ACADEMICIS PRIVACY NOTICE

Last updated: September 2026

1. About Academicis

Academicis is a trading name of GJL 2018 Limited (“Academicis”, “we”, “us” or “our”).

Academicis provides executive search, recruitment and related services, principally within the education sector.

For the purposes of UK data protection law, Academicis will normally act as a Data Controller where we determine why and how personal information is used, including when we source and approach prospective candidates, maintain candidate relationships and operate our talent network.

In some circumstances, we may process personal information on behalf of a school, trust or other client and in accordance with its instructions. In those circumstances, the client may be the Data Controller and Academicis the Data Processor.

If you have questions about this Privacy Notice or how we use your personal information, please contact:

Academicis (GJL 2018 Limited)
The Barn Tednambury Farm, Tednambury, Spellbrook, Herts, England, CM23 4BD
Email: enquiries@academicis.co.uk

2. Who this Privacy Notice applies to

This Privacy Notice applies to personal information we process about people including:

  • candidates and applicants;
  • prospective candidates identified through executive search or headhunting;
  • individuals within our candidate and professional networks;
  • referees;
  • employees, workers and associates;
  • representatives of schools, academy trusts and other clients, including governors and trustees;
  • suppliers and professional contacts; and
  • people who contact us or use our website.

3. Personal information we collect

Depending on our relationship with you, we may process information including:

  • your name and contact details;
  • current and previous employment;
  • CV, career history and professional experience;
  • education, qualifications and professional memberships;
  • application forms and supporting statements;
  • salary and remuneration information;
  • employment preferences and availability;
  • recruitment correspondence;
  • interview, assessment and shortlisting information;
  • references and referee information;
  • information obtained through candidate research and executive search;
  • publicly available professional information;
  • information generated during recruitment and selection processes;
  • information relating to offers and appointments;
  • information required to administer our relationship with clients, suppliers, employees and associates; and
  • information relating to data protection requests or complaints.

Where appropriate and lawful, we may also process special category personal information, including information concerning health or disability, racial or ethnic origin, religious or philosophical beliefs, trade union membership, sexual orientation and other equality-monitoring information.

Where relevant to a recruitment process and permitted by law, we may also process information relating to criminal convictions and offences, safeguarding or pre-employment checks.

We will only process special category and criminal-offence information where we have an appropriate lawful basis and additional legal condition for doing so.

4. Where we obtain your information

We may obtain personal information:

  • directly from you;
  • from applications and CVs submitted to Academicis;
  • from schools, academy trusts and other clients;
  • from referees;
  • through recommendations and professional referrals;
  • from publicly available professional sources;
  • from publicly accessible websites and online sources where appropriate;
  • through executive-search and candidate-research activity; and
  • from previous interactions you have had with Academicis.

Because Academicis undertakes executive search, we may identify and hold limited professional information about an individual before that individual has contacted us directly.

Where required by data protection law, we will provide appropriate privacy information within the applicable timeframe.

5. Why we use your information

We may process personal information for purposes including:

  • identifying potential candidates for education leadership and other appointments;
  • contacting individuals about potentially relevant opportunities;
  • managing applications and recruitment processes;
  • assessing candidates’ experience and suitability;
  • supporting schools and trusts with shortlisting and selection;
  • arranging interviews, assessments and candidate visits;
  • obtaining and administering references;
  • undertaking agreed recruitment or safeguarding-related searches where appropriate;
  • communicating with candidates and clients;
  • maintaining our candidate and professional network;
  • managing placements and appointments;
  • maintaining records required by law or regulation;
  • managing our relationships with clients, suppliers and associates;
  • responding to enquiries, complaints and data protection requests;
  • establishing, exercising or defending legal claims;
  • protecting our systems and information; and
  • carrying out appropriate business development and marketing activities.

6. Our lawful bases

Depending on the processing activity, we may rely on one or more of the following lawful bases:

Legitimate interests – where processing is necessary for our legitimate interests or those of a third party and those interests are not overridden by your rights and interests. This may include identifying and approaching potential candidates, operating our executive-search services, maintaining professional relationships and managing our business.

