This Privacy Notice sets out how we at Explained Limited use, protect and share the personal information that we collect from you when you use our website, register for or attend our events, use our event app, or when you interact with us or contact us in any other way.
WHO ARE WE?
WHAT TYPES OF INFORMATION DO WE COLLECT FROM YOU?
HOW AND WHY DO WE USE YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION?
AUTOMATED DECISION-MAKING
HOW CAN YOU MANAGE YOUR MARKETING PREFERENCES?
WHO DO WE SHARE YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION WITH?
WHAT HAPPENS IF WE SHARE YOUR INFORMATION WITH ORGANISATIONS OUTSIDE OF THE UK?
HOW DO WE PROTECT YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION?
HOW LONG DO WE KEEP YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION FOR?
WHAT ARE YOUR RIGHTS IN RELATION TO THE PERSONAL INFORMATION WE HOLD?
CONTACT US IF YOU HAVE A QUESTION OR A COMPLAINT
UPDATES TO THIS PRIVACY NOTICE
THIRD PARTY LINKS
COOKIES
Explained Limited is the data controller responsible for your personal data (collectively referred to as “we”, “us” or “our” in this Privacy Notice).
Our full company details are:
Legal entity name: Explained Limited
Company registration: Registered in England and Wales (Company number: 16969500).
Registered office: 167-169 Great Portland Street, Fifth Floor, London, England, W1W 5PF
Email address:
For Humanities Explained: tutoring@humanitiesexplained.co.uk
For Politics Explained: politics@humanitiesexplained.co.uk
For History Explained: history@humanitiesexplained.co.uk
For Geography Explained: geography@humanitiesexplained.co.uk
For Sociology Explained: sociology@humanitiesexplained.co.uk
You can contact us at the above address should you have any questions about this Privacy Notice, or if you would like to exercise any of your rights under Data Protection Laws, which we set out below.
We may collect, use, store and transfer different kinds of personal information about you such as:
Identity and Contact Information about you including first and last name, email address, phone number, postal address, and, where relevant, parent/guardian name, date of birth, school name, local authority and contact details.
Enquiry Information such as the subject(s) you are interested in, level/year group, exam board, goals, availability, and any information you include in your messages or when completing forms.
Download and Purchase Information such as the free resources you download and (where applicable) details of any orders you place (e.g. product, price, currency and order date/time) and limited payment metadata (e.g. transaction ID and payment status). We do not store full payment card numbers.
Scheduling and Communications Information such as meeting/lesson scheduling details, communications with us (including emails, messages and call notes) and customer support queries.
Technical and Usage Information including internet protocol (IP) address, browser type and version, time zone setting and location, browser plug-in types and versions, operating system and platform, device ID, device identifiers and other technology on the devices you use to access our website, and information about how you interact with and use our emails, website and services (see Cookies section).
Marketing and Communications Information including your preferences in receiving marketing from us and our third parties, your opt-in/opt-out choices, and your communication preferences.
Services Information including information necessary to provide our services and manage our relationship with you, including (where applicable) student details needed to facilitate introductions to tutors via our separate platform.
We collect personal information directly from you, from a parent/guardian (where relevant), from your school/teacher where details are provided by you or your parent/guardian, and automatically through your use of our website (including cookies and analytics).
If you proceed to onboarding on our separate platform, that platform will have its own privacy policy. We may receive limited information back from it to manage our relationship with you (for example, the status of an introduction or onboarding progress).
We also collect, use and share Aggregated Information such as statistical or demographic data for any purpose. Aggregated Information could be derived from your personal information but is not considered personal information in law as this data will not directly or indirectly reveal your identity. For example, we may aggregate your Technical and Usage Information to calculate the percentage of users accessing a specific website feature. However, if we combine or connect Aggregated Data with your personal information so that it can directly or indirectly identify you, we treat the combined data as personal information which will be used in accordance with this Privacy Notice.
How your information is collected:
• When you interact with us: you may share your personal information with us when you provide information using any means on our website including via online registration and booking forms, when you provide personal information to our employees, via our contact and support channels, when you complete surveys and feedback forms, or when you otherwise engage with us, including when you correspond with us by email, post, telephone or any other means, including through using our services.
• From third parties: We may receive personal information about you from third parties, such as payment service providers, analytics/advertising providers, referral partners, or (where applicable) a parent/guardian, school or other organisation arranging tutoring for you.
Data Protection Laws require us to have a legal basis for everything that we do with your personal information falling under one of the following categories:
• Performance of a contract with you: Where we need to perform a contract we are about to enter into or have entered into with you.
• Legitimate interests: We may use your personal information where it is necessary to conduct our business and pursue our legitimate interests, for example to prevent fraud and/or enable us to give you the best user experience. We make sure we consider and balance any potential impact on you and your rights (both positive and negative) before we process your personal information for our legitimate interests. We do not use your personal information for activities where our interests are overridden by the impact on you (unless we have your consent or are otherwise required or permitted to by law).
• Legal obligation: We may use your personal information where it is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation that we are subject to.
• Consent: We rely on consent only where we have obtained your active agreement to use your personal information for a specified purpose, in relation to receiving marketing emails from us.
