Who we are
The Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) is the leading professional body representing school and college leaders in all phases across the UK. ASCL speak on behalf of members and acts on behalf of children and young people. We offer advice, guidance and best practice, provide our members with legal support and full trade union representation as well as shape and influence government policy.
ASCL is committed to protecting and respecting your privacy. By virtue of data protection legislation, ASCL is the ‘controller’ of this information, known as data. The way your personal data is collected, stored and used is referred to as ‘processing’. ASCL will process your personal data in a manner that is compatible with data protection legislation.
Collection of personal data
This notice describes the personal data that ASCL collects from or about you, and how we use that information. During the course of conducting its affairs, ASCL will deal with personal data in respect of members, consultants, business partners, legal firms, subsidiaries, analytics and search engine providers, customer survey providers, and sub-contractors for the performance of any contract we may enter into with you.
Data protection legislation requires us to comply with various principles, under which personal data must be:
- fairly and lawfully processed
- processed for specific and lawful purposes
- adequate, relevant and not excessive
- accurate and up to date
- not kept for longer than is necessary
- kept secure
Except as otherwise permitted or required by law we will retain your personal data to fulfil the purposes for which it was collected.
Lawful basis for processing of personal data
The table below describes the various forms of personal data we collect and the lawful basis for processing and/or sharing this data.
| Purpose of Collection |
Data Collected |
Purpose for Collection |
Lawful basis for processing |
Data shared with (not outside the UK) |
| Communications and to provide you with information |
Name, organisation, location, email address |
To provide appropriate online or email information about products and services that you have requested, and for elections and ballots. |
Contractual/membership fulfilment |
Internal use and mailing houses |
| Mobile and landline numbers |
To communicate with and/or to follow-up to ensure requested information and/or advice meets needs. |
Contractual/
membership fulfilment |
Internal use |
| Personal contact information through online forms or event registrations |
To provide further online or email information and ongoing news updates in relation to areas that you have requested. |
Legitimate interest |
Internal use |
| Transactional information |
Name, home address, email, telephone, bank account details |
To process transactions for membership, events, accounting, taxation or legal services and to ensure any transaction issues are dealt with |
Contractual and statutory obligation |
Internal use, direct debit processors and professional advisers |
For any legal claims arise.
|
Legitimate interest |
| Services development |
Names, contact details and membership id |
To undertake research and develop existing and new services to meet expectations and requirement of membership |
Legitimate interest |
Internal use and for marketing purposes |
|
Fulfilment information
|
Name, contact and membership id details |
Delivery of magazines and newsletters, in physical and digital format
|
Consent |
Internal and third parties providing product or service |
| Name, dietary requirements, disability or access requirements. This may include special category data. |
Catering and/or the purposes of attending events |
Contractual obligation |
| Professional Leadership Communities (Women Leaders, LGBTQ+, Ethnic Diversity, Primary Leaders, Business Leaders, Neuro-inclusive leaders) |
Name, email address, contact number, organisation name, role |
Targeted communications, Event management and participation. |
Consent |
Internal use |
| ASCL Benevolent Fund |
Name, email address, contact number, information about your circumstances to support your application. |
Eligibility verification, fund allocation and management, donor relations and funding. |
Consent |
Internal use |
| Recruitment and Leadership Appointments |
Name, contact details, education and employment history, gender, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation |
To fill vacancies and monitor and act on EDI metrics to improve inclusive recruitment practices. |
Consent |
Internal use (data may be collected by a third party on our behalf) |
| Website performance |
Browser and device information, IP address, cookies, login details |
To maintain and monitor the performance of our website and improve the content and functionality it provides |
Legitimate interest and consent (cookies)
|
Internal use |
| Casework |
Name, email address, contact number, information about your circumstances. This may include special category data. |
To allow us to support and represent you effectively after contacting us for help and advice. |
Consent |
Internal use and professional advisers |
| Council members and Trustees |
Name, financial information, IP address, employment information |
To maintain a register of interests and for the renumeration of expenses |
Legal obligation and legitimate interest (expenses) |
Internal use |
Right to Withdraw Consent
Where ASCL rely on the lawful basis of consent you have the right to withdraw your consent any time. If you would like to withdraw your consent please email:
info@ascl.org.uk
Data Transfers and Sharing Your Data
We may share your personal data between ASCL, ASCL Professional Development Limited and The Association of School and College Leaders Benevolent Fund for these reasons:
- Verifying your identity and ASCL membership
- Communicating with you about events
- Legal or regulatory compliance
- Complaints handling
- Researching, developing, testing and improving our products and services
We may share your personal data with trusted third parties, including:
- Event platforms and payment providers (e.g. Zoom, Microsoft Teams)
- Direct debit processors (e.g. Bacsactive)
- IT service providers and web hosting companies (e.g. Smart Impact)
- Email marketing tools (e.g. Mailchimp)
- Professional advisers and regulatory authorities (where legally required)
- Election and ballot administration providers (e.g. Civica Election Services)
We do
not sell your data to third parties.
