Privacy
Privacy notice
What we hold about you, why we hold it, and what you can ask us to do with it.
Who we are
We're Handpicked Home Services Ltd, a domestic cleaning introduction agency for Winchester and Hampshire. We're registered in England and Wales, company number 17380383.
We're the "controller" of the personal information described here, which means we decide how and why it's used, and we're responsible for looking after it.
Questions about this notice, or about your information, go to hello@handpickedhs.co.uk. We're small enough that the law doesn't require us to appoint a Data Protection Officer, so we haven't. Rob Smith is the person responsible for data protection here, and that address reaches him.
Who this notice covers
- Clients - householders who use, or enquire about, our service.
- Cleaners - self-employed cleaners in our network, and people who apply to join it.
- Visitors and enquirers - anyone who uses our website or contacts us.
One thing worth being clear about up front, because it shapes everything below. We're an introduction agency. The cleaners we introduce are self-employed and run their own businesses, so they aren't our employees. Once we've introduced you to each other, your cleaner keeps their own records about your home and their own work, and they're responsible for those records themselves.
What information do we hold, and why?
If you're a client
| What we hold | Why |
|---|---|
| Your name, email and phone number | To run your service and stay in touch |
| Your address and postcode | To match you with a local cleaner and arrange cleans |
| Notes about your home and preferences | So your cleaner knows what matters to you |
| Access details - key arrangements, alarm codes, entry notes | So your cleaner can get in. Stored encrypted, visible only to your cleaner, and deleted when your service ends |
| Payment details | Held by our payment providers. We never see or store your full bank or card numbers |
| Your clean history and our correspondence with you | To run the service, handle any complaint, and keep the records the law requires |
Our lawful basis for almost all of this is our contract with you. We can't provide the service without it. Financial records are kept under legal obligation (tax law). Where we rely on legitimate interests, for example keeping records that let us apply the Direct Hire Fee terms, or improving how the service runs, we've checked that our interest doesn't override your rights.
Your home notes may mention other people in your household. We only hold what you choose to tell us, and we hold it for the same reason: so the clean goes well.
If you're a cleaner, or applying to be one
| What we hold | Why |
|---|---|
| Your name, email, phone and area | To run the network and introduce you to clients |
| Your availability | So we only offer you work you can take |
| Identity and right-to-work records | To confirm who you are and that you can work here |
| Your references | The two references you give us when you join. We speak to them before your first introduction. We also hold a little about your referees themselves - name, contact details, and what they told us - used only to take up the reference |
| Your DBS status | See below. This one has extra protection in law |
| Your public liability insurance certificate | To verify it at joining and each renewal |
| Your clean history and our correspondence | To run the service and, on your request, produce verified statements of your work and income |
Our lawful basis is our agreement with you for most of this, and legitimate interests (running a vetted network, and telling clients the truth about our vetting) for the rest.
If you apply to join the network and we don't take you on, we keep your application for 6 months and then delete it.
DBS checks, and why they're treated differently
A DBS check tells us whether you have a criminal record. UK law treats that as criminal offence data and gives it extra protection, so we handle it under its own rules:
- we record the outcome and its date, not the contents of your certificate;
- only the people who run vetting can see it;
- we follow the DBS code of practice on handling, storage and disposal; and
- we never share it beyond the vetting team, and never with clients. Clients are told that you're DBS checked, and nothing more.
If you enquire or just visit the website
Our website is deliberately plain, and that shapes what we can hold.
- The enquiry forms don't send anything to us directly. When you fill one in and press send, the form opens your own email app with your answers already written out, and you send it yourself. Nothing you type reaches us, or anyone else, until you press send in your own email app. It means no other company sits in the middle holding your details.
- When you do email us, we hold your message and your contact details so we can reply, and we keep the thread so we've got the history if you become a client. Our lawful basis is legitimate interests (answering someone who's asked us a question) before you're a client, and contract once you are.
- Our website host keeps a short technical log of requests, including your IP address, which is normal for any website and is how the site stays secure and available. Our lawful basis is legitimate interests.
- We use Google Analytics, but only if you accept it. Nothing analytics-related is set on your device until you press Accept on the banner. Our lawful basis is your consent, and you can change your mind any time. Our cookie policy explains exactly what's set and how to withdraw.
Who do we share your information with?
Only who the service needs, and never by selling it.
- Between you and your cleaner. Clients: we share your details, home notes and access details with your cleaner. That's the introduction, and it's the point of the service. Cleaners: we share your name and contact details with the clients we introduce you to.
- The software we run on. Our service runs on the CleanDone platform, operated by Makappen Ltd, which stores and processes data for us using Supabase (database and file storage, London), Vercel (hosting, Dublin and, for this website, its global network), Resend (email delivery), Sentry (error monitoring, set up so personal data stays out of error reports) and postcodes.io (postcode lookup only, no personal data).
- Google Workspace. Our email, calendar and working documents run on Google Workspace, so Google processes what's in them on our behalf.
- Google Analytics, for website visitors who've accepted it. See the cookie policy.
- Payment providers, once you're a client, who handle your payment details directly.
- Professional advisers and, if it comes to it, debt recovery. Our accountant, solicitor or insurer where genuinely needed, and the courts service if we ever have to recover a debt. The client terms explain when that can happen.
Where is your information stored?
In the UK and the EEA, which UK law treats as adequate. The database and files live in London (Supabase) and hosting runs in Dublin (Vercel).
Some of our providers are US companies or have US parents. Where information reaches the US, the transfer relies on the UK's adequacy decision for the UK-US Data Bridge, or on the UK's approved transfer agreements, which form part of the terms we sign up to with each provider.
How long do we keep it?
- While you're a client or a cleaner with us, we keep what the service needs.
- Access details (keys, alarm codes, entry notes): deleted when your service ends. There's no reason to keep them, and a real risk in doing so.
- Financial and transaction records: 6 years, because tax law requires it.
- After your service or network membership ends: we keep basic records for 2 years, long enough to handle a follow-up, a complaint, an insurance claim, or the Direct Hire Fee's 12-month restricted period. Then we delete them, apart from the financial records above.
- Vetting and placement records: employment-agency law requires us to keep records of our checks and introductions for at least 1 year after we last provide you a service. Those sit inside the window above.
- Unsuccessful network applications: 6 months.
- Website enquiries that don't become anything: 12 months, then deleted.
What are your rights?
UK data-protection law gives you the right to:
- see the information we hold about you (a "subject access request");
- correct anything that's wrong;
- delete information we no longer need to keep;
- object to processing based on legitimate interests, or ask us to restrict it while we check something;
- take your data with you (portability), where it's data you gave us under a contract; and
- withdraw consent at any time, where consent is the basis. On this website that means analytics, and the cookie policy shows you how.
Email hello@handpickedhs.co.uk and we'll respond within a month. There's no charge.
If you're unhappy with how we've handled your information you can complain to the Information Commissioner's Office at ico.org.uk, or on 0303 123 1113. We'd appreciate the chance to sort it first.
Do we send marketing?
Almost none. We may tell existing clients about our own service, for example a change to what we offer, and you can opt out any time with one click or one reply. We never share your details with anyone else for marketing, and we never buy marketing lists.
Can this notice change?
Yes, when the service or the law changes. We'll post the new version at this address with its date. If a change genuinely matters to you, like a new purpose or a new kind of sharing, we'll tell clients and cleaners directly before it takes effect.
Last updated .