Privacy Policy
Last updated: 6 October 2026
This privacy policy explains how ESLstarter Limited ("ESLstarter", "we", "us") collects, uses, shares and protects your personal data when you use www.eslstarter.com, apply for a job, sign up for our emails, buy a course through us, or work with us as an employer.
The most important thing to know: ESLstarter is a recruitment service. When you apply for a teaching job through us, we will share your application details with the school or employer recruiting for that role, so they can consider you for it. Many of these employers are outside the UK. Section 5 explains exactly what we share, with whom and why.
1. Who we are
ESLstarter Limited is the data controller for the personal data described in this policy. We are registered in England and Wales under company number 06639481.
Address: ESLstarter Limited, Winnington Hall, Winnington, Northwich, Cheshire, CW8 4DU, United Kingdom
Email: info@eslstarter.com
Telephone: +44 (0)161 818 8864
ICO registration number: ZB306718
Our data protection contact is Claire Negus, who you can reach at the email or postal address above.
We process personal data in line with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR), the Data Protection Act 2018 and the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR), as amended.
2. Who this policy covers
- Candidates: teachers and applicants who apply for jobs, internships or programmes, or send us a CV.
- Employers: schools, language centres, government programmes and their staff who ask us to recruit teachers.
- Subscribers and customers: people who sign up to our emails or job alerts, or buy a TEFL course through our website.
- Website visitors: anyone browsing eslstarter.com.
3. The information we collect
Information you give us
- Your name, email address, phone number, postal address, date of birth and nationality.
- Your CV, photograph, education and qualifications (including degree and TEFL certificates), employment history, teaching experience, references and availability.
- Documents needed for a job or visa, such as passport details, degree certificates, criminal record checks and, where an employer or visa authority requires it, health or medical check information.
- Your job preferences, such as countries and start dates, and anything else you choose to tell us in forms, emails or calls.
- For employers: your name, job title, school or organisation, contact details, vacancy details and our correspondence with you.
Information we collect from others
- Employers we put you forward to, for example interview feedback and whether you were offered or accepted a job.
- Referees you have named, and providers of background or qualification checks.
- TEFL UK, our sister company (see section 7), for example if you have taken a TEFL UK course and asked about teaching jobs.
- Public professional sources such as LinkedIn and job boards, where you have made your profile available to recruiters.
Information collected automatically
When you use our website we collect technical information such as your IP address, browser, device and the pages you visit, using cookies and similar technologies. See section 10.
4. How we use your information, and our legal basis
We only use your personal data where the law allows us to. The table below sets out what we do and why.
| What we do | Legal basis |
|---|---|
| Assess your application against the job you applied for and other suitable vacancies | Steps you've asked us to take before entering into a contract, and our legitimate interest in running a recruitment service |
| Share your application with schools and employers recruiting for roles you've applied for or agreed to be considered for (section 5) | Steps you've asked us to take before entering into a contract, and our legitimate interests |
| Help you prepare documents for your visa and contract once you have an offer | Steps you've asked us to take, and our legitimate interests |
| Contact you about your application and roles that match what you've told us you're looking for | Our legitimate interest in placing candidates in suitable jobs |
| Process criminal record and health information (section 6) | Your explicit consent, given when you provide it for a specific job or visa |
| Send newsletters, job alerts and marketing about our services and TEFL courses | Your consent, or for existing customers our legitimate interest in marketing similar services (you can opt out at any time) |
| Provide recruitment services to employers and manage our contracts and invoices | Performance of our contract with the employer, and our legitimate interests |
| Process TEFL course bookings and payments | Performance of a contract with you |
| Keep business, accounting and tax records | Legal obligation |
| Run, secure and improve our website, and measure how it is used | Our legitimate interests, and your consent for non-essential cookies |
| Establish, exercise or defend legal claims, and respond to lawful requests from authorities | Legal obligation and our legitimate interests |
Where we rely on legitimate interests, we have considered your rights and expectations and believe they are not overridden. You can ask us for more detail, and you have the right to object (section 13).
We do not make decisions about you based solely on automated processing.
5. Sharing your details with schools and employers
Putting you forward to employers is the core of our service. When you apply for a role through ESLstarter, or tell us you'd like to be considered for a role, we will share your application with:
- The school or employer recruiting for the role.
- Organisations running the recruitment on the employer's behalf, such as a school group's head office, a partner recruitment agency, or the operator of a government teaching programme (for example a national ministry or office of education).
- Where you receive an offer, the bodies involved in your visa and work permit, through the employer or as you direct.
The information we share is what the employer needs to assess you and, if you're offered the job, to employ you and arrange your visa. This usually includes your CV, photograph, contact details, nationality, date of birth, qualifications, experience, availability and supporting documents, and may include references and checks.
We will only put you forward for a role you have applied for or agreed to be considered for. If we think you suit a different role, we will ask you before sending your details to that employer.