If we transfer data outside the UK (e.g. using cloud providers based in the US), we ensure appropriate safeguards such as
Standard Contractual Clauses or other lawful mechanisms.
Cookies and Tracking
When you visit our website, we may make use of cookies. Cookies allow a website to remember things like your preferences in order to improve your user experience. We use cookies to enhance your browsing experience and collect anonymised statistics on site use.
It is possible for you to block some or all cookies, or even to delete cookies. Doing so may affect the level of personalisation you receive when using our website and other digital services. For more details, see our
Cookies policy.
You can manage your cookie preferences through our cookie banner or by adjusting your browser settings.
Data Retention
We only keep your data for as long as necessary for the purposes we collected it. Typical retention periods include:
- Enquiry forms: 12–18 months
- Event registrations: 6 years (for financial compliance)
- Newsletter subscriber data: Until you unsubscribe or end your membership
Your rights as a data subject
You have the following rights in relation to the way in which ASCL deals with your personal data:
- the right to be informed
- right of access
- right to rectification
- right to restrict processing
- right to data portability
- right to object
- rights related to automated decision-making, including profiling
- right to erasure
Where you exercise your right to object or withdraw your consent you need to notify ASCL
info@ascl.org.uk. We may process your personal data without your knowledge or consent where we are permitted or required by law or regulatory requirements to do so or where we have a legitimate purpose for doing so. In such a case, we will not process more personal data than is required under the circumstances.
We will not send you marketing emails unless you have consented to receiving them. Please contact us on 0116 299 1122, email us at
info@ascl.org.uk or use the link on an email you’ve received if you wish to withdraw your consent from marketing/opt-out or wish to change your preferences in any way.
Under data protection legislation, you have the right to access data we hold about you. If you wish to exercise this right, please see our
Subject Access Requests policy and contact us on 0116 299 1122 or email us at
info@ascl.org.uk.
Complaints
If you are not satisfied by our actions, you can seek recourse through our
internal complaints’ procedure. If you remain dissatisfied, you have the right to refer the matter to the Information Commission or seek recourse through the courts.
The Information Commissioner can be contacted at:
Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire SK9 5AF
Tel: 0303 123 1113 (local rate) or 01625 545 745 (national rate).
Or via the ICO complaints tool:
Data protection and personal information complaints tool | ICO
Contact Information
If you would like to know more or have any concerns about how your personal data is being processed, please contact us:
Tel: 0116 299 1122
Email:
info@ascl.org.uk
or write to
Data Protection Officer
Association of School and College Leaders
2nd Floor
Peat House
1 Waterloo Way
Leicester
LE1 6LP
Tel: 0116 299 1122
Email:
info@ascl.org.uk
Policy Updates
We will update this Privacy Notice to reflect changes in law or our practices. The latest version will always be available on this page and we recommend reviewing it periodically.