Privacy Policy
Last updated: 17 October 2026
In short: Work for Trades is a marketplace that connects homeowners and contractors with tradespeople. We don't employ, supervise or vet tradespeople beyond basic listing checks, and we're not responsible for the work they do or anything that happens between users. This policy explains how we handle your personal data. The Terms of Use set out our role in full.
1. Who we are
Work for Trades (workfortrades.co.uk) is run by Pioneer Contractors Ltd, a company registered in England and Wales (company number 16474824); registered office address available on request from hello@workfortrades.co.uk. We are the "controller" of your personal data under the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018.
Contact for privacy questions: hello@workfortrades.co.uk.
2. What we collect
- Account details: name, email address, password (stored only as a secure hash), account type (tradesperson, homeowner or contractor) and, if you give them, a phone number, company or trading name and company number.
- Trade profile: the trades you do, your postcode and how far you'll travel.
- Job posts: title, description, trades needed, budget, timescale, job postcode and any photos you upload.
- Messages and quotes: what you send to other users through the site, and whether a response was accepted.
- Saved tenders and settings.
- Reports and moderation records: reports you make or that are made about your content, and action we take.
- Payment records: if you subscribe, Stripe handles your card and payment details. We receive only your Stripe customer and subscription references, your plan, its status and billing dates. We never see or store your card number.
- Weekly tenders email: if you sign up for the free "Tenders closing this week" email, your email address, when you signed up and confirmed, which page you signed up on, and a one-way scrambled (hashed) version of your IP address used only to stop abuse of the sign-up form.
- Referrals: if you sign up through a member's referral link, we record which member referred you and whether your first payment qualified, so we can credit them. To prevent abuse we keep a one-way scrambled (hashed) version of the IP address you signed up from and compare card fingerprints provided by Stripe (never card numbers). The referring member sees only counts, not your name or details.
- Technical data: a login session cookie (see our Cookie Policy) and basic server logs (IP address, time, page requested) kept for security.
3. Why we use it and our lawful basis
| Purpose | Lawful basis |
|---|---|
| Running the referral scheme and preventing referral abuse | Legitimate interests (rewarding referrals fairly and stopping fraud) |
| Sending the free weekly tenders email you asked for (double opt-in) | Consent (you can withdraw it at any time with the unsubscribe link in every email) |
| Creating and running your account, matching you to contracts and jobs, showing job posts, passing messages | Contract |
| Sharing contact details between a poster and a tradesperson after the poster accepts a response | Contract (at your request) |
| Taking subscription payments and keeping financial records | Contract; legal obligation (tax and accounting records) |
| Sending service emails (e.g. account, security, replies to your job) | Contract |
| Sending the weekly contracts digest | Contract, where it's part of the service you signed up for; you can switch it off at any time |
| Moderation, preventing spam, fraud and misuse, keeping the site secure | Legitimate interests (keeping the platform safe and working) |
| Improving the site using anonymised or aggregate data | Legitimate interests |
| Responding to legal claims or requests from authorities | Legal obligation; legitimate interests |
We don't sell your data and we don't use it for automated decisions that have legal or similarly significant effects on you.
4. What other users see
- Job posts show only the town and the first half of the postcode (for example "Bedford, MK40"). Your full postcode, street, name, email and phone are not shown publicly.
- Your contact details are shared only between a poster and a tradesperson after the poster accepts that tradesperson's response. After that, what the other person does with them is their responsibility, not ours.
- Please don't upload photos showing people, house numbers or vehicle registration plates.
5. Who we share data with
We use these service providers ("processors"), who handle data only on our instructions:
- Hosting: Krystal Hosting Ltd, which runs the website and database on a server in London, UK.
- File storage: uploaded photos are stored on the same Krystal Hosting Ltd server in London, UK.
- Email: Krystal Hosting Ltd's email service, for our mailboxes, password reset emails and, where switched on, the weekly digest email.
- Payments: Stripe (Stripe Payments UK Ltd and its group companies, including Stripe, Inc.), for subscriptions, checkout and the billing portal. Stripe is also an independent controller for some data it needs for fraud prevention and its legal duties (see stripe.com/gb/privacy).
- Postcode lookups: postcodes.io (run by Ideal Postcodes), which converts postcodes into locations. We send only the postcode.
We may also share data with professional advisers, or with the police, courts or regulators where the law requires it.
6. International transfers
Our website, database, photos and mailboxes are hosted in the UK by Krystal Hosting Ltd. Stripe may process payment data outside the UK, including in the USA. Where they do, we rely on UK adequacy regulations (such as the UK–US "data bridge" for certified companies) or the ICO's International Data Transfer Agreement / UK Addendum to the EU Standard Contractual Clauses.
7. How long we keep it
- Accounts: while your account is open. If an account is inactive for 24 months, we'll email you and then delete it.
- Job posts, photos and messages: deleted 12 months after the job is closed or expires.
- Reports and moderation records: kept for up to 2 years, or longer if needed for a legal claim.
- Payment and invoice records: 6 years after the end of the financial year they relate to (tax law).
- Server logs: kept for up to 30 days.
- Weekly tenders email: until you unsubscribe. Unconfirmed sign-ups are deleted after 30 days. After you unsubscribe we keep only your email address and the date, so we don't email you again by mistake.
When you delete your account we delete or anonymise your data within 30 days, except where we must keep it for the reasons above.
8. Your rights
You have the right to: access your data; correct it; delete it; restrict or object to our use of it (including any direct marketing); and receive a copy in a portable format. Where we rely on consent, you can withdraw it at any time. Email hello@workfortrades.co.uk. We'll reply within one month.
9. Complaints
Please contact us first. You can also complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO): ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint, phone 0303 123 1113.
10. Children
The site is for people aged 18 and over. We don't knowingly collect data from children.
11. Changes
We'll post any changes on this page and, if they're significant, email account holders.
See also: Terms of Use · Privacy Policy · Cookie Policy · Job Posting Rules