Privacy Policy

The Makaton Charity is committed to protecting the privacy and security of the personal data of our employees, interns, contractors and the other third parties we deal with in the course of our business operations, recruitment activities and the provision of our material and services. This Privacy Notice explains who we are, how we collect, share, and use your personal data, and how you can exercise your data protection rights.

We ensure that your personal data:

Is processed lawfully, fairly and in a transparent manner
Is collected only for specified, explicit and legitimate purposes
Is adequate, relevant, and limited to what is necessary in relation to the services that we are providing you
Is accurate and where necessary, kept up to date
Is not kept in a form which allows for you to be identified for longer than is necessary
Is only processed in a manner that ensures its security using appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect it against unauthorised or unlawful processing and against accidental loss, destruction, or damage.

Our name and contact details

Name: The Makaton Charity

Registered offices: 66 Lincoln’s Inn Fields, London WC2A 3LH

Our data protection manager’s email address: [email protected]

ICO registration: Z1179547. Registered Charity: 1119819.

What we do

The Makaton Charity supports those living with learning or communication difficulties and provides the tools and resources they need to understand and be understood. We are the UK's leading language programme for children and adults with communication or learning difficulties. Makaton uses signs, symbols, and speech to develop communication, language, and literacy skills. The Makaton Charity provides advice, training, and resources for families, carers, and professionals. We work to share our knowledge and influence society to improve communication for all.

The Makaton Charity:

Provides training to families, carers, and professionals
Develops and produces printed and electronic resources
Works with others to make their information accessible
Provides advice and support for families and professionals
Works in partnership to influence society and empower people.

Processing your personal data

We process and manage your personal data according to the relationship we have with you. This relationship helps us to identify the appropriate data subject category you belong to (or group of individuals whose data we process in an identical manner) and allows us to provide you the details of how we process your personal data. We interact with you in one of more of the following ways:

As a Website Visitor
We collect, store, and use your personal data to make our website more intuitive and easier to use and protect the security and effective functioning of our websites on the basis of our legitimate interest. It is necessary for our legitimate interests to monitor how our website is used to help us (a) improve the layout and information available on our website and provide a better service to our website users and (b) monitor how our website is used to detect and prevent fraud, other crimes, and the misuse of our website.
We collect	IP address, device used and website analytics.
From	Directly from yourself through the website and from our website analytics providers.
Share with	Third parties who provide us the following services: technology and website support, website analytics. Only aggregated data is retained by our website analytics provider.
Store in	European Union, United Kingdom, United States of America.
Retain for	Your personal data is retained for the period of website visit or for the terms of the cookies you agree to.
Safeguards	We have put in place security measures to prevent your personal information from being accidentally lost, used, or accessed in an unauthorised way, altered, or disclosed. We limit access to your personal information to authorised employees and other third parties who have a business need-to-know. They will only process your personal information on our instructions, and they are subject to a duty of confidentiality. Details of these measures may be obtained from [email protected].

As a Free Member
In addition to being a website visitor, we collect, store, and use your personal data to establish, activate, and maintain your user account so that you can access services, surveys, and materials. We do this on the basis of your consent. If you withdraw your consent, you will no longer be able to access our services, surveys, or materials. We will advise you if this is the case at the time you withdraw your consent. We may process certain categories of EDI (equality, diversity, and inclusion) data and we will only do so where you have consented to us doing so. EDI data will be held to enable the charity to understand better and tailor its provision and services, and will align with our evolving EDI Strategy Document, which outlines how we will give appropriate focus and support to underrepresented groups within society.
We collect	Address, email address, name, telephone, Makaton ID, password, profiling, salutation, social media, telephone, company, UK address. We may also collect the following types of data: learning and communication difficulty, race, ethnicity, and religious beliefs.
From	Directly from yourself through our website
Share with	Yourself.
Store in	European Union, United Kingdom, United States of America.
Retain for	Your personal data is retained for the period of your membership or survey respondent with us, plus seven (7) years and as long as reasonably necessary thereafter to fulfil our legal and regulatory requirements.
Safeguards	We have put in place security measures to prevent your personal information from being accidentally lost, used, or accessed in an unauthorised way, altered, or disclosed. We limit access to your personal information to authorised employees and other third parties who have a business need-to-know. They will only process your personal information on our instructions, and they are subject to a duty of confidentiality. Details of these measures may be obtained from [email protected].

As a Survey Respondent
In addition to being a website visitor, we collect, store, and use your personal data to establish, activate, and maintain your user account so that you can access services, surveys, and materials. We do this on the basis of your consent. If you withdraw your consent, you will no longer be able to access our services, surveys, or materials. We will advise you if this is the case at the time you withdraw your consent.
We collect	Address, email address, name, telephone, Makaton ID, password, profiling, salutation, social media, company, UK address.
From	Directly from yourself through our website
Share with	Yourself.
Store in	European Union, United Kingdom, United States of America.
Retain for	Your personal data is retained for the period of your membership or survey respondent with us, plus seven (7) years and as long as reasonably necessary thereafter to fulfil our legal and regulatory requirements.
Safeguards	We have put in place security measures to prevent your personal information from being accidentally lost, used, or accessed in an unauthorised way, altered, or disclosed. We limit access to your personal information to authorised employees and other third parties who have a business need-to-know. They will only process your personal information on our instructions, and they are subject to a duty of confidentiality. Details of these measures may be obtained from [email protected].

As a Shop Customer
In addition to being a website visitor, we also collect, store, and use your personal data to register and service you as a Shop Customer, fulfil the delivery of physical products, and download materials on the basis of contract and our legitimate interest. If you fail to provide certain information when requested, we may not be able to perform the contract we have entered into with you for paid-for services, delivery of physical products or the download of materials. It is in our legitimate interest to collect your contact data in order for us to bill you for the goods and services outlined above.
We collect	Address, name, Makaton ID, Product and Service Detail, email address, password, profiling, salutation, social media, telephone, company, UK address.
From	Directly from yourself through our website
Share with	Yourself, suppliers of goods you have purchased.
Store in	European Union, United Kingdom, United States of America.
Retain for	Your personal data is retained for the period of seven (7) years from the time you purchase any of our goods or services, and as long as reasonably necessary thereafter to fulfil our legal and regulatory requirements.
Safeguards	We have put in place security measures to prevent your personal information from being accidentally lost, used, or accessed in an unauthorised way, altered, or disclosed. We limit access to your personal information to authorised employees and other third parties who have a business need-to-know. They will only process your personal information on our instructions, and they are subject to a duty of confidentiality. Details of these measures may be obtained from [email protected].

As a Paid Member
We collect, store, and use your personal data to establish, activate, and maintain full membership on the basis of contract, and to send you information about our services, invitations to events and other communications which we think you may be interested in on the basis of our legitimate interest in generating new business with you. We always ask for your explicit consent when you provide us with EDI (equality, diversity, and inclusion) data. If you fail to provide certain information when requested, we may not be able to perform the contract we have entered into with you for paid-for services, delivery of physical products or the download of materials. It is in our legitimate interest to collect your contact data in order for us to bill you for the goods and services you purchase from us. We may process certain categories of EDI (equality, diversity, and inclusion) data which will be held to enable the charity to understand better and tailor its provision and services, and will align with our evolving EDI Strategy Document, which outlines how we will give appropriate focus and support to underrepresented groups within society.
We collect	Address, email address, name, password, profiling, salutation, social media, telephone, company, UK address, Makaton ID, Event Details. We may also collect the following types of data: learning and communication difficulty, race, ethnicity, and religious beliefs.
From	Directly from yourself and from event management/conference organisers.
Share with	Yourself
Store in	European Union, United Kingdom, United States of America.
Retain for	Your personal data is retained for the period of seven (7) years. We may keep your data for as long as reasonably necessary thereafter to fulfil our legal and regulatory requirements.
Safeguards	We have put in place security measures to prevent your personal information from being accidentally lost, used, or accessed in an unauthorised way, altered, or disclosed. We limit access to your personal information to authorised employees and other third parties who have a business need-to-know. They will only process your personal information on our instructions, and they are subject to a duty of confidentiality. Details of these measures may be obtained from [email protected].

As a Trial Member, Individual Trainee, Events Delegate, Makaton Friendly Partners
We collect, store, and use your personal data to establish, activate, and maintain full membership and Event Training candidate status on the basis of contract, and to send you information about our services, invitations to events and other communications which we think you may be interested in on the basis of our legitimate interest in generating new business with you. Where Event Delegates register on the Online Booking service and/or the Digital Manual website and /or App we collect personal data to operate our platforms, sending out surveys and, where appropriate, direct marketing. If you fail to provide certain information when requested, we may not be able to perform the contract we have entered into with you for paid-for services, delivery of physical products or the download of materials. It is in our legitimate interest to collect your contact data in order for us to bill you for the goods and services you purchase from us.
We collect	Address, email address, name, password, profiling, salutation, social media, telephone, company, UK address, Makaton ID, Event Details, Learning Materials Details.
From	Directly from yourself and from event management/conference organisers.
Share with	Yourself
Store in	European Union, United Kingdom, United States of America.
Retain for	Your personal data is retained for the period of seven (7) years. We may keep your data for as long as reasonably necessary thereafter to fulfil our legal and regulatory requirements.
Safeguards	We have put in place security measures to prevent your personal information from being accidentally lost, used, or accessed in an unauthorised way, altered, or disclosed. We limit access to your personal information to authorised employees and other third parties who have a business need-to-know. They will only process your personal information on our instructions, and they are subject to a duty of confidentiality. Details of these measures may be obtained from [email protected].

As a Licenced Tutor / Trainer (Social Franchisee), Senior Tutor
We collect, store, and use your personal data to establish, activate and maintain your Licenced Tutor / Trainer (Social Franchise) or Senior Tutor Membership on the basis of contract and our legitimate interest. We always ask for your explicit consent when you provide us with EDI (equality, diversity, and inclusion) data. Where Tutor or Tutor Trainee register on the Online Booking service and/or the Digital Manual website and /or App we collect personal data to operate our platforms, sending out surveys and, where appropriate, direct marketing. If you fail to provide certain information when requested, we may not be able to perform the contract we have entered into with you. It is in our legitimate interest to carry out background and reference checks, communicate with you about the franchisee appointment process and keep records related to this process, and keep video evidence of your initial assessment training and ongoing CPD related to signing. We may process certain categories of EDI (equality, diversity, and inclusion) data which will be held to enable the charity to understand better and tailor its provision and services, and will align with our evolving EDI Strategy Document, which outlines how we will give appropriate focus and support to underrepresented groups within society.
We collect	Address, email address, name, password, profiling, salutation, social media, telephone, company, UK address, Makaton ID, Event Details, video, Learning Materials Details. We may also collect the following types of data: learning and communication difficulty, race, ethnicity, and religious beliefs.
From	Directly from yourself through our website
Share with	Yourself, suppliers of goods you have purchased.
Store in	European Union, United Kingdom, United States of America.
Retain for	Your personal data is retained for the period of your contract plus seven (7) years, and as long as reasonably necessary thereafter to fulfil our legal and regulatory requirements. In the case of a Social Franchisee, we retain video evidence of your initial training assessment and ongoing CPD regarding sign delivery for ten (10) years.
Safeguards	We have put in place security measures to prevent your personal information from being accidentally lost, used, or accessed in an unauthorised way, altered, or disclosed. We limit access to your personal information to authorised employees and other third parties who have a business need-to-know. They will only process your personal information on our instructions, and they are subject to a duty of confidentiality. Details of these measures may be obtained from [email protected].

