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Privacy Policy

Last updated: 8 January 2025

1. Introduction

Pawthority ("we", "us", or "our") is committed to protecting your privacy. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose, and safeguard your information when you visit our website pawthority.co.uk and use our services.

This policy complies with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018.

2. Information We Collect

2.1 Information You Provide

We may collect the following personal information when you:

  • Contact us via email or contact forms
  • Apply to join as a verified professional
  • Subscribe to our newsletter (if applicable)

This information may include:

  • Name and contact details (email address, phone number)
  • Business information (for professionals)
  • Any other information you choose to provide

2.2 Information Automatically Collected

When you visit our website, we automatically collect certain information, including:

  • IP address and location data
  • Browser type and version
  • Device information
  • Pages visited and time spent on pages
  • Referring website addresses

3. How We Use Your Information

We use the information we collect for the following purposes:

  • To provide and maintain our directory services
  • To process applications from pet care professionals
  • To respond to your enquiries and provide customer support
  • To improve our website and services
  • To send administrative information and updates
  • To analyse website usage and improve user experience
  • To comply with legal obligations

4. Legal Basis for Processing

Under UK GDPR, we process your personal data on the following legal bases:

  • Consent: You have given clear consent for us to process your personal data for specific purposes
  • Contract: Processing is necessary for a contract we have with you, or because you have asked us to take specific steps before entering into a contract
  • Legal obligation: Processing is necessary for us to comply with the law
  • Legitimate interests: Processing is necessary for our legitimate interests or the legitimate interests of a third party, unless there is a good reason to protect your personal data which overrides those legitimate interests

5. Cookies and Tracking Technologies

We use cookies and similar tracking technologies to track activity on our website and hold certain information. You can instruct your browser to refuse all cookies or to indicate when a cookie is being sent.

We use the following types of cookies:

  • Essential Cookies: Required for the website to function properly
  • Analytics Cookies: Help us understand how visitors interact with our website (optional, requires consent)
  • Affiliate Cookies: Used by third-party partners to track referrals when users click affiliate links and visit external services

6. Data Retention

We will only retain your personal data for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes we collected it for, including for the purposes of satisfying any legal, accounting, or reporting requirements.

When we no longer need your personal data, we will securely delete or anonymise it.

7. Data Security

We implement appropriate technical and organisational security measures to protect your personal data against unauthorised or unlawful processing, accidental loss, destruction, or damage.

However, please note that no method of transmission over the Internet or electronic storage is 100% secure.

8. Third-Party Services

We may share your information with third-party service providers who perform services on our behalf, such as:

  • Website hosting providers
  • Analytics services
  • Email service providers

These third parties are contractually obligated to use your personal data only as necessary to provide these services to us and are required to protect your data in accordance with UK GDPR.

9. Affiliate Links and Partner Programmes

Pawthority may participate in affiliate or partner programmes operated by third parties. This means that when you click certain links on our website and subsequently make a purchase or complete an action on a partner site, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.

Affiliate partners may use cookies or similar tracking technologies to attribute referrals and track conversions. These technologies are used solely to identify that a referral originated from our website.

We do not control the data collection or privacy practices of our affiliate partners. We encourage you to review the privacy policies of any third-party services you visit through affiliate links on our website.

For more information about our use of affiliate links, please see our Affiliate Disclosure.

10. Your Data Protection Rights

Under UK GDPR, you have the following rights:

  • Right of access: You have the right to request copies of your personal data
  • Right to rectification: You have the right to request that we correct any information you believe is inaccurate or complete information you believe is incomplete
  • Right to erasure: You have the right to request that we erase your personal data, under certain conditions
  • Right to restrict processing: You have the right to request that we restrict the processing of your personal data, under certain conditions
  • Right to object to processing: You have the right to object to our processing of your personal data, under certain conditions
  • Right to data portability: You have the right to request that we transfer the data that we have collected to another organisation, or directly to you, under certain conditions

To exercise any of these rights, please contact us at: hello@pawthority.co.uk

11. International Data Transfers

Your information may be transferred to and maintained on servers located outside of the UK. We ensure that any such transfers comply with UK GDPR requirements and that your data receives an adequate level of protection.

12. Children's Privacy

Our services are not directed to individuals under the age of 18. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 18.

13. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update our Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you of any changes by posting the new Privacy Policy on this page and updating the "Last updated" date.

You are advised to review this Privacy Policy periodically for any changes.

14. Contact Us

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or wish to exercise your data protection rights, please contact us:

15. Complaints

If you wish to make a complaint about how we have handled your personal data, please contact us first at hello@pawthority.co.uk

You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), the UK supervisory authority for data protection issues: