Privacy policy

Last updated: 21 May 2018

The UNITE Group Plc (Unite Students) is committed to protecting your privacy. We treat your privacy seriously and this Privacy Policy explains how we use and share your personal information and how you can exercise your rights in relation to your personal information.

We are registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office.

Who We Are

UNITE Integrated Solutions plc is a subsidiary of The UNITE Group Plc known as Unite Students. Unite Students is the UK’s leading provider of affordable, high quality accommodation for students and key workers. Please visit the ‘Contact us’ section for contact information on UNITE Group or alternatively visit www.unitegroup.com.

When this Privacy Policy applies

This Privacy Policy applies to personal information collected by Unite Students. The Privacy Policy does not apply to any collection of personal information by third party companies, individuals, organisations or via other websites which the Unite Students website or the Unite Students app may link to. Where third parties collect your personal information their own privacy policies will apply. We urge you to read these carefully.

What we mean by personal information

When we refer to personal information in this Privacy Policy, we mean information that can identify you as an individual or is capable of doing so. By personal information we don’t mean general, statistical, aggregated or anonymous information.

How we collect information about you

You may provide personal information when communicating with us (for example, if you contact us). We will collect information about your tastes and preferences both when you tell us what these are and by analysis of customer traffic, including by using cookies (as described below).

How we use your information

We use your information for the following purposes:

• to communicate with you and respond to your requests;
• to invite you to form part of our consumer panel or research groups;
• where we have your consent to do so, to contact you about other products and services that we think may be of interest to you;
• to personalise your visits to our website; and
• to help us develop the design and layout of our website to ensure it is as useful and enjoyable as possible.

Other information we may collect

We may collect traffic data related to your use of and access to our services. Such data would include time spent online. We may use this information to understand and keep you informed about what is the best internet access package for you according to your use of the services.

We may provide aggregated statistics about our traffic patterns and other site information to third parties, but these statistics will not include any information that could personally identify you. We use this information along with your preferences to tailor content, services and offers for you.

How long do we keep your information

The periods for which we keep your information will vary according to the purpose for which we use the information.

Unless there is a specific legal requirement to keep your information we will not keep it for longer than necessary for the purposes for which the data was collected or for which it is to be further processed. We have an internal data retention policy that details the duration for which we keep certain categories of data.

Disclosing your information to third parties

We may share your personal information with third parties in the following ways:

• where we have a legal or regulatory obligation to do so;
• where we use third party suppliers to provide services to us (for example, our IT providers) and they need access to your personal information in order to deliver that service;
• where it is necessary to do so to protect or defend our legal rights or the legal rights of others;
• if you have agreed that we may do so, we will share your personal information with identified third parties so that they can contact you with details of their products and services.

We may also provide aggregated statistics about our sales, customers, traffic patterns and other site information to third parties, but these statistics will not include any information that could personally identify you.

How we protect your information

When you review your account information or order services or products online, Unite Students offers the use of a secure server. The secure server software encrypts the information that you input before it is transmitted to us. In addition, we have strict security procedures covering the storage and disclosure of your information in order to prevent unauthorised access and to comply with statutory data protection requirements. This means that sometimes we may ask you for proof of identity before disclosing any personal information to you.

Cookies explained

A cookie is a piece of information that is stored on your computer’s hard drive by your web browser, or stored as a temporary object in your web browser for the time of that connection.

When we use cookies

The type of cookie that we use is known as a ‘session-based’ cookie and is allocated to your computer only for the duration of your visit to our web site. The second type of cookie is known as a ‘persistent’ cookie. These cookies will remain on your computer for a period of time set for each cookie.

How you can refuse or opt out of cookies:

Most browsers are set by default to accept cookies automatically, but usually you can alter the settings of your browser to prevent automatic acceptance and prompt you every time a cookie is sent to you or to allow you to choose not to receive cookies at all. For further information on cookies and how to manage them you can go to www.allaboutcookies.org.

For further information about the cookies we utilise please see our cookie policy.

Updates to this Privacy Policy

If we change the way in which we use or share your personal information we will update this Privacy Policy. We will notify you of any significant changes and where necessary we will obtain your consent before using your personal information for any new purpose.

Your rights in relation to your personal information

• You may request access to your personal information.
• You also have the right to request that inaccurate information is updated or erased.

If you have consented to us sending you marketing communications you can request that we stop using your personal information for this purpose at any time.

All requests to exercise your rights in relation to your personal information should be sent by email to dataprotection@unitestudents.com

If you are unhappy about the way in which we have used your personal information please let us know by contacting dataprotection@unitestudents.com and we will try to resolve your complaint. If we are unable to resolve your complaint to your satisfaction you may lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office.

Contact details

If you have any questions or complaints about how we use your personal information please contact our customer services team via dataprotection@unitestudents.com