As a Franchisee (Licensed), Training Contact
We collect, store, and use your personal data to establish, activate and maintain Franchise Membership, including accreditation and assessment of application and CPD on the basis of contract and our legitimate interest. Where Franchisee or FranchiseTrainee register on the Online Booking service and/or the Digital Manual website and /or App we collect personal data to operate our platforms, sending out surveys and, where appropriate, direct marketing. If you fail to provide certain information when requested, we may not be able to perform the contract we have entered into with you. It is in our legitimate interest to carry out background and reference checks, communicate with you about the franchisee appointment process and keep records related to this process, and keep video evidence of your initial assessment training and ongoing CPD related to signing.
We collect	Address, email address, name, password, profiling, salutation, social media, telephone, company, UK address, Makaton ID, Event Details, video, Learning Materials Details.
From	Directly from yourself through our website
Share with	Yourself, suppliers of goods you have purchased.
Store in	European Union, United Kingdom, United States of America.
Retain for	Your personal data is retained for the period of your contract plus seven (7) years, and as long as reasonably necessary thereafter to fulfil our legal and regulatory requirements.
Safeguards	We have put in place security measures to prevent your personal information from being accidentally lost, used, or accessed in an unauthorised way, altered, or disclosed. We limit access to your personal information to authorised employees and other third parties who have a business need-to-know. They will only process your personal information on our instructions, and they are subject to a duty of confidentiality. Details of these measures may be obtained from [email protected].

As an Ambassador
We collect, store, and use your personal data in order to assess your suitability to become an Ambassador and to enable effective communications on the basis of contract and our legitimate interest. We always ask for your explicit consent when you provide us with EDI (equality, diversity, and inclusion) data. We need to process your personal information to manage the contract for services we have entered or may be entering into with you. If you fail to provide certain information when requested, we may not be able to perform the contract for services we have entered into with you, or we may be prevented from complying with our legal obligations. It is in our legitimate interest to carry out background and reference checks, communicate with you about the franchisee appointment process and keep records related to our franchisee appointment process. We may process certain categories of EDI (equality, diversity, and inclusion) data which will be held to enable the charity to understand better and tailor its provision and services, and will align with our evolving EDI Strategy Document, which outlines how we will give appropriate focus and support to underrepresented groups within society.
We collect	Address, email address, name, password, profiling, salutation, social media, telephone, company, UK address, Makaton ID, Event Details. We may also collect the following types of data: learning and communication difficulty, race, ethnicity, and religious beliefs.
From	Directly from yourself through our website
Share with	Yourself, Makaton learning, finance and franchisee management teams, franchisees.
Store in	European Union, United Kingdom, United States of America.
Retain for	Your personal data is retained for the period of your contract plus seven (7) years, and as long as reasonably necessary thereafter to fulfil our legal and regulatory requirements.
Safeguards	We have put in place security measures to prevent your personal information from being accidentally lost, used, or accessed in an unauthorised way, altered, or disclosed. We limit access to your personal information to authorised employees and other third parties who have a business need-to-know. They will only process your personal information on our instructions, and they are subject to a duty of confidentiality. Details of these measures may be obtained from [email protected].

As a Visitor to our premises
We collect, store, and use your personal data is for security and safety reasons on the basis of your consent and our legitimate interest. If you do not provide all the requested personal data, then the Makaton may prevent access to its offices. It is in our legitimate interests to know who is, or has been, a physical visitor, in order to manage the security of our premises, staff and visitors.
We collect	Name, company, vehicle reg.
From	Yourself.
Share with	Yourself.
Store in	United Kingdom.
Retain for	Your personal data is retained for 3 (three) years, and as long as reasonably necessary thereafter to fulfil our legal and regulatory requirements.
Safeguards	We have put in place security measures to prevent your personal information from being accidentally lost, used, or accessed in an unauthorised way, altered, or disclosed. We limit access to your personal information to authorised employees and other third parties who have a business need-to-know. They will only process your personal information on our instructions, and they are subject to a duty of confidentiality. Details of these measures may be obtained from [email protected].

