PRIVACY NOTICE – THE RETIREMENT MENTOR LTD

Effective date: 5 February 2026

1. Who we are

The Retirement Mentor Ltd ("we", "us", "our") is a company registered in England and Wales.
Registered address: Hollies, Blandford Road, Shillingstone, Dorset DT11 0SF.
Website: www.theretirementmentor.net
Contact email for privacy matters: [email protected]

For the purposes of UK data protection law (including the UK GDPR and Data Protection Act 2018), we are the data controller of the personal information we collect about you.

2. What this notice covers

This Privacy Notice explains:

·       what personal data we collect about you;

·       how and why we use it;

·       the lawful bases we rely on;

·       who we share it with;

·       how long we keep it; and

·       your rights under UK data protection law.

It covers your use of our website, our self-paced courses, 1:1 coaching services and our digital worksheets and resources.

3. What personal data we collect

The information we collect will depend on how you interact with us, and may include:

3.1 Identification and contact details

·       Name, email address, postal address (where needed), telephone number, time zone.

3.2 Account, booking and transaction data

·       Login details (email and password or third-party login identifier);

·       Information about the services or products you purchase;

·       Booking dates and times, records of attendance, rescheduling and cancellations;

·       Payment-related information (we do not store full card details – these are handled by our payment processors).

3.3 Coaching-related information

·       Information you share in enquiries, forms and questionnaires;

·       High-level background about your work, finances, health, family or personal goals, where you choose to share this in the context of coaching;

·       Session notes or summaries that we create to support continuity and quality of coaching.

3.4 Website and technical data

·       IP address, browser type and version, device type, operating system;

·       Information about how you use our website and online course platform (pages viewed, links clicked, time spent).

3.5 Communications data

·       Emails and messages you send to us;

·       Notes of telephone or video conversations related to your services or any complaints.

We do not systematically seek to collect "special category" data (such as detailed health information), but this may occasionally arise in coaching conversations if you choose to share it.

4. How we collect your data

We collect data in the following ways:

·       Directly from you when you sign up for an account, purchase services, complete forms, or communicate with us;

·       When you book or attend sessions via our online booking tools;

·       Automatically through cookies and similar technologies when you use our website or course platform (see also our Cookies information);

·       From payment processors (limited transaction-related information).

5. Why we use your personal data and lawful bases

We will only use your personal data when we have a lawful basis to do so under UK GDPR. The main purposes and lawful bases are:

5.1 To provide our services and manage our relationship with you – Contract

·       To set up and administer your account;

·       To process your orders, take payment and provide access to courses, digital products and 1:1 coaching;

·       To schedule, deliver and follow up coaching sessions;

·       To respond to your enquiries and manage day-to-day communications.

Lawful basis: processing is necessary for the performance of a contract with you or to take steps at your request before entering into a contract.

5.2 To keep brief session notes – Legitimate interests and, where relevant, consent

·       To maintain continuity and quality in coaching;

·       To remember key points from previous sessions.

Lawful basis: our legitimate interests in delivering effective, safe coaching and keeping an appropriate record of the services provided.
Where notes include particularly sensitive information (for example, detailed health information), we may rely on your explicit consent to record this, which you can withdraw at any time.

5.3 To send essential service messages – Contract / Legitimate interests

·       Emails about bookings, changes to sessions, expiry of packages, or important updates to our terms.

Lawful basis: necessary for the performance of our contract and/or our legitimate interests in keeping you informed about important service issues.

5.4 To send optional updates, resources or marketing – Consent / Legitimate interests

·       Occasional emails about new courses, resources or services you may be interested in, where you have opted in, or we are otherwise permitted to do so under e-privacy rules.

Lawful basis: your consent, or our legitimate interests where permitted. You can opt out at any time by using the unsubscribe link or contacting us.

5.5 To run and improve our website and services – Legitimate interests

·       To understand how our website and materials are used;

·       To maintain security, troubleshoot and improve user experience.

Lawful basis: our legitimate interests in running and improving our business and services.

5.6 To comply with legal obligations – Legal obligation

·       To keep appropriate records for tax and accounting;

·       To respond to lawful requests from public authorities.

6. Special category data

We do not routinely ask for special category data (e.g. health, race, religion), but you may sometimes choose to discuss personal matters that touch on health or similar issues in coaching.

Where such information appears in our notes, we will either:

·       avoid recording it in detail, keeping notes at a high level; or

·       rely on your explicit consent to record it, which you can withdraw at any time (we may then limit or delete some notes, subject to our need to retain basic records).

7. Who we share your data with

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

·       Service providers who process data on our behalf, such as:

o   website hosting and course platforms;

o   email and calendar providers;

o   payment processors;

o   secure document storage / cloud services;

o   Adobe Acrobat Sign (for electronic signatures on coaching agreements).

·       Professional advisers (accountants, legal advisers) where reasonably necessary for our business.

·       Public authorities where we are legally required to do so (for example, HMRC or law enforcement).

Where we use processors, we ensure there is a written contract in place requiring them to keep your data secure and to use it only on our instructions.

8. International transfers

Some of our service providers may be located outside the UK, or may store data on servers outside the UK. Where this occurs, we will ensure that appropriate safeguards are in place, such as:

·       an adequacy decision (for example, for certain countries); or

·       UK-approved standard contractual clauses or other legally recognised safeguards.

You can contact us for more details of specific safeguards used.

9. How long we keep your data

We keep your personal data only for as long as necessary for the purposes described above. This will vary depending on the type of data:

·       Basic client and transaction records: normally up to 6 years after our last interaction, for tax, accounting and legal purposes.

·       Coaching notes: typically up to 6 years after the end of our coaching relationship, unless we agree a shorter period or you request deletion and we are able to comply.

·       Email enquiries where you do not become a client: normally up to 12 months.

·       Marketing contact details: until you unsubscribe or we otherwise clean our list or cease sending marketing.

We may retain anonymised or aggregated information which does not identify you personally for longer.

10. Your rights

Under UK data protection law, you have the following rights (subject to conditions and exemptions):

·       Right of access – to request a copy of the personal data we hold about you.

·       Right to rectification – to ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete data.

·       Right to erasure – to ask us to delete your data in certain circumstances.

·       Right to restrict processing – to ask us to limit how we use your data.

·       Right to data portability – to receive certain data in a structured, commonly used, machine-readable format and transfer it to another controller.

·       Right to object – to object to processing based on our legitimate interests or to direct marketing.

·       Right to withdraw consent – where we rely on consent (for example, certain marketing or recording special category data), you can withdraw your consent at any time.

You can exercise these rights by emailing [email protected].

We may need to verify your identity before responding. We aim to respond within one month, as required by law.

11. Cookies and similar technologies

Our website and course platform may use cookies and similar technologies to provide functionality, improve performance and understand usage.

Further information is available by contacting us at [email protected].

12. How to contact us about data protection

If you have any questions or concerns about how we use your personal data, or wish to exercise your rights, please contact:

Email: [email protected]
Postal address: Hollies, Blandford Road, Shillingstone, Dorset DT11 0SF.

13. How to complain

We hope we can resolve any issues directly. If you are unhappy with how we handle your personal data, you can:

·       first contact us at [email protected]; and

·       If you remain dissatisfied, you have the right to complain to the UK Information Commissioner's Office (ICO).

ICO website: www.ico.org.uk
ICO helpline: 0303 123 1113.

14. Changes to this Privacy Notice

We may update this Privacy Notice from time to time. The latest version will always be available on www.theretirementmentor.net and will show the effective date at the top.