Privacy Policy

UK Higher Education Advisory ("we", "our", or "us") is committed to protecting and respecting your privacy. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, store, and share your personal data when you use our website and our education advisory services.

We operate in compliance with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR), the Data Protection Act 2018, and the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR).

UK Higher Education Advisory is an independent education advisory service and is not affiliated with the UK Government, Student Finance England, the Student Loans Company, the Department for Education, or any university unless expressly stated.

UK Higher Education Advisory is a trading name of EDUREF LTD (Company No. 17337164), registered in England and Wales, with registered office at 118 Alwold Crescent, London, SE12 9AH.

EDUREF LTD is the data controller responsible for your personal data.

Email: info@eduref.co.uk
Phone: +44 7853 935713
Registered office: 118 Alwold Crescent, London, SE12 9AH

Please use the email address above for all data protection matters, including any request to exercise your rights.

3.1 Information you provide directly

Through our eligibility form we collect:

• Identity data: Your full name
• Contact data: Your mobile number and email address
• Age band: An age range, such as 25–34. We do not ask for your date of birth
• Residency status: Whether you are a UK citizen, hold Indefinite Leave to Remain, hold refugee status, or are the spouse of someone who does
• Employment type: For example self-employed, employed, or a small business owner
• Location: A postcode or general area. We do not ask for your full postal address
• Consent records: Which consents you gave, the wording you agreed to, and when you gave them

Through the Contact the Lecturer form we collect only your name, your email address, and the message you send us.

3.2 Information collected automatically

• Technical data: Your IP address and basic browser and device information, recorded in our hosting provider's server logs
• Cookie data: Only where you have agreed to it. See our Cookie Policy for the full list of cookies and how to change your choice

We do not operate any website analytics product, and we do not build a profile of your browsing behaviour across other websites.

• Eligibility assessment: So that an advisor can review whether you may qualify for UK student funding and give you guidance
• Service delivery: To help you through the student finance application process and university enrolment
• Communication: To contact you about your enquiry and, if you asked us to, to send you optional updates
• Legal compliance: To meet our legal and regulatory obligations under UK law
• Security: To check submissions for malicious content and to prevent abuse of our forms

UK GDPR requires us to have a lawful basis for each thing we do with your personal data. Ours are set out below.

Where we rely on your consent, you can withdraw it at any time by contacting us at info@eduref.co.uk. Withdrawing consent does not affect processing that already took place while the consent was valid.

Where we rely on legitimate interests, we have considered whether our interest is fair to you and you can object at any time using the contact details above.

Our eligibility form asks for your residency and immigration status, including whether you hold refugee status. We ask because that status directly determines whether you can access UK student finance, and we cannot give you an accurate answer without it.

Information about immigration status is not automatically special category data under Article 9 UK GDPR. However, refugee status in particular can reveal or imply information about a person's racial or ethnic origin, religious beliefs, or political opinions. Where the information you give us could reveal special category data, we rely on your explicit consent under Article 9(2)(a) UK GDPR, which we ask for separately on the form before you submit it.

We use that information only to assess your eligibility for funding. We do not use it for marketing, we do not use it to build a profile of you, and you can withdraw your consent at any time by contacting info@eduref.co.uk.

We do not ask for, and you should not send us, information about your health, disability, ethnicity, religion, sex life, sexual orientation, political opinions, trade union membership, or genetic or biometric data. Some of the funding we describe on this site can cover disability-related or childcare costs; any information of that kind is given directly to the relevant funding body as part of your application, not collected through this website.

We do not use automated decision-making or profiling that produces legal effects concerning you or similarly significantly affects you.

Our eligibility form does not score, approve, or reject anyone. It checks only that the required fields are filled in and that the email address is valid, and then passes your answers to a person. Every submission is reviewed by an advisor, and every submitter sees the same confirmation message.

We do not sell your personal data. We share it with:

• Databeam: Our customer enquiry platform. Everything you submit through either form on this site is transmitted to and stored in Databeam so that an advisor can act on it
• Our hosting provider: Hostinger, which hosts this website and keeps standard server logs
• Meta Platforms: Only if you accept marketing cookies. See our Cookie Policy
• Universities and the Student Loans Company: Only where you have asked us to help with a specific application and have authorised us to do so. We do not pass your details to any institution or funding body without your instruction
• Professional advisers and authorities: Where we are required to disclose information by law, or by a binding request from a body with the authority to make one

• Eligibility enquiry data: 3 years from the date of submission
• Records for people who go on to enrol: 6 years after the completion of the course
• Consent and marketing records: until you withdraw consent, and then for 3 years as evidence that consent was validly obtained and honoured
• Your cookie choice: 6 months, after which we ask you again

• Right of access: Request a copy of the personal data we hold about you
• Right to rectification: Request correction of inaccurate or incomplete data
• Right to erasure: Request deletion of your data in certain circumstances
• Right to restrict processing: Request that we limit how we use your data
• Right to data portability: Receive your data in a structured, commonly used format
• Right to object: Object to processing based on legitimate interests, or to direct marketing at any time
• Right to withdraw consent: Withdraw consent at any time where processing is based on consent

Send your request to info@eduref.co.uk, or write to us at 118 Alwold Crescent, London, SE12 9AH. Please tell us which right you want to exercise and what information your request relates to.

• Verifying your identity: Before we act on a request we need to be satisfied that you are who you say you are, so that we do not disclose your data to someone else. We will ask for enough information to confirm your identity, and the response period starts once we have it
• Our response time: We will respond within one month of receiving your request. If your request is complex, or if you have made several requests, we may extend this by up to two further months. We will tell you within the first month if we need to extend, and why
• Fees: We do not normally charge. We may charge a reasonable fee, or refuse the request, if it is manifestly unfounded or excessive — for example if it is repetitive. If we refuse, we will explain why and tell you how to challenge it

If you are unhappy with how we have handled your personal data, you can complain to the Information Commissioner's Office at any time. Our own complaints procedure is set out on our Complaints page, but you do not have to use it before going to the ICO.

Website: ico.org.uk
Helpline: 0303 123 1113

Our services are intended for persons aged 18 and over. We do not knowingly collect personal data from anyone under 18.

We take appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your personal data. Submissions are transmitted over an encrypted connection (TLS), stripped of markup before being stored, and held in our enquiry platform under access controls. We keep no separate database of our own.

No transmission over the internet can be guaranteed to be completely secure. If a breach occurs that is likely to result in a risk to your rights and freedoms, we will report it to the ICO within 72 hours and tell you where we are required to.

Your data is primarily stored and processed in the United Kingdom. Where a provider we use transfers personal data outside the UK, we rely on the safeguards permitted by UK data protection law, such as UK adequacy regulations or the ICO's International Data Transfer Agreement or UK Addendum to the EU Standard Contractual Clauses.

If you accept marketing cookies, information collected by the Meta pixel is transferred to Meta Platforms, which processes data outside the UK under those safeguards. You can decline or withdraw that consent at any time.

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. Any changes will be posted on this page with an updated revision date. We encourage you to review this policy periodically.