Contract – where processing is necessary to enter into or perform a contract with you.

Legal obligation – where we need to process information to comply with a legal or regulatory requirement.

Consent – where we specifically ask for and rely upon your consent. Where consent is relied upon, you may withdraw it at any time.

Where we process special category or criminal-offence information, we will also identify and document the additional condition required by data protection legislation.

7. Who we share information with

Depending on the circumstances, we may share relevant personal information with:

  • schools, academy trusts and other organisations recruiting through Academicis;
  • governors, trustees, recruitment panels and other authorised representatives of our clients;
  • referees;
  • professional advisers;
  • suppliers and service providers who support our business and recruitment services;
  • IT, communications and secure data-storage providers;
  • regulatory, governmental or law-enforcement bodies where required by law; and
  • other organisations where disclosure is necessary to establish, exercise or defend legal rights.

We only share personal information where there is an appropriate purpose and lawful basis for doing so and will seek to limit information to what is necessary.

Where another organisation processes personal information on our behalf, we will put appropriate contractual and security arrangements in place where required.

8. How long we keep personal information

We do not keep personal information indefinitely.

We retain information for different periods depending on:

  • why it was collected;
  • the nature and sensitivity of the information;
  • whether we have an ongoing relationship with you;
  • legal and regulatory record-keeping requirements;
  • the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims; and
  • whether there remains a legitimate recruitment or business purpose for retaining it.

Academicis maintains a Data Retention Schedule setting out retention and review periods for the different categories of information we hold.

Candidate information maintained as part of our professional or talent network will be periodically reviewed to ensure that its continued retention remains necessary and appropriate.

Information collected solely for a particular recruitment process will be deleted, returned or anonymised when it is no longer required, subject to applicable legal and regulatory retention requirements.

Equality-monitoring information will be handled separately and access restricted. Where information is required for longer-term statistical monitoring, we will seek to use anonymised information where practicable.

9. Data security

We maintain appropriate technical and organisational measures designed to protect personal information against accidental or unlawful destruction, loss, alteration, unauthorised disclosure or access.

Access to personal information is limited according to business need and the nature and sensitivity of the information.

We also require relevant suppliers and service providers handling personal information on our behalf to maintain appropriate data-protection and security safeguards.

10. International transfers

Some of the organisations and technology providers used by Academicis may process or store personal information outside the United Kingdom.

Where this involves a restricted international transfer, we will ensure that an appropriate mechanism is in place as required by UK data protection law, such as applicable UK adequacy regulations or appropriate contractual safeguards.

Further information about relevant safeguards can be requested by contacting us.

11. Your rights

Depending on the circumstances and the lawful basis on which your information is processed, you may have the right to:

  • request access to your personal information;
  • request correction of inaccurate or incomplete information;
  • request deletion of your personal information;
  • request restriction of processing;
  • object to certain processing, including processing based on legitimate interests;
  • object to direct marketing;
  • request transfer of information in certain circumstances;
  • withdraw consent where we rely on consent; and
  • raise concerns about how your personal information is being used.

These rights are not absolute and may not apply in every circumstance.

You have the right to object at any time to the processing of your personal information for direct marketing purposes.

To exercise your rights, please contact enquiries@academicis.co.uk.

12. Automated decision-making

Academicis does not currently make recruitment decisions based solely on automated processing which produces legal or similarly significant effects on individuals.

If this changes, we will update this Privacy Notice and provide the information required by data protection law.

13. Data protection complaints

If you have a concern or complaint about how Academicis collects, uses, stores or otherwise handles your personal information, please contact us at:

enquiries@academicis.co.uk

We will acknowledge your complaint within 30 days and investigate and respond without undue delay.

You also have the right to raise a concern with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the UK’s data protection regulator.

14. Changes to this Privacy Notice

We may update this Privacy Notice from time to time to reflect changes to our services, processing activities or legal obligations.

The latest version will be made available through the Academicis website and the date of the most recent update will be shown at the top of this notice.