Privacy Statement and Cookie Policy

Privacy Notice

AHEAD and Employers for Change regard the lawful and responsible treatment of personal information as of crucial importance and therefore takes measures to ensure that this data is collected, processed, stored and disposed of with this in mind. To this end, AHEAD and Employers for Change endorse the principles of Data Protection, and aim to fully comply with the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation 2018.

This privacy notice provides information about the ways in which AHEAD and Employers for Change collect, store, share or retain personal information provided by members of the public and professionals who interact with the WIDE Framework.

Using this website:

This website wide.employersforchange.ie uses cookies. The purpose of the cookies is solely to assist AHEAD and Employers for Change in efficiently operating, updating and monitoring usage of the WIDE Framework and to ensure we provide relevant information in an easily accessible format. The data gathered via cookie usage ensures the website functions effectively and enables us to provide a better experience for our users, as well as enabling us to evaluate and publish anonymised aggregated information on the impact of the WIDE Framework. Please see below for our Cookie Policy.

Search engine:

The search facilities in the Resource Library and Supplier directory are internal search functions and only return information that appears in databases stored directly in the website, however the records show links to external resources and suppliers which take you away from the website.

Mailing List Sign-up:

When users sign up to the WIDE mailing list, they will receive occasional email updates from AHEAD and/or Employers for Change detailing the latest news and events related to the WIDE framework and disability inclusion in the workplace more generally.

All users on this list have given consent to be contacted by AHEAD and Employers for Change for these purposes and can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the ‘unsubscribe’ link at the bottom of each email or by contacting us directly with your request.

We do not share data collected for this list with third parties except when necessary to process it and where 3^rd parties are required to process the data (e.g. mailchimp email service), we ensure that those 3^rd parties are in full compliance with the Data Protection Regulation and that they agree to only use the data to facilitate our usage of the service.

WIDE individual account and organisational profile registration:

When individuals and organisations set up accounts/profiles on the WIDE Framework in order to use the self-review tools, we collect information about them, including some personal data (such as name and email address) and some potentially business sensitive data (for example information inputted voluntarily by reviewers on their organisations performance against a WIDE action).

AHEAD and Employers for Change regards the lawful and responsible treatment as of paramount importance. Information provided on individual/organisational sign up forms and data/scoring inputted as part of a WIDE organisational review process will be processed for the following reasons:

To enable users to utilise the WIDE self-review tools and efficiently use the framework to improve disability inclusion in their workplace;
To gather and publish anonymised data on the usage of the WIDE framework and its impact, including but not limited to aggregated information on usage across industries, evidence of the impact of usage by engaged employers (for example anonymised and aggregated data on improvements in WIDE scores);
To occasionally contact users/organisational administrators to facilitate usage of the framework, send them information about free opportunities to engage in WIDE events and training and to reach out to employers showing as having fully completed reviews to provide opportunities to give feedback and/or share their experiences with the WIDE Community.

We have taken appropriate measures to ensure that the data on the WIDE database is secure including implementing a range of security measures, applying an SSL certificate to our website, implementing increased web server protection so that your data is secure, implementing a staff code of practice around data protection to ensure appropriate use of passwords and mobile devices, and ensuring that 3^rd party services and organisations we have to interact with to administer the platform are in full compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation.

Contacting us via the contact form, resource library submission, or supplier directory submission:

Any emails/submissions sent to us are recorded and forwarded to the relevant individual in AHEAD or Employers for Change. The sender’s email address and other personal information provided will remain visible to all staff tasked with dealing with the query. Please be aware that it is the sender’s responsibility to ensure that the content of their emails is within the bounds of the law. Unsolicited material of a criminal nature will be reported to the relevant authorities and blocked. Both AHEAD and Employers for change have taken IT measures to ensure that our email/pc security is of a high standard and have introduced a data protection code of practice to promote secure staff practices around passwords and use of mobile devices.

Data Breach Notification:

In the unlikely event of a Data Breach, AHEAD and Employers for Change will notify data subjects affected by the breach and the Data Protection Commissioner within 72 hours of us learning of the breach in line with the General Data Protection Regulation.

Data Subject Request:

Under the General Data Protection Regulation, individuals can request a copy of all data stored on them by AHEAD/Employers for Change. You can make a Data Subject Request to ahead by contacting wide@ahead.ie with your name, email address and any other useful information which may (how you’ve interacted with us e.g. if you have an individual/company profile, if you have submitted a supplier directory application, if you are on our mailing list etc.).

