Summary. RS Professional supplies qualified, DBS-checked tutors to local authorities to deliver 1:1 home tuition to children and young people with an EHCP. To do that we handle personal data about the people who contact us (councils, families and tutors) and, where a referral is made, limited data about the child or young person. We are the data controller for that data, we only use it for the purposes set out here, and we never sell it.
01Who we are
This notice is issued by RS Professional Ltd (“RS Professional”, “we”, “us”, “our”), a company registered in England & Wales (company number 16343465), whose registered office is Spencer House, 23 Sheen Road, Richmond TW9 1BN.
We are registered with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) as a data controller — registration number ICO registration number to be confirmed.
02Scope of this notice
This notice applies to personal data we process when you:
- visit or use our website at rs-professional.co.uk;
- contact us through the forms on our Contact page, by phone or by email;
- make or receive a referral as a local authority commissioner or caseworker;
- enquire as a parent, carer or young person about tuition; or
- apply to join us as a tutor.
It does not apply to the separate records a school or local authority keeps about a child, which that organisation controls.
03What personal data we collect
Data you give us directly
Depending on which form you use, we may collect:
| Who you are | Data we may collect |
|---|---|
| LA commissioner / caseworker | Your name, role, organisation (local authority), direct dial, email, the child's year group and provision type, hours required per week, and a brief description of presenting needs. |
| Parent / carer | Your name, relationship to the child, phone, email, local authority, whether the child has an EHCP, and what you would like help with. |
| Young person (18+) | Your name, contact details and the enquiry you make. |
| Tutor applicant | Your name, phone, email, qualifications, years of SEND experience, specialisms and region. |
Please do not include sensitive details about a child in a website form. Where a referral progresses, we will ask for the EHCP and any risk assessment through secure, TLS-encrypted email so it is handled appropriately.
Data we collect automatically
When you use the website, our hosting and security providers may process limited technical data such as your IP address, browser type and the pages you request. This is used to deliver the site securely and to prevent abuse. We do not use it to build a profile of you for advertising.
04How and why we use it
- To respond to your enquiry — answering a consultation request, family enquiry or tutor application.
- To process a referral — assessing need, matching a tutor and delivering tuition under an EHCP.
- To deliver and manage tuition — scheduling, safeguarding, reporting progress to the commissioning authority.
- To meet our legal and safeguarding duties — including KCSIE, Prevent and health & safety obligations.
- To run and secure the website — keeping it available and protecting it from misuse.
05Our lawful bases
Under Article 6 of the UK GDPR we rely on the following lawful bases:
- Legitimate interests — to respond to enquiries and applications, and to keep the website secure. We have balanced this against your rights and interests.
- Contract — to take steps at your request before entering a contract, and to perform a contract for tuition services with a commissioning authority.
- Legal obligation — to comply with safeguarding, education and health & safety law.
- Vital interests — in the rare case where we need to protect someone's life.
Where we process special category data (for example, information about a child's health or SEND), we rely on Article 9(2)(g) — substantial public interest, namely the provision of education and the safeguarding of children — supported by an appropriate policy document, and/or your explicit consent where required.
06Children's data
Much of our work concerns children and young people aged 0–25. We take particular care here:
- We collect the minimum information needed to deliver tuition.
- Website forms ask for a child's year group and a brief, non-identifying summary of needs — not a child's name or full profile.
- Where a young person is old enough to make their own decisions, we will respect their views about how their data is used.
- Records about a child are shared with the commissioning local authority only as needed to deliver and report on the provision.
07Who we share it with
We share personal data only where necessary, and only with:
- The commissioning local authority — to arrange, deliver and report on tuition.
- Our tutors — the tutor matched to a placement receives the information they need to deliver tuition safely.
- Service providers (sub-processors) who support our operations, under written contract, including:
- our website form processor, Web3Forms, which delivers enquiry submissions to our inbox;
- our website hosting and security provider;
- our email and document-storage providers.
- Professional advisers and authorities — where we are legally required, or where it is necessary to protect a child or young person.
We never sell your personal data, and we do not share it for third-party marketing.
Sub-processor list to be finalised — confirm hosting, email and storage providers.
08International transfers
We aim to keep personal data within the UK and the EEA. Where a service provider processes data outside the UK, we ensure appropriate safeguards are in place — such as the UK International Data Transfer Agreement or the UK Addendum to the EU Standard Contractual Clauses — and we review those safeguards periodically.
09How long we keep it
We keep personal data only as long as we need it, then delete or anonymise it:
| Type of data | Retention period |
|---|---|
| General enquiries that do not proceed | e.g. 12 months |
| Tuition and referral records (incl. safeguarding) | e.g. 7 years, or per statutory guidance |
| Tutor applications (unsuccessful) | e.g. 12 months |
| Financial and contractual records | e.g. 6 years |
Retention schedule to be confirmed with the client's data-protection adviser.
10How we keep it secure
We use appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect personal data, including access controls, encryption in transit (TLS) for our website and referral email, staff confidentiality obligations and regular review of our policies. Our tutors are DBS-checked and work to our safeguarding and lone-working policies. If a personal data breach occurs, we will notify the ICO and any affected individuals where the law requires.
11Your rights
Under the UK GDPR you have the right to:
- Be informed about how we use your data — this notice does that.
- Access a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
- Rectify data that is inaccurate or incomplete.
- Erase data where there is no good reason for us to keep it.
- Restrict or object to certain processing, including processing based on legitimate interests.
- Data portability — to receive data you provided in a portable format.
- Withdraw consent at any time, where we rely on consent.
To exercise any of these rights, contact us using the details in section 14. You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office at ico.org.uk or on 0303 123 1113.
12Cookies & analytics
This website does not use advertising or tracking cookies. We use only the storage strictly necessary to serve the site and to keep it secure. If we introduce analytics in future, we will update this notice and ask for your consent where required by the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR).
13Changes to this notice
We may update this notice from time to time. The version published here is the current one, and the “last updated” date below shows when it changed. Where a change is significant, we will take reasonable steps to bring it to your attention.
14How to contact us
For any question about this notice or your personal data, contact our data-protection lead:
- Email: info@rs-professional.co.uk
- Phone: 0333 054 0807 (Mon–Fri 08:30–18:00)
- Post: RS Professional Ltd, Spencer House, 23 Sheen Road, Richmond TW9 1BN
Named data-protection lead / DPO to be confirmed.