As a Business Contact
We collect, store, and use your personal data when you provide us goods or services on the basis of contract and our legitimate interest. If you fail to provide certain information when requested, we may not be able to perform the contract we are about to, or have entered into with you, or we may be prevented from complying with our legal obligations such as tax reporting. It is in our legitimate interest to collect your contact and payment details in order for us to pay you, to prevent fraud, to make decisions about the continued provision of goods or services by you, and to make arrangements for the termination of the provision of goods or services provided by you.
We collect	Address, description, email address, name, company name, position, phone number.
From	Yourself
Share with	Yourself
Store in	European Union, United Kingdom, United States of America.
Retain for	Your personal data is retained for the period of your contract plus seven (7) years, and as long as reasonably necessary thereafter to fulfil our legal and regulatory requirements.
Safeguards	We have put in place security measures to prevent your personal information from being accidentally lost, used, or accessed in an unauthorised way, altered, or disclosed. We limit access to your personal information to authorised employees and other third parties who have a business need-to-know. They will only process your personal information on our instructions, and they are subject to a duty of confidentiality. Details of these measures may be obtained from [email protected].

As a Third-Party Contractor/Consultant
We collect, store, and use your personal data to assess your skills, qualifications, and suitability for the work or role, during this process on the basis of contract and our legitimate interest. We always ask for your explicit consent when you provide us with EDI (equality, diversity, and inclusion) data. We need to process your personal information to manage the contract for services we have entered into with you. If you fail to provide certain information when requested, we may not be able to perform the contract for services we have entered into with you, or we may be prevented from complying with our legal obligations. It is in our legitimate interest to carry out background and reference checks, communicate with you about the appointment process and keep records related to our appointment process. We may process certain categories of EDI (equality, diversity, and inclusion) data which will be held to enable the charity to understand better and tailor its provision and services, and will align with our evolving EDI Strategy Document, which outlines how we will give appropriate focus and support to underrepresented groups within society.
We collect	Address, banking, drivers licence, duration, education, email address, gender, membership, nationality, name, passport, password, photograph, postcode, salutation, social media, social security number, tax residence, telephone, bankdetails, company, postcode, UK address, CV, Makaton ID. We may also collect the following types of data: learning and communication difficulty, race, ethnicity, and religious beliefs.
From	Yourself and sometimes collect additional information from third parties including recruitment agencies, referees, and other contractors
Share with	Yourself and third parties who provide us the following services: technology support, business, finance, staff management, and training.
Store in	European Union, United Kingdom, United States of America.
Retain for	Your personal data is retained for the period of your contract plus seven (7) years, and as long as reasonably necessary thereafter to fulfil our legal and regulatory requirements.
Safeguards	We have put in place security measures to prevent your personal information from being accidentally lost, used, or accessed in an unauthorised way, altered, or disclosed. We limit access to your personal information to authorised employees and other third parties who have a business need-to-know. They will only process your personal information on our instructions, and they are subject to a duty of confidentiality. Details of these measures may be obtained from [email protected].

As a Potential Employee / Trustee
We collect, store, and use your personal data to assess your skills, qualifications, and suitability for the work or role, during this process on the basis of contract and our legitimate interest. We always ask for your explicit consent when you provide us with EDI (equality, diversity, and inclusion) data. It is in our legitimate interest to carry out background checks, communicate with you about the recruitment process and keep records related to our hiring process. If you fail to provide information when requested, which is necessary for us to consider your job application, we will not be able to process your application. We may process certain categories of EDI (equality, diversity, and inclusion) data which will be held to enable the charity to understand better and tailor its provision and services, and will align with our evolving EDI Strategy Document, which outlines how we will give appropriate focus and support to underrepresented groups within society.
We collect	Address, banking, birthdate, drivers licence, duration, education, email address, ethnicity, family, gender, marital status, medical, membership, nationality, name, passport, password, pension, photograph, postcode, profiling, salary, salutation, social media, social security number, taxation, tax residence, telephone, bankdetails, company, email, p45, postcode, uk address, CV, Makaton ID, Event Details, company. We may also collect the following types of data: learning and communication difficulty, race, ethnicity, and religious beliefs. In general, we will not process your sensitive personal information such as health data, unless it is necessary for performing or exercising obligations or rights in connection with your employment.
From	Yourself and sometimes collect additional information from third parties including recruitment agencies, referees, and other contractors
Share with	Yourself and third parties who provide us the following services: technology support, business, finance, staff management, and training.
Store in	European Union, United Kingdom, United States of America.
Retain for	Your personal data is retained for the period of your contract plus seven (7) years, and as long as reasonably necessary thereafter to fulfil our legal and regulatory requirements.
Safeguards	We have put in place security measures to prevent your personal information from being accidentally lost, used, or accessed in an unauthorised way, altered, or disclosed. We limit access to your personal information to authorised employees and other third parties who have a business need-to-know. They will only process your personal information on our instructions, and they are subject to a duty of confidentiality. Details of these measures may be obtained from [email protected].