In the event of a Data Subject Request, AHEAD/Employers for Change will endeavour to provide you the material within 30 days.

Changes to our Privacy Statement:

This is a live document, which is reviewed periodically and sometimes updated. This policy was last updated in Oct 2025.

How to contact us:

If you require further information regarding our Privacy Statement, you can contact us at wide@ahead.ie or write to us at: AHEAD, East Hall, UCD, Carysfort Avenue, Blackrock, Co. Dublin.

Cookie Statement

Updated 13^th Oct 2025.

What is a cookie?

A cookie is a small piece of data that may be stored on your computer or mobile device. It allows a website to “remember” your actions or preferences over a period of time.

Further information on cookies and GDPR can be found here.

How are cookies used on this website?

Cookies used on this website fall into one or more of the following broad categories:

Essential cookies
Analytics cookies
Third-party or marketing cookies

Essential cookies are critical to the basic functionality of the website and include things like server resource allocation, cookie preferences and user login functionality. Essential cookies are mandatory and will be set automatically upon each user visit.

Analytics cookies are used to track specific page visits and to both directly and indirectly improve future website visitors’ experiences.

Third-party or marketing cookies are similar to analytics cookies and may be set while viewing embeded content such as Youtube videos.

All Cookies used on this website

Cookie Type	Name(s)	Purpose
Essential	trackshare	This cookie is used to store a user’s choice about cookies on this website. If a user selects no non-essential cookies, this cookie will still be set so that the website does not set non-essential cookies.
Essential	PHPSESSID	This cookie is connected with server resource-allocation and session security.
Essential	authFrontEnd	This cookie is used as part of the login process to allow registered users to access protected parts of the website.
Accessibility	mysheetColor mysheetSize	This cookie allows the user access to buttons that will change and remember the background colour and font size of pages on this website.
Google Analytics	_ga _gat _gid ___utma __utmb __utmc __utmt __utmz	These cookies are used to collect information about how visitors use our website. We use the information to compile reports and to help us improve the website. The cookies collect information in a way that does not directly identify anyone, including the number of visitors to the website and blog, where visitors have come to the website from and the pages they visited. Read Google’s overview of privacy and safeguarding data. More information on Google’s privacy policy is available here.
Social Media Sharing cookies	__atuvc __atuvs	This cookie is associated with the AddThis social sharing widget which is commonly embedded in websites to enable visitors to share content with a range of networking and sharing platforms. More information about AddThis privacy policy.
YouTube cookies	various	We embed videos from YouTube on some pages. More information on Google and YouTube’s use of cookies. These are third-party cookies.
Vimeo cookies	player vuid	We may embed videos from Vimeo occasionally. When you press play Vimeo will drop third-party cookies to enable the the video to play and to collect analytics data such as how long a viewer has watched the video. These cookies do not track individuals.

Google Analytics

This website uses Google Analytics, a web analytics service provided by Google, Inc. Google Analytics uses “cookies”, which are text files placed on your computer, to help the website analyse how users use the site. The information generated by the cookie about your use of the site (including your IP address) will be transmitted to and stored by Google on servers in the United States. Google will use this information for the purpose of evaluating your use of the website, compiling reports on website activity for website operators and providing other services relating to website activity and internet usage.

Google may transfer this information to third parties where required to do so by law, or where such third parties process the information on Google’s behalf. Google will not associate your IP address with any other data held by Google. You may refuse the use of cookies by selecting the appropriate settings on your browser, however please note that if you do this, you may not be able to use the full functionality of this website. By using this website, you consent to the processing of data about you by Google in the manner and for the purpose set out above.

You can also opt out of Google Analytics tracking by using this browser plugin.

Third Party Plugins/Embeds which may include Marketing Cookies

This website uses third-party plugins from organisations such as Youtube in the form of embedded videos.

Cookie Warning Notice

The cookie warning notice on this website also uses cookies to record your preferences. When you click to remove the notice, the cookie ‘remembers’ this for a period of time and so the notice will not reappear until the time has elapsed, or until you delete the cookie. Users can change their cookie preferences at any time by clicking the “Edit Cookie Preferences” link in the footer of all website pages.

Managing Cookies

You can manage cookies that websites put on your computer by changing some settings in your browser. More information on this is available on the links below.

Please Note:

No personal/sensitive or financial details are stored in cookies.

Continuing use of this website confirms the visitor’s tacit agreement, and acknowledgment of this information.