• Vital Interests: We may process your personal information where we believe it is necessary to protect your vital interests or the vital interests of a third party, such as situations involving potential threats to the safety of any person.
We use your personal information in a number of different ways and for different reasons – the tables below set out what we do and why:
In limited circumstances we may process any of the personal information we hold to the extent necessary to defend, establish and exercise legal claims or to comply with legal or regulatory obligations.
Where we need to collect personal information due to a legal or regulatory obligation, or for performance of a contract, and you do not provide that data when requested, we may not be able to perform the contract we have or are trying to enter into with you (for example, to provide you with our services). We will notify you of this at the time.
We do not use your personal information to make decisions about you based solely on automated processing that have legal or similarly significant effects. If this position changes, we will update this Privacy Notice and inform you, and we will ensure that appropriate safeguards are in place in accordance with data protection law.
Our services are intended for use by children under the supervision and consent of a parent, guardian or other responsible adult, or by an organisation arranging tutoring on their behalf (such as a school or employer).
Where we process personal information relating to children, we do so only where:
a parent or guardian has provided consent or entered into the contract with us; or
the processing is otherwise permitted under applicable data protection law.
We take additional care when processing children’s personal information and apply appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect it. We do not use children’s personal information for direct marketing purposes and do not carry out automated decision-making in relation to children.
If you are a parent or guardian and believe that we have collected personal information about a child without appropriate authority or consent, please contact us using the privacy contact details set out in this Privacy Notice so that we can investigate and take appropriate action.
As an individual subscriber (i.e. acting in your individual capacity) when you fill in an online form on our website, you will be asked to indicate your preferences for receiving direct marketing communications from us. This will be via the ticking of a box which will be clearly marked as confirming your consent or relying on the soft opt-in where the relevant conditions are met.
You can also contact us using the privacy contact details set out in this Privacy Notice.
We will always get your express consent before we share your personal information with any third party for their own direct marketing purposes.
Please note that if you opt out of receiving marketing communications, you will still receive service-related communications that are essential for administrative or customer service purposes, for example, updates to our Terms, checking that your contact details are correct etc.
We may share your personal information with trusted third parties who provide services to us and support the operation of our business. We require all third parties to respect the security of your personal information and to treat it in accordance with applicable data protection laws. We do not allow our third party service providers to use your personal information for their own purposes and only permit them to process your personal information for specified purposes and in accordance with our instructions.
The categories of data recipients we may disclose your personal information to are as follows:
Service Providers and Processors. We engage third party service providers, from time to time, including:
IT and website hosting providers, learning platforms, video-conferencing and tutoring delivery tools;
CRM, communications (email/SMS), scheduling and customer support providers;
payment service providers and financial institutions;
analytics and website performance providers; and
agents, contractors and sub-contractors engaged to help us deliver our services.
Prospective tutors (where you request an introduction). Where you ask us to introduce you or a student to a tutor, we may share limited personal information with prospective tutors for the purpose of assessing suitability and facilitating the introduction. This will typically include first name, subject requirements, level/year group, availability and general location, and will not include full contact details unless and until you choose to proceed.
Professional advisers. We may share personal information with our professional advisers, such as lawyers, accountants, auditors, insurers and consultants, where necessary for legal, financial, insurance or compliance purposes.
Legal and regulatory authorities. We may disclose personal information where required to do so by law, regulation or legal process, or in response to lawful requests from courts, regulators or public authorities (including tax authorities such as HMRC), or where necessary to establish, exercise or defend legal claims.
Corporate transactions. If we are involved in a merger, acquisition, sale of assets, restructuring, investment or similar corporate transaction, personal information may be disclosed to relevant third parties (such as advisers, prospective buyers or investors), subject to appropriate confidentiality and data protection safeguards.
Aggregated and anonymised data. We may share aggregated or anonymised information with analytics or search engine providers to help us understand how our services are used and to improve and optimise them. This information will not directly identify you.
Whenever we transfer your personal information out of the UK or the EEA to service providers or any other third party, we ensure a similar degree of protection is afforded to it by ensuring that the necessary safeguards are in place, for example:
We will only transfer your personal information to countries that have been deemed by regulators in the UK or the EU to provide an adequate level of protection for personal information; or
We may use specific standard contractual terms approved for use in the UK and EU which give the transferred personal information the same protection as it has in the UK and EU.
For more information about these safeguards, please contact using the privacy contact details set out in this Privacy Notice.
We are committed to protecting individuals’ personal information. We put in place appropriate technical and organisational measures to help protect the security of your personal information. However, be aware that no system is ever completely secure.
We have put various safeguards in place to guard against unauthorised access and unnecessary retention of personal information in our systems. These include encryption, access, and retention policies.
We will only retain your personal information for as long as reasonably necessary to fulfil the purposes we collected it for, including for the purposes of satisfying any legal, regulatory, tax, accounting or reporting requirements. We may retain your personal information for a longer period in the event of a complaint or if we reasonably believe there is a prospect of litigation in respect to our relationship with you. For further information about specific retention periods, please contact us using the privacy contact details set out in this Privacy Notice.
