Privacy Policy

Last updated: 26 September 2026

This notice explains what personal data The Mentors Network collects through this website (https://mentors-net.com), why we collect it, and what rights you have over it. It applies to mentors, facilitators and administrators who use our online dashboards, and to anyone who contacts us or browses the public pages of this site.

Who we are

The Mentors Network provides the online platform — mentor and facilitator accounts, cohort messaging, resources and peer-to-peer session tools — that supports peer mentoring groups on the UK Government's Help to Grow: Management Course. The site is built and maintained by Cliffen Consulting.

We are registered with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), registration number 10606425 — you can verify this on the public register. Training Course Broker Ltd - Trading as The Mentors Network

What personal data we collect

Depending on how you use the site, we may collect:

• Booking details from Eventbrite. When you book onto a mentoring cohort via Eventbrite, your name, email address and phone number are imported into our system so we can set up your mentor or facilitator account and cohort.
• Account details. Your name, email address, phone number, and (once you set one) a securely hashed password. Mentors can additionally choose whether their email and phone are visible to other members of their cohort.
• Messages and poll activity. Messages you send to your cohort or facilitators, questions you submit and votes you cast in weekly polls, and any comments you post on shared case studies.
• Contact form submissions. If you use the "Contact" page, we store your name, email, phone (if given), subject and message, along with the IP address the message was sent from (used to prevent abuse of the form).
• Technical and usage data. Standard web server logs, and cookies as described in our Cookie Policy.
• Email engagement. Emails we send (such as session reminders) include an invisible tracking pixel so we can see whether an email was opened, which helps us confirm important notices are being received.

How we use your data

We use your personal data to:

• set up and administer your mentor, facilitator or administrator account;
• organise cohorts and mentoring sessions, and send related emails (welcome, reminder, and after-session messages);
• let you message other members of your own cohort, where you've chosen to share your contact details;
• run the polls, questions and case study features you choose to take part in;
• respond to enquiries sent through the contact form;
• keep the site secure (for example, rate-limiting and fraud prevention on our forms); and
• understand how the site is used, where you've consented to analytics cookies.

Our legal basis for most of this is that it's necessary to deliver the mentoring programme you've booked onto (performance of a contract / legitimate interests in running the programme), and consent where we ask for it directly (for example, optional analytics cookies, or a mentor choosing to share their email/phone with cohort peers).

Who we share it with

We don't sell or rent your personal data. We share it only:

• with other members of your own cohort, and only the fields you've chosen to share (email, phone);
• with our hosting provider and email delivery service, who process data on our behalf to run the site and send emails;
• with Eventbrite, as the platform through which mentoring places are originally booked; and
• where we're required to by law, or to protect the rights, property or safety of The Mentors Network or others.

How long we keep it

We keep account data for as long as your account is active, and don't rely only on you asking us to delete it. We also anonymise data automatically, on the schedule below:

• Active accounts. Kept for as long as you're taking part in a mentoring cohort and using the site.
• Inactive accounts. If you haven't logged in for 24 months, your account is automatically anonymised in the same way as the self-service "Close your account" option — your name, email address and phone number are permanently overwritten so they can no longer identify you.
• Invitations never taken up. If an account was created from an Eventbrite booking but never activated (no password ever set), it's automatically anonymised 12 months after it was created.
• Contact form enquiries. Deleted automatically 12 months after you contact us.
• Email open-tracking data. The record of whether a specific email was opened is deleted automatically after 3 years.

You don't need to wait for these automatic periods — you can close or anonymise your account at any time yourself (see "Your rights" below). Either way, a record that a booking took place is kept after anonymisation, since that's programme data other parts of the system rely on (for example, attendance records); it just no longer identifies you personally. Messages, poll answers and case study comments are also kept as shared programme records after your account is anonymised, in the same de-identified way.

Your rights

Under UK data protection law, you have the right to:

• Access the personal data we hold about you.
• Correct inaccurate or incomplete data — you can update your name, phone number and sharing preferences yourself from your dashboard's Settings page.
• Erase your data. Every mentor and facilitator dashboard has a self-service "Close your account" option that anonymises your name, email and phone number immediately, with no need to contact us first.
• Object to, or restrict, certain uses of your data, including unsubscribing from broadcast emails via the link included in every message we send.
• Data portability, where technically feasible.

To exercise any of these rights, use the self-service options in your dashboard where available, or email us at admin@mentors-net.com. If you're not satisfied with how we've handled your data, you can complain to the Information Commissioner's Office.

Children's data

This site is intended for business owners and managers taking part in a professional development programme, and is not directed at, or knowingly used by, children.

Changes to this notice

We may update this notice from time to time; the "Last updated" date at the top will always reflect the latest version. If you have any questions about this notice, please get in touch.