What we hold, and what we refuse

The data boundary

The Academy does not accept ILR files, learner data extracts, spreadsheets or pasted tables, and it never will. Detection runs on our server, before anything is sent anywhere, on the assistant, the search box and the feedback form alike. A request that appears to contain a learner identifier, a date of birth, contact details or structured data is refused rather than redacted, so you know what happened.

Any future FEFunding tool that does work with learner data will be architecturally separate from the Academy, with its own access controls. It will not be a feature added to this.

What we store

• Your reading preferences, your role and your progress stay in your own browser. They are never sent to us and no account is needed to use them.
• Questions asked of the assistant are used to produce an answer. Common questions are cached so a repeat costs nothing.
• Feedback stores what you tell us and which page or answer it was about. A contact address is optional and is only used to reply.
• Rate limiting uses a salted hash of your IP address, held in memory for the length of the window and never written down.

What we do not store

• Learner personal data of any kind.
• Your name, your college or your role, unless you choose to tell us in feedback.
• Your IP address.
• Advertising or cross-site tracking identifiers.

Cookies

The Academy uses browser storage for your own preferences and progress. That storage is local to your device, is not a tracking cookie, and is not shared with anyone. Clearing your browser storage clears it, and the reading preferences panel has a reset button.

Retention

Cached answers expire within hours. Feedback is kept while it is useful for improving the content and is reviewed as part of the editorial process. Nothing in the Academy is kept because it might be interesting later.

Your rights

Because the Academy holds no personal data about you by default, there is usually nothing to request, correct or erase. If you have sent us feedback with a contact address and want it removed, ask and we will remove it.

Getting in touch

Use the feedback route for anything about the Academy, including a privacy question. Please do not include learner information in it.