Once an employer receives your details, they become responsible for how they use them, as a separate data controller under their own privacy policy and the laws of their country. We ask employers to use your information only to recruit for the role and to keep it secure.
Many of the employers we recruit for are outside the UK, including in Asia, the Middle East, Central Asia, Europe and Latin America. Section 8 explains how we handle international transfers.
6. Sensitive information
Some employers and visa authorities require criminal record checks or health or medical information. We only collect and share this when it is needed for a specific job or visa you are applying for, and only with your explicit consent, which you can withdraw at any time. Withdrawing consent may mean an employer can no longer consider you for that role.
We do not ask for information about your ethnicity, religion, health or other special categories of data unless it is required for a specific role or visa. Please don't include it in your CV unless an employer has asked for it. If you do, we will treat it with extra care.
7. Who else we share information with
- TEFL UK, our sister company under the same ownership, which provides TEFL training and shares our recruitment work. We share information with TEFL UK where it helps us provide the services you've asked for, for example if you book a course through ESLstarter or a TEFL UK graduate applies for one of our jobs.
- Service providers who help us run our business, such as website hosting, email and newsletter platforms, cloud storage, payment processors (for example Stripe and PayPal), and IT support. They may only use your data on our instructions.
- Professional advisers such as accountants, lawyers and insurers.
- Authorities such as regulators, law enforcement or HMRC, where the law requires it.
- A buyer or successor of our business. If we sell, merge or transfer all or part of our business, your personal data may be transferred to the new owner, who may use it in the ways set out in this policy.
We will never sell your personal data.
Our website contains links to other organisations, including partners such as travel insurance providers. If you follow these links, those organisations' own privacy policies apply. We may earn a commission if you buy from a partner, but we do not share your personal data with them.
8. International transfers
Because we recruit for employers around the world, sharing your application often means transferring your personal data outside the UK. Where we do this:
- if the country has been approved by the UK government as providing adequate protection, we rely on that approval;
- where possible, we use the safeguards approved under UK law, such as the International Data Transfer Agreement or the UK Addendum to the EU Standard Contractual Clauses;
- otherwise, we transfer your data only where it is necessary to take the steps you've asked us to take, namely putting you forward for and helping you take up a job in that country, or with your explicit consent.
Please be aware that some countries' data protection laws do not give you the same level of protection as UK law. By applying for a job in another country, you are asking us to send your application to an employer there. You can ask us for more information about the safeguards for a particular transfer.
9. Emails, newsletters and job alerts
If you sign up to our newsletter or job alerts, we'll send you job opportunities, TEFL course offers and news. Every email includes an unsubscribe link, and you can also unsubscribe by emailing info@eslstarter.com. Unsubscribing from marketing won't affect emails about an application you've made.
10. Cookies
We use cookies and similar technologies to make our website work, remember your preferences, measure how the site is used and, with your consent, show you relevant advertising. Non-essential cookies are only set with your consent, which you can give or withdraw through our cookie settings at any time. You can also control cookies through your browser settings.
11. How long we keep your information
| Information | How long we keep it |
|---|---|
| Candidate applications and CVs | 2 years from our last meaningful contact with you, so we can consider you for future roles, unless you ask us to delete them sooner |
| Criminal record and health information | Only as long as needed for the specific job or visa, then deleted |
| Placement records (who we placed, where and when) | 6 years, for accounting, contractual and legal purposes |
| Employer contacts and contracts | 6 years after our business relationship ends |
| Newsletter and job alert subscriptions | Until you unsubscribe |
| Course purchase and payment records | 6 years, for accounting and tax purposes |
12. How we protect your information
We use appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your personal data against unauthorised access, loss or misuse, including access controls, secure hosting and regular security checks of our website. Only people who need your information for their work can access it. No system is completely secure, but we take security seriously and will notify you and the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) of any breach where the law requires us to.
13. Your rights
Under UK data protection law you have the right to:
- access the personal data we hold about you;
- have inaccurate data corrected;
- have your data deleted, in certain circumstances;
- restrict how we use your data, in certain circumstances;
- object to our use of your data where we rely on legitimate interests, and to direct marketing at any time;
- data portability, in certain circumstances;
- withdraw consent at any time, where we rely on consent. This won't affect anything we did before you withdrew it.
To use any of these rights, email info@eslstarter.com or write to us at the address in section 1. We'll respond within one month, and there is normally no charge. We may need to confirm your identity first.
Please note that if we have already shared your application with an employer, they hold their own copy as a separate controller. We'll tell them about your request where we can, but you may also need to contact them directly.
14. Complaints
If you're unhappy with how we've handled your personal data, please contact us first and we'll do our best to put it right. You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), the UK's data protection regulator, at ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint or on 0303 123 1113.
15. Children
Our services are intended for adults. We do not knowingly collect personal data from anyone under 18.
16. Changes to this policy
We may update this policy from time to time. The latest version will always be on this page, with the date it was last updated. If we make significant changes, we'll let you know where appropriate.