You have a number of rights under data protection laws in relation to your personal information.
You have the right to:
• Request access to your personal information (commonly known as a "subject access request"). This enables you to receive a copy of the personal information we hold about you and to check that we are lawfully processing it.
• Request correction of the personal information that we hold about you. This enables you to have any incomplete or inaccurate data we hold about you corrected, though we may need to verify the accuracy of the new data you provide to us.
• Request erasure of your personal information in certain circumstances. This enables you to ask us to delete or remove personal information where there is no good reason for us continuing to process it. You also have the right to ask us to delete or remove your personal information where you have successfully exercised your right to object to processing (see below), where we may have processed your information unlawfully or where we are required to erase your personal information to comply with local law. Note, however, that we may not always be able to comply with your request of erasure for specific legal reasons which will be notified to you, if applicable, at the time of your request.
• Object to processing of your personal information where we are relying on a legitimate interest (or those of a third party) as the legal basis for that particular use of your data (including carrying out profiling based on our legitimate interests). In some cases, we may demonstrate that we have compelling legitimate grounds to process your information which override your right to object.
• You also have the absolute right to object any time to the processing of your personal information for direct marketing purposes.
• Request the transfer of your personal information to you or to a third party. We will provide to you, or a third party you have chosen, your personal information in a structured, commonly used, machine-readable format. Note that this right only applies to automated information which you initially provided consent for us to use or where we used the information to perform a contract with you.
• Withdraw consent at any time where we are relying on consent to process your personal information. However, this will not affect the lawfulness of any processing carried out before you withdraw your consent. If you withdraw your consent, we may not be able to provide certain services to you. We will advise you if this is the case at the time you withdraw your consent.
• Request restriction of processing of your personal information. This enables you to ask us to suspend the processing of your personal information in one of the following scenarios:
if you want us to establish the data's accuracy;
where our use of the data is unlawful but you do not want us to erase it;
where you need us to hold the data even if we no longer require it as you need it to establish, exercise or defend legal claims; or
you have objected to our use of your data but we need to verify whether we have overriding legitimate grounds to use it.
If you wish to exercise any of the rights set out above, please contact us using the privacy contact details set out provided in this Privacy Notice.
You will not have to pay a fee to access your personal information (or to exercise any of the other rights). However, we may charge a reasonable fee if your request is clearly unfounded, repetitive or excessive. Alternatively, we could refuse to comply with your request in these circumstances.
What we may need from you
We may need to request specific information from you to help us confirm your identity and ensure your right to access your personal information (or to exercise any of your other rights). This is a security measure to ensure that personal information is not disclosed to any person who has no right to receive it. We may also contact you to ask you for further information in relation to your request to speed up our response.
Time limit to respond
We try to respond to all legitimate requests within one month. Occasionally, it could take us longer than a month if your request is particularly complex or you have made a number of requests. In this case, we will notify you and keep you updated.
You have the right to make a complaint at any time to the relevant data protection regulator. In the UK this is the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) (www.ico.org.uk). We would, however, appreciate the chance to deal with your concerns before you approach any regulator, so in the first instance please contact us using the privacy contact details set out in this Privacy Notice.
We may update this Privacy Notice from time to time and we keep it under regular review. This version was last updated on 1/2/2026.
Our website may include links to third party websites, plug-ins and applications. Clicking on those links or enabling those connections may allow third parties to collect or share data about you. We do not control these third party websites and are not responsible for their privacy statements. When you leave our website, we encourage you to read the Privacy Notice of every website you visit.
We use cookies and similar technologies (such as pixels and tags) on our website to distinguish you from other users, remember your preferences, understand how our website is used and improve it. Cookies are small text files that are stored on your device when you visit a website.
Types of cookies we use
We may use the following categories of cookies:
Strictly necessary cookies: these are required for our website to function properly (for example, to enable security, load balancing and basic site functionality). These cookies cannot usually be switched off in our systems.
Functional cookies: these help us remember choices you make (such as your language or region) and provide enhanced, more personalised features.
Analytics / performance cookies: these help us understand how visitors use our website (for example, which pages are visited most often and how visitors move around the site) so we can measure and improve performance.
Marketing / targeting cookies: these may be used to deliver relevant advertising and measure the effectiveness of our marketing campaigns (for example, by understanding whether you have opened an email or visited our website after clicking a link). These cookies may be set by us or by third-party providers.
We may also use web beacons/pixels in emails to understand whether you open emails or click links, where permitted by law and your preferences.
Third party cookies
Some cookies may be placed by third parties that provide services to us (for example, analytics providers and advertising platforms). These third parties may collect information about your online activities over time and across different websites.
Managing cookies
You can control cookies through your browser settings, including by deleting existing cookies and blocking cookies in the future. If you disable or block certain cookies, parts of our website may not function properly.
Where required by law, we will ask for your consent before placing non-essential cookies (including analytics and marketing cookies) on your device. You can update your cookie preferences at any time via our cookie banner or settings tool (where available).
For more information about the cookies we use and the purposes for which we use them, please contact us using the contact details set out in this Privacy Notice.