrupted or error-free. We may need to suspend access for maintenance, repairs or upgrades. Where we can, we'll give notice of planned maintenance. Access may also be affected by internet or telecommunications failures outside our control.
W4. Your responsibilities
- The information you give us must be true and accurate.
- You must not impersonate anyone else or use a name you aren't authorised to use.
- You are responsible for keeping your username and password secure, and for activity under your account.
- You should use up-to-date antivirus software and keep backups of any work you upload.
- You must not misuse our website, for example by introducing viruses or trying to gain unauthorised access.
W5. Refusal of service and fraud
We may decline an application for our services. We may also refuse or suspend services where we reasonably suspect fraudulent or abusive activity, or a breach of these terms or our Terms and Conditions. Where appropriate, we may report suspected fraud to the police.
W6. Intellectual property
All content on our website and LMS, including text, graphics, logos and course materials, belongs to Learning Spot Ltd or its licensors and is protected by copyright and other intellectual property laws. You may view and print pages for your own personal use, but you must not copy, reproduce or distribute any content without our written permission.
W7. Links to other websites
Our website may link to other websites, such as awarding bodies, card schemes and training partners. We aren't responsible for their content or how they handle your data, so please read their privacy policies.
W8. Our liability
As far as the law allows, we are not liable for any indirect or consequential loss, or for loss of data, arising from your use of, or inability to use, our website.
Our liability in relation to courses you buy is set out in section 10 of our Terms and Conditions.
Nothing in these terms limits or excludes our liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, for fraud, or for anything else the law doesn't allow us to limit. Nothing in these terms affects your legal rights as a consumer.
For any further questions about this policy or these terms, please email [email protected] or use our Contact Us page.