Your data

May, in certain circumstances be provided to other third parties such as HMRC or Companies House, or other regulatory or law enforcement bodies, but only in compliance with the law and where strictly necessary.

Automated decision-making and profiling

You will not be subject to decisions that will have a significant impact on you based solely on automated decision-making, including profiling, unless you have given us your consent to do so, or it is necessary for entering into or the performance of a contract.

Your rights

Access – you have the right to ask us for copies of your personal data. This right always applies. There are some exemptions, which means you may not always receive all the personal data we process.
Rectification - you have the right to ask us to rectify any of your personal data that you think is inaccurate or incomplete. This right always applies.
Erasure - you have the right to ask us to erase your personal data where it is no longer required for purpose for which it was collected, or you withdraw your prior consent to us processing it and we have no other legal ground for processing it, or it is being processed unlawfully, or when it must be erased to comply with a legal obligation, or it is being used for direct marketing purposes where we have no legitimate grounds for us doing so.
Restriction - you have the right to ask us to restrict the processing of your personal data where it is inaccurate (allowing us to verify the accuracy), or it is being processed unlawfully (and you want us to stop processing rather than erasing it), or where you have objected to us processing it while we’re verifying whether we have legitimate grounds for processing, or it is no longer required for purpose for which it was collected and you want us to keep it for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims.
Portability - this only applies to personal data you have given us. You have the right to ask us to transfer the information you provided us from one organisation to another or give it to you. This only applies if we are processing personal data based on your consent or as part of a contract, or in talks with you about entering into a contract and the processing is automated.
Objection - you have the right to object to processing your personal data if we are using legitimate interests as our lawful basis for processing, or it is being used for direct marketing.
Withdrawing consent – you can withdraw your consent that you have previously given to us for one or more specified purposes to process your personal data. This will not affect the lawfulness of any processing carried out before you withdraw your consent. It may mean we are not able to provide certain products or services to you and we will advise you if this is the case.
You have the right to complain to a Supervisory Authority, in the UK that is the Information Commissioner’s Office.

Breaches

We have put in place procedures to deal with any suspected data security breach and will notify you and any applicable regulator of a suspected breach where we are legally required to do so.

Dealing with your requests

We will deal with your requests as soon as possible but may take up to 1 month (possibly extended to 3 months where the law permits). Normally there is no charge, however we may charge a reasonable fee if your request is clearly unfounded, repetitive, or excessive or we could refuse to comply with your request in these circumstances.

We may need to request specific information from you to help us confirm your identity and ensure your right to access your personal data (or to exercise any of your other rights). This is a security measure to ensure that your personal data is not disclosed to any person who has no right to receive it. We may also contact you to ask you for further information in relation to your request to speed up our response.

Note

This notice does not form part of any contract of employment or other contract to provide services.

Changes to this privacy notice

We may update this notice from time to time and any changes we make to our policy in the future will be posted on our website and, where appropriate, notified to you by email. Please check our website frequently to see any updates or changes to our notice.

This Privacy Notice was updated April 2025.

Supplementary information

Security

We have put in place appropriate security measures to prevent your personal data from being accidentally lost, used, altered, disclosed, destroyed, or accessed without authorisation. While no data transmission or storage can be guaranteed to be secure, we implement a range of commercially reasonable physical, technical, and procedural measures to help protect personal data. These measures include policies, confidentiality agreements with third parties, secure development practices, security due diligence of service providers, products, services that may be used.

We have also put in place procedures to deal with any suspected personal data breaches and will notify you and any applicable regulator of a breach where we are legally required to do so.

This Privacy Policy is also available as a PDF file

The Makaton Charity

The Makaton Charity