Data Usage Policy

Purpose of this policy

Our Privacy Policy explains what we collect. This policy explains what we actually do with it, including where automated processing is involved.

Assessment data

When you sit an assessment we record the exact questions served to you, the order they were presented in, the answers you selected and the time taken.

We keep this detail for one reason: if a result is ever disputed, we can reconstruct precisely what you were asked and how it was marked. Marking is fully automated and no member of staff intervenes in it.

We also use aggregated, de-identified statistics — how often a question is answered correctly across all candidates — to identify and retire questions that are ambiguous or misleading. This analysis never identifies individual candidates.

Automated decision-making

Assessment results are produced automatically by comparing your answers with the stored answer key. Whether you pass is determined solely by your score against the published pass mark.

Membership applications are not decided automatically. Every application is reviewed by a person, and Fellowship applications are assessed by a panel.

If you believe a result is wrong, you may ask us to review it. We will re-examine the recorded attempt and explain the outcome.

Artificial intelligence

We use AI systems to help draft candidate assessment questions and to screen them for errors before a human reviewer sees them. No question reaches a live assessment without being approved by a qualified human reviewer.

We also use AI to classify and categorise job listings gathered from public sources for our jobs board.

We do not use AI to decide membership applications, and we do not send your personal data, application documents or assessment answers to third-party AI systems.

Marketing

We send marketing only to members who have separately opted in. Opting in is never a condition of membership and is never bundled into acceptance of our Terms. Every marketing message includes a one-click unsubscribe.

Partner organisations

Where a partner honours a PACA discount code in their own checkout, they can ask us only whether a given code is valid and whether its holder is a member in good standing. We do not disclose your name, contact details or assessment history to partners.