1. Who We Are
Yingqiao Ltd is a company incorporated in England and Wales (Company No. 16479894), registered at 82a James Carter Road, Mildenhall, Bury St. Edmunds, England, IP28 7DE. We trade as Yingqiao Bridge and operate the website at yingqiao.co.uk.
Yingqiao Ltd is the data controller for the purposes of the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018. We are responsible for deciding how and why your personal data is processed.
We also operate a China-based wholly foreign-owned enterprise, Guangzhou Yingqiao Education Consulting Co., Ltd. (广州映桥留学咋询有限公司). Where personal data is shared with or processed by this entity, we describe this in Section 6 below.
2. What Personal Data We Collect
We collect personal data in the following ways:
2.1 Data you provide directly
- Contact enquiries: your name, email address, and any information you include in a message sent through our contact form or by email to info@yingqiao.co.uk.
- WeChat communications: your WeChat ID and the content of messages you send to us via WeChat. WeChat is operated by Tencent and is subject to its own privacy policy.
- Intake information: where you proceed to an intake conversation, we may collect information about the student’s university, programme, academic stage, and any concerns or circumstances you share with us.
- Service delivery: where you become a client, we collect and maintain information necessary to deliver the service, including session notes, risk flags, and parent communication records.
2.2 Data collected automatically
- Website usage data: when you visit yingqiao.co.uk, standard server logs may record your IP address, browser type, pages visited, and time of visit. This data is used for security and site maintenance purposes and is not used to identify individuals.
- Cookies: our website may use cookies. Please see our Cookie Policy for details of which cookies we use and how to manage them.
2.3 Data we do not collect
We do not collect special category data (such as health information, racial or ethnic origin, or religious beliefs) except where you choose to share it with us in the context of a welfare concern or extenuating circumstances situation, and only to the extent necessary to provide appropriate signposting or support.
3. Why We Collect Personal Data and Our Legal Basis
| Purpose | Data used | Legal basis |
| Responding to your enquiry | Name, email, message content | Legitimate interests (responding to a request you initiated) |
| Assessing suitability for our service | Academic stage, university, programme, circumstances described | Legitimate interests (pre-contractual assessment) |
| Delivering our service to clients | All intake and session information | Performance of a contract |
| Sending termly progress reports to parents | Student progress information, risk flags, parent contact details | Performance of a contract; legitimate interests |
| Maintaining records of our communications | Email and WeChat correspondence | Legitimate interests (record-keeping and quality assurance) |
| Complying with legal obligations | Any data relevant to a legal obligation | Legal obligation |
| Improving and maintaining our website | Technical usage data and cookies | Legitimate interests (website operation and security) |
4. How Long We Keep Your Data
We do not keep personal data for longer than is necessary for the purpose for which it was collected. Our standard retention periods are:
| Data type | Retention period |
| Enquiry data (not proceeding to service) | 12 months from the date of the enquiry, then deleted. |
| Client records (session notes, intake information, correspondence) | 6 years from the end of the service period, in accordance with standard UK limitation periods. |
| Parent communication records | 6 years from the end of the service period. |
| Financial records | 6 years from the relevant financial year end, as required by HMRC. |
| Website technical logs | Up to 12 months, used only for security and maintenance purposes. |
5. Who We Share Your Data With
We do not sell, rent, or trade your personal data. We share personal data only in the following circumstances:
5.1 Within the Yingqiao team
Personal data may be accessed by the Founder and by consultants engaged by Yingqiao Ltd, to the extent necessary to deliver the service. All consultants operate under confidentiality obligations.
5.2 Service providers
We use a small number of trusted third-party service providers to operate our business, including email hosting, website hosting, and cloud storage. These providers process data on our behalf and are required to protect it in accordance with applicable data protection law.
5.3 Transfer to China — Guangzhou Yingqiao Education Consulting Co., Ltd.
Where clients are based in China or where their enquiry or service involves our China operations, personal data may be shared with or accessed by Guangzhou Yingqiao Education Consulting Co., Ltd. (广州映桥留学咋询有限公司), our wholly foreign-owned enterprise in Guangzhou. This entity is under common ownership and control with Yingqiao Ltd.
The transfer of personal data to China is an international transfer for UK GDPR purposes. China does not have an adequacy decision from the UK. We rely on appropriate safeguards for this transfer, including contractual provisions between the two entities. If you would like further information about the safeguards in place, please contact us at info@yingqiao.co.uk.
5.4 WeChat
If you communicate with us via WeChat, your data is also subject to the privacy policy of Tencent, the operator of WeChat. We have no control over Tencent’s data processing. We recommend reviewing Tencent’s privacy policy before using WeChat to share sensitive personal information.
5.5 Legal requirements
We may disclose personal data where required to do so by law, regulation, court order, or in connection with legal proceedings.
6. Your Rights
Under the UK GDPR, you have the following rights in relation to your personal data:
| Right | What it means |
| Right of access | You can request a copy of the personal data we hold about you. |
| Right to rectification | You can ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete personal data. |
| Right to erasure | You can ask us to delete your personal data in certain circumstances. |
| Right to restrict processing | You can ask us to stop processing your data in certain circumstances while a dispute is resolved. |
| Right to data portability | Where we process your data by automated means based on your consent or a contract, you can ask for it in a structured, machine-readable format. |
| Right to object | You can object to processing based on legitimate interests. We will stop unless we have compelling grounds to continue. |
| Right to withdraw consent | Where processing is based on consent, you can withdraw it at any time. Withdrawal does not affect processing carried out before withdrawal. |
To exercise any of these rights, please contact us at info@yingqiao.co.uk. We will respond within one month. We may need to verify your identity before we can action a request.
If you are unhappy with how we have handled your personal data, you have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) at ico.org.uk or by calling 0303 123 1113.
7. Data Security
We take appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your personal data against unauthorised access, loss, or destruction. These include access controls, confidentiality agreements with all team members and consultants, and secure storage of client records.
No method of transmission over the internet is completely secure. Where you communicate with us by email or WeChat, you do so at your own risk in terms of the security of the transmission itself. We recommend you do not include highly sensitive personal data in initial enquiry messages.
8. Cookies
Our website uses cookies. A cookie is a small file placed on your device when you visit a website. We use cookies for the following purposes:
- Strictly necessary cookies: required for the website to function. These cannot be disabled.
- Analytics cookies: help us understand how visitors use the site, so we can improve it. These are only set with your consent.
- Preference cookies: remember your settings and choices on the website.
You can manage or disable non-essential cookies through our cookie consent tool, which appears when you first visit the site, or through your browser settings. Note that disabling certain cookies may affect how the website functions.
For a full list of cookies used on this site, please see our Cookie Policy, available at yingqiao.co.uk/cookies.
9. Links to Third-Party Websites
Our website may contain links to third-party websites including WeChat (Tencent), LinkedIn, and others. We are not responsible for the privacy practices of these websites and recommend you review their privacy policies before providing any personal data to them.
10. Children’s Data
Our services are directed at students in UK higher education, who are typically aged 18 or over. Where a student is under 18 at the time of enquiry or enrolment, we require the consent of a parent or guardian before processing their personal data. If you believe we have collected data about a child without appropriate consent, please contact us immediately at info@yingqiao.co.uk.
11. Changes to This Privacy Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. The current version will always be available at yingqiao.co.uk/privacy-policy. Where we make significant changes, we will notify existing clients by email. The date at the top of this policy indicates when it was last updated.
12. Contact Us
For any questions about this Privacy Policy, to exercise your rights, or to raise a concern about our data handling, please contact:
| Data controller | Yingqiao Ltd |
| info@yingqiao.co.uk | |
| Registered address | 82a James Carter Road, Mildenhall, Bury St. Edmunds, England, IP28 7DE |
| Company number | 16479894 (England and Wales) |
| Regulator | Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) — ico.org.uk |
