Legal

Privacy notice.

How we collect, use, store, and protect your personal information. UK GDPR compliant. Plain English.

Last updated: 5 May 2026

Who we are

The Director's Path is a trading brand of The Essential Expert Ltd, registered in England and Wales (Company No. 14143619). Registered office: Dragon House, Princes Way, Bridgend Industrial Estate, Bridgend, CF31 3AQ.

For privacy questions or to exercise your rights, contact steve@theessentialexpert.com or write to the registered office.

We are the data controller for personal information you provide through this website, our Coachful platform, and any direct enquiries.

What we collect

We collect only what we need to do the work. Specifically:

• Identity and contact data: name, email address, phone number, organisation, job title.
• Programme data: Readiness Scorecard responses, Readiness Review notes, programme module submissions, working tools you complete on Coachful.
• Technical data: IP address, browser type, referring page, pages viewed (via our hosting provider).
• Communications: emails, chat messages, and notes from coaching sessions.
• Payment data: handled directly by Stripe via Coachful. We do not store card details.

How we use it

We use your information to:

• Deliver the programme, sessions, and reports you have purchased.
• Respond to enquiries and conduct Readiness Reviews.
• Send programme administration emails (welcome, module prompts, completion).
• With your consent, notify you of upcoming cohort dates or relevant programme updates.
• Comply with legal and regulatory obligations (financial records, tax records).
• Improve programme content based on aggregate, anonymised feedback.

Lawful basis

We process your data on the following legal bases under UK GDPR:

• Contract: to deliver the programme or services you have purchased.
• Consent: for marketing communications about future cohorts (you can withdraw at any time).
• Legitimate interests: for responding to enquiries, improving our services, protecting against fraud.
• Legal obligation: tax records, statutory compliance.

Who we share it with

We share your information only with the following processors, all bound by data processing agreements:

• Coachful for programme delivery, scheduling, and payments.
• Stripe for payment processing (PCI-DSS compliant).
• Google Workspace for email and calendar.
• Cloudflare for website hosting and security.
• Zoom for video sessions.

We never sell your data. We never share it with third-party marketing services.

How long we keep it

• Programme participants: for the duration of your engagement plus 7 years (statutory record-keeping).
• Marketing contacts: until you unsubscribe, or 3 years from your last interaction.
• Enquiries that don't progress: 12 months.
• Financial records: 7 years (HMRC requirement).

Your rights

Under UK GDPR you have the right to:

• Access the personal data we hold about you.
• Correct inaccurate data.
• Request deletion (where lawfully possible).
• Object to processing or restrict it.
• Receive your data in a portable format.
• Withdraw consent at any time.
• Complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ico.org.uk).

To exercise any of these, email steve@theessentialexpert.com. We respond within 30 days.

International transfers

Some processors are based outside the UK. Where personal data is transferred outside the UK, we rely on UK Adequacy Decisions or Standard Contractual Clauses to ensure equivalent protection.

Changes to this notice

We update this notice when our practices change. Significant changes are notified to active programme participants by email. The "Last updated" date at the top shows the